Chapter 5 Broken Finger: Report on Pearl River Delta Work

Broken Finger: Pearl River Delta Work Report (1) "East, west, north, south, working in Guangdong".This jingle, popular in mainland China in the 1980s, once inspired tens of millions of people to go to the hot spot of reform and opening up - the Pearl River Delta. More than 20 years have passed, and the economy of the Pearl River Delta has achieved rapid development.At the same time, some enterprises here have also become sweatshops where "every pore is dripping with blood and dirty things", and have become a sad place for migrant workers one after another. Xie Zexian is a professor at the Department of Social Work, Guangdong Business School.In recent years, she has led hundreds of students to investigate and visit 582 work-related injury patients in 39 hospitals in six Pearl River Delta cities: Shunde, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The results are shocking.According to statistics, there are 30,000 finger amputation accidents in this region every year, and more than 40,000 fingers are severed by machines.The "Report on the "Injuries" in the Pearl River Delta" they wrote after three years of on-site interviews only revealed the tip of the iceberg.

Zimo: When did you start thinking about investigating work-related injuries in the Pearl River Delta? Xie Zexian: In September 2002, I felt that this matter was already very serious, so I put down my work to find out the truth.I have read some information before, saying that Shunde, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou and other cities have the most serious work-related injuries, especially Dongguan and Shenzhen.These two cities have a high proportion of immigrant populations. Of Shenzhen's 10 million population, only a little over 1 million have household registration, and more than 80% of them are migrants.

Zimo: Why are the people who get work-related injuries all outsiders, while the local population is less likely to get work-related injuries? Xie Zexian: The economy of the Pearl River Delta started with "three supplies and one supplement" (ie processing with supplied materials, processing with supplied samples, assembly with supplied parts and compensation trade).The liberalization of policies and the injection of funds from Hong Kong and Taiwan made these cities and towns, which were mainly agricultural at that time, industrialize rapidly, get rich quickly, and prosper rapidly.This process is very short, less than 20 years.A large number of farmers from other provinces left their hometowns and came here, forming the so-called "migrant labor wave".The industrial workers on the front line of the machinery manufacturing industry are now all immigrants, and the locals hardly do this work.According to my research, not only the Pearl River Delta, but the vast majority of the labor force in Guangdong Province comes from other provinces.Compared with the labor force of other provinces, the local labor force is a very small number.The economy of the Pearl River Delta has developed under the stimulation of migrant workers leaving their hometowns for cities and the continuous injection of foreign capital, and many phenomena that we have not seen before have emerged.This phenomenon, which was not easy to see before, is the large-scale and frequent work-related accidents.According to statistics, 71.8% of enterprises in the Pearl River Delta have experienced work-related injuries, and the number of work-related injuries is increasing at a rate of 30,000 to 40,000 people every year.Among them, the work-related injuries from rural townships, towns and counties accounted for 70.2%, 15.4% and 10% of the total number of work-related injuries respectively, while those with urban registered permanent residence accounted for only 4.3% and those from large cities accounted for 1.6%.Xie Zexian: The situation of work-related injuries is very serious, and the area is very large.According to our survey, more than 70% of factories have work-related injuries, and the proportion of work-related injuries is very high.The average age of the injured was only 26, and most were unmarried.That is to say, when they just started on the road of life, they encountered cruel injuries and blows such as work-related injuries.In addition, 86% of the work-related injuries are men, because boys are more engaged in machinery manufacturing, and the Pearl River Delta is a global manufacturing base, and there are more male workers than female workers.We investigated industries such as hardware and furniture, and most of the injured in these industries were men.

Zimo: Where are the injured parts concentrated? Xie Zexian: fingers and arms.Mechanical manufacturing mainly uses hands.The most direct cause of work-related injuries is machine crushing and cutting, and the most injured parts are fingers.Among the 582 injured people investigated by Xie Zexian, 401 people had finger injuries, accounting for 69% of the total number of injured people, and 765 fingers were injured. In 1998, more than 10,000 finger amputation cases were announced in Shenzhen Longgang and Baoan alone.Sadly, however, workers who risk losing their fingers every day are paid so little.According to a survey published by the Guangdong Provincial Federation of Trade Unions in early 2005, 76.3% of the migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta had a monthly wage level of less than 1,000 yuan, 17.5% for 1,001-1,500 yuan, 63.2% for 501-1,000 yuan, and 63.2% for less than 500 yuan. 13.2%.But their living cost has reached about 500 yuan per month.Zimo: Is the income level of the injured workers high?

Xie Zexian: The salary level seems to be lower than that of migrant workers.The average may be more than 700 yuan, or even lower than this level, and some earn more than 100 yuan. Zimo: Why are their wages lower than those of migrant workers? Xie Zexian: Most of the people injured by work-related injuries are people who have just entered the city, have no skills, are young, and have relatively low qualifications.Because the salary level is related to his skill level and position.Those who are vulnerable to injury generally have no self-protection ability, lack of urban experience and work experience, and may also have relatively low education.All of these factors add up to make them the disadvantaged of the disadvantaged.The reason for the frequent occurrence of industrial accidents is that some enterprises' machinery and equipment are obsolete and aging.Many machinery and equipment that were eliminated abroad were "introduced" by the Pearl River Delta.According to media reports, when the court seized and auctioned a Hong Kong-funded enterprise in Shenzhen, it found that the equipment of the enterprise was manufactured in the 1920s and had no value.In addition, the lack of technical training and rush to work by workers are also important reasons for accidents.According to statistics, 75% of workers who have work-related injuries within one year of working in the Pearl River Delta region.Among them, 14.8% had work-related injuries within one month of their new employment, 31.1% had work-related injuries within a few months of starting work, and 29.2% had work-related injuries within a year or so of starting work.The industries with the most work-related injuries were hardware (32.3%), furniture (13.1%), electronics (8.1%) and construction (5%). Lao Wang, who is in his 40s, had just come to Guangzhou from his hometown in Hunan to work less than a month before a tragedy happened.Zimo: Where did you get hurt?

Pharaoh: Finger. Zimo: How did you get hurt? Lao Wang: I make buckles for belts.Two fingers were cut off, leaving three. Zimo: When you were hurt, what did you think? Lao Wang: I didn't think about anything, it hurt like hell. Zimo: Have you done this kind of work before? Old Wang: No. Zimo: How long have you been doing this job? Lao Wang: More than ten days. Zimo: Has anyone trained you before? Lao Wang: No, I just worked with the experienced workers for a few days. Zimo: How many hours do you work a day? Lao Wang: 12 hours. Zimo: How many days a week? Pharaoh: 7 days. Zimo: Do ​​you have a break?

Old Wang: No. Zimo: Do ​​you know that this exceeds the legal working hours? Lao Wang: Not sure.Only when there is a power outage, do you have a day off, and do it every day without power outages. Zimo: How much money can you earn every month? Lao Wang: Three or four hundred yuan, not much money.The monthly salary of migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta has only increased by 68 yuan in the past 12 years. 13.2% of migrant workers cannot make ends meet, and 63.2% have not saved much money. 52.4% of migrant workers work more than 8 hours a day.In order to make money, they can only rely on overtime.The report shows that 66.3% of the respondents work more than 8 hours a day, with an average daily working time of 10.18 hours.More than 50% of the migrant workers often work overtime, and the minimum overtime time is 1 hour and the maximum is 8 hours.More than 70% of the respondents did not have any rest days.Xie Zexian: Workers are very tired, work long hours, often work overtime, almost no Sunday.Without rest, machines will break down, let alone people.Tired easily distracted.

Zimo: How long do the injured workers in your survey usually work every day? Xie Zexian: 7 days a week, more than 12 hours a day. Zimo: This conflicts with the Labor Law. Xie Zexian: The "Labor Law" can't control it. Zimo: Is there no way for workers to protect their rights? Xie Zexian: If you don't do it, you can only leave.In fact, as long as you enter the factory, it is difficult to leave. The boss will not let you resign, and the factory will keep your money and ID card.For example, if you have worked for two months and he does not give you money, if you leave, the two months will be for nothing.Therefore, workers are also afraid that their hard-earned money will not be available.The factory owner is completely immoral and despicable from the perspective of his own interests.Now the labor-intensive enterprises in the entire Pearl River Delta are like revolving lanterns, unable to keep people. After more than 20 years of development, the Pearl River Delta region has not only failed to get rid of the development path of labor-intensive industries, but has also replicated the cruelty and bloodshed of the primitive accumulation period of capitalism to a certain extent.Coupled with the interest relationship between some government officials and investors, the living conditions of local migrant workers continue to deteriorate, and more and more migrant workers choose to abandon the Pearl River Delta. Since 2004, Guangdong's "shortage of migrant workers" has continued unabated, affecting the sustainable development of the local economy.Some scholars believe that the reason for this phenomenon lies in the absence of culture.Whether it is the corporate culture of the business owners, the protection of human rights by local officials, or the self-defense of workers, they all appear crude and short-sighted.People only recognize money, not anything else.The absence of culture has made the economic development of the Pearl River Delta a water without a source and a tree without roots.Zimo: What are the deep-seated reasons for the frequent work-related injuries?

Broken Finger: Pearl River Delta Work Report (2) Xie Zexian: The bosses of many small businesses in the Pearl River Delta region are farmers who have washed their feet and started farming. They have no experience in running factories or businesses, and their management quality is low.Workers themselves also have problems. The transition from rural youths to urban industrial workers is actually a very painful process.Without anyone to help him, relying on himself, relying on him to use his life, flesh and blood, and pain to complete such an unreasonable and tragic transformation, the price is very high.

Zimo: Now there is a view that in the process of rapid economic development and social transformation, some people will inevitably have to pay the price. Xie Zexian: Why migrant workers?Why doesn't everyone in the country pay?Why don't you pay, he should pay?Why does everyone turn a blind eye and think that this kind of dedication is justified?Why are there so few lawyers who litigate for workers?Less than 10% of the lawyers in the country litigate for the workers, and 90% of the lawyers went to fight for the rich, because the workers couldn't afford the money.Of course, the "workers" here are still in quotation marks. I call them "mud-collar workers". They are not even "blue-collar workers".I think using them as tools is not in line with the vision of a harmonious society.

Zimo: Can workers get medical treatment after being injured? Xie Zexian: According to my judgment, the vast majority of people have received basic medical treatment. Zimo: What is basic medical treatment? Xie Zexian: It is to send you to the hospital in time, then treat you, and then leave the hospital. Zimo: Who pays the medical expenses? Xie Zexian: If the company buys work-related injury insurance for workers, the insurance company will pay 70% of the medical expenses, and the boss will pay 30%.If you do not buy insurance, all costs are borne by the company itself. Zimo: If the boss doesn't pay, will the hospital treat them? Xie Zexian: Certainly not. Zimo: What should we do in this situation? Xie Zexian: I can only be discharged from the hospital.Individual industrial and commercial households and private enterprises had the most work-related accidents, accounting for 53.9 percent of the total. Taiwan-funded, Hong Kong-funded and other "three-to-one-subsidy" enterprises had the second highest rate of work-related injuries, accounting for 37 percent.In these enterprises with a high incidence of work-related injuries, more than 60% of the workers have not signed labor contracts, and more than 80% of the enterprises do not pay work-related injury insurance premiums for workers at all.Only 11% of the enterprises where the industrially injured have established a trade union.The vast majority of work-related injuries did not receive wages during the medical treatment period according to the regulations. Only 20.3% of the enterprises paid their wages normally, 16.4% of them reduced their wages, 24.5% of them did not pay their wages, and 38.5% did not know whether they had wages. .Zimo: Will workers sign a contract that protects against work-related injuries before going to work? Xie Zexian: More than 60% of them have no contracts.Even if the contract is signed, work-related injuries will not be involved, and the boss will avoid these issues. Zimo: Why do so many people start working without signing a contract? Xie Zexian: Mainly because of excess labor.A worker said to my face that the factory he works in recruits workers every day.Why?Because the boss is not afraid of not being able to recruit workers.He said that three-legged toads were hard to find, and two-legged workers were everywhere.The living conditions of workers are related to labor surplus.In this case, if there is no guarantee of social welfare, if social forces do not intervene, they will have no choice but to jump into the fire pit in order to survive, and their dignity cannot be guaranteed at all.China has become the country with the most serious industrial accidents in the world.Although a series of laws and regulations such as the "Occupational Disease Prevention Law", "Regulations on Work-related Injury Insurance", and "Measures for Work-related Injury Identification" have been promulgated one after another, judicial and law enforcement departments at all levels have intensified labor inspections, social welfare, charity relief, legal aid and other systems The system is becoming more and more perfect, but all these factors combined are far from forming a strong protection net that can truly protect the interests of workers.The fate of disabled workers is not only miserable, but helpless. The survey on "Can the injured get help and support from the outside world" shows that friends, fellow villagers, colleagues, and family members show a high degree of concern for the injured at work.In theory, the government that upholds social justice, the trade unions that uphold workers' rights, and the women's federations that uphold women workers' rights should theoretically be the strongest backing for workers injured at work. In fact, their concern is insufficient.No one or organization tells them what kind of rights and interests they should enjoy. Nearly 80% of the workers injured have no idea how to get the corresponding compensation after the injury.Many companies abandon those who are disabled due to work-related injuries as if they were shoes.Even if a small number of people try to resolve disputes through legal means, they face many specific problems such as difficulties in producing evidence for work-related injury identification, cumbersome conditions for applying for legal aid, and lengthy judicial procedures. The road to rights protection is difficult.Zimo: Has any work-related injury publicly demanded compensation? Xie Zexian: Yes, but as far as I know, the rate of public claims for compensation is not high, and the road of seeking compensation through legal channels is rarely feasible.Injured workers have no money, no self-confidence, no energy, and no time--it takes time to go to court, and there is a lack of legal information, where to go to seek justice, and who can take care of this matter.They themselves are in a crisis, and they have to handle the crisis on their own. Do they have the ability?Really taking up legal weapons requires a high cost, and he has to measure whether he has the ability and whether he can afford it.Although some lawsuits were won with great difficulty, the boss did not pay the money, making it even more difficult to enforce the law. Zimo: What kind of consequences will there be if there are so many work-related injuries? Xie Zexian: This involves the sustainable economic development of the entire country and enterprises.Because the root cause of work-related injuries is the unsustainable economic development model.Despite China's labor surplus, labor is also China's most valuable resource.It is more valuable than water, oil and other non-renewable resources.Man is a social animal that pursues value and meaning, and it is impossible for man to live alone without being separated from the group.This group is currently facing this situation, which will affect the survival of the entire population.The simple truth is that all wealth is created by people.If we don't cherish people, if we don't cherish people, what else can we cherish?The processing and manufacturing parks in the Pearl River Delta are booming.The hand surgery in hospitals of all sizes in the Pearl River Delta is also a busy scene.If you search for severed finger hospitals on the Internet, you can get nearly a thousand introductions, most of which are located in the Pearl River Delta.In fact, mainland hospitals also have hand surgery, but most of them are located in the orthopedics department, and it is extremely rare to have a separate department.In the Pearl River Delta, even hospitals in small towns have specialized hand surgery clinics.Although it is not the best in the country in terms of medical technology, it is the leader in the country in terms of clinical technology.The amount of diagnosis and treatment of hand trauma is too large, of course, the clinical experience is rich. In a hospital that is good at treating hand injuries, the wards, corridors, stairways...even the nurse's station are full of patients.It is said that the hospital treats an average of about 10 work-related injuries every day, and because of limited beds and medical expenses, the average hospitalization period for each work-related injury with finger transplantation or amputation is only two weeks. Xiao Wu, in his 20s, from Guizhou, had his left arm amputated in the hospital a week ago.Zimo: What kind of injury did you suffer? Xiao Wu: Electric injury.The steel bar accidentally got an electric shock, and I was injured by the electric shock. Zimo: Is the forearm completely amputated? Xiao Wu: It’s electric.There was also an injury on the leg, and the skin was cooked by electric shocks, and now it needs a skin graft to come back. Zimo: What kind of work do you do? Xiao Wu: Architecture. Zimo: Is it my own carelessness or other reasons for such an accident? Xiao Wu: I was not careful.I didn't know there was a high voltage line out there. Zimo: How long have you been doing this job? Xiao Wu: Two or three years. Zimo: Have you ever suffered a work-related injury before? Xiao Wu: Yes, I once fell from upstairs.The vast majority of work-related injuries are rural youths from all over the country.They entered the city with hope, but their hard work failed to change their fate, but they had to return to the countryside with their disabled bodies.The wheel of the times rolls forward, carrying the blood and tears of the disabled and weak.The problem of work-related injuries will not only affect the development of the local economy, but will sooner or later evolve into a problem of sustainable development in rural areas of other provinces, and become a problem of social security and social stability that cannot be underestimated.Rawls said: "Justice is the primary value of social institutions, just as truth is the primary value of ideological systems... Everyone has an inviolability based on justice. Nor can the name go beyond... justice does not recognize that the greater good enjoyed by the many more than adequately compensates the sacrifice imposed on the few." Zimo: Did the doctor tell you what will happen to your arms and legs? Xiao Wu: I said that I will wear a prosthetic hand in the future, and my legs may not be able to walk normally. Zimo: It must not work properly. Xiao Wu: It has become disabled. Zimo: Have you thought about what to do in your future life? Broken Finger: Pearl River Delta Work Report (3) Xiao Wu: I thought about it, take a step and take a step, anyway, eat when you have something to eat, and figure out what to do if you have nothing to eat. Zimo: If you don’t have the ability to earn money, who can you rely on? Xiao Wu: I rely on my parents. I don’t know who to rely on when they are gone. Zimo: How old are Mom and Dad? Xiao Wu: Over 60. Zimo: What do they do? Xiao Wu: Farming. Zimo: What did your parents say when you were injured? Xiao Wu: My father said that it is difficult for me to eat with my hands. Zimo Comments: Professor Zeng Feiyang of Sun Yat-sen University once estimated that there are about 30,000 work-related finger amputation accidents in the Pearl River Delta region every year, of which about 40,000 fingers are cut off by machines. 40,000 fingers is an astonishing number, which fully reflects that work-related injuries have become a common problem faced by enterprises in the Pearl River Delta, and the rapid development of GDP once covered up this serious social problem.I hope that the prosperous economic development of the Pearl River Delta region will no longer be at the expense of tens of thousands of migrant workers.