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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...nalabor08.html
JINTANG, China — Cheap labor has helped China become the world's top producer of a variety of consumer goods, including televisions and DVD players and apple juice and clothing. So it seemed only a matter of time before China would come up with a new export: the laborers themselves.
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He Shengjun, a 30-year-old manual laborer, and his friend, Feng Shiyong, who's in his 20s, were deported from Saudi Arabia in mid-January, after barely a month at a work site there.
"They cheated us," He said, seated on a stool in a rural dwelling in this county.
Feng and He said recruiters from faraway Guizhou province came to their village last fall and easily rounded up a group of men to leave for Saudi Arabia on Oct. 30. The two were among a second group of 32 men who left for the Arabian Peninsula on Dec. 11. A third group of 54 men left on Dec. 28.
"They promised us that we would get at least 200 yuan (about $29) per day, that that was the lowest rate. They said they would pay for our food and lodging," Feng said.
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"We just slept. We didn't go to work," Feng said. "We didn't call our behavior a strike. ... They called it a strike."
Translators arrived at the dormitories and gave the laborers three choices: go back to work, return to China or wait for Saudi police. The workers decided to wait, the two men said.
Feng said police held the striking workers for three days. During that time, officials from the Chinese contractor offered them their jobs back only if they agreed to lower wages.
Some of the workers quickly sent text messages on their mobile phones back to their home province to warn fellow Sichuanese not to fall for the recruiters' promises and make the journey to Saudi Arabia. Soon, a Chinese official showed up at the detention facility.
"Somebody who said he was from the Chinese Embassy came to talk to us. He said, 'Please go back to China. We will get your belongings for you.' We still aren't sure who he was," He said.
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He Shengjun, a 30-year-old manual laborer, and his friend, Feng Shiyong, who's in his 20s, were deported from Saudi Arabia in mid-January, after barely a month at a work site there.
"They cheated us," He said, seated on a stool in a rural dwelling in this county.
Feng and He said recruiters from faraway Guizhou province came to their village last fall and easily rounded up a group of men to leave for Saudi Arabia on Oct. 30. The two were among a second group of 32 men who left for the Arabian Peninsula on Dec. 11. A third group of 54 men left on Dec. 28.
"They promised us that we would get at least 200 yuan (about $29) per day, that that was the lowest rate. They said they would pay for our food and lodging," Feng said.
...
"We just slept. We didn't go to work," Feng said. "We didn't call our behavior a strike. ... They called it a strike."
Translators arrived at the dormitories and gave the laborers three choices: go back to work, return to China or wait for Saudi police. The workers decided to wait, the two men said.
Feng said police held the striking workers for three days. During that time, officials from the Chinese contractor offered them their jobs back only if they agreed to lower wages.
Some of the workers quickly sent text messages on their mobile phones back to their home province to warn fellow Sichuanese not to fall for the recruiters' promises and make the journey to Saudi Arabia. Soon, a Chinese official showed up at the detention facility.
"Somebody who said he was from the Chinese Embassy came to talk to us. He said, 'Please go back to China. We will get your belongings for you.' We still aren't sure who he was," He said.
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