The ＂contract system＂ still exists in disguise. Why do you see the ＂contractor＂ again？
A recent incident of migrant workers asking for wages in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province has aroused public concern.
The new project department of Lanzhou Stomatological Hospital, which is under the charge of China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd., was complained by six migrant workers, including Bao Kefeng, asking for nearly 200,000 yuan in unpaid wages.
The "Workers Daily" reporter learned that the cause of this incident is related to the "contractor". The project subcontracted some woodworking projects to Sichuan Shenghejin Construction Engineering Co., Ltd., and Sichuan Shenghejin Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. signed a labor service agreement with Zhang Bingbing, the "contractor", and Zhang Bingbing immediately hired six migrant workers, including Bao Kefeng, to do "point work". Since June, 2021, six migrant workers have been in arrears with their wages, and repeatedly asked Zhang Bingbing for help, while Zhang Bingbing sent migrant workers to the labor service company and the project department for help. At the end of 2021, Zhang Bingbing suddenly disappeared … …
Afterwards, the relevant departments found out that Zhang Bingbing, the "contractor", and the labor service company — — The project accounts between Sichuan Shenghejin Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. have not been settled, nor have the quantities been checked in time, nor have they been reported to the general contractor — — The project department of China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd. submitted the salary certificate, which led to the arrears of wages for migrant workers.
At present, the project department has completed the project accounting with the labor service company, and six migrant workers, including Bao Kefeng, have signed the payroll, and the unpaid wages have been remitted to the individual accounts of migrant workers.
The strange thing about this matter is that it has been two years since the promulgation of the Regulations on the Protection of Wage Payment for Migrant Workers, and the systems of wage guarantee for migrant workers, employment management in real-name registration system and special accounts for migrant workers’ wages have been fully implemented. Why is there still the phenomenon of "contractor" defaulting on migrant workers’ wages?
Repeatedly "committing crimes"
According to the reporter’s understanding, the recent wage-seeking incident of migrant workers in Lanzhou is not a case, and similar incidents have occurred in other places recently. Although these arrears were finally properly resolved, there are still many problems worth considering.
In order to standardize the wage payment behavior of migrant workers and ensure that migrant workers get their wages in full and on time, the State Council promulgated the Regulations on the Protection of Wage Payment for Migrant Workers on December 30, 2019, which will come into force on May 1, 2020.
This regulation will be finalized in the form of legislation after perfecting the safeguard measures for regulating employment and wage payment in the construction field for many years. Special provisions are made specifically for the problem of unpaid wages in the field of engineering construction. Through the implementation of the system of special account management for migrant workers’ wages, real-name system management, wages paid by construction general contracting enterprises, and wage deposit, the problem of unpaid wages is managed in the whole chain.
This regulation is considered as a "legal weapon" to control the unpaid wages of migrant workers. However, judging from the implementation situation, there are still loopholes in ensuring the wage payment of migrant workers, and the backward employment mode of "contract system" is still "committing crimes" repeatedly.
Taking this salary-seeking incident in Lanzhou as an example, the relevant person pointed out that on the surface, the project department of China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd. is the construction contractor, Sichuan Shenghejin Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. is the labor subcontractor, and the labor subcontractor subcontracted some woodworking tasks to Zhang Bingbing, the "contractor", and there was no loophole. However, if there are differences in the project quality and account settlement in that month, the contractor and the labor subcontractor will default on their accounts, and the migrant workers will eventually lose their wages and suffer losses.
The "contract system" exists in disguise.
As early as 2005, the former Ministry of Construction proposed to gradually abolish the "contractor" in the construction field within three years, and migrant workers should be directly absorbed by labor service enterprises or other employment enterprises with legal personality, so as to solve the problem of wage arrears for migrant workers from the root.
In 2019, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security jointly issued the Measures for the Administration of Real-name System for Construction Workers (Trial). However, after the promulgation of the Regulations on the Protection of Wage Payment for Migrant Workers, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development requires that construction workers who are not registered on the national construction workers management service information platform and have not received basic vocational skills training shall not enter the construction site, and construction enterprises shall not employ them to engage in activities related to construction operations.
These measures mean that the traditional "contractor" who used to employ workers at will and had chaotic management withdrew from the "stage".
However, in the interview, the reporter found that "contractor" and "contractor system" are still prevalent in construction sites in disguised and secret ways.
Taking this salary-seeking incident in Lanzhou as an example, six migrant workers, including Bao Kefeng, followed Zhang Bingbing to do "odd jobs" at the project site. The so-called "point work" means working one day and counting one day. The daily income of six migrant workers, including Bao Kefeng, is 350 yuan; Zhang Bingbing, a contractor, also works together, but according to the construction area, there is another so-called "worry fee" for 40 yuan per square meter. Six migrant workers, including Sichuan Shenghejin Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. and Bao Kefeng, who subcontracted the project, also recognized Zhang Bingbing’s identity as a "contractor", but only appeared on the project site in the name of "team leader".
Unlike the traditional "contractor" who receives wages and then sends them to migrant workers, the wages are now paid directly to migrant workers’ bank cards by the construction party. Zhang Bingbing, the "contractor", is responsible for supervising the quality and progress of the project and accounting with subcontractors and the employer.
subtle relation
In the impression of many people, migrant workers and construction workers belong to construction companies, but the current situation is that there is a subtle relationship between construction companies and migrant workers and construction workers.
In name, many construction companies and migrant workers do not sign labor contracts and have no formal labor relations, thus evading legal responsibilities. The construction company and the labor service company signed a construction contract, and the labor service company recruited migrant workers and construction workers to complete the construction task. It stands to reason that labor service companies should have clear labor relations with migrant workers and construction workers, but in fact, many labor service companies do not sign labor contracts with migrant workers and construction workers, sometimes they only sign a "labor agreement" or even nothing, only an "oral agreement" to recruit migrant workers and construction workers through "contractors", and these migrant workers and construction workers pay their labor in the form of "point work".
This leads to a phenomenon — — There are no migrant workers and construction workers in the construction company, but migrant workers and construction workers work for the construction company. At the same time, there is no labor relationship between migrant workers, construction workers and labor service companies except the forms filled out for real-name registration system. In this way, when there are differences in project quality and account settlement, it is easy to cause arrears of wages for migrant workers.
Relevant persons pointed out that at the end of each year, all localities will carry out special actions on the wages of migrant workers, and great achievements have been made in controlling the arrears of project funds and ensuring the wages of migrant workers, but the problems have not been completely eliminated. Some people think that modern enterprise companies should not only have a perfect legal person system, limited liability system of investors, scientific leadership system and organizational management system, but also have a perfect human resource management system and establish clear and clear labor relations.