More than 400 railway workers went on strike beginning 3 August in Beijing to claim back pay of more than six months. They were also denied their daily living subsidies for nearly 10 days and some of them have been suffering from lack of food for several days.

Coming from Shaanxi, Anhui, Sichuan and Henan, these workers were employed by the China Railway Construction Corporation's (CRCC) 4th Engineering Bureau at the beginning of the year and were deployed to work at Section 11 of Line No. 5 of the Beijing Underground Railway. They did not sign any written contract with the company but only work on the basis of an oral agreement. They were promised 1400 Yuan for every cubic meter of land dredged, to be paid at the end of each month, together with a daily subsidy for their meals, to be paid every five days.

In the past six months, the workers have dredged over 200 cubic meters of land but they have never received their entitled payments, approximately 280,000 Yuan. Starting from late-July, the company even ceased offering the daily subsidy for their meals. The workers have negotiated with the foreman of the site constantly but no progress was ever made. They claimed that striking is the last resort when alternative approaches seem futile.

After the news was reported, a daily subsidy of around 100 Yuan was paid to cover the workers’ daily expenses but no announcement was made on the delayed salary payments. CRCC cannot be reached for further comments.