A GUANGZHOU company has denied compensation to 45 of its alleged employees, all migrant workers suffering from pneumoconiosis after working many years for it, the Guangzhou Daily said yesterday (Apr 16).

Of the 45 migrants who had worked for years with Guangzhou Hongda Demolition Engineering Company, two had died and the rest 43 were suffering debilitating lung diseases. However, as the company never had signed employment contracts with them, a company official declined knowing them at all and refused their claim for compensation.

Zeng Jiansheng, a leader of more than 20 Hunan migrants, brought the team to Guangzhou to work on explosive drilling with the Hongda company in 1993. "Though it's dangerous and hard, we could earn up to 2,000 yuan (US$246) a month," he said. Lacking in training and and skills, the workers could not expect to find better jobs than this, as they earned 2,000 yuan a year farming back home. The migrants worked between three to 12 years with the company.

"We, merely protected with a mask, needed to drill holes on the rocks, put in explosives, detonate the explosives, and continue to drill to more than 10 meters deep at construction sites," Zeng was quoted by the paper as saying. They worked 10 hours a day in the dusts, never realizing the serious health hazards posed to them under such working conditions.

Li Aimin, one of the workers, died in 2003 at 31, and Nie Fuyuan, 52, died last week. The rest began to show similar symptoms after they heard about the death of Li, who was diagnosed with tuberculosis and could not be cured. The 44 were diagnosed with pneumoconiosis last year.

Zeng said he had work cards as evidence that they worked for the demolition company, which was denied by a company official.

A director surnamed Sun said the company kept files on every employee, and their names could not be found. He also said explosive drilling is a special task which requires registration at the public security bureau and training. He also suggested the work cards should be examined for their authenticity.

Pneumoconiosis is a disabling disease that cannot be cured and is mostly suffered by miners who work in dust. Victims suffer pain in their chest, cough, difficulty in breathing, which deteriorates over the years. They finally die of combined inflammation of the heart and lungs.

Editor: Wing