Han Ximin
BETWEEN 800 and 1,000 employees of Zhongtian Real Estate gathered at the muni-cipal labor bureau Thursday demanding back wages and commissions, two days after the company’s owner vanished with around 40 million yuan (US$5 million).
“So far this is the only way for us to safeguard our rights,” said a broker surnamed Xu, while queuing at the bureau. “The company owes me around 9,000 yuan in total, including commission and salary for one month and a half.”
A regional manager of Zhongtian surnamed Zhang who is responsible for Futian District, is demanding 80,000 yuan in commissions, which he claims the Shenzhen-headquartered company owes him.
Some brokers in Zhongtian’s Tianranju office dismantled the office and sold computers for money.
“I hope the government can help us get back wages and police can catch Jiang as quickly as possible,” said Xu.
The company needs to pay at least 1 million yuan in salaries to employees, according to Xu, and that figure doesn’t include commissions, the major part of their income.
Most workers queuing at the labor bureau said they were hopeful they would get the money that was owed to them, especially as the labor authority and police had stepped in.
“I might take a rest for a few months after filing my compensation claim because the business had slackened recently,” said an office manager of Zhongtian surnamed Guan.
The decoration of Zhongtian’s new headquarters was halted Thursday, and the company owes around 500,000 yuan to the interior decorators.
Police said they had so far received complaints from 23 debtors who claimed the company owed them a total of 26 million yuan.
Police investigation shows Shenzhen Zhongtian Changsheng Guarantee Co. Ltd., a Zhongtian subsidiary which helped homebuyers pay back their mortgage, hadn’t passed on any money paid by the buyers since July.
Zhongtian’s owner Jiang Fei, 33, is a native of Sichuan Province, who came to Shenzhen as a poor, homeless migrant worker. He started working as a salesman and set up Zhongtian Real Estate in 2003.
