Every year at the end of the year is a period of high incidence of corporate wage arrears and employee wage demands. In recent years, due to the sharp downturn in industry development, it is very common for ceramic companies to default on employee wages. "The continued sluggish sales have caused difficulties in corporate capital flow, which is the fundamental reason why workers' wages are in arrears." The person in charge of a certain ceramic enterprise above designated size in the north told "Ceramic Information" that ceramics is a labor-intensive industry and at the same time it is currently low-profit. In industries where production costs are high and funds are withdrawn slowly, workers' wage arrears are common in all production areas across the country.
Especially in the past two years, a large number of ceramic companies have withdrawn, and some companies have become insolvent and had to go bankrupt. Most of these discontinued ceramic companies owe workers wages in arrears, and the amounts are large. Some are maliciously owed wages, and some are unable to repay. The majority of practitioners have become victims of the reshuffle in the ceramic industry.
Salary becomes “salary worry”
Wage arrears are still common in the ceramic industry in 2020
"Ceramic Information" learned from information published by major exposure platforms and government websites that incidents of wage arrears by ceramic companies are still common in 2020, spreading across many provinces such as Guangdong, Jiangxi, Hebei, Anhui, and Gansu, with the longest period of wage arrears It lasted for several years, but with the intervention of local government departments, part of the wage arrears issue was properly resolved.
In June this year, some netizens complained that a ceramics factory in Baoding, Hebei Province had owed them 3,648 yuan in wages for September 2019 for eight months. After repeated intervention by local government departments, the wage arrears were finally resolved.
In August this year, a netizen surnamed Wu complained on the official website of the local government of Suzhou, Anhui, saying that from December 2019 to March 2020, he worked at a ceramics factory in Anhui for 3 months, but he did not leave until August 2020. For months, wages were not paid for as long as half a year. During this period, many requests were unsuccessful. Finally, with the coordination of local government departments, the company promised to pay.
In August, a worker at the Baiyin No. 1 Ceramics Factory in Gansu Province posted a request for help on the official website of the local government, saying that since he started working in March this year, his wages have not been paid for five, six, seven, and eight consecutive months. People like him are owed There are more than 200 paid workers. The local social affairs department responded that the ceramic factory had been owed wages to migrant workers since last year, and was involved in lawsuits due to wage arrears. Although the court also issued a judgment, due to the complexity of the case, it has not been effectively implemented.
In October this year, according to media reports, a worker broke the news that he started working at Shaanxi Hanyin Jiajiale Ceramic Technology Co., Ltd. in March this year and usually worked on the production line. The company paid him March’s salary in April. 3,500 yuan, and then no wages were received in April and May. Until the company stopped production on June 20, and still did not receive this part of the wages until mid-October. There are dozens of employees in the company who are in the same situation.
The person in charge of Hanyin Jiajiale Ceramic Technology Co., Ltd. responded: "Due to the impact of the epidemic, the company's capital turnover is difficult, and it is the off-season after June, so we have temporarily suspended production. Currently, more than 30 employees have not received 5 and 20 days’ wages in June.” However, media reports indicate that more than 90 employees have been owed wages for two and a half months. It was not until the media intervened many times that the owed wages were gradually paid.
In addition, in October this year, the People's Court of Gaoyi County, Hebei Province organized enforcement personnel to specifically address issues such as wage arrears and work-related injury compensation, and implemented coercive measures against five companies involved. One of the ceramic companies owed a total of more than 200 yuan in wages. People, with the intervention of the court, have gradually solved part of the problem of unpaid wages.
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More than 10 provinces have taken action to eradicate wage arrears
High pressure and severe crackdowns in various places
As a "labor-intensive industry", the ceramic industry has always been the "hardest hit area" for wage arrears and wage demands. Suppressing wages, suppressing commissions, and delaying wages for three months have long been normal phenomena in the ceramic industry. But at the same time, ceramic companies are also suffering: environmental protection costs, fuel costs, etc. are rising, and there are huge monthly expenses. Once sales are sluggish, companies will face huge capital turnover pressure.
"Ceramic Information" noted that in order to allow the majority of workers to receive their wages and celebrate the New Year with peace of mind, the Office of the State Council Leading Group for the Eradication of Wage Arrears for Migrant Workers recently issued the "Notice on Carrying out the Winter Special Action to Eradicate Wage Arrears" and decided to start from 2020 From November 6 to before the Spring Festival of 2021, a special winter campaign to eradicate wage arrears will be organized nationwide.
Subsequently, more than 10 provinces including Hebei, Henan, Liaoning, Hunan, Guangxi, Hubei, Shanxi, Shandong, and Sichuan issued specific rules to carry out special winter operations to eradicate wage arrears. There are a large number of ceramic enterprises and ceramic practitioners in these provinces, which will effectively protect the labor remuneration rights and interests of ceramic practitioners.
Sichuan Province will launch the 2020 winter special campaign to eradicate wage arrears from November 10, 2020 to before the Spring Festival of 2021. Investigate and deal with arrears to migrant workers in accordance with the lawRegarding wage cases, we will list and supervise the handling of major typical wage arrears cases, establish and improve work ledgers, and understand in real time the companies that owe wages, the number of people who owe wages, and the amount of wages owed, and resolutely ensure that the wage arrears will not be written off until the problem is resolved.
Henan proposed to transfer and investigate criminal cases suspected of refusing to pay labor remuneration, and maintain a high-pressure posture against wage arrears. All the perpetrators of major wage arrears violations should be listed, and a joint punishment mechanism for wage arrears and dishonesty should be implemented, so that wage arrears violators violate the law in one place and are restricted everywhere.
Jilin requires that accountability for dereliction of duty and responsibilities be intensified. For cities (counties) with slow work progress and prominent wage arrears, where mass incidents or extreme incidents are caused by failure to implement supervisory responsibilities and inadequate organizational work, relevant Clues to the problem will be transferred to the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and will be dealt with seriously in accordance with laws and regulations.
In addition, the "Regulations on Guaranteeing the Payment of Wages to Migrant Workers" that was officially implemented on May 1 this year stipulates that those who violate the regulations and default on the wages of migrant workers will be implemented in accordance with relevant legal provisions, and the human resources and social security administrative department will order them to pay within a time limit; If the amount is paid, an additional compensation of not less than 50% but not more than 100% of the amount payable shall be paid to the worker. For illegal acts in the field of engineering construction, it is stipulated to order correction within a time limit and impose a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 100,000 yuan. For some of these illegal acts, it also stipulates penalties such as ordering the project to be suspended, lowering the qualification level, or revoking the qualification certificate.
At the same time, many provinces have established reporting channels for wage arrears, such as public reporting and complaint hotlines, websites, and "Wage Arrears Rights Protection QR Codes" and "Wage Arrears Rights Protection WeChat Official Accounts", etc., to further smoothen the rights protection channels for migrant workers, and promptly Investigate and deal with cases of wage arrears to migrant workers.
Ceramic companies that broke their trust due to non-payment of wages this year
Significant decrease compared to 2018 and 2019
Under the country's continued heavy blows, although the ceramic industry encountered a series of challenges such as the impact of the epidemic, stagnant exports, and shrinking retail sales in 2020, the operating pressure of ceramic companies has further increased. However, "Ceramic Information" noted that malicious wage arrears The phenomenon has decreased significantly compared with previous years.
Compared with the incidents of "employees gathering at factory gates and holding banners to demand wages" that occurred one after another in the ceramic industry across the country before 2019, similar incidents rarely occurred this year.
In addition, "Ceramic Information" learned from statistics from the national list of dishonest persons subject to execution announced by the Supreme People's Court that in the first 11 months of 2019, more than 40 ceramic companies across the country were included in the list for refusing to pay workers' wages. The "list of dishonest persons subject to execution" involves more than 10 million yuan; in the second half of 2018, the total salary arrears of dishonest ceramic companies in Guangdong production areas alone reached 9.7 million yuan; and in the first 10 months of 2020, there were about 10 ceramic companies across the country Being included in the "list of dishonest persons subject to enforcement" due to arrears of wages”, involving an amount of 450,000 yuan. In 2020, the number of ceramic companies that broke their trust due to wage arrears and the amounts involved decreased significantly year-on-year.
This year, with the intervention of government departments, many cases of wage arrears by ceramic companies across the country have been effectively resolved. For example, on April 17, the People's Court of Gaoyi County, Hebei Province held an enforcement payment meeting for a wage arrears case involving a ceramic company and distributed more than 200,000 yuan in wages to 21 migrant workers. It is reported that in July 2019, Gaoyi Court accepted the case, and as many as 273 migrant workers were owed wages. However, at that time, the ceramic company had stopped working and production, and the person in charge of the company had lost contact. The Gaoyi County Court seized and sold the assets of the ceramic company, and distributed all execution funds to all workers in eight batches in proportion.
In July this year, the People's Court of Gao'an City, Jiangxi Province held a centralized wage payment event for migrant workers at a ceramics company in the Ceramics Base of Xinjie Town, Gao'an City, disbursing more than 4 million yuan in arrears of wages to migrant workers. At the same time, the Gao'an Municipal Justice Bureau also announced that the Gao'an Legal Aid Center helped 473 employees of a ceramic factory in Gao'an obtain nearly 6 million in arrears of wages.
Although wage arrears are common in the ceramics industry, some industry insiders pointed out: "Wage arrears in the ceramics industry should be viewed from two aspects. On the one hand, when many companies encounter capital turnover difficulties, they will delay it for 1 to 3 months. Monthly payment of wages to employees is a relatively benign form of "delay without arrears", which employees can understand and work with the company to tide over the difficulties; the other is malicious arrears of wages and refusal to pay labor remuneration for various reasons such as unsatisfactory work performance. Or the labor remuneration is delayed for a long time.”
For practitioners, most of them are burdened with high mortgage loans, car loans, and heavy pressure to support their families. Once wages are in arrears for too long or are not paid regularly, the financial pressure will be very great.
Although ceramic companies are currently under great pressure to survive and operate, it is also very difficult for employees to make a living. I hope that the problem of wage arrears can be effectively solved, and incidents where employees collectively demand wages or even go to law will no longer happen.
(The article is reproduced from Ceramic Information)
