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Giving stipends to the wrong workers
By Wang Yong |
July 28, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THINK of a society where white-collars in air-conditioned offices get summer compensation while blue-collars at sun-scorched construction sites get none.
As a case in point, People's Daily on Monday picked Hunan Province, where many white-collars and civil servants get 200 yuan (US$29.50) in monthly compensation this summer, but many construction workers get nil.
This scandalous practice is not confined to one province, though. CCTV reported yesterday that construction workers in Bejjing, Wuhan and many other places didn't receive a nickel for laboring under the scorching sun.
Lin Jinqiao, a migrant worker from rural Hubei Province, suffered sunstroke on July 3 as he braved the summer heat, sifting sand in a construction site in Wuhan, capital city of the province. He lost conscience for 10 hours, and nearly died.
CCTV said he received no summer heat compensation from his employer, let alone reimbursement for his medical expenses.
On July 6, Meng Qinghe, a 55-year-old street cleaner in Kaifeng City, Henan Province, was found dead after toiling from 6am to 12:30pm in sizzling temperatures. His colleagues recalled that he did receive a monthly summer stipend, but it was 10 yuan.
Back in 1992, I visited a Hyundai office in South Korea only to be amazed by the fact that there was no air-conditioning in top managers' offices. Instead, frontline workers - those sweating on assembly lines - were put in air-conditioned plants.
I went to Japan a couple of years ago and was similarly impressed. In a city hall, you would often find air-conditioners shut off even in the hottest season.
Which raises the question: shouldn't a socialist country do a better job in advancing fairness than a capitalist one?
And it's not just about fairness. It's a blatant lack of efficiency to compensate white-collars for their wanton waste of energy.
In late Chairman Mao's time, waste was a crime.
Now waste is rewarded. What a change of Chinese mindset in just around four decades!
When your teeth chatter in the cold, open the windows and let in balmy summer breezes. Instead you shut the windows, switch on air-conditioners to near zero degrees and then put on a heavy jacket or knitwear you normally wear in autumn.
Are you still hot then? Certainly not, but you are glad to take additional pay for nonexistent "summer heat."
Even if it's a really hot day and you could justify switching on air-conditioners, there's no reason why it should be turned so cold that you shiver and wrap yourself in autumn or winter clothes.
Shanghai has been talking the talk of low-carbon living with the arrival of the World Expo, but it has yet to walk the walk of a truly greener life.
At noon on Monday, I rambled in an old lane near my office. It was very hot but much more comfortable if you walked or sat in the shade of a tree or a roof.
Most residents in the old lane are small potatoes, or even nobodies. But with simple living they point the way to a greener China.
The answer doesn't lie with those "well-educated" white-collars who have no fear of waste at the expense of public bills.
As a case in point, People's Daily on Monday picked Hunan Province, where many white-collars and civil servants get 200 yuan (US$29.50) in monthly compensation this summer, but many construction workers get nil.
This scandalous practice is not confined to one province, though. CCTV reported yesterday that construction workers in Bejjing, Wuhan and many other places didn't receive a nickel for laboring under the scorching sun.
Lin Jinqiao, a migrant worker from rural Hubei Province, suffered sunstroke on July 3 as he braved the summer heat, sifting sand in a construction site in Wuhan, capital city of the province. He lost conscience for 10 hours, and nearly died.
CCTV said he received no summer heat compensation from his employer, let alone reimbursement for his medical expenses.
On July 6, Meng Qinghe, a 55-year-old street cleaner in Kaifeng City, Henan Province, was found dead after toiling from 6am to 12:30pm in sizzling temperatures. His colleagues recalled that he did receive a monthly summer stipend, but it was 10 yuan.
Back in 1992, I visited a Hyundai office in South Korea only to be amazed by the fact that there was no air-conditioning in top managers' offices. Instead, frontline workers - those sweating on assembly lines - were put in air-conditioned plants.
I went to Japan a couple of years ago and was similarly impressed. In a city hall, you would often find air-conditioners shut off even in the hottest season.
Which raises the question: shouldn't a socialist country do a better job in advancing fairness than a capitalist one?
And it's not just about fairness. It's a blatant lack of efficiency to compensate white-collars for their wanton waste of energy.
In late Chairman Mao's time, waste was a crime.
Now waste is rewarded. What a change of Chinese mindset in just around four decades!
When your teeth chatter in the cold, open the windows and let in balmy summer breezes. Instead you shut the windows, switch on air-conditioners to near zero degrees and then put on a heavy jacket or knitwear you normally wear in autumn.
Are you still hot then? Certainly not, but you are glad to take additional pay for nonexistent "summer heat."
Even if it's a really hot day and you could justify switching on air-conditioners, there's no reason why it should be turned so cold that you shiver and wrap yourself in autumn or winter clothes.
Shanghai has been talking the talk of low-carbon living with the arrival of the World Expo, but it has yet to walk the walk of a truly greener life.
At noon on Monday, I rambled in an old lane near my office. It was very hot but much more comfortable if you walked or sat in the shade of a tree or a roof.
Most residents in the old lane are small potatoes, or even nobodies. But with simple living they point the way to a greener China.
The answer doesn't lie with those "well-educated" white-collars who have no fear of waste at the expense of public bills.
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