The Straits Times has reported on a suicide bid by migrant construction workers in Shenyang who had not received their pay and were worried about their families’ survival: “The group suicide bid was discovered in time by a co-worker. The man, surnamed Liu, had returned to the hostel from a nearby town where he had gone to try to recoup the payments due to the construction labourers. ‘The minute I entered the workers’ quarters I found one of them lying on the floor while six others lay stiff in bed without blankets on. I instantly knew something terrible had happened,’ recalled Mr Liu, who said he made 120 emergency phone calls to seek help. Before dialling, Mr Liu had tried to wake the workers up, but failed. He said he found a sleeping pill and a bottle containing such pills near the workers. Later in hospital, some of the workers, who are all peasants from the countryside, spoke of their plight and the sense of hopelessness that drove them to take their lives. Mechanic Yuan Zhongshuang, 52, was upset that he had not a single cent to care for his bed-ridden wife and jobless son despite having worked for some time. ”
According to the article, more than 70 percent of migrant workers are owed wages. Read the report here, via China Study Group.
