Xinhua News Agency, Wuhan (Reporter Tang Yu) - "My husband has been dead for more than a month, but the money he earned from working a year ago still hasn't been paid." Yesterday, Xu Jianrong, a 43-year-old villager from Pan Tang in Xinzhou, told reporters that her two children are in college and she is struggling to recover the hard-earned money of her late husband.
Xu Jianrong tearfully said that in November 2008, her husband Yu Shengming led more than 10 people to work as masons at the "Yinhe Shanglin Yuan" housing project site on Tang Cai Road in Hankou. In early 2009, after they finished the work, foreman Hu Jianzhong gave them an IOU. Afterwards, they repeatedly went to the Xianghe Construction Group Corporation project department to claim their wages, but were unsuccessful. "On January 2nd, my husband who suffered from lung cancer passed away, and to this day we haven't received the more than 8,000 yuan owed to him."
Wang Xinhuo and Zhang Jinfat, who worked together with Yu Shengming, also told reporters that they have not yet received their wages from working at the Yinhe Shanglin Yuan construction site. The unpaid wages for all of them, more than 10 people, total over 20,000 yuan.
The reporter saw that Wang Xinhuo and Zhang Jinfat held IOUs which clearly stated that Hu Jianzhong had not paid the migrant workers' wages.
Regarding the issue of wage recovery, foreman Hu Jianzhong claimed that the Xianghe Construction Group project department has not paid the migrant workers' wages, and he has been trying to collect it multiple times without success. The project manager always gives various excuses to delay payment.
A responsible person from the Xianghe Construction Group project department stated that they are the subcontractor, and because the developer, or the principal party, has not paid the outstanding construction fees, they are unable to pay the workers' wages. Currently, the "Yinhe Shanglin Yuan" housing project has been halted due to these issues.