Workers seeking back pay from negligent employers have been attacked by thugs, detained by police and threatened not to talk to the foreign media. On 15 January 2008, Wang Chao a migrant worker from Sichuan had an arm chopped off by hired thugs from the construction company in Nanjing when he attempted to obtain the wages owed him. And on 30 January, more than 20 workers laid-off from a construction company in Sichuan were detained by police after they marched on the municipal government to demand their wages.

 

About 600 former workers from the Tieshu Textile Factory in Suizhou City, Hubei Province are seeking payment of large sums of back wages owing to them since the factory was declared bankrupt in early 2004. The workers had publicly campaigned for over a year, holding numerous mass public protests in Suizhou City, but when all their efforts proved in vain they finally took the drastic step of blocking the main railway line for several hours. The protest action was forcibly dispersed by the police and six of the workers were arrested and charged with criminal offences.