Quarry boss accused of enslaving workers
By Zhang Xuanchen |
December 14, 2010, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
POLICE are investigating a stone quarry where some 11 homeless men seeking help from a care center were sent to work for no pay and were tortured in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Police have put a manager and other involved people from the quarry in Tuoksun County under investigation following reports that workers, which allegedly included eight with learning difficulties, were enslaved for up to three years, the Xinjiang Metropolis newspaper reported yesterday on its website.
The workers were found to be working unmasked in the dusty quarry. A resident living nearby said the factory did not close for a single day and the workers were never given a day off.
At noon, the workers shared boiled noodles from a large bowl, from which two guard dogs would also eat. At night, they crammed into beds in a room measuring about 10 square meters, covered with thin quilts or just paper, Xinhua news agency reported.
Liu Shuanghui, who had worked in the quarry for four years, told Xinhua he hadn't received any salary, while a boss at a neighboring plant said they usually paid a minimum wage of 150 yuan (US$21) to each employee a day.
A 40-year-old worker Wang Li said his two attempts to run away failed and were punished with beatings and lashes. He said "an escape is impossible here."
The quarry's boss, Li Xinglin, said he hired the 11 workers by legal means from a homeless care center in Sichuan Province in September 2008. To prove it, he showed a contract with the center which said Li should pay 9,000 yuan for hiring a total of five workers.
Police have put a manager and other involved people from the quarry in Tuoksun County under investigation following reports that workers, which allegedly included eight with learning difficulties, were enslaved for up to three years, the Xinjiang Metropolis newspaper reported yesterday on its website.
The workers were found to be working unmasked in the dusty quarry. A resident living nearby said the factory did not close for a single day and the workers were never given a day off.
At noon, the workers shared boiled noodles from a large bowl, from which two guard dogs would also eat. At night, they crammed into beds in a room measuring about 10 square meters, covered with thin quilts or just paper, Xinhua news agency reported.
Liu Shuanghui, who had worked in the quarry for four years, told Xinhua he hadn't received any salary, while a boss at a neighboring plant said they usually paid a minimum wage of 150 yuan (US$21) to each employee a day.
A 40-year-old worker Wang Li said his two attempts to run away failed and were punished with beatings and lashes. He said "an escape is impossible here."
The quarry's boss, Li Xinglin, said he hired the 11 workers by legal means from a homeless care center in Sichuan Province in September 2008. To prove it, he showed a contract with the center which said Li should pay 9,000 yuan for hiring a total of five workers.
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