No paycheck, no triumphant homecoming(2)

A female migrant worker was allegedly beaten to death during a confrontation with police when chasing unpaid wages in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi Province in December.

In November, at least ten migrant workers threatened to jump from a building after failing to claim unpaid wages in Suzhou City in Anhui Province.

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Governments at all levels have taken various measures to help migrant workers get their paychecks more easily.

A regulation specifies standards and procedures for refusal to pay employees, which means that the courts can deal with such crimes more effectively.

Back in 2011, an amendment to the Criminal Law stipulated that malicious wage default was a crime and employers who intentionally withhold due salaries can face up to seven years in jail.

In the first 11 months of 2014, wages totaling 27.9 billion yuan were recovered for workers.

Despite all this, loopholes still exist. "Construction workers are the most severely affected by unpaid or late paychecks," said He Yong, an official who handles labor disputes in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province.

The construction sector has been struggling since the property market slumped and some companies genuinely do not have enough money to pay, he said.

In addition, the involvement of many subcontractors in one project makes the situation complicated. They deliberately delay payments, and such behavior is hard to supervise, said Liu Shiwen of Shaanxi Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.

Migrant workers lack knowledge of the law and often have no contracts. They do not know how to protect themselves, Liu added.

Liu Shaowen has now headed for home with new clothes and snacks for his children. "To provide my wife and kids a better life, I will start a new sojourn to another big city and another job after Spring festival," he said.

Hopefully his next journey will be easier and exclude the part about chasing unpaid wages.