In China, executives are afraid to fire ordinary employees easily because of the low cost of breaking the law for dismissing employees. For example, if you are fired, according to the law, the company should compensate you 20,000 yuan. But if the company refuses to pay, you can only apply for labor arbitration. Even if you win the arbitration, you will have to file a lawsuit in court if the company delays in making the payment.
This process, if you hire a lawyer, will add additional costs. If you choose to file a lawsuit on your own, it may take at least a week to prepare the necessary evidence and follow the process. If any evidence is omitted, it may result in losing the case. Even if all goes well, it can take about a year to go from the first trial to the second trial, and in the end you just get the compensation that is rightfully yours, and the company will not be penalized.
As a result, most Chinese companies are not worried about employees suing, and some even openly provoke and encourage employees to do so. So, are there other ways for migrant workers to defend their rights? In fact, you can try to contact the union and ask them to mediate. Last year, for example, the Beijing trade union successfully helped a foreign employee, Vladimir Mark, recover 170,000 yuan in wages and 300,000 yuan in the winning amount, totaling 470,000 yuan. This shows that trade unions have an important role to play in protecting the rights and interests of employees. It is worth mentioning that it was only then that I realized that the union could also help migrant workers recover their wages, but in this case the beneficiaries were foreigners.