中欧社会论坛 - China Europa ForumFor 43 Migrant Workers
Authors: Han Shichun, Lawyer of Beijing Yilian Legal Aid and Study Center of Labor
Published by Labour Rights Protection, Spring Journal 2009
“Please help us! We do not know what to do.”…
I have acted in too many labor lawsuits, so such a case was nothing new for me. I had seen such circumstances as these workers were facing before. In order to dismiss employees without having to meet their responsibilities for severance pay and so on, many employers destroy all of the documents which could prove an employment relationship and dismiss their employees orally…
This was a complicated case involving more than forty people. If I decided to take it, I knew that it would stretch me to my limits. I thought to myself, “Can I take this on? I can!” I knew that I would not by going alone, there was a group supporting me – the Beijing Yilian Legal Aid and Study Center of Labor…
On October 20, 2008, the workers gave me their completed application form for legal aid along with all of the materials that were needed…
During the process of filing the application, I received many phone calls from the workers asking after the progress of the case…
In the evening of the last day of 2008, I received a phone call from home and was told that my mother was seriously ill and needed an operation. So I handed my work to my colleague Maolin and went home immediately. Before leaving, I asked him to pay special attention to the workers’ case…
While I was at home, the workers were worried about their case and called me or sent messages to me to inquire about the progress of the case. In order to reassure them, I promised them that I would responsible for their case until it closed…
“The boss wants to meet you urgently and negotiate” I felt at ease after hearing this news…
It occurred to me that I should not meet the boss privately, so I invited some representatives of the workers to participate in the meeting in order to ensure tat the conciliation was open, fair and transparent…
I drew up a plan for how to distribute the compensation to the workers. On February 11, 2009, the plan was signed by all of the workers, although there were some different opinions on the distribution. The company also accepted the plan under our coordination. Finally, the work representatives and the company representatives reached an agreement and shook hands with each other…
At one thirty in the afternoon on February 13, my colleagues and I arrived at the Labor Bureau with a cash counter…
With the media in full attendance, we held a ceremony for distributing the ¥230,000. Long-lost smiles emerged on the workers’ faces and I also smiled with a sense of relief…