HONG KONG (AP) – E-commerce workers who loved China during the coronavirus pandemic, which made their billionaire bosses even richer, are so unhappy with their wages and treatment that they simply set themselves on fire in protest.
The Internet industry in China was already known for long, demanding days. With millions of families locked in their homes, demand skyrocketed and workers delivered tons of vegetables, rice, meat, diapers, and other supplies, often aboard scooters that exposed them to freezing temperatures.
For employees in the technology industry, pay is better than in some industries, but employees are often expected to work 12 hours or more a day.
The human cost caught the attention of the public after the death of two employees of e-commerce platform Pinduoduo, known for selling fresh produce at low prices. Their deaths led to suggestions that they were overworked. As a sign of grave concern, the official Xinhua News Agency called for shorter working hours, describing long overtime at the expense of workers’ health as an “illegal” operation.
Renewed concerns about poor working conditions for delivery drivers also surfaced when a video circulated on Chinese social media showing it was a driver for Ele.me, part of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, who set itself on fire for unpaid wages to protest.
The controversy is a blow to the image of internet industries transforming China’s economy and creating new jobs. They have made some of the founders of the world’s richest entrepreneurs. During the heights of the pandemic, the fortunes of the biggest, including Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Pinduoduo founder Colin Huang, grew as online consumer spending boomed.
In a video widespread on Chinese social media, 45-year-old delivery boy Liu Jin poured gasoline and set himself on fire outside a distribution station for Eleme in the eastern city of Taizhou, calling for his money. Others sniffed the flames and rushed him to a hospital, where he is treated for third-degree burns to his body.
Details of Liu’s complaint could not be verified, and Eleme did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Regardless, a 43-year-old delivery man collapsed on the job and died last week while delivering food for Eleme.
The company said in a statement that it will give 600,000 yuan ($ 92,700) to the driver’s family and has increased its driver insurance coverage to that level. The statement said that Eleme “had not done enough in the field of term life insurance and must do more.”
The issue was highlighted again after a Pinduoduo employee nicknamed Tan committed suicide after taking leave from the company to return to his hometown less than two weeks after a 22-year-old employee nicknamed Zhang collapsed in Urumqi while traveling with colleagues to home. and later died.
Pinduoduo, China’s third largest e-commerce company, has released statements saying it is providing help and support to the families of the two workers who died. Shanghai authorities are also reviewing working hours, contracts and other terms and conditions at the company.
The deaths sparked outrage on social media, with many people suspecting they were the result of overtime. Chinese social media users have devastated the country’s technology sector, not only criticizing Pinduoduo for a culture of long hours, but pointing out that this was an industry-wide problem, with similar corporate cultures seen at most major Chinese technology companies.
They also revived a nationwide debate about the so-called “996” work culture in the tech sector, in which employees often work six days a week from 9am to 9pm. Companies sometimes pay huge bonuses to some employees, tempting them to work more overtime.
“We must strive to pursue dreams, but the legitimate rights and interests of workers cannot be ignored or even violated,” said the state-owned Xinhua News Agency in a post on microblogging site Weibo.
The issue has also drawn attention to the working conditions of delivery drivers, who are under severe pressure to get orders to customers quickly and sometimes earn less than 10 yuan ($ 1.55) per delivery. If they don’t meet deadlines, the fines imposed can range from as little as 1 yuan ($ 0.15) to as much as 500 yuan ($ 77.30) if a customer files a complaint.
As part of the gig economy, such deliverers often do not receive the benefits provided to full-time workers, such as social or medical insurance.
Since there are many people who want to work under those conditions, it is difficult for employees to negotiate better wages and conditions.
Last August, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) – the only union allowed to legally exist in communist-ruled China – said 6.5 million delivery workers had joined since 2018. However, the workers ‘rights group China Labor Bulletin, which tracks labor relations in China, says little has been done to improve workers’ ability to receive better treatment from companies. The union only provides skills training, legal assistance, and some medical benefits.
“Unions need to become more effective or labor laws cannot be enforced,” said Li Qiang, founder of China Labor Watch, another organization that monitors labor rights.
Under the labor laws of China, workers are not allowed to work more than eight hours a day, or an average of 44 hours a week. The total number of overtime hours may not exceed 36 hours per month and may only be done “after consultation with the union and workers”.
While labor laws do exist, they are rarely enforced because workers become trapped in a culture of overtime as they strive for bonuses or, in the case of delivery workers, to make a living.
Delivery workers are part of a corporate culture where even tech workers work inordinately long hours, Li noted.
“Employees who don’t work overtime cannot survive in technology or white collar work. Everyone works overtime. If they don’t work overtime, they will be fired, ”said Li.
Employees are disadvantaged even more. In some industries, indemnity clauses are sometimes included in employment contracts, exempting a company from responsibility for workplace deaths and other similar events, said Li of China Labor Watch. While such clauses may violate China’s labor laws, China’s legal system is opaque and laws can be difficult to enforce.
“In Western countries, if an employee dies from overtime, the legal and economic costs will be higher, and they are generally more reluctant because the country’s laws will intervene,” Li said. “But in China there is no bottom line when it comes to overtime, and companies are generally not held liable in the event of death.”
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Associated Press researcher Chen Si in Shanghai contributed to this report.