Chapter 102 Helping Migrant Worker Fathers Collect Wages

I don't know if there is any update today. See the title for what I did. If you are bored, you can take a look. There are both laughter and anger, as well as calm philosophical thinking.

This morning, I accompanied my father to the court to sue the migrant workers for wages. The case was filed on January 27 (before the Chinese New Year). Due to the impact of the epidemic, the court was not opened until March 12.

Because of different reasons, it was divided into two cases, one is a labor dispute and the other is a loan dispute.

Let me briefly talk about the matter. My father helped someone do something. Because the time and place were not fixed, there was no contract signed. He worked for about a month, and the material cost, hiring fee, salary, etc., totaled 9,000.

Someone hinted that he was short of money recently. My father felt that this person introduced his job and was grateful to him, so he lent him 5,000. The transfer was made through WeChat. There was no IOU, just some ambiguous voice messages for borrowing money.

The two cases added up to about 14,000!

Needless to say, the following things, in short, this person found various reasons to default.

This is not the main content I want to talk about today. I mainly want to talk about the process of my negotiation with the court and other departments. Okay, I am going to start blasting. I do not deny it at all. Today is the day when my nine-year compulsory education was trampled underfoot and I was severely educated by society. There are not many such opportunities.

Because the matter is small, I will not say much about the various difficulties when filing the case before. When writing the lawsuit, there were many mistakes. I originally studied history instead of law. The format was all referenced on the Internet. Some legal common sense was remedial overnight.

What is disgusting is that the person who received the lawsuit pointed out the mistakes one by one, not all at once, and made you run back and forth several times. If it were not for the glass, I would want to hit him several times.

By wasting time and energy costs, it does not solve the problem you raised, but solves you as the person who raised the problem.

Talking about the process of today's court session, I hope it can be a reference for you in the future lawsuit.

The case was to be heard at 10 o'clock. My father and I went there more than an hour in advance. We sat there for a long time, but the defendant did not come. In fact, the defendant did not show up from beginning to end. At 9:40, my father and I were summoned to the court. Let me interpret the process for you in a drama version.

Judge (straight to the point): Of your two cases, only the loan case has the WeChat transfer receipt, so the court can be heard. For the remaining case, because you only have your own labor record receipt (which is just the record of the number of working days for ordinary migrant workers), without the signature of the other party, and because there is no contract guarantee, it is not recommended to go to court. Even if we go to court, we will reject your appeal on the grounds of insufficient evidence.

Father (hurriedly): For ordinary migrant workers, who would ask the boss to sign the notebook that records their work? Although there is no signature of the defendant, when I was working, there were also co-workers present, who can serve as witnesses.

Judge (righteous and dignified): Co-workers who work together may commit perjury, which cannot be counted and is not considered evidence. This is a procedure. The law must have rules. If you can't file a case, you should go back and find evidence again! You should withdraw this lawsuit! (Again, you are solving the problem instead of solving the problem)

(Father sighs and frowns, I come on stage)

Me: We will not withdraw this lawsuit. The migrant workers worked hard for a month, and this is what they get? The evidence found at present is sufficient, and the court can be opened.

Judge: It is not up to you to decide whether to open the court or not. The defendant you want to sue is also a scoundrel. Here, there are many cases of him, which have not been executed for several years! He has long been a deadbeat, living a life of idleness and waiting to die.

(My father and I looked at each other, it is difficult to execute!)

Me (not giving up, insisting): Whether he can pay it back is one thing, but we still have to sue.

Judge (impatient): Didn't I tell you before? Insufficient evidence!

Me (very dissatisfied, for ordinary migrant workers, this is all the evidence that can be found): There are both human and physical evidence, how can you say that there is insufficient human and physical evidence?

Judge: You said someone owed you wages, and they also said your father helped someone do something bad, and even the money your father lent to someone was said to be compensation for him! (The project was reworked here, and the defendant spent 3,000 yuan on the rework. This was explained and reduced in the complaint, and will not be recovered)

Me (laughing in anger): The court is open, and there is a defense phase. As the plaintiff, I have to exercise my rights.

Judge: The defendant is not here——

Me: Online video and phone calls should be possible.

Judge: There is no such saying.

Me: Many courts have done this recently.

Judge: That is in other places, not here.

Me: The whole country is a chessboard, it is impossible not to have it.

Judge (suddenly stopped the work at hand, stared at me, and pointed upstairs): The president is upstairs, you go and ask him if the court can be held online? Go find him.

(I want to say something, but the judge does not listen to me, so I have to go upstairs to find the president. If it is a drama, this should be the second act)

Me: Excuse me, can the court be held online here? The defendant is not here, the case cannot be dragged on here.

The presiding judge: I have checked it, your labor dispute case, the evidence is insufficient, it cannot be opened, we will not accept it.

Me: This is all the evidence we can find.

The presiding judge: Don't tell me this, if our staff hadn't been careful and approved your loan certificate, otherwise, your 5,000 yuan case might not have been established!

Me: One thing is one thing, my father's hard-earned money must be collected!

The president of the court (glancing at the legal books in my right hand, annoyed) A child who hasn't even grown up yet thinks that he can become a lawyer after reading a little! Ah!!! You pretend to know everything. The court is your home, you can open it if you want.

…

(After that, we argued for a long time. We are all adults, and our psychological endurance is not good enough to be like this. I was just in a bad mood the whole time. But I just felt that I had studied hard for nine years of compulsory education. I said I was a college student, but I couldn't even help my father collect wages.)

This is what happened to me in court today. The description of my facial expressions and actions is absolutely not exaggerated, and even more exaggerated. The words of the president of the court lingered in my ears for a long time and could not be forgotten.

In fact, after the court, I went to the local police station. In the end, only one case was filed, which was the loan case. It was originally planned to be handled as a criminal case. After all, the defendant owed money to many people, and the list of deadbeats had no binding force on such people.

The township police station played Tai Chi and told us to go to the next higher level police station. Criminal cases were not under their jurisdiction. After clarifying that this was a migrant worker asking for wages, they planned to push it to the relevant department. As a result, when they called, they couldn't even find the relevant department. Speechless, didn't the country say that the migrant worker issue was very important?

If Sanren was a literary person, perhaps it would be enough to vent his emotions here, but I want to say more, rise to a philosophical perspective, and analyze from a higher latitude why the court is unwilling to file a labor dispute case.

This is actually an institutional problem. It doesn't matter who comes, it's actually the same. I also hope that my experience can serve as a reference for history.

Before discussing this issue, let me ask a question first. What do you think is the main contradiction in China today?

By the way, it is actually the problem mentioned in the No. 1 document every year - the three rural issues. People of insight discovered this main contradiction more than ten years ago.

Another question, what do you think is the main aspect of the main contradiction? Choose from the three rural issues, rural farmers, which is the main aspect?

There may be a consensus on the above question, but not necessarily on the following one. In fact, I don’t think there is a standard answer, because the three rural issues are a trinity.

Speaking of farmers, the biggest problem is that the profit of agricultural production is low. In the current socialized large-scale production, it is not enough to maintain the small peasant economy, resulting in an employment crisis and becoming migrant workers dependent on the city.

Some of them have not successfully integrated into the city, and they go in and out of the city with tides. They have fields and land at home, and return to their hometowns when they are unemployed or old. They are standard, old petty bourgeoisie, and have weak ability to resist risks.

The remaining part has successfully integrated into the city, carrying the hustle and bustle of the city. They are not factory owners, nor shareholders of hospitals and schools. They have not obtained the means of production and exist like social animals. They have entered the proletariat from the petty bourgeoisie.

The last small group, who have obtained the means of production, are the real bourgeoisie.

Ask yourself, if you are from the countryside, which part do you belong to.

The problem of migrant workers is actually the problem of urbanization. Draw on the blackboard and hit the key points.

As the center of industrialization, cities can get several times the output with double the investment. From the perspective of efficiency, "not stupid" governments will invest in cities. The land finance brought by the rapidly expanding cities has long been the main tax revenue of the government.

The more we pay attention to efficiency, or the more market-oriented the society is, the more you need to solve the electricity, water, gas and oil problems in the countryside.

Efficiency and fairness are contradictory in most cases. When the trade unions appeared, the capitalists learned to pay wages by piecework. They did not force you to work, but you earned the money yourself.

To be honest, China is relatively fair in today's world. The so-called free medical care abroad requires waiting for ten days and a half months to draw lots, and the so-called free education is full of poor students.

The expenditure on the three rural issues is actually the government's maintenance of fairness. It is not only the maintenance of rural roads and mountain cables, but also the maintenance of teachers' teaching, which are all maintenance of fairness.

Under market-oriented operation, even if highway tolls are collected, there may not be investors to build roads, and the meager electricity fee income cannot even make up for the power loss of power transmission.

These are indeed commendable, but, as many people have said, these are all face projects. Many new officials are in office to build roads, which are effective and promoted quickly. However, no one is willing to take on some difficult issues such as medical care and education.

Naturally, court litigation is also one of these difficult issues.

To be honest, every year, in order to solve the problem of migrant workers asking for wages, the government has thought of many ways. After all, it is a pain point in people's livelihood and a difficult point. However, when the policy is delivered to the grassroots, it is often said that the good scriptures are read distorted. In the end, it is still the migrant workers who solve the problem by their own means.

Most grassroots cadres feel tired, and the masses have no sense of gain. For example, I can now express my anger gently through words, which is my last bottom line. It is my last duty not to complain to the president of the court.

There really is no recording, otherwise I would have spent two hundred yuan to buy a hot search on Weibo and let it stay on the list for a few days. CTMD, don't get me wrong, this is an abbreviation of traditional virtues, translated into ancient Chinese, it's called "彼其娘之".

When social fairness cannot be maintained by the government, various forces will naturally come out to maintain it. In ancient times, there were knights who killed evil people with swords. Han Feizi thought that they usurped the power of the country. Today's manifestation is more mysterious. Through media and public opinion, they fan public opinion and oppress the court. Sometimes, it is the evil people who complain first. Alas.

If the court is right, it may stand up straighter. If it is not right, it will soften in a minute.

Efficiency and fairness, like demand and supply, have a balance point. Science and technology are the primary productive forces. There is nothing that cannot be said to others. Efficiency must be more dominant.

Fairness is only invested on the basis of ensuring efficiency. Do you think it is different from what the high school political book says? That is the revised version of the political book, which says that it pays more attention to efficiency.

Research and development of space rockets and poverty alleviation, the latter invests a lot of money, but it is a bottomless pit. It is impossible to help all the poor. It is better for everyone to be poor together and equalize the rich and the poor. If the former achieves a technological breakthrough, it can be used to alleviate poverty at a lower cost. The country is like a snowball, rolling bigger and bigger.

So, seeing this, I think it is not difficult for you to understand why the country insists on industrial transfer while poverty alleviation. And this is actually the process of industrialization and re-industrialization.

Why is my case not accepted? What is the problem? Have you found it?

As for the case itself, is the evidence really insufficient? I don’t think so at all. The migrant workers record the work orders day by day, and the prices are accurate to two decimal places. Who would be bored enough to do this perjury.

It is even more ridiculous for witnesses to perjure the world. This is to take legal risks. Even if there is something to say, can’t you find out by investigating the surveillance of my father on the way to work? Do you really not know whether he worked or not?

You may laugh when you hear the method I give. Well, I want to introduce the first question, which is to analyze from an economic perspective. In short, it is the word cost.

It is very difficult to investigate a case clearly. It is not a lawsuit involving human life. Ten thousand yuan is not enough for his business trip. The court also needs funds to operate!

The national finance mainly supports large cities, because they will play a leading role and lead the national GDP. Relatively speaking, even poverty alleviation is just a guarantee. In short, it will not let you starve to death. After all, it is a civilized society. How can cannibalism happen?

With less fiscal expenditure, the corresponding infrastructure is less, the personnel expenditure is less, the grassroots cadres’ salaries are not high, and they still have more lives. Can we talk about socialist brotherhood? Can we get things done? (Some Qingshui pension offices are not what I said)

Financial expenditure does not change. What the grassroots government has to do is to maintain stability and escort efficiency improvement.

This is the top priority. As long as it is not a big deal, it can be covered up. If the finances are insufficient, the heart is willing but the strength is insufficient. Simply solve the problem and turn a blind eye to the problem.

The state stipulates that if more than three people die in an accident, it must be reported to the central government. Therefore, there are some governments that know that four or five people died in the accident, and they must rescue and send the dead to the ICU.

Zhu Yuanzhang peeled the skin and stuffed it with grass, but there were no fewer corrupt officials. It is better to raise high salaries to maintain integrity.

When there is external pressure, the grassroots governments cannot maintain stability and hinder efficiency improvement, they will operate at an extraordinary speed. There are two kinds of pressure. One comes from above, so I won’t say much about it. The other comes from below, which is usually called public opinion pressure.

This is the logic behind the saying that it is easier to get things done with someone above you, and the distribution according to the noise, which is hidden and clear.

Next, from a political perspective, or from the perspective of civil servant promotion, knowing that the defendant is a deadbeat and has a precedent of refusing to execute, continuing to accept cases and going to execute them, isn’t it asking for trouble?

The execution rate of the court continues to decline. In the assessment of officials, do they want to make further progress in their political careers?

If I can still keep calm about the previous economic analysis, from a political perspective, I’m sorry, you eat the taxpayers’ food and smash the taxpayers’ bowls, isn’t it meaningless?

Where did the fiscal funds specially allocated by the state to solve the problem of migrant workers go? If I hadn’t seen the State Council hold a special press conference to discuss related matters in Xinhua News Agency and People’s Daily a few years ago, would I have urged my father to go to court?

Yes, I am just an ordinary student, not a member of the Communist Youth League, let alone a member of the Communist Party. When I was in school, I was the type that teachers hated the most.

But when my generation of people who have received higher education grow up, their awareness of the rule of law will be enhanced, and they will know how to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests. Those who rely on "being able to do things" to drive away the petitioners will no longer have a place to stand.

However, the side effect may be that some of the means that sacrificed fairness to maintain efficiency will not be able to be put on the table.

However, as a grassroots person, I am happy to see such growth being abolished.

I can accept that government service personnel have a bad attitude at work, because you get what you pay for, but I don't want to be served by a "capable person" who gets promoted by shirking responsibility and playing Tai Chi.

What ability do people have to solve problems? If you have the ability, go and solve the problems! It was said before that the finances were not enough, and now the money has been given, but people's mentality has not changed.

I think it's still what *** said, if you don't change your mind, change people.

Now that people are gradually enlightened, they still want to implement the previous set of policies to fool the people. I advise you: adults, times have changed, and the Qing Dynasty has fallen.

Finally, let me talk about the case. I only got a verbal reply from the staff that if the man still does not accept the execution this year, he will be put in jail. I think it is more of a comfort.

He met a bad person. Not only did he not get his salary, but he even swallowed up the loan. On the way home, my father kept muttering that he would never work with strangers again.

A society ruled by law vs a society based on personal relationships. My father did not think about signing a contract for future work because he knew that it was unrealistic and chose to return to personal relationships. If nothing unexpected happens, my father will not deal with this group of "capable people" in the future.

If possible, I don't want to deal with this group of "capable people" either, but I still have a long way to go, and it's not certain in the future.

In the final analysis, a society ruled by law is just a skin covered by a society based on personal relationships. The common rules of an acquaintance society are contrary to a society ruled by law. The glamor of the city obscures the obscurity of the countryside.