送交者: skipper3 于 2006-3-16, 17:19:56:
the same level of sympathy to the poor as others do. So I decided to share my experience on dealing with migrant workers, the poor, and how I think about them. I think a story carries a lot more information than a politically correct but wide empty statement does.
As some people know, my family bought a home in SH a few years ago. So we had to do the remodeling. To save time on design and supervision, we hired a company that is specialized in this type of work. THis company now is among the top remodeling companies in SH. It turned out that, all the workers sent to our place were contracted migrant worker, a fact that did not really surprise us. THis causes some problems though: none of the workers took OWNERSHIP of the work. They made short cut by cutting corners where ever they could and calling up the company did not really solve the problem. One week into the construction we figured out we had to give them extra incentive. SO we started giving them tips based on the quality of work they perform. Each worker received RMB0-50/day plus occasional “double happiness” cigarette. The amount put little dent on our budget but has created some motivation. But the result was far short of being ideal. Despite the fact that we repeatedly told them that we would pay significantly higher than this amount and we would refer them to other independent remodelers and other new home owners we know of, if they do the best they could, THEY STILL CUT CORNERS WHERE EVER THEY COULD. Eventually this becomes a norm: we kept paying tips and they kept not taking ownership of the work. Even for repairs under warrant, we had to tip them RMB20-50 per person per visit.
What disappointed me was not the work they did(we eventually hired an on-site professional inspector to supervise the construction. So the quality was not too short of our expectation). I was disappointed by the fact that THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT SMART, let alone being creative. I don’t sense a bit of desire from them that someday some of them would become an entrepreneur so he could make some profit on top low wage. They showed no desire of making more money when present and future opportunities have opened to them. I can only conclude that they are satisfied with RMB1000/month plus tips(quite an amount compared to their base wages though). And they did not have basic dignity not to allow someone yelling at them all the time. I can only say if they keep working like this they will be poor and their children will be poor unless a pie falls from the sky.
The story is somewhat different for our nanny, aunt Dou. Dou was from a small town in AnHui. She is 42 with two teenager children. Aunt Dow has been working for us as a live-in nanny over a year now, which is considered quite long in this market. What makes us keep her is not because of her capability, but her attitude. She is not very good at cleaning and is terrible in cooking. But Aunt Dou is smart. She always can do some extra little housekeeping work and gives us surprise. As a result, we have raised her salary from initial RMB850 to RMB1k, plus an extra month before the Spring Festival when she goes home, and a couple hundred Yuan on each holiday occasion. My parents and in-laws also give her one or two big bills every time they come to visit. The relationship between Aunt Dou and us is getting closer to family over time, and she has dinner with us on the same table all the time.
Aunt Dou’s husband is also a migrant worker in SH. We never met him but Dou said each Saturday they go to the church together and they are in a process of finding their son, who is now 17 years old, some work in SH. She told us they bought a 2-story house in home village during the Chinese New year. The house “has 5 rooms and tap water and sewage and costs only RMB18k”. I don’t quite believe one can buy a house with this little money but Aunt Dou insists everything is cheap back home.
Still, I can see she is not totally satisfied and is worried about her children’s future. Although we have talked in private about possibility of providing her help within our capability, we decided not to give her extra cash in the form of wage and compensation because that would not be the right thing to do.
That’s my experience of close interactions with migrant workers. You guys can say I am mean I am exploiting poor people anything you want. But I tell you this, if people want to be better off, to change their children’s future, they have to work and work smart. And that’s very respectable. If they only cry for mistreatment while do not take action to help themselves, nothing will change.