Cui Zhaowei, one of the workers featured in China Labour Bulletin’s 2011 research report on Chinese migrant workers in Singapore, has finally received compensation for the injury he sustained at work in late 2009.
Cui, who returned to his home town in rural Shandong in 2010, was awarded S$12,000 for the head injury he suffered on a Singapore construction site just two months after arriving in the country.
Cui is also suing the Chinese labour agency that arranged his employment in Singapore for a partial refund of the 28,000 yuan deposit he paid to get the placement. That case is still on-going but progress is being made.
Even though Cui’s superficial wounds healed in less than six months, he continued to suffer from headaches, hearing problems, sleeping difficulties, poor appetite and personality changes. His psychiatrist concluded at the time of examination that he was unfit for a construction worker’s duties and that it was very unlikely he would be able to work in a physically and mentally demanding job such as construction again in the future.
For more details on Cui’s case and the general situation for migrant workers in Singapore please see Hired on Sufferance: China’s Migrant Workers in Singapore.