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From China Daily:

A tourism company in southwest China's Yunnan province on Tuesday settled a long overdue payment after the children of migrant workers joined their parents in protest, claiming that the parents' wages had been held in arrears for six years.

Xinhua Shizhaizi Co, Ltd (XHS) remitted more than 14 million yuan ($2.2 million) as an overdue payment for a real estate project, including over 8 million yuan in overdue wages for 500 migrant workers, to the intermediate people's court in the prefecture of Dali.

Ma Zhonghua, mayor of the city of Dali, where the prefectural seat is located, said the government will ensure that relevant contractors and subcontractors pay their workers in full and on time.

The case drew public attention after 13 of the workers' children, ranging from 5 years of age to 20, jointed their parents in protesting the company's failure to pay last Tuesday. Photos of the protest taken by tourists were posted online, triggering calls for the protection of migrants' rights.

An investigation found the wage dispute was a result of project management loopholes in the real estate sector. The project, a complex that included a holiday resort, department stores and an exhibition hall, was subcontracted to companies at several levels for construction by the prime developer, which was later taken over by XHS.

After the children joined their parents' protests, the Dali city government demanded that XHS settle the issue.

From China Digital Times:

Children of migrant laborers who had long been owed wages from a tourism company in Dali, Yunnan province joined their parents in protest this week. The company received a court order to to pay up months ago, but refused to do so. Children’s presence on the picket lines seems to have drawn enough public attention to force compensation. China Daily reports on this migrant success story from the southwest of China:

Xinhua Shizhaizi Co, Ltd (XHS) remitted more than 14 million yuan ($2.2 million) as an overdue payment for a real estate project, including over 8 million yuan in overdue wages for 500 migrant workers, to the intermediate people’s court in the prefecture of Dali.

Ma Zhonghua, mayor of the city of Dali, where the prefectural seat is located, said the government will ensure that relevant contractors and subcontractors pay their workers in full and on time.

The case drew public attention after 13 of the workers’ children, ranging from 5 years of age to 20, jointed their parents in protesting the company’s failure to pay last Tuesday. Photos of the protest taken by tourists were posted online, triggering calls for the protection of migrants’ rights.

[...]After the children joined their parents’ protests, the Dali city government demanded that XHS settle the issue.

Wall Street Journal’s China Realtime Report translates a message from one little girl’s sign, and describes how the sentimentality that the children brought to the rally affected netizens:

“My name is Gao Jia,” read the sign held by one little girl. “I want to eat, to go to school, to drink milk, to eat cookies.”

[...]The appearance of the children appears to struck a chord with China’s sometimes jaded Internet users, prompting new interest in an issue that had fallen out of the headlines in recent years.

[...]While conflicts over unpaid wages have become routine, the children’s protest hovered near the top of Chinese search engine Baidu’s trending topics list throughout the day on Friday and garnered widespread sympathy from Internet users.

“While [a lot of us] are living cotent and happy lives, there are millions out there with no food to eat, no milk to drink,” wrote one user of Sina Corp.’s Weibo microblogging service Weibo.

Not everyone was thrilled with the use of children, including a disapproving microblogger who asked: “What kind of parent lets their five year-old demand their unpaid wages?”

Two photos of the picketing tots can be seen in Chinese language coverage of the protest.

From CRI Online:

新华网昆明8月19日电(记者 袁雪莲)本应享受暑假欢乐时光的孩子，为了筹集学费却走上街头帮助父母讨薪？近日，发生在云南大理市“13名孩子帮农民工父母讨薪”事件，引发了社会的广泛关注。

　　记者调查了解到，“娃娃讨薪”的背后，涉及开发商、承建方、劳务公司之间的工程债务纠纷。而在这场纠纷中，最终利益受损的还是农民工。

　　农民工子女为父母讨薪 系劳务公司策划？

　　“我叫王某，来自楚雄，今年考上云南大学滇池学院，我要钱，我要上学！”“我叫余某，我要吃牛奶，我要吃蛋糕，还父母血汗钱！”近日，13名孩子举着各式标语站在大理市南国城门前，帮助父母向开发商追讨工钱。

　　从游客现场拍摄的照片可以看到，13名孩子整齐站成一条直线，手中拿着同样大小的白色纸张，上面写着各自的姓名及诉求。孩子背后的台阶上，几位中年男女拉着白底黑字横幅，控诉开发商拖欠民工工资，要求偿还血汗钱。

　　“13名孩子帮农民工父母讨薪”照片在网络传开后，引发舆论强烈关注，记者随即赶往事发当地进行调查。经过多方采访，记者了解到，这些孩子并不全是农民工子女，也包括包工头和昆明金工匠建筑劳务有限公司员工的子女。

　　为何“帮农民工父母讨薪的队伍”中，会出现劳务公司人员的子女呢？南国城项目承建方云南省建工集团第十建筑公司内部人士透露，此次“娃娃讨薪”事件，其实是金工匠建筑劳务有限公司策划的一场活动，目的是通过媒体曝光引发社会关注，从而向开发商及城建方施压，讨要劳务费用。

　　对于此种说法，参与了讨薪活动的昆明金工匠公司负责人之一高中汉予以否认。他告诉记者，讨薪是农民工及其子女的自发行为，这些孩子都是陆续赶到现场，看到有人举标语后自发加入其中。但他承认有金工匠公司员工小孩参与其中，并表示：“让娃娃来做这些事，肯定对他们有伤害，但大家也是被逼无奈。”

　　业主和承建方发生债务纠纷 农民工成受害者

　　2006年，大理州政府与云南广厦置地有限公司签订“大理·南国城”投资协议，决定在大理古城旁打造一个集旅游、度假、商贸、会展为一体的文化旅游小镇。随后，由云南十建承建“大理·南国城”建设项目，工程总价为9704万元。

From WSJ:

Tourism company Xinhua Shizhaizi has handed over 14 million yuan ($2.2 million) to a court in southwestern China’s Yunnan province to cover debts owned in connection with a real estate project in the scenic city of Dali, the state-run Xinhua news agency said Wednesday. Included in that sum is 8 million yuan in wages owed to 500 migrant workers involved in construction of the project, according to Xinhua.

The news comes roughly a week after local media reported 13 children, ranging in age from five to 20, had lined up outside a shopping and tourism complex in Dali known as Nanguo City, holding hand-written signs demanding the complex’s developer pay their parents.

“My name is Gao Jia,” read the sign held by one little girl. “I want to eat, to go to school, to drink milk, to eat cookies.”

The appearance of the children appears to have struck a chord with China’s sometimes jaded Internet users, prompting new interest in an issue that had fallen out of the headlines in recent years.

Responsible for the actual work of building the country’s shiny new urban skylines, China’s migrant workers have long complained of exploitation at the hands of employers. Failure by real estate developers to pay migrant construction workers has led to a number of protests and worker suicides over the years. Though courts have sometimes sided with workers in wage disputes, labor experts say, they have little power to enforce their decision, particularly when developers are politically connected.

Public opinion appears to have made the difference in Dali, where Xinhua Shihaizi had been refusing to pay despite being ordered to settle its bills by a provincial court two months ago.

While conflicts over unpaid wages have become routine, the children’s protest hovered near the top of Chinese search engine Baidu’s trending topics list throughout the day on Friday and garnered widespread sympathy from Internet users.

“While [a lot of us] are living content and happy lives, there are millions out there with no food to eat, no milk to drink,” wrote one user of Sina Corp.’s Weibo microblogging service Weibo.

Not everyone was thrilled with the use of children, including a disapproving microblogger who asked: “What kind of parent lets their five year-old demand their unpaid wages?”

Though the children undoubtedly made an impression, the workers’ case may have been aided by anxious chatter in Beijing over the country’s growing wealth gap. A blue book on the country’s urbanization released last week by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences noted that the divide between urban and rural incomes had widened 26% since 1997, with urban residents now making five times as much on average as their rural counterparts.

On Wednesday, state media quoted a report by the state-backed Center for Rural Studies as saying inequality in China was approaching “danger” levels.

With developers feeling the squeeze from a tightening credit environment and curbs on speculation, Dali may not be the last place we see migrant children carrying protest signs on their parents’ behalf.