Dedicate One’s Mind

I don’t know if there will be an update today. What are you going to do? See the title. If you are bored, you can take a look. It contains both laughter and cursing, as well as calm philosophical thoughts.

I accompanied my dad to the court this morning to file a lawsuit. The case regarding migrant workers’ wage demands was filed on January 27th (before the Chinese New Year). Due to the impact of the epidemic, the court hearing was not held until March 12th.

Because the causes were different, they were divided into two cases, one was a labor dispute and the other was a loan dispute.

To tell you a brief story, my dad worked for someone. Because the time and place were not fixed, and there was no contract signed, he worked for about a month. The cost of materials, labor fees, wages, etc., totaled 9,000.

Someone hinted that he was short of money recently. My father felt that this person was kind to him by introducing him to work, so he lent him 5,000 yuan. The money was transferred through WeChat. There was no IOU, just some ambiguous voice notes about borrowing money.

The two pieces add up to almost fourteen thousand!

Needless to say what happened next, in short, this person found various reasons to default.

This is not the main content I want to talk about today. I mainly want to talk about my negotiation process with the courts and other departments. Okay, I’m going to start complaining. I don’t deny at all that today my nine-year compulsory education was trampled under my feet. This day was the day when I was severely educated by society. There are not many opportunities like this.

Because the matter is small, I won’t go into details about the various difficulties I faced when filing the case. Even when I was writing the lawsuit, various things went wrong. I originally studied not law, but history. The formats were all based on the Internet, and some laws. Common sense is to make up lessons overnight.

What's disgusting is that the person who receives the lawsuit points out the mistakes one at a time. He doesn't finish all at once, and makes you run back and forth several times. If it weren't for it through the glass, you would want to beat him several times.

By consuming time and energy, it does not solve the problem you raised, but solves you, the person who raised the problem.

Let me tell you about the process of today's court session. I hope it can be used as a reference for you in future lawsuits.

The case started at ten o'clock. My father and I went there more than an hour early. We sat there for a long time without seeing the defendant. In fact, the defendant never showed up. At nine forty, my father and I were summoned. court. Use the drama version to explain the process for you.

Judge (getting to the point): Of your two cases, only the loan case can go to court if there is proof of WeChat transfer. For the remaining case, because you only have your own labor records (just the records of ordinary migrant workers about the number of days they worked) without the signature of the other party, and because there is no contract guarantee, it is not recommended to go to court. Even if it is to go to court, we will Your appeal will be denied based on insufficient evidence.

Father (in a hurry): Ordinary migrant workers would ask their boss to sign the book that records their work. Although there is no signature from the defendant, there were other workers present when I was working, which can be used as witnesses.

Judge (upright and dignified): Workers who work together may commit perjury and cannot be counted, so they are not counted as evidence. This is a procedure. The law must have rules. If the case cannot be established, you should go back and look for evidence again! You'd better withdraw this lawsuit! (Again, solving the person who raised the problem does not solve the problem)

(Father sighs, frowns, I appear)

Me: We will not withdraw this lawsuit. The migrant workers have worked hard for a month in exchange for this? The evidence currently found is sufficient for a trial.

Judge: It is not up to you to decide whether to hold a trial or not. The defendant you want to sue is also a scoundrel. We have many cases against him here that have not been executed for several years! He has been a deadbeat for a long time, just waiting to die.

(My father and I looked at each other, it was difficult to execute!)

Me (not giving up, persisting): Whether he can pay off is one thing, but he still has to sue.

Judge (impatient): Didn’t I tell you before? There is insufficient evidence!

Me (very dissatisfied, for ordinary migrant workers, this is all the evidence that can be found): There are both personal and material evidence. How can I say that there is insufficient personal and material evidence?

Judge: You said that people owed you wages, and they also said that your father had done bad things for others. Even the money your father lent to others was said to be compensation for him! (The rework of the project here is indeed a matter. The defendant spent 3,000 yuan to rework. This matter was stated in the complaint and deducted, and no recovery will be made.)

Me (laughing angrily): The court is starting a trial and there is a defense session. As the plaintiff, I have to fulfill my rights.

Judge: The defendant is not here——

Me: Online video and phone calls should be possible.

Judge: There is no such argument.

Me: Many courts have done this recently.

Judge: That’s somewhere else, we don’t have it here.

Me: There is a game of chess in the whole country, it is impossible not to have one.

Judge (suddenly stopped what he was doing, stared at me, and pointed upstairs): The president of the court is up there. Go ask him if the trial can be held online? You go find him.

(I still wanted to speak, but the judge didn’t listen, so I had to go upstairs to find the president. If it were a play, this would be the second act)

Me: Excuse me, can the court be held online here? The defendant is not here and the case cannot be dragged on here.

President: We have already reviewed it. Your labor dispute case has insufficient evidence and cannot be heard. We will not accept it.

Me: This is all the evidence we can find.

President: Don’t tell me this. If our staff hadn’t been careful and approved your loan voucher, otherwise, your five thousand yuan case might not have been established!

Me: One yard is one yard. My father’s hard-earned money must be recovered!

The president of the court (glanced sideways at the law book I held in my right hand and said irritably) A child with no hair growing up thinks he can become a lawyer after reading a little bit! ah! ! ! Pretending to understand if you don’t understand. The court is your home, you can open it whenever you want.

…

(I argued for a long time after that. We are all adults, and we have good mental endurance. I was just in a bad mood throughout the whole process. But I just felt that after nine years of compulsory education, I read it like a dog, and said that I was a university student. , I can’t even help my dad get paid.)

This is what happened to me in the court today. The description of my expressions and movements was absolutely no exaggeration, and even more so. The words of the president of the court lingered in my ears for a long time and I cannot forget them.

In fact, after going to court, we also went to the local police station. In the end, only one case was opened, that is, the one who borrowed the money. It was originally planned to be handled as a criminal case. After all, the defendant owed money to many people. The Lao Lai list has no intention of treating such people. Binding.

The township police station did Tai Chi and asked us to go to the higher-level police station. Criminal cases are not under their control. After asking clearly that this was a migrant worker asking for wages, he planned to push it to the relevant department. However, when he called, he couldn't even find the relevant department. Speechless, didn’t it say that the country attaches great importance to the issue of migrant workers?

If Sanren had a literary background, perhaps venting his emotions would be enough here, but I want to say more, move up to a philosophical perspective, and analyze from a higher perspective why the courts are reluctant to open labor dispute cases.

This is actually a system issue. No matter who it is, it will be the same. I hope that my experience can serve as a reference for almost historical studies.

Before discussing this issue, let me ask a question first. What do you think is the main contradiction in China today?

By the way, it is actually the issue mentioned in the No. 1 document every year - the three rural issues. People with insight discovered this main contradiction more than ten years ago.

Ask again, what do you think is the main aspect of the main contradiction? Choose from the three rural issues, rural farmer agriculture, which is the main aspect?

There may be consensus on the above question, but not on the following one. In fact, I don’t think there is a standard answer, because the issues related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers are three in one.

Talking about farmers, the biggest problem is that the profits from agricultural production are not enough to maintain the small-scale peasant economy in the current era of socialized large-scale production. There is an employment crisis and they have become migrant workers dependent on cities.

Some of them have not been successfully integrated into the city. They move in and out, have land at home, and return to their hometowns when they are unemployed or old. They are the standard, old petty bourgeoisie, with weak ability to resist risks.

The remaining part has successfully integrated into the city and carries the traffic of the city. They are not factory owners, nor shareholders of hospitals and schools. They have not obtained the means of production and exist like social animals. They can be regarded as entering the proletariat from petty bourgeoisie.

The last handful who have access to the means of production are the real bourgeoisie.

Ask yourself, if you were born in a rural area, where would you be?

The issue of migrant workers is actually an issue of urbanization. Draw on the blackboard and hit the key points.

As the center of industrialization, cities can obtain several times the output for one time of investment. From an efficiency perspective, governments that are not stupid will invest their finances in cities. Rapidly expanding cities will bring about more land. Finance has been the government's main tax revenue for many years.

The more emphasis is placed on efficiency, or in other words, the more market-oriented society is, the more you use electricity, water, gas, and oil in a small rural village, you need to solve it yourself.

Efficiency and fairness, most of the time, are a pair of contradictions. When labor unions appeared, capitalists learned to pay wages on a piece-rate basis. They did not force you to work, but you did it to earn the money.

To be honest, in today's world, China has done a relatively good job of fairness. The so-called free medical care abroad means waiting ten days and half a month to draw the number, and the so-called free education is just a concentration camp for poor students.

Expenditure on rural issues is actually the government's maintenance of equity. It is not only the maintenance of rural roads, mountain cable repairs, but also teachers' support for education, etc., all of which are maintenance of equity.

Under market-oriented operation, even with road tolls, there may not be investors to build roads, and some meager electricity revenue cannot even make up for the power transmission losses.

These are indeed commendable, but, as many people have said, these are all face-saving projects. Many new officials take office to build roads, with quick results and quick promotions. However, no one is willing to deal with some difficult issues such as medical care and education.

Naturally, court proceedings also fall into this difficult category.

To be honest, every year, the government thinks of many ways to solve the problem of migrant workers asking for wages. After all, it is a pain point in people's livelihood, and it is also a difficulty. However, when the policy reaches the bottom, it is often said that the good scriptures are misread. In the end, it is up to the migrant workers to solve the problem by their own means.

Most grassroots cadres feel tired, and the masses have no sense of gain. For example, I am now able to express my anger gently through words, which is my last bottom line. It is my last duty not to complain to the president.

There is really no recording, otherwise I would have spent 200 yuan to buy a hot search on Weibo and let him post it for a few days. CTMD, don’t get me wrong, this is the abbreviation of traditional virtues, translated into ancient Chinese, it is called Bi Qiniangzhi.

When social fairness cannot be maintained by the government, various forces naturally come out to protect it. In ancient times, there were knights who killed evildoers with swords. Han Feizi thought that they had usurped the power of the country. Today's manifestations are a bit more clumsy, through the media and public opinion, instigating public opinion and oppressing the courts. Sometimes, it is the evildoers who file the complaint first.

If the court is reasonable, it may stand straighter. If it is not reasonable, it will weaken in a minute.

Efficiency and fairness, just like demand and supply, have a balance point. Science and technology are the primary productive forces. There is nothing that cannot be said to others. Efficiency must be more dominant.

Fairness is only done on the basis of ensuring efficiency. Do you think it’s different from what you read in the high school politics book? That’s the changed version. The old version of the politics book is more focused on efficiency.

The research and development of space rockets and poverty alleviation. The latter invests a lot of money, but it is a bottomless pit and cannot be fully supported. It is better for everyone to be poor together and the rich and poor are equally rich. However, if the former achieves technological breakthroughs, poverty alleviation can be carried out at a smaller cost. The country is like It's like a snowball, getting bigger and bigger.

So, seeing this, I think it is not difficult for you to understand why the country insists on industrial transfer while alleviating poverty. And this is actually the process of industrialization and re-industrialization.

Why is my case not accepted? What is the problem? Did you find it?

As far as the case itself is concerned, is the evidence really insufficient? I don't think so at all. Migrant workers record the work orders day by day, and the prices are accurate to two decimal places. Who would be bored enough to commit perjury?

It is even more ridiculous for a witness to give false testimony. This involves taking legal risks. Even if there is something to be said, can't we investigate the surveillance of my father on his way to work? Do you really not know whether you are working or not?

You may laugh after hearing the method I gave. Well, the first question I want to raise is from an economic perspective. In short, it is the word cost.

It is difficult to find out a case clearly. It is not a life-related lawsuit. Ten thousand yuan is not enough to pay for his business trip. The court also needs funds to operate!

The national finance mainly supports large cities because they will play a leading role and lead the country's GDP. Relatively speaking, even if it is poverty alleviation, it is just a bottom line. In short, it will not let you starve to death. After all, this is a civilized society. How can easy things happen? The matter of cannibalism.

If the fiscal expenditure is small, the corresponding infrastructure will be small, and the personnel expenditure will be small. The wages of grassroots cadres are not high, but they still have a lot of work to do. Can we talk about socialist brotherhood? Can you do something? (Some Qingshui nursing homes are not what I mentioned)

As long as fiscal expenditures do not change, what grassroots governments have to do is maintain stability and ensure efficiency improvements.

This is the top priority. As long as it is not a major issue, we should cover it up if we can. If we have insufficient finances and are willing but unable to do anything, we will simply solve the problem by solving the problem and turn a blind eye to the problem.

The state stipulates that if three or more people die in an accident, they must be reported to the central government. Therefore, some governments clearly know that four or five people died in the accident, but they must rescue and send the deceased to the ICU.

Even if Zhu Yuanzhang peels off the skin and makes the grass grow, there will still be few corrupt people. It is better to maintain integrity with a high salary.

When there is external pressure and grassroots governments are unable to maintain stability and hinder efficiency improvement, they will operate at an extraordinary speed. There are two types of pressure. One comes from above, which I won’t go into detail. The other It comes from below, what is usually called the pressure of public opinion.

This is what many people believe is the logic behind the idea that there are people above who can do things easily and that people are assigned according to the situation. The former is hidden and has a clear understanding.

Next, from a political point of view, or from the perspective of civil servant promotion, knowing that the defendant is a sleazebag and there is already a precedent of refusing to execute the case, continuing to accept the case and go to execute it is not to seek guilt for oneself. Accept it?

The enforcement rate of the courts continues to decline, and officials are being evaluated. Do you want to go further in your political career?

If I can calmly analyze the previous economic analysis, from a political point of view, I’m sorry, but it’s pointless for you to eat at the taxpayers’ expense and smash the taxpayers’ bowl.

Where did the finance specially allocated by the state to solve the problem of migrant workers go? If I hadn't seen in Xinhua News Agency and People's Daily that the State Council held a special press conference to discuss relevant matters, would I have encouraged my father to go to court?

Yes, I am just an ordinary student, not a member of the Communist Youth League, let alone a Party member. I was the type that the teachers hated the most in school.

But when the highly educated people of my generation grow up, become more aware of the rule of law, and know how to protect their legitimate rights and interests, those who rely on their "ability to get things done" to drive away petitioners will no longer have a foothold.

However, the side effect may be that some measures that previously sacrificed fairness to maintain efficiency will no longer be used.

However, as a person from the bottom, I am happy to see this kind of growth abolished.

I can accept that government service personnel have a bad attitude at work because you get what you pay for, but I don’t want to be served by a “good person” who relies on prevarication to get ahead.

What ability does the person who raised the problem have? Go and solve the problem if you have the ability! It was said before that the finances were not enough, but now that money has been given, people's mentality has not changed.

I think it’s still what *** said, if you don’t change your thoughts, change the people.

Nowadays, the people are becoming wiser, and they still want to implement the old policies of obscuring the people. I would like to advise: Sir, times have changed, and the Qing Dynasty has died.

Finally, let me talk about the situation of the case. I only received a verbal reply from the staff. If the person does not accept execution this year, let him go to the cell. I think it means more comfort.

He was not kind to anyone, not only did he not get his salary, but he also swallowed up the loan. On the way home, my father kept muttering that he would never work with strangers again.

In a society ruled by law vs. a society of human relationships, what my father wanted was not to sign a contract for his future job, because he knew that would be unrealistic, so he chose to return to human relationships. Unsurprisingly, my father will probably not deal with this group of "capable people" in the future.

If possible, I don't want to deal with this group of "capable people". However, I still have a long way to go, and I am not sure about the future.

In the final analysis, a society ruled by law is just a skin wrapped around a society of human relations. The common rules of a society of acquaintances are contrary to a society ruled by law. The splendor of the city covers up the obscurity of the countryside.