Zhu Junbing tells a depressing tale of a cheating boss. The reponse from the authorities fits with recent offical policy directives.

Time: Midday, 20th January 2005.
Location: Dinglian Village , Pujiang Township, Minxing District, Shanghai.
Interviewee: Zhu Junbing, male, 25 years old, fabric cutter at Guangfeng Clothing factory in Dinglian Village.

It’s been really touch and go this past year. When you come away for work what you worry about the most is running into some real trouble which is just what I did this year and it was near enough the end of me.

You can’t say I didn’t do enough to avoid it, it wasn’t something you could prevent. Back when I was looking for work and I heard the boss of the factory was from Anhui same as me I was fairly confident things would go OK. After I started there 20 of us workers went to see the boss wanting to sign an employment contract. He laughed and said ‘I’ve been running this factory for seven years, do you think I’m going to not pay what I owe or cheat people? Trust me, there’s definitely no problem.’ From the look in his eyes you had to believe him, so we went away without a scrap of written protection.

The life of a migrant worker is terrible hard. Sometimes you’re on overtime for three months at a stretch, you can go nights on end without a wink of sleep, so tired you can barely stand, but you never get paid any extra from the boss. We were given 200 yuan a month and told the rest of the money was being put away for us and that he’d settle up at the end of the year. In Shanghai all you can buy with 200 yuan is rice porridge. I lost a lot of weight over that year.

Despite all of this we still believed the boss. On the 13th of January 2005 called some people in who took all 3,000 completed sets of clothing in the warehouse, packed them onto four trucks and took them away. We asked what was going on; the boss patted his chest and said ‘We’re off to deliver the goods and get our payment. Whatever happens I’m definitely going to pay you what I owe you before you go home for Spring Festival!’ You don’t expect barefaced lies told in broad daylight. Before he got into one of the trucks the boss was even patting us on our shoulders saying ‘You all go and book train tickets home for the 16th. I’ll bring your wages on the 15th!’ We all nodded and said that was fine.

Bright and early on the 14th we went to look for the boss. We knocked so much we nearly broke his door but no-one answered, and the windows were all boarded up tight. There was nothing for it but to risk our necks climbing up to the skylight. What we saw when we looked in nearly made us fall off the roof! The bosses’ house was completely bare; anything worth any money had been taken away, all that was left were some raggedy old clothes.

Still clinging to a sliver of hope we went down to the workshop where we found all the cloth and finished clothes that had been there had disappeared; all that was left were some broken down machines. We called the bosses’ mobile phone, but that had been turned off. We managed to find the number of the cloth supplier who told us that our boss had settled up with them ages ago! After that we managed after a lot of effort to get the bosses’ number back home but they didn’t know anything about it…

That was us completely finished then. We felt weak at the knees and the women workers started crying. What should we do? Surely we hadn’t worked so hard for a whole year for nothing? We hadn’t got enough for our daily living expenses, what were we going to use to pay for New Year’s celebrations back home? We were all supporting families and the folks back home were waiting for the money they thought we’d be bringing back.

From the looks of things the boss had been planning to cheat us all along. He was a real evil piece of work! Every one was cursing the boss and saying we’d better go and get refunds for our train tickets. No-one felt like eating and anyway we didn’t even have enough money to buy a takeaway. We huddled up cold and hungry in our little dormitory room, completely at our wit’s end. Then someone said we should go to the papers and get them to help us poor migrants so far from home.

After the story came out in the papers the municipal authorities were very concerned and quickly set the responsible departments to sort out the problem. Some Shanghai people even donated money through the newspaper to help cover our travel expenses. On the 18th of January the Village Leader of Dinglian came specially to the factory to see us and gave us some of his own money to help us afford something decent to eat. That evening the Village paid us our outstanding wages. The money we’d earned with our sweat and blood had looked lost but now we had it. This time even the men were crying we were that happy.

Finally we were able to go home for the New Year.

But there were still some people who didn’t get to go home. Old Mr. Zhou from our hometown came to see me with the most dejected look on his face, saying ‘I’m done for!’ He a carpenter, he makes wooden doors. Last year he did a job for an interior decorators up on Ningbo Road, charged them 9,700 yuan for making them 30 doors. When he delivered the doors they said ‘We’ll give you an IOU for now, come back and settle up in a few days. We’ll have more work for you in the future.’ Old Zhou said fine and left with the IOU. When he went back the building was empty and there wasn’t a soul in sight….

Chinese text follows. This was pretty straightforward, though I stumbled around for a good way to render 他也太黑了 (translated above as ‘He was a real evil piece of work’) without resorting to the kind of swearing I’d use in the same situation. 黑 means ‘black’ as in ‘black-hearted’ and describes low-lifes and swindlers who transgress the commonly accepted moral code, like the bold entrepreneur in our story.

民工朱俊兵的2004年

时间：2005年1月20日中午12点

地点：上海闵行区浦江镇丁连村

对象：朱俊兵，男，25岁，丁连村官锋制衣厂裁剪工

这一年真够悬的，出门打工最怕踩到的地雷，偏偏被我踩上了，差点儿就魂飞魄散。
　　不能说没有防，防不了。当初找工作，听说厂老板是安徽人，是老乡，我的心放下大半。进了厂，我们20个工人去找老板签用工合同，老板哈哈笑着说：”我在这儿开厂都七年了，还会赖账骗人吗？相信我，绝对没事！”他的眼神不能不让人相信，于是我们没带半张字据就走了。
　　打工的生活很艰苦，有时连续三个月加班，几宿不合眼，人累得都站不稳，可老板从不加工钱，每月只给200块，说剩下的工钱帮我们攒着，年底给清。在上海，200块就够喝稀饭的，一年多我瘦了好几斤。
　　尽管这样，我们还是相信老板。2005年1月13日，老板招呼人，把库存的3000套成衣装了满满四车要拉走。我们问怎么回事，老板拍着胸脯说：”赶去送货要货款，无论如何一定会在你们回家前把工钱结清！”哪有人大白天睁眼儿说瞎话呢？老板上车前，还拍着我的肩膀说：”你们都去订 16日的车票回家，15日我一准把工钱带来！”我们都点头说好。
　　1月14日一大早，我们去找老板，门敲烂了也没人应，窗帘把一切都遮得严严实实。没办法，我们冒险爬到天窗上，一看，差点儿从屋顶摔下来！老板家里空荡荡的，值钱的东西全搬走了，只留下几件破衣服！
　　抱着一线希望，我们赶到加工车间，原来的布料产品全部消失，只有一台台破旧的机器。打老板手机，已关机。大家又找到面料供应商的电话，那边说，你们老板跟我的账早就结清了！后来费劲找到老板老家的电话，但那边一无所知……
　　这下全完了，我的腿直发软，女工们都哭了。怎么办啊？难道白白辛苦一年？现在生活费都不够，拿什么回家过团圆年？我们都是拖家带口的，家里就指望着这点儿钱呢。
　　看来老板早预谋骗我们了。他也太黑了！大家一边咒骂老板，一边商量去退火车票。都没有心情吃饭，也没有钱买盒饭，又冷又饿地缩在小宿舍里，一筹莫展地叹气。后来有人提议找报社，帮帮我们这些背井离乡的打工者。
　　报纸报道后，市里领导很重视，迅速责成相关部门解决问题。有些上海人还捐钱到报社，帮我们垫路费。1月18日，丁连村村长特地到厂里来看我们，掏出自己的钱，让我们买点儿好吃的。当天傍晚，丁连村给我们每位都垫付了工钱。这笔血汗钱失而复得，连我们这些男人都高兴得想哭。
　　我们终于可以回家过年了。
　　可是还有人回不了家。老乡老周来找我，哭丧着脸说，全完了！老周是做木门的，2004年就帮宁波路上的一家装潢公司做门，一共 30多扇门，工钱9700元。送货上门时，对方说：先给你一个欠款条，过几天来拿，今后还有生意交给你。老周说好好好，拿着白条走了。再去，已经人去楼空……

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