‘Tianjin disaster exposes China’s compensation lottery’, 17 September 2015

The families of the 104 firefighters who died in the Tianjin warehouse explosions of 12 August will each receive 2.3 million yuan in compensation from the government. The families of the other workers who died in the Tianjin disaster will have to go through the work-related injury claims process and will probably end up with less than a million yuan…

There is no real negotiation in compensation deals: the victims are usually presented with a “take it or leave it” offer that comes with strings attached; namely absolving the authorities or the employer of any future liability…

It is important to note that the Tianjin residents were middle-class families with considerable resources, access to good legal advice and social media etc. but even they had to eventually accept what the government was offering with no questions asked. For workers with no resources and no political influence, the chances of getting a decent compensation award are minimal...the only way poorly paid rural migrant workers  can get any compensation is by organizing collectively and putting pressure on the authorities to officially recognize their occupational disease. But even this is no guarantee of decent compensation…