Lei Xiangping

    lagon235@163.com

    AS the Spring Festival draws near, a large number of migrant workers demanding their employers pay back wages might face a long-existing problem: employers may refuse their demand with the seemingly valid excuse that their companies are losing money and are cash-strapped due to the economy downturn.

    In January, several cases of wage arrears with this excuse were exposed. In Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, a shoemaker owed his workers over 140,000 yuan (US$21,290) after not paying wages for nearly half a year. The boss refused to pay until he was sued by his workers and eventually given an administrative punishment order, according to Zhejiang Workers’ Daily.

    In Nanchang, a government investigation found that in Jiangxi Province more than 14,800 workers from over 200 companies were owed back wages totaling 200 million yuan, according to Jiangxi Provincial TV & Radio Station.

    These cases echo a January remark by Wang Xiaofeng, the spokesperson for the All-China Federation of Labor, an organization that protects workers’ rights and interests. Wang said that because of the economic downturn pressure and production overcapacity crisis, the problem of wage arrears has worsened in some areas and spread from the construction industry to manufacturing and mining industries, causing the number and amount of unpaid wages to rise.

    As China enters the New Normal, meaning growth depends more on innovation and technology than natural resources and cheap labor, many enterprises, especially in the manufacturing industry, are facing increasing burdens and difficulties for survival, let alone making profits. Hence, economic downturn pressure becomes a seemingly plausible pretext for them to delay to pay or avoid paying wages.

    For these enterprises, wage arrears are possibly inevitable, but economic transformation can’t be an excuse for them to waive their responsibility of paying wages. Even if paying wages means causing these companies to go bankrupt, they still have to bear the responsibility.

    Lamentably, there are even some local governments trying to protect companies that deliberately default wages to keep from going bankrupt on the grounds of fueling growth and keeping jobs. But when a company can’t survive the fierce competition, they can’t supply good-quality employment either; when a company considers money more important than its responsibility and credibility, there is no need to save it at all.

    However, to solve the problem of wage arrears properly, the government may have to take economic pressure into account. Except for the aforementioned companies that deliberately default on wages, there are companies that have good potential but lack adequate money for paying wages for the time being. Local governments should extend their “tangible hands” to them and encourage banks to make loans to them.

    The government should also respond to growing calls for tax reduction, which will greatly relieve the burdens of enterprises.

    Actually, to curb wage arrears, the government since 2002 has issued dozens of measures by either holding companies maliciously defaulting wages accountable or providing legal assistance for workers to facilitate lawsuits for workers to get their wages. The latest measure by the State Council stipulating that companies hiring migrant workers should pay wages with a designated bank account in which labors’ salary must be reserved in advance is also an innovative one to guarantee workers’ wages to be paid on time.

    The government should continue to implement policies and strike a good balance between severely punishing those who deliberately default on wages and supporting companies that might shape the future but lack money for the time being.

    (The author is a News Desk editor with China Radio International.)