The city plans to crack down on fly-by-night employment agencies
that try to cheat the hoards of migrant workers expected to come to
the city looking for work after the
Spring Festival.
The Shanghai Labor and Social Security Bureau also issued the
first employment warning of the year yesterday, reminding migrant
job seekers to be careful of possible scams that unlicensed job
agents might take.
"With the annual influx of migrant workers after the Lunar New
Year, we see cases every year of illegal agents exploiting job
seekers' anxious mood to cheat them," said Lu Tingfei of the
Shanghai Labor Inspection Team.
The team is trying to warn migrants about some of the more
popular scams to help them protect themselves.
He said many illegal agents charge each job applicant 300 yuan
(US$37) each time they set up an interview. Some will also arrange
a vehicle for the applicants and charge a transportation fee.
However, the agents often organize hundreds of applicants even
if the employer only wants to hire 20 workers. Requests for a
refund are almost always denied, Lu said.
Another common scam involves offering migrants a steady stream
of information about job openings for three months in return for a
membership fee, which is usually several hundred yuan.
The jobs they provide information about, however, are so low
paying or involve such unbearable work that no one would accept
them.
The bureau says it has also found job agencies claiming to be
licensed, but in fact they weren't.
Labor officials warned migrant workers yesterday to protect
their own rights by checking the job agencies' license, signing
working contracts with employers as well as asking about social
insurance payments before accepting any job.
(Shanghai Daily February 14, 2006)