Cars go up, workers go down｜Labor Newsletter #40

This article is reprinted from Labor Newsletter, original text: https://newsletter.laborinfocn.com/issue40/

01 This issue focuses on cars going up to the sky and workers falling to the ground

In recent years, driverless cars, new energy vehicles, and smart cars have repeatedly caused heated discussions on the Internet. In the wave of car manufacturing that is "coming in the future", the actual working conditions in the smart car industry are no different from those in other "big factories". On April 9, the boss of Zhiji Auto proudly announced at the press conference that employees did not enjoy sick leave and the work intensity was so high that they had no time to take care of their families. Afterwards, Zhiji and its parent company, SAIC Motor, not only used the topic to compete for traffic, but also argued that "overtime is not encouraged, nor is everyone's passion for car manufacturing prevented." This attitude of taking the exploitation of employees for granted ignited the anger of workers ( Source 1 , Source 2 ).

The working conditions of Zhiji employees are a continuation of the working conditions of traditional manufacturing workers. SAIC’s official report once claimed that nearly 140,000 workers in SAIC’s Shanghai factory alone still worked overtime during the holidays ( source ); the “Zhihu” platform also mentioned that SAIC cut salaries and laid off employees, forced overtime, all employees worked 996, and still worked overtime until 10:30 pm on Saturdays ( source 1 , source 2 ).

New energy vehicle workers

Zhiji Auto is not an isolated case in the new energy vehicle industry in terms of exploiting employees. In April 2023, NIO, a new energy vehicle company that had received government investment support, was exposed to have employees working overtime for 500 hours in half a year, which far exceeded the legal overtime hours. Some employees even went to the emergency room many times during overtime. However, when the employee reported the overtime problem to the human resources department, the response he received was "voluntary overtime" and "even if you take legal action, you will not win." In addition, NIO also stated that "overtime is common in the industry" ( Source 1 , Source 2 ). According to a statistic from the Internet, it is normal for new energy vehicle companies to work overtime for 70-100 hours per month. In the comments, some people also said that the statistics actually underestimated the overtime hours ( source ).

In recent months, BYD employees have repeatedly claimed that the company has implemented the "last elimination system 2.0", which means that the performance wages of the bottom 10% of employees in each quarter are reduced by 36%, forcing the bottom employees to resign in disguise ( source ). In a post asking about BYD's work situation, many netizens said that BYD is closely monitoring employees, increasing working hours, and even punishing those who do not work overtime:

"Hurry up and run. The camera is watching the screen. The camera has a timing function. If you are away from your workstation for more than 15 minutes, you will be punished. Then you will have to bear the quota. If someone reports that you have been away from your workstation for more than 15 minutes, you will also have to bear the quota. The countdown of overtime is also against the quota."

From expansion to layoffs

In 2018, Musk used a heavy rocket to send a Tesla car called Roadster into space, and the growth rate of the new energy vehicle market has also been unstoppable. The huge market demand and government subsidies have stimulated the keen sense of smell of capital, and new energy vehicles have become a hot spot for investment. There were 478 new energy vehicle companies in China, but now only more than 40 are able to operate normally, which shows the fierce market competition. ( Source )

HiPhi Auto has cancelled employee benefits since January and only pays the minimum wage to force all employees to leave. The compensation for previously laid-off employees cannot be paid. Nezha Auto has defaulted on the wages of grassroots employees, and the company's boss arrogantly said that "some employees are not used to hard times." SAIC Feifan's employees will be laid off by 70%, and those who have not been laid off will also face salary cuts. Youyao Auto refuses to pay wages, lays off employees on a large scale, and even pregnant employees are not spared. In April, Tesla laid off 10% of its employees worldwide, affecting nearly 15,000 employees, and some departments in China laid off as much as 50%. Not only that, Tesla unilaterally broke the contract with all domestic spring recruits. The act of breaking the contract at the end of the school recruitment period will undoubtedly put job seekers in a dilemma ( Source 1 , Source 2 , Source 3 , Source 4 , Source 5 ).

In the battle for profits among enterprises, the workers are the ones who suffer the most. In the early stages of competition, workers are often attracted by high salaries to ensure the output of new energy vehicles, i.e. commodities; after workers enter the production stage, enterprises use overtime and "PUA" to squeeze them dry; as competition becomes fierce and profits dry up, enterprises use the last-place elimination and layoffs to ease operational difficulties. This capitalist production process is ongoing, and Tesla cars in space are still flying. It is reported that it has flown over the orbit of Mars and may return to Earth in 10 million years; and those workers who participated in the production and launch of Tesla will be unemployed this year.

02
Worker dynamics

—— Factory site ——

A school in Yunnan forced more than 100 students to work in a factory and withheld their wages

On April 11, a person who claimed to be the person in charge of the factory where the incident occurred broke the news that Yunnan New Southwest Technical School sent more than 100 students to the factory to engage in assembly line work unrelated to their majors. Most of the students were underage and worked 11 hours a day, most of whom were standing shifts. The factory paid 23 yuan per hour, but the school only paid 14 yuan per hour to the students, and the remaining 9 yuan was deducted as profit. In addition, the school claimed that if students refused to enter the factory, their graduation certificates would be withheld, so most students were forced to accept it for the sake of their studies. According to an investigation by a reporter from the Political and Legal Channel, similar situations have been existing for nearly a year. Read the original text

China Railway No. 5 Engineering Group was fined 15,000 yuan for failing to pay wages to migrant workers

On April 7, China Railway No. 5 Engineering Group Co., Ltd. was fined 15,000 yuan for failing to pay the wages owed to migrant workers as required and failing to rectify the situation in accordance with the "Deadline for Rectification". According to the administrative penalty decision, China Railway No. 5 Engineering Group Co., Ltd. failed to open and use a special account for migrant workers' wages in accordance with regulations, violating Articles 50 and 101 of the Labor Law of the People's Republic of China and Articles 26 and 28 of the Regulations on Guaranteeing the Payment of Migrant Workers' Wages. Read the original article

—— Service Industry ——

A 71-year-old cleaner in Dalian was reprimanded and fired, and hanged himself in the office a week later

In early April, a 71-year-old cleaner in Dalian was fired by Xinshunda Property Management. A week later, on April 10, he hanged himself in the property management office. The son of the deceased said that his father was fired because he did not sweep the floor well. When the cleaner died, he had three suicide notes with him. One of the notes read: I was forced to do this because of you. Manager and squad leader, you are not human. After the incident, the property management company was willing to pay 10,000 yuan, but the family just wanted justice. On the 15th, the manager of Xinshunda Property Management said that he was fired because he did not do a good job, and it was impossible for him to get much compensation if he hanged himself a week later. Read the original article

Didi drivers in Hubei try to call for suspension of service and break through platform control

In early April, online ride-hailing drivers in many places in Hubei Province attempted to launch collective actions. Some drivers switched to Gaode, mainly targeting Didi's high commissions and exploitation of drivers. Around April 12, Xiangyang online ride-hailing drivers formed a rights protection group and made four major demands to Didi, including raising unit prices, reducing commissions, closing self-selected orders, and the platform should be responsible for issuing coupons to passengers. However, these voices about suspending operations and criticizing Didi were suppressed by the platform company and security departments, and were blocked on social media platforms. Ironically, when drivers complained to the national department about Didi's low fares, they only received the answer "there will be no clear results", but Didi's complaint about drivers' strike was very smooth. Read the original text

Shandong Lao Feng Xiang store punishes employees by making them squat in the street

On April 17, a netizen in Dezhou, Shandong Province, broke the news that a local Lao Feng Xiang store punished employees by making them squat at the door of the store because they failed to meet sales targets. According to Jiupai News, Lao Feng Xiang store staff claimed that in order to improve employee enthusiasm, there are usually some corresponding reward and punishment measures. Henan Zejin Law Firm mentioned that the store's use of outdoor corporal punishment on employees violated Article 96 of the Labor Law of the People's Republic of China. It is illegal for employers to insult, corporally punish, beat, illegally search, and detain workers. Read the original article

-- white collar--

The case of a female lawyer who was charged for seeking salary was reopened: the defense lawyer was taken away from the court, and the defendant was suddenly arrested before the verdict

On April 18, the first trial of Shandong lawyer Gao Bingfang, who was charged with false litigation for representing a "migrant worker wage claim case," was reopened. Gao Bingfang was suddenly arrested by the court a few days ago. On the day of the trial, Gao Bingfang's defense lawyer Zhang Xinnian was forcibly escorted out of the court for raising procedural objections. The court was also accused of "restricting audiences in disguise" and "forcing the trial." After the trial, Gao Bingfang's defense lawyer stated that the presiding judge of the case illegally deprived the defense lawyer of the right to defend, and illegally changed the compulsory measures against the defendant Gao Bingfang, "The trial was just a formality." In the past five years, the Daiyue District Procuratorate has repeatedly revoked the effective legal judgments in this case. As of the end of 2023, more than 70 judgments have been identified as false litigation. Related Reading 1 Related Reading 2

More than 40 nurses from public hospitals were dismissed without reason

On April 12, Hohhot Stomatological Hospital, a public tertiary hospital, dismissed more than 40 nurses without reason. The hospital's response revealed that these 40 nurses were introduced through labor dispatch, and they signed a labor dispatch contract with Inner Mongolia Lidu Property. Therefore, the hospital did not sign a formal contract with the nurses or pay insurance. The nurses' labor contracts, salary payments, insurance, resignation contracts and other benefits are all covered by the property company. In fact, personnel costs are not the core pressure for hospitals to dismiss nurses. The over-expansion development model of public hospitals and the gray chain of interest transfer have not only wasted medical resources, but also increased the burden on medical insurance funds and patients. Read the original text

Youyao Automobile was reported to have falsified sales, laid off employees and withheld wages

On April 9, the new energy brand Youyao Automobile stated in a "Letter to Shareholders" published on its official WeChat account that Chairman Lu Di and Chief Financial Officer He Jianghao were suspected of fabricating sales, concealing the truth, making wrong decisions, and chaotic management in the company's operations. Among them, the "Letter to Shareholders" mentioned that the management stopped paying salaries to all employees without reason and violently laid off the Shanghai company. In January, the company began the first round of layoffs this year and cut salaries for middle-level managers; the second round of layoffs was launched at the end of February; on March 8, the company stopped paying February wages, and compensation for employees in the previous two rounds of layoffs was also stopped. On March 18, the management instructed HR to lay off the global sales, operations, marketing and financial teams in Shanghai as a whole. This behavior was not communicated in advance, and no compensation plan was given to employees. Read the original text

03
Depth and Comments

I. Xinxin Newspaper: She stands among the rubble, a city that cannot blend in

When talking about construction sites, people intuitively think of migrant workers, and then think of male workers wearing yellow safety helmets under the scorching sun. Missing from this group is the large group of women on construction sites. Compared with electronics factories, the wages on construction sites are higher and more tiring. It is normal to get off work at 11:30 when rushing to work and go back to work at 5:30 the next day. There is less discipline and less support from peers. In male-dominated workplaces, women can only engage in despised jobs such as driving elevators and tower crane commanders. Construction sites are not an ideal career for them, but just the best choice out of helplessness. This series of articles has a total of 2 articles, interviewing 4 construction site tower crane commanders and 2 elevator drivers. Their stories are difficult to summarize and are worth reading carefully: Read original text 1 Read original text 2

II. Ya-Wen Lei: Conveying solidarity, platform architecture and collective disputes under the platform economy

Meituan and Ele.me both operate two labor models, dedicated delivery and crowdsourcing. This article analyzes worker dissatisfaction under the two labor models: Dedicated delivery riders are directly managed and controlled by the stationmasters of the service stations, so their dissatisfaction is generally directed at the service stations, and they try to resolve disputes through legal or institutional frameworks. The purpose of crowdsourcing platforms is to provide the platform with flexible labor. Crowdsourcing riders do not have fixed working hours or locations, and their income depends entirely on themselves. They directly sign unequal labor contracts with the platform, the labor relationship is unclear, and their contact with managers is limited. Crowdsourcing riders do not have legal or institutional rights protection channels to resolve disputes, so their dissatisfaction is often directed at the platform, and they are more likely to organize large-scale strikes and protests. Read the original article

III. Characters: An irrevocable courier complaint

Consumers may click the "Not Received" button on their mobile phones due to accidental touch or unfamiliarity with the function. This button is a complaint to the express delivery system. The courier who is complained about will be fined 50-200 yuan. Consumers also feel guilty and try to appeal to help resolve the complaint. Unexpectedly, reporting problems through normal channels will only lead to the courier being fined more times. The system design of express delivery companies does not care about fairness. They only want to give consumers immediate feedback in the fierce competition, so all abnormal conditions are quantified into fines, which are borne by the couriers. This system called "automatic complaints" is also designed to reduce customer service labor costs. Who is hiding behind the system and enslaving the workers? Read the original text

IV. Fir: The abandoned “mom worker” on the AI ​​labeling assembly line

"The AI ​​trainer who came out of the mountains" was once an inspirational story that the mainstream media liked to talk about. However, this inspirational story went the other way in reality. Female labelers in remote areas taught AI, but hurt their eyes and were gradually abandoned. It was not AI technology that abandoned them, but the management model of Internet giants. Under the industrial logic of increasing competition, older female workers are disliked for their slow speed, insulted, assigned difficult tasks, and then have their wages deducted and used as propaganda tools. They are suppressed not because they can't keep up with the development of AI technology, but because they have no other way to go, so they become the most "obedient" workers in the eyes of employers. Read the original text

V. Southern Metropolis Daily: Invisible overtime in 64 judgments: How to ensure workers’ right to rest in the digital age?

Replying to messages in the work group on rest days and preparing work materials on the computer at home have become the norm for many office workers. After the epidemic, many companies have carried out remote digital office work, and the boundary between workers' work and private life has been further blurred. In labor dispute cases, "invisible overtime" is often difficult to obtain legal support. According to statistics, more than 80% of the 64 relevant judgments did not support the fact of overtime. During the two sessions, some representatives proposed that workers' "right to offline rest" should be protected. However, in judicial practice, it is difficult to prove "continuous occupation of time" and "providing substantive work" has become a stumbling block for workers. Read the original text

VI. Young Lab: Where are the futures for older migrant workers?

According to statistics, 29.2% of migrant workers are over 50 years old. Many migrant workers do not have pension insurance and will face the risk of no security after retirement. They have reached retirement age, but have to find a job to support their expenses. The article describes in detail the difficulties that older farmers face in finding jobs after years of traveling back and forth between their hometowns and first-tier cities. Older migrant workers who lack academic backgrounds find it difficult to find work in the labor market. Without social security and hard to find a job, many older migrant workers can only choose to "work until they can't work anymore." Read the original article

VII. Sanlian Life Weekly: Bus out of control causes 3 deaths and 7 injuries. Under the cost reduction and efficiency improvement, the overworked middle-aged driver

On April 8, a bus in Nanchang lost control, killing three and injuring seven. According to the investigation, the driver suffered a sudden heart attack and lost consciousness that day, which led to the tragedy. The bus company was in difficulty and cut staff and salaries to save operating costs. In order to continue to pay the five social insurances, middle-aged drivers who were about to retire in a few years took a pay cut to stay on the job. The work was intense, the salary was low, and there were occupational diseases caused by long hours of driving. Behind this accidental accident are the hidden dangers accumulated by countless tired bus drivers over a long period of time. Read the original article

04
Investigation and Reporting

1. Chuanhua Charity Foundation Public Welfare Research Institute: "China Truck Driver Survey Report"

2. 58.com: Big Data on Talent Flow in the First Quarter

3. Zhaopin.com: "Hotspot Report on the Talent Market in the First Quarter of 2024"

4. Zhaopin.com: China Pharmaceutical Industry Talent Development Report

5. MyCOS Research Institute: "Blue Book on Tracking and Evaluation of the Quality of College Graduate Training in China 2018-2022"

05 Labor Movement Talks about the April 5th Movement

Starting in mid-March 1976, protests began to emerge in cities such as Nanjing, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, and Beijing. They linked the issue directly to the top leadership of the Party, especially the outspoken criticism of the Gang of Four, and even Mao himself. Activists in multiple cities connected by smearing slogans on trains with tar and planned to hold a mass rally on April 5 to commemorate Zhou Enlai [Note 1].

As the Qingming Festival approached, more and more Beijing citizens violated the city government's ban on mourning Zhou Enlai and flocked to Tiananmen Square to place wreaths, post big-character posters and make speeches. The protests reached their peak from April 3 to 5, during which time about two million people gathered there.[Note 2]

The factional composition of the participants in this movement was complex. The former Red Guards formed a short-lived "cooperative relationship" among the worker rebels, conservatives, and old cadres who did not want the Gang of Four to take over. [Note 3] The workers' opposition to the Gang of Four, like the rebel workers' attack on old cadres in 1966-1968, was a struggle against the bureaucratic autocracy that emerged in the production workshops and within the party. Although the grassroots struggle forces were fundamentally weakened by the repression in 1969-1971, the workers were still able to use the experience of large-scale collective movements, organize themselves in their work units, and launch a bottom-up movement. This was not just a factional struggle of the "two lines" presented by the top leaders or liberals in the party. [Note 4]

On April 5, the movement was quickly suppressed. However, against the backdrop of the Gang of Four’s suppression of workers’ material demands and resolute repression of workers’ actions, strikes, slowdowns, or absenteeism continued to occur in several cities, indicating the complete loss of its popular support.[Note 5]

After Mao’s death in September 1976, the Gang of Four was quickly overthrown. Although most workers did not directly express their support for Deng Xiaoping and others, the movement led to Deng’s return to the Party Central Committee in July 1977. Ironically, the April 5th Movement was presented by Deng and others as a revolutionary heroic event in which the masses spontaneously organized to support Deng and the late Zhou against the Gang of Four [Note 6], thus distorting it into a denial of the mass movement of 1966-1968, covering up the continuity of the two movements in terms of ideology and action [Note 7].

For the notes to this article and the content before the Labor Movement Talk, please refer to " Notes on the History of Chinese Workers after Reform and Opening Up "

06
Law and rights protection

Verdict 1: A female cleaning worker died from overwork after working for 10 consecutive days. The company was ordered to pay 280,000 yuan in compensation

This is a sad verdict. On the one hand, cleaning lady Aunt Li passed away after working 10 consecutive days, 12 hours a day. Cleaning ladies have been living under high-intensity labor for a long time, and have to endure illness, but no one in the company can provide help. When Aunt Li collapsed, the company's first reaction was to contact her family to deal with it instead of calling an ambulance. On the other hand, even though the court also determined that the cause of Aunt Li's death - hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage - was related to overwork, the judgment only required the company to compensate a small part, which was far lower than the 1.4 million yuan requested by the family. On what evidence did the appraisal agency give an opinion on the proportion of inducement? Whether the evidence they referred to came entirely from the company and whether it truly reflected the workers' working conditions are questionable. Read the original text

Verdict 2: Security guard was fired for taking a 16-minute nap during an 18-hour workday and was awarded compensation

The second judgment in this issue is also related to working hours. A security guard over 60 years old in Qingyuan City, Guangdong Province was fired by the company for seriously violating company rules and regulations - dozing off for 16 minutes. However, by retrieving the work records, it was found that the security guard dozed off at three in the morning. His work spanned two days of morning and evening shifts. He only rested for six hours in 24 hours, and had to be on duty the rest of the time. Such work intensity has exceeded the limits of the human body, but the company still wants to hold the security guard responsible for dozing off, and the court can't stand it. But then again, is the company that arranges such a perverted schedule for the security guard also seriously violating the labor law? Is it eligible to be fined or fired? Read the original text

Guide: What should I do if my labor arbitration case is referred to mediation?

After applying for arbitration, many workers will be "invited" by the arbitrator to communicate alone, which is called "mediation". In order to make the mediation successful, the arbitrator will use various "coercion and inducement" to the workers to make them give a "suitable" price. However, this situation is very unfavorable for workers. This guide analyzes the mentality of the arbitrators during the mediation process and provides methods for workers on how to negotiate to get a good price. The article also emphasizes that technology is secondary, and the most important thing is to prepare yourself mentally to avoid being led by the nose in the mediation. Read the original text

07
Resource Recommendations

Website: Anzhikang

Anzhikang Information Consulting Center was once a worker service organization in Guangdong, specializing in collecting and organizing knowledge related to occupational diseases and serving victimized workers. Although Anzhikang is no longer actively operating, in the past ten years, the Anzhikang website has collected and organized a large amount of knowledge on occupational disease prevention, regulations, identification, cases, etc. Occupational disease is a complex field. Differences in various industrial labor environments will cause different occupational diseases, and the injuries caused by various chemical substances are also different. If sick workers encounter problems and want to appeal and seek compensation, they have to face a complex bureaucratic system. In the past, this knowledge was scattered in various professional fields. Anzhikang has lowered the threshold as much as possible so that workers can also learn this knowledge. For now, the content on the website is not outdated. On the one hand, they can serve as a starting point for understanding occupational diseases, and on the other hand, they can also understand the historical trajectory of Chinese workers with occupational diseases. Website Archive

08
Photo Story

Recently, some netizens revealed that the number of online submissions to the Shenzhen Labor Arbitration Committee has reached the upper limit, and the "circuit breaker" mechanism has been activated.

An Ele.me deliveryman posted a message saying that he was unable to take orders because of a bad review. After posting a video complaint, he found that his deliveryman account was no longer usable.

08
Labor Fiction

"Children nowadays don't dare to make mistakes, and society won't tolerate them making mistakes either." Huang Deng said that this is exactly what she has observed about young people in recent years. "Children nowadays work very hard and try their best to settle down, but it is very difficult for them to settle down. Unlike us when we were ignorant and confused, as long as you follow the rules, the tide will push you forward. For example, if you want to get married, buying a house is cheap, anyway, your salary can afford it, as long as you are not picky... You will feel that young people nowadays seem to have many ropes on their bodies, a rope here, a rope there."

From " Yellow Light: After seeing the second-tier students, their origins and future "

Yi workers are very group-oriented. If they don’t get what they want, all the workers will leave the factory and create a de facto strike. When they suffer work-related injuries, they will gather dozens or even hundreds of people to demand compensation. They are difficult to tame in the eyes of management, often contradicting management and even hitting people. In addition, they are often much less efficient than Han workers, which does not conform to the boss’s habit of pursuing efficiency. These characteristics form the real bad records in the eyes of factory bosses, such as low labor quality, playfulness and laziness, lack of discipline, and barbaric nature. But isn’t this the pain of the assembly line that modern people are also avoiding?

From " Nomi's Abstract Rap: From the Nightmare of the Lower-class Yi Workers "

In Jingle County, these teenagers had few job options except being waiters with a monthly salary of 2,000 yuan. Wei Ran was unemployed at the time and felt that donating blood was equivalent to "two days' salary in one morning". In 2020, the high-speed railway in Jingle County was opened, and real estate projects were built in the new city on the west bank of the Fen River. He found that the consumption level had also increased. "I used to be able to live on 500 yuan a month, but now I need 1,000 yuan. I have a girlfriend, so I have to live on 4,000 or 5,000 yuan."

From " The County Youth Behind the Plasma Station "

Manual work that is paid by piece may seem to have flexible hours, but it is difficult to recoup the deposit even if you work hard; insurance clerical work may seem to have less pressure, but if you do not improve your performance and only rely on the basic salary, you will be fired in less than two months; telephone sales work may seem easy on the surface, but making seven or eight hundred calls a day takes a huge toll on the body and mind.

From " Maternal Punishment: "Mom's Post" vs. the Possibility of Creating Solidarity "

This tabloid cycle (2024/04/09 - 2024/04/23)

Written by: Xay, Hedgehog, Super 64, Giant African Snail

Edit: Sanbuzhan

Proofreading: Hedgehog

at the end

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