HONG KONG – The delivery guy dipped himself in gasoline and set himself on fire. Shrouded in flames, he protested what he said were unpaid fees from a company associated with Chinese technology giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
“I want my blood and sweat money back,” said the man, Liu Jin, covered in ashes, as police officers tried to rush him to the hospital on Monday, a widely shared video on social media revealed.
48-year-old Mr. Liu, who survived but suffered severe burns, is one of millions of workers in the Chinese engineering sector whose plight has led to online charges against the country’s internet giants by internet users and state media. The outrage casts a spotlight on the grueling working conditions and harsh working conditions that many blue-collar and white-collar workers face as the Internet companies they vie for users.
According to the local government, Mr. Liu meals through a subcontractor of Alibaba’s Ele.me food delivery service in the East China city of Taizhou. Ele.me said it has paid for Mr. Liu’s medical expenses and continues to help him and his family. It also said that Ele.me is forbidding agencies it works with from defaulting on delivery drivers and is investigating the matter.
In recent weeks, Pinduoduo Inc., a fast-growing e-commerce company now rivaled by some measures Alibaba, has also faced criticism after the deaths of two employees in their twenties: one collapsed on her way home from work at 1: 30 am and the other jumped off a high-rise. Pinduoduo confirmed the incidents and offered his condolences to the families of the workers.