China - Lawyer Zhou, China's New Hero
Broadcast: 28/09/2004
Reporter: John Taylor
Transcript
TAYLOR: Like millions of country people before him, Sun Hong Yuan is on a well travelled journey to a Chinese metropolis. Hes a migrant worker trading a difficult rural life to pursue hopes of a steady job in the city. Sun has come to Chongqing, mega city of thirty two million, a breathtaking monument to the economic powerhouse that is modern China. Hes been to the city before and it wasnt a happy experience.
On this trip Sun has come to meet a man whos become a hero of Chinas working class. Zhou Litai is one of a new breed of independent lawyers fighting for the rights of workers maimed in factories. His client has been literally caught in the cogs of the wheels of production. Disabled and in the eyes of most bosses here, unemployable, Sun has turned to Zhou Litai in the hope that he can sue for compensation.
Chinas vast cities have become the engine room to the fastest growing economy in the world. Entrepreneurs are the new favourites. They can even sign up to become members of the Communist Party. So much for the revolution that put workers on the pedestal. It has led to a better life for most but for millions of rural Chinese, the clutch of capitalism has meant lives of danger, exploitation and pain.
In a society where challenging the system is not only discouraged but highly dangerous, lawyer Zhou is by any measure pushing his luck. He takes on bosses who run unsafe factories and chases employers who wont pay proper wages. Zhou works, eats and sleeps in apartments he shares with his lawyer associates. Sun too will be invited to stay for as long as it takes for his case to run.
ZHOU LITAI: I have become famous because of broken hands and the situation of workers rights. It is not only a kind of sadness for the government but also a tragedy for society.
TAYLOR: In the unregulated factories and sweat shops of eastern China workers can slave for 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Exhausted workers, dull, repetitive tasks and faulty machinery are a dreadful combination. Accidents occur more often then they should.
Sun Hong Yuans case is familiar. In eight years the Litai firm has dealt with one thousand workers whove lost arms.
SUN HONG YUAN: We were making modules, shoe-sole modules. There were three or four. We had to use our hands to take them out. The machine fell down and crushed me. The machine was out of control and caused the accident.
TAYLOR: The managers told Sun they had no use for him on their production line. He was paid a pittance in compensation and then sacked. Although China does have laws and Tribunals to protect workers rights, in practice they mean little.
NICHOLAS BECQUELIN: There is no freedom of association in China, there is no independent trade unions. The legal system doesnt work very well. If it works it colludes with the local authorities so without brokers like Zhou Litai there is really no hope at all for Chinese workers.
TAYLOR: Zhou Litais crusade against dangerous factories was always going to irritate the captains of industry. He says hed be a rich man if hed taken the bribes hed been offered to drop cases. Officials in neighbouring Shenzhen city were even planning to run him out of town. Then an unlikely twist. State television in Beijing made a documentary applauding this new rebel with a cause. His enemies backed away.
To understand why people are deserting the country, Ive come with Zhou Litai to his home village three hours out of Chongqing. Like the people he represents, Zhou was a migrant worker too, taking a job in a brick factory to pay his way through law studies.
ZHOU LATAI: Lots of young people went to work in Guandong, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. People are left at home and doing farming work are the old aged peasants.
TAYLOR: Rice farming is hardly viable anymore. The plots are small, fertiliser and pesticide can cost more than the crop is worth in the marketplace.
At his family home Zhou is ever the farmer, advising his mother and sister to plant more trees. His family is no different than any other in the village. Those who remain here supplement their meagre incomes with support from relatives in the city. Zhou gives his mother cash and helped her buy the family home.
Just as workers flood to the cities to fill the factories, urban encroachment means the cities are also coming to the workers. In a village on the outskirts of Chongqing, Zhang Lijie lives in misery. When a developer moved in to build apartments opposite his home, Mr Zhang took a job as a labourer. A fall from unsafe scaffolding seven metres high left him penniless and a paraplegic.
ZHANG LIJIE: After being injured I just eat porridge. Its two of us in this room from day to night. She is bored to do all of this. She takes care of me day and night, even I feel tired of this.
TAYLOR: His former boss wont even talk to him about compensation. Out of desperation Mr Zhang has turned to Zhou Litai.
ZHOU LATAI: Some entrepreneurs simply seek economic profits. They only want to pursue economic development and neglect the protection of workers.
TAYLOR: At the Mexin door factor in Chongqing the workers still sing revolutionary songs. But this huge corporation is partly American owned. Its the kind of factory Zhou Litai will probably never have to sue. The bosses here claim this place is a showcase of safe work practices.
ROSA: Oh the worker is very important. If the workers think they are not very safe working here, they will not, they will work very good.
TAYLOR: At Rosa Yis factory all workers are provided with protective clothing. And there was another woman here the factory was keen for us to meet - farmer turned safety inspector Xiong Deming.
If Zhou Litai is Chinas celebrity lawyer, then Madam Xiong is the countrys most famous ambassador for migrant workers. She became a media star last year after confronting Chinas Premier Wen to complain about her husbands unpaid wages.
MADAM XIONG: I said that we worked last year and didnt get paid. He asked whether it was difficult for migrant workers to get paid salaries. I answered immediately that I worked last year and didnt get 2,000 Yuan. Thats how I spoke.
TAYLOR: In a public relations coup for the company, Madame Xiong was lured from her pig farm and with no qualifications recruited to oversee safety on the shop floor. Her story also drew attention to workers who simply dont get paid. Even official Chinese figures say bosses owe their employees the equivalent of twenty billion dollars.
NICHOLAS BECQUELIN: Its standard practice not to pay workers in many industries or to pay them very late or to pay them once a year or once every six months and the employees just try not to pay their workers, hoping that they will just move somewhere else because they need the income very urgently.
TAYLOR: The movement of migrant workers and this, the most populous nation on earth is truly staggering. Chinese officials say 114 million workers have migrated to cities looking for jobs in recent years. This school in Beijing caters for the children whove made that journey too. Once these youngsters would have been outcasts in their own country, unable to access schools outside their own provinces. But now China is easing restrictions and Principal Yi Benyao has received government funding for the first time.
PRINCIPAL YI BENYAO: We established this migrant school to let those children receive compulsory education, to help them avoid becoming the new illiterates.
TAYLOR: In new China workers are discovering rights they thought they never had. Zhou Litais poorly educated clients can often exasperate him as they grapple with the complexity of their cases. Chinas most famous lawyer is on national television once more. This time hes not looking quite so good. Zhou Litai is finding that a public profile doesnt pay the bills, not have one hundred and sixty of his clients. A news story reports hes suing one of those clients, a migrant worker who hasnt handed over 10% of his payout in fees. Liu Chaozheng is partially blinded and says he needs every penny.
Does that man make you angry that hes not prepared to pay you?
ZHOU LITAI: To tell you the truth, if I were not a lawyer I would kill Liu Chaozheng. Why? Because I am a lawyer. I do the job for you. I work for you, you should pay me back.
NICOLAS BECQUELIN: Hes not a dissident but hes trying to play the system and to lure the authorities into addressing this very important issue and he is playing an important role.
TAYLOR: But for those clients still on board, lawyer Zhou is working to win payouts that werent possible before he came onto the scene. His strike rate is 95%. That makes him a rare ally for those who make up Chinas cheap labour force, many of whom pay a terrible cost.
SUN HONG YUAN: Everyone wants to have his own family, wife and child. However I cant achieve it because I am disabled person, no girl will like me.
TAYLOR: For most, this economic miracle has been an undeniable achievement of Communist China. Over the last twenty years, more than one hundred and fifty million people have been lifted out of absolute poverty but in the rush to develop, workers rights have been left behind. Theres a widening gap between rich and poor, urban and rural. The challenge for Chinas leaders is to find a place for profits and workers rights.
Broadcast: 28/09/2004
Reporter: John Taylor
Transcript
TAYLOR: Like millions of country people before him, Sun Hong Yuan is on a well travelled journey to a Chinese metropolis. Hes a migrant worker trading a difficult rural life to pursue hopes of a steady job in the city. Sun has come to Chongqing, mega city of thirty two million, a breathtaking monument to the economic powerhouse that is modern China. Hes been to the city before and it wasnt a happy experience.
On this trip Sun has come to meet a man whos become a hero of Chinas working class. Zhou Litai is one of a new breed of independent lawyers fighting for the rights of workers maimed in factories. His client has been literally caught in the cogs of the wheels of production. Disabled and in the eyes of most bosses here, unemployable, Sun has turned to Zhou Litai in the hope that he can sue for compensation.
Chinas vast cities have become the engine room to the fastest growing economy in the world. Entrepreneurs are the new favourites. They can even sign up to become members of the Communist Party. So much for the revolution that put workers on the pedestal. It has led to a better life for most but for millions of rural Chinese, the clutch of capitalism has meant lives of danger, exploitation and pain.
In a society where challenging the system is not only discouraged but highly dangerous, lawyer Zhou is by any measure pushing his luck. He takes on bosses who run unsafe factories and chases employers who wont pay proper wages. Zhou works, eats and sleeps in apartments he shares with his lawyer associates. Sun too will be invited to stay for as long as it takes for his case to run.
ZHOU LITAI: I have become famous because of broken hands and the situation of workers rights. It is not only a kind of sadness for the government but also a tragedy for society.
TAYLOR: In the unregulated factories and sweat shops of eastern China workers can slave for 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Exhausted workers, dull, repetitive tasks and faulty machinery are a dreadful combination. Accidents occur more often then they should.
Sun Hong Yuans case is familiar. In eight years the Litai firm has dealt with one thousand workers whove lost arms.
SUN HONG YUAN: We were making modules, shoe-sole modules. There were three or four. We had to use our hands to take them out. The machine fell down and crushed me. The machine was out of control and caused the accident.
TAYLOR: The managers told Sun they had no use for him on their production line. He was paid a pittance in compensation and then sacked. Although China does have laws and Tribunals to protect workers rights, in practice they mean little.
NICHOLAS BECQUELIN: There is no freedom of association in China, there is no independent trade unions. The legal system doesnt work very well. If it works it colludes with the local authorities so without brokers like Zhou Litai there is really no hope at all for Chinese workers.
TAYLOR: Zhou Litais crusade against dangerous factories was always going to irritate the captains of industry. He says hed be a rich man if hed taken the bribes hed been offered to drop cases. Officials in neighbouring Shenzhen city were even planning to run him out of town. Then an unlikely twist. State television in Beijing made a documentary applauding this new rebel with a cause. His enemies backed away.
To understand why people are deserting the country, Ive come with Zhou Litai to his home village three hours out of Chongqing. Like the people he represents, Zhou was a migrant worker too, taking a job in a brick factory to pay his way through law studies.
ZHOU LATAI: Lots of young people went to work in Guandong, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. People are left at home and doing farming work are the old aged peasants.
TAYLOR: Rice farming is hardly viable anymore. The plots are small, fertiliser and pesticide can cost more than the crop is worth in the marketplace.
At his family home Zhou is ever the farmer, advising his mother and sister to plant more trees. His family is no different than any other in the village. Those who remain here supplement their meagre incomes with support from relatives in the city. Zhou gives his mother cash and helped her buy the family home.
Just as workers flood to the cities to fill the factories, urban encroachment means the cities are also coming to the workers. In a village on the outskirts of Chongqing, Zhang Lijie lives in misery. When a developer moved in to build apartments opposite his home, Mr Zhang took a job as a labourer. A fall from unsafe scaffolding seven metres high left him penniless and a paraplegic.
ZHANG LIJIE: After being injured I just eat porridge. Its two of us in this room from day to night. She is bored to do all of this. She takes care of me day and night, even I feel tired of this.
TAYLOR: His former boss wont even talk to him about compensation. Out of desperation Mr Zhang has turned to Zhou Litai.
ZHOU LATAI: Some entrepreneurs simply seek economic profits. They only want to pursue economic development and neglect the protection of workers.
TAYLOR: At the Mexin door factor in Chongqing the workers still sing revolutionary songs. But this huge corporation is partly American owned. Its the kind of factory Zhou Litai will probably never have to sue. The bosses here claim this place is a showcase of safe work practices.
ROSA: Oh the worker is very important. If the workers think they are not very safe working here, they will not, they will work very good.
TAYLOR: At Rosa Yis factory all workers are provided with protective clothing. And there was another woman here the factory was keen for us to meet - farmer turned safety inspector Xiong Deming.
If Zhou Litai is Chinas celebrity lawyer, then Madam Xiong is the countrys most famous ambassador for migrant workers. She became a media star last year after confronting Chinas Premier Wen to complain about her husbands unpaid wages.
MADAM XIONG: I said that we worked last year and didnt get paid. He asked whether it was difficult for migrant workers to get paid salaries. I answered immediately that I worked last year and didnt get 2,000 Yuan. Thats how I spoke.
TAYLOR: In a public relations coup for the company, Madame Xiong was lured from her pig farm and with no qualifications recruited to oversee safety on the shop floor. Her story also drew attention to workers who simply dont get paid. Even official Chinese figures say bosses owe their employees the equivalent of twenty billion dollars.
NICHOLAS BECQUELIN: Its standard practice not to pay workers in many industries or to pay them very late or to pay them once a year or once every six months and the employees just try not to pay their workers, hoping that they will just move somewhere else because they need the income very urgently.
TAYLOR: The movement of migrant workers and this, the most populous nation on earth is truly staggering. Chinese officials say 114 million workers have migrated to cities looking for jobs in recent years. This school in Beijing caters for the children whove made that journey too. Once these youngsters would have been outcasts in their own country, unable to access schools outside their own provinces. But now China is easing restrictions and Principal Yi Benyao has received government funding for the first time.
PRINCIPAL YI BENYAO: We established this migrant school to let those children receive compulsory education, to help them avoid becoming the new illiterates.
TAYLOR: In new China workers are discovering rights they thought they never had. Zhou Litais poorly educated clients can often exasperate him as they grapple with the complexity of their cases. Chinas most famous lawyer is on national television once more. This time hes not looking quite so good. Zhou Litai is finding that a public profile doesnt pay the bills, not have one hundred and sixty of his clients. A news story reports hes suing one of those clients, a migrant worker who hasnt handed over 10% of his payout in fees. Liu Chaozheng is partially blinded and says he needs every penny.
Does that man make you angry that hes not prepared to pay you?
ZHOU LITAI: To tell you the truth, if I were not a lawyer I would kill Liu Chaozheng. Why? Because I am a lawyer. I do the job for you. I work for you, you should pay me back.
NICOLAS BECQUELIN: Hes not a dissident but hes trying to play the system and to lure the authorities into addressing this very important issue and he is playing an important role.
TAYLOR: But for those clients still on board, lawyer Zhou is working to win payouts that werent possible before he came onto the scene. His strike rate is 95%. That makes him a rare ally for those who make up Chinas cheap labour force, many of whom pay a terrible cost.
SUN HONG YUAN: Everyone wants to have his own family, wife and child. However I cant achieve it because I am disabled person, no girl will like me.
TAYLOR: For most, this economic miracle has been an undeniable achievement of Communist China. Over the last twenty years, more than one hundred and fifty million people have been lifted out of absolute poverty but in the rush to develop, workers rights have been left behind. Theres a widening gap between rich and poor, urban and rural. The challenge for Chinas leaders is to find a place for profits and workers rights.