On February 22, the day after
Stuff’s original report, Yu says he was summoned to a meeting with the company’s owner, Richard Kennaway, with Zhou translating into Mandarin. He alleges he was told: “This person is harmful to our factory, telling outsiders about things happening in the factory. now he’s talked to journalists about things happening in the factory, now it’s been exposed, the factory’s reputation is gone, and it’s hard to make business deals with others”. Another worker pleaded on his behalf and he won a temporary reprieve, but was then dismissed earlier this month.
Chinese migrant construction workers tell harrowing stories of being overworked and underpaid.
Some Chinese migrants lured here by the promise of lucrative jobs instead have their wages stolen and their rights trampled, report Steve Kilgallon and Lucy Xia. Zhao eats an egg a day with rice porridge. It’s all he can afford. He’s owed $14,000 in wages by various employers and was left without income for a work-related injury, for which he received no compensation. It’s not the return Zhao and his wife expected when they invested their life savings - about $80,000 - into moving to New Zealand after being promised highly-paid, secure work in our booming building sector.