Chapter 6 Bitter Summer Jobs

Bitter Summer Jobs (1) They are not of legal working age, but they are engaged in super-intensive labor.Without a labor contract, there is no way to complain when rights and interests are violated.The working environment is harsh, and young girls in the prime of life end up on the road to hell after five days of working part-time.Dongguan, Guangdong, how many such summer jobs are there every year?Who sends students into factories?What kind of life did they experience while working? The Pearl River Delta region is one of the regions with the fastest economic growth in China, and with it comes a large local demand for labor.As a result, a huge group of underage student summer workers has gradually formed. They are active in factories and workshops, and enter factories with the purpose of exercising themselves or earning living expenses, but they often encounter excessive labor intensity, failure to sign labor contracts, and being banned. Intermediary company deception and other issues.Liang Xiaowen, who just turned 16, is one of them. On the evening of June 24, 2007, just after the junior high school graduation exam, Liang Xiaowen boarded the bus bound for Dongguan, Guangdong.She plans to use the summer vacation to work to save some tuition for her high school.This was her first time traveling far away, and she didn't mention the part-time job to anyone in the family.It was not until June 26, when she went to work in the plastic factory of Dongguan Pusheng Group Co., Ltd., that she called home.

Liang Ping (father of Liang Xiaowen): She told me about working in the factory.I said, why do you go to work at this age, and you don't have an ID card, and you are not old enough to work.She said, it doesn't matter, the school led the team, and there was a teacher there, reassuring me. Liang Xiaowen lives in Maoming City, Guangdong Province, and is a student of the city's No. 11 Middle School.His father, Liang Ping, was paralyzed due to an accident in 1996, and the family's financial situation took a sharp turn for the worse.The family's economy is supported by the more than 200 yuan earned by mother Tan Yuehua from doing odd jobs every month.Due to family difficulties, Liang Ping sent his daughter Liang Xiaowen to his brother's house for foster care, and only saw her daughter on weekends.

Liang Ping: She is very sensible and often comforts me at home.She asked her younger brother to study hard, saying that the family is poor, so you have to study hard to pass the university entrance exam. After I finish high school, I can pass the entrance examination and go to university. There are more than 20 classmates including Liang Chunmei and Liang Yuping who go out to work with Liang Xiaowen.They were all organized in a local school called "South China Mechanical and Electrical Engineering School".According to Liang Chunmei's recollection, when they entered the factory to work, "there was no training or notices, so we were allowed to go directly to the painting workshop."Liang Chunmei was assigned to clean machine parts and work the day shift.Liang Xiaowen and Liang Yuping are responsible for sanding and working night shifts.In less than a week, Liang Xiaowen caught a cold.

Liang Yuping: Once I saw her drink cold medicine.I asked her, why is your water yellow?She said, I have a cold. Reporter: Did she tell you that she wanted to take a break and ask for leave? Liang Yuping: She is very hardworking, I don't think she will ask for leave.Liang Xiaowen thought at first that she could survive.But within a few days, the cold worsened. She asked the monitor for leave, but was rejected.Liang Chunmei, who entered the factory with her, also fell ill at this time, and her request for leave was also rejected.Liang Chunmei said that there are many plastic products in the workshop where they work. "When I first entered, I felt very smelly and couldn't breathe." However, no one distributed masks and other labor protection tools to them, so they could only get used to it slowly.

Liang Chunmei: I told the monitor for the first time that I was sick and needed to see a doctor.He said he couldn't ask for leave.Do not grant me leave.On the third day, I couldn't bear it anymore and asked him for leave.He said, it’s okay to ask for leave, then you have to work overtime today, until 11 o’clock (in the evening), and there is no overtime pay. From the initial cold and fever until the night of July 7, Liang Xiaowen shrank into a ball and almost fainted beside the assembly line.The squad leader finally approved her to go to rest at this time.But Xiaowen's condition took a turn for the worse.The students found the teacher who led the team, Mr. Gong, and asked to see a doctor for Xiaowen. The answer they got was "no money".They had to call Xiaowen's family.Liang Ping: On July 9, her classmate called back and said that Xiaowen was seriously ill.At that time, my elder brother's two daughters were working in Dongguan, so I asked them to pick up Xiaowen from the factory.Liang Xiaowen was admitted to a hospital in Dongguan under the care of her family. During her hospitalization, she had a persistent high fever, and the hospital could not find out the cause.Liang Xiaowen's uncle Liang Sheng also rushed to Dongguan at this time.Because of the sudden incident, the Liang family was helpless in Dongguan and could not afford the expensive medical expenses.Liang Sheng thought that since people got sick in the factory, the factory should be held responsible.Zimo: How was Xiaowen sick then?

Liang Sheng: Quite badly, talking nonsense and having a high fever.Medical bills are high.I went to the factory and met the section chief, who said he was very sick.The head of the class said, this matter has nothing to do with us, you need to find the teacher.I found a teacher.The teacher also said that there is no way, there is no money.When Xiaowen was sick, no one said a word, and no one gave her money to treat her illness.Because they couldn't pay the admission fee, the Liang family had no choice but to take Liang Xiaowen, who was in a coma, from Dongguan to Maoming People's Hospital, more than 500 kilometers away, at 10:00 p.m. on July 18 overnight.After the doctor checked his condition, he issued a critical illness notice on the same day.At this time, Xiaowen's brain nerves have been burned out, and even if she can save her life, she will not be able to live normally in the future.Liang Ping: The last time I saw my daughter was before she got sick. She was studying for the exam and came back to me on Sunday.I chatted with her as usual and asked her to study carefully and pass the exam well.She never said that she wanted to work in that factory. At 3 o'clock in the morning on July 19, she was taken back to Maoming Hospital. The doctor took a look at her condition and issued a critical illness notice.Liang Ping said that her daughter has always been in good health and won prizes in school sports competitions.He couldn't figure out how his daughter could get sick after working in the factory for a few days, and she couldn't afford to get sick.However, from the mouths of his classmates who went to work together, Liang Ping learned how harsh working conditions and super-intensive labor his daughter had experienced in the factory.Liang Ping: I work 11 hours a day, sometimes 12 hours, and there are night shifts.This kind of intensity is unbearable for adults, let alone children.A 16-year-old girl, whose body is not yet mature, certainly cannot bear this kind of overtime work.

Liang Chunmei: You have to stand to operate. The running water table is as high as your waist. You can't sit. You have to stand to work. It's very hard, and the soles of your feet are hard.When I went back at night, I often slept until midnight with leg cramps, which were very severe.Those students in our dormitory slept until midnight and shouted "Help", the soles of their feet were sore, hard and cramped.If you can wake up the classmate in the same bed, she will rub it for you. If she is too sleepy to wake up, you can shout and cry by yourself, because your legs and feet are all stiff when you have cramps, and you can’t move, it hurts.Liang Chunmei works the day shift, working from 8 am to 8 pm every day.Liang Xiaowen works the night shift, which is harder than the day shift.

According to the students, the day shift and night shift work hours are: Day shift time: 8:00 to 11:20, 11:50 to 16:45, 17:45 to 20:20. Night shift hours: 20:20 to 23:20, 24:00 to 3:00, 3:20 to 8:00. The two breaks and meals in the middle add up to one and a half hours.Calculated in this way, the students work about 11 hours a day.Working under such a labor intensity every day, the students not only cannot guarantee enough rest time, but the diet provided by the factory is not enough to support their physical strength.Liang Chunmei: I have a short break at 11 o'clock and a short rest at 3 o'clock.When resting, those who drink water drink water, those who go to the toilet go to the toilet, and the others sit on the ground.Because there are no stools, everyone has been standing while working, very tired, and sits on the ground when resting.The night shift is even harder, you have to stay up late, and you can't sleep when you are sleepy.On my second day on the night shift, I was scolded by the supervisor after sleeping there.Meals are three dishes and one soup every day, as well as rice.Almost every day I eat vegetarian food, only vegetables.Sometimes the meat is fried with vegetables, but when it is served to us, sometimes there is meat, sometimes there is no meat.We couldn't get enough at first because the rice was hard and the dishes were very spicy, but then we got used to it.However, we usually don't eat too much of the meals.We poured out half of the food scooped to us, and then drank porridge or soup.Worst of all is the harsh working environment.Liang Ping suspected that it was the harmful gas produced at work that made Xiaowen sick.Because the students who went to work together generally felt unwell physically, Xiaowen was not the only one who fell ill.

Liang Ping: It must be caused by paint and thinner, which are harmful to the human body.She does sanding, not painting, but actually uses a spray gun, so there must be pollution. Liang Chunmei: After I started this job, I got some diseases related to the respiratory tract, such as bronchitis, cough and so on.It was a cold before, and then one day it rained and the clothes were wet, so I used that (airbrush) to blow the clothes, and I started to feel uncomfortable at noon. Liang Yuping: I feel dizzy even when I’m sitting, and sometimes my head hurts.One week after switching to day shift.The classmates who worked part-time together were a little sick, and another girl who worked the night shift in the dormitory also had a fever. She couldn't get better after seeing a doctor, so she stopped working and went home.Some boys also had a cold.In addition to overtime work, poor living conditions, and polluted working environment, students' wages and overtime pay are far below market rates.According to the "Labor Law" and the minimum wage standard in Dongguan, the hourly wage should be at least 4.12 yuan.Overtime should be 150% of regular wages, weekend overtime should be twice as much.However, these regulations are not extravagant for summer workers.Liang Chunmei: I worked there for 23 days and received 714 yuan.They charge like this, 3 yuan per hour, plus overtime, 3.75 yuan per hour.We work 8 hours a day on regular shift, and overtime depends on the situation. Some workshops have 3 hours, some 4 hours, and some 5 hours, depending on the situation.There is no rest day, some workshops will be closed, some workshops will not be closed, our workshop has never closed, and Saturdays and Sundays are the same as usual.We also want to take a break, but our output is not enough, so we can't rest. Only when others' output exceeds, can we rest.We watch others rest while we work hard there.

Bitter Summer Jobs (2) Reporter: Is it cheaper to hire students than skilled workers? Liao Xianwen (Director of the Administration Section of the Pusheng Group Factory): Cheap?How to put it, it will not be cheap, and it is about the same.However, when the students came here, it happened to be the peak season for many factories. After the off-season, the factories had to reduce their staff. The student workers were only a supplement.The cheap summer workers worked day and night to ensure the rapid growth of the factory's profits. The South China Mechanical and Electrical Engineering School also took the initiative to find the company's needs and organized students to work collectively.However, South China Mechanical and Electrical Engineering School is not a formal school, but a labor agency.It claims that the South China Mechanical and Electrical Engineering School is the "China Die and Mold Industry Association Education and Training Base", and has opened eight majors, including mechanical molds and mold fitters. However, when the reporter went to the school according to the address on the business card, he found that there was only a closed gate In the office, the sign reads "Maoming City Maonan Electromechanical Vocational School".The Maonan District Labor Bureau said that although the school had registered with the labor department, it had not reported to the authorities for approval to recruit summer workers from other schools.This practice is a violation.Liang Ping: The school is not false if it says it is false, and it is false if it says it is true.how to say?That school is registered in Maonan District, but the school has an office, no campus, only an office.It is said that it is a technical school, but it does not teach the students any skills at all. It just takes the students to work in the factory. Once the students are recruited, they are taken to the factory to work.By organizing students to work in factories, the South China Mechanical and Electrical Engineering School, as an intermediary organization, gained huge benefits from it.It is understood that the local intermediary fee for introducing part-time jobs is generally between 80 yuan and 100 yuan per person. In addition to collecting management fees from the factory, the teachers who lead the team also charge intermediary fees from the students, and even the wages earned by the students have to be led in the end The teacher deducts part of it.Reporter: How did you get in touch with the leading teacher?

Liao Xianwen: No (contact), we don't have time to find them, they usually come to our door in April, May and June every year.Generally, we will believe those (student workers) brought in by school teachers.They are not the kind of black workers, they are all allowed by their parents, and they will not be the kind of human trafficking.If they have legal documents, such as a business license issued by the labor department, we are OK.It is impossible to check it again. I don’t think any (enterprise) can do it.The teacher has to pay the management fee. He is responsible for the daily life of the students and handles student-related procedures in a centralized manner. Students have to ask for leave and negotiate with him if they have problems. This kind of management fee is 800 yuan a month for a teacher. Liang Chunmei: At the beginning, we only knew that we were going to an electronics factory in Shenzhen.On the night I went, I changed the location again, saying that I was going to Dongguan.We all said, is this a lie?Some classmates don't believe them.Later, the teacher who led the team said that if you go to Dongguan, the introduction fee of 100 yuan that you had to pay before is now changed to 80 yuan.However, the introduction fee was reduced by 20 yuan, and the fare was increased by 5 yuan, making it 85 yuan.A total of 165 yuan was paid.As for our salary, I heard a lot of rumors when I went there, saying that the board fee may be deducted. If the board fee is not deducted, the 75 cents of the overtime pay will be given to the teacher, and the overtime pay is the same as the regular shift pay, which is also 3 yuan. money.Later I asked the teacher, how much is our guaranteed salary?The teacher said that we didn't have a guaranteed minimum wage, and it was paid directly by the factory.When we went there, the teacher told us that we were paid 824 yuan a month, but when we arrived at the factory, the billing of wages changed again.We didn't sign the contract either. The principal signed it for us. The teacher said that he had no chance to read the contract. Only the principal and the factory leaders knew about the contract. Not only do they have no labor contracts, but some migrant students are even under the age of 16, which constitutes "child labor" that violates national labor laws and regulations. On August 9, the labor department in Dongguan found in an inspection that 34 companies in the city had recruited more than 2,000 student summer workers, of which 16 companies had hired 38 child laborers under the age of 16.Liang Chunmei, who works with Liang Xiaowen, is one of them.After Liang Xiaowen fell ill, the factory suddenly dismissed several students under the age of 16 in one day.Reporter: When you hired these students, did you know their actual age? Liao Xianwen: The actual age, I probably read all of them.Generally, a copy of the household registration book is taken, because anyone can apply for an ID card, and it is troublesome for many people to change to a second-generation ID card. Liang Chunmei: The date of birth in my household registration book is November 27, 1991.I heard that only those born before July can go, but I cannot go if I am born in November.Later, my classmate took my household registration book to the photo studio to change it, and removed the "1" from "11", so that I can go.After Xiaowen's accident, a lawyer approached us. When the factory found out, they checked our ages and wanted to send us back.We said we didn't want to go back because we couldn't bear these students.The teacher said, if you don't go back, you will be fined 100,000 yuan by the labor bureau if you don't go back, then the teacher will not protect you.He told us so.I said I was going to call home and he said no.I said I wanted to say "goodbye" to my classmates, but he refused.He told us not to reveal a little bit of wind, otherwise we will be responsible for what happened.Later, I went back to the dormitory and cried, hugging my classmates and crying. Just as I was about to say something, the teacher stood at the door and looked at me, saying, stop talking and pack your luggage quickly. I'm going to squat on the side of the street.We were in a bad mood and confused, so we were sent back by him just like that.Compared with Xiaowen, these children who were sent back are lucky - they are still alive. On July 27, Maoming People's Hospital announced the death of Liang Xiaowen.The medical certificate read: viral encephalitis, respiratory paralysis, pneumonia.From being admitted to the hospital on July 10 to her death on July 27, 16-year-old Xiaowen barely uttered a word in the last 17 days of her life.The only thing she said to her mother who called her name over and over again in front of the hospital bed was: "Mom, would you like to borrow money to let me study?" One month after Xiaowen's death, Liang Ping helped her daughter receive a junior high school diploma and a salary of 135 yuan from part-time jobs.Although the Liang family could not accept the fact that their daughter died suddenly, after several negotiations, they finally agreed to reach a private settlement with the school and the factory, and stopped the legal process.Liang Xiaowen's classmates, Liang Chunmei and Liang Yuping, learned an unforgettable lesson from the accidental death of their companions.Liang Yuping: At our age, if we do summer jobs, some people can stand it, and some people can't.After all, he is a student. If he works night shift, he will definitely not be able to withstand it.Although the family is poor, at least there are parents who care for them. When I get there, I have no relatives, and I feel very uncomfortable. Liang Chunmei: It’s a bit scary, but it’s good to go through it once, you can gain experience, life will inevitably have many twists and turns, and you have to be optimistic before going to work in the future. Zimo Comments: The demand from factories has created a huge summer job market. The disadvantaged situation and weak legal awareness of summer jobs have given opportunities to intermediary agencies under the banner of schools.At first glance, companies, agencies, and summer workers all seem to have got what they want. However, once the relationship of interests is hit, summer workers are undoubtedly the biggest victims, because they do not have anything in their hands that can be compared with the other two. The only resource they can contend with is their own health and life.