While police dispute the story, netizens express sympathy for “800 Brother” and frustration over how workers are treated amid China’s economic downturn.
By Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin
A Chinese factory employee set fire to a textile plant in China’s southwestern Sichuan province in his frustration over unpaid wages of just 800 yuan (or US$111), according to videos posted on social media and eyewitness accounts shared with Radio Free Asia.
The blaze at the Sichuan Jinyu Textile Company at the Wangchang Industrial Park in Pingshan county of Sichuan’s Yibin city raged for about 37 hours causing significant property damage and sparking intense discussions online about labor rights.
Social media posts indicated that Wen, 27, had a heated exchange with his employers over his back wages before setting fire to the factory on Tuesday.
The economic losses from the fire are estimated to be as high as tens of millions of yuan, according to preliminary estimates quoted by a number of netizens.
The Pingshan county police confirmed an incident of arson and said the arsonist had been detained at the scene of the fire. It said on Friday that the case is under further investigation, including an assessment of total losses incurred.
Police, however, said the claim that “800 yuan in wages were owed” was false, and that the company was in the process of approving payment of 5,370 yuan in wages. It blamed the factory fire on the arsonist’s suicidal thoughts, and said police would deal strictly with those spreading rumors.
The Jinyu Textile Company and Pingshan county office could not immediately be reached for comment.
After Tuesday’s incident, Chinese netizens took to social media to express their sympathy for the plight of workers like Wen, whose actions they believe, while extreme, were desperate. They said he was “forced to do so” out of sheer frustration over the lack of options to recover his money and have his voice heard.
“I read online that Wen’s family is poor and in a dire situation, and that his mother is ill and they are in urgent need of money,” Wang Shudong, an online user from Yibin city, told RFA on Friday.
“When those who were owed wages sought legal help, the judges disappeared, and the labor department staff also disappeared. But when Wen set fire to the factory, the police came and so did the officials from the legal system,” Wang noted.
Preventing ‘800 Brother’-like incidents
Calling him “800 Brother,” to denote the 800 yuan Wen was owed by the factory, netizens and experts said more needs to be done to prevent “800 yuan tragedies” from happening in future.
They also questioned what legal rights and avenues are available for ordinary workers with months of unpaid wages.
“Chinese society is heading towards an unpredictable future, and the relationship between people is becoming increasingly tense under the pressure of economic downturn,” Sichuan-based scholar Tang Gang told RFA.
Xue, a Guizhou labor relations researcher, said government departments, companies, and all sectors of the society should work together to address worker concerns over unpaid wages and benefits to prevent more “800 Brother” incidents.
“If companies can establish a sound wage payment mechanism to ensure that employees receive their wages on time and in full, the probability of such extreme incidents can be effectively reduced,” said Xue, who wanted to be identified by a single name for safety reasons.
RFA has reported a spate of protests in recent days by Chinese teachers, medical staff, construction workers, and factory employees demanding unpaid wages.
“In addition to legal redress, there is an urgent need for institutional repair, humane grassroots governance, and a social mechanism that truly listens to the voices of ordinary people,” Yue Tianli, a sociologist based in Lanzhou, told RFA.
Edited by Mat Pennington and Tenzin Pema.
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