Free rooms allow migrant workers’ relatives to visit

Beijing's Xicheng environmental sanitation center has set aside rooms for the relatives of its migrant workers to use free of charge. 

“There are more than 300 migrant workers in our team and they have few opportunities to go back to their hometowns due to their demanding jobs,” said Wang Ning, the head of the center’s No 1 team, on Thursday. 

“Even if it’s the Spring Festival holiday, most of them cannot go back to visit their families as the streets still need to be cleaned,” he said. 

He Hongguang, 47, and his wife both work at the center. They have been working there for nearly 15 years and haven’t been back to their home in Henan province at Spring Festival for nine years. 

“Sometimes my son visits us, but we have to stay in a hotel during his visit, which is inconvenient and expensive,” he said. 

“But now our team dormitory provides a room for workers’ relatives, which is convenient and will save us money,” He said. 

According to Wang, workers need to apply to use the special room in advance and their relatives can stay there for a week each time. 

In addition, the sanitation center also offers a room where couples, who ordinarily live separately in the male and female dormitories, can spend time together. 

“There are 31 couples working in our team,” Wang said. “They also need to apply to use the room in advance and they can live in it for 10 days at a time.” 

According to Wang, the sanitation center has provided these rooms for almost two years. 

The federation of trade unions of Xicheng district issued a suggestion in January, calling for companies and organizations that can afford to do so to offer such rooms for migrant workers and couples.