The factory employees were given an unusual choice of salary top-up
A brick factory in southeast China which owed its employees 90,000 yuan (US $14,050) has decided to pay them in bricks.
The 30 factory workers in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, agreed to receive 290,000 bricks for 80,000 of what the company owed them, after the local labor department intervened with the help of the courts, Xinhua News Agency reported.
It added that the employer, not named by local media, is still figuring out how to repay the 10,000 yuan still owed to the workers.
The workers were all migrants from the mountainous regions of Yunnan province. They had no choice but to “live by candlelight with wood fire heating,” according to Jiangxi Daily.
Some users of Sina Weibo microblog have expressed concern over the workers’ plight: "Why is it always rural migrant workers that are paid in arrears?" reported the BBC.
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions says that it has helped more than five million migrant workers in China receive unpaid wages totalling 30 billion yuan ($4.5bn) in the last five years.
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The 30 factory workers in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, agreed to receive 290,000 bricks for 80,000 of what the company owed them, after the local labor department intervened with the help of the courts, Xinhua News Agency reported.
It added that the employer, not named by local media, is still figuring out how to repay the 10,000 yuan still owed to the workers.
The workers were all migrants from the mountainous regions of Yunnan province. They had no choice but to “live by candlelight with wood fire heating,” according to Jiangxi Daily.
Some users of Sina Weibo microblog have expressed concern over the workers’ plight: "Why is it always rural migrant workers that are paid in arrears?" reported the BBC.
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions says that it has helped more than five million migrant workers in China receive unpaid wages totalling 30 billion yuan ($4.5bn) in the last five years.
Related stories:
Employers convicted over late, unpaid, or underpaid CPF contributions
Two worker deaths at iPhone maker in two days