Riding on a weather-beaten electric car, staying "online" for more than 10 hours every day and starting at 100 kilometers a day, this is the daily work of Li Jun, 43, as a flasher.
"In our line of work, there is no rest day. Basically, as long as you don’t go back to your hometown in Beijing, that is one word: dry." 2021 is the tenth year of his drifting career in the North, and the fourth year of his flash delivery. At first, there weren’t so many flashers, and the algorithm didn’t seem to be so "smart": starting from the East Fourth Ring Road where his home was located, he finally arrived in Shahe, which is far away from the Sixth Ring Road in the northwest. The system was confusing and he was "willfully" transferred to a good hometown outside the Sixth Ring Road in the southwest. Although somewhat helpless, Li Jun can only accept instructions and bite the bullet and "run a circle" around Beijing.
Later, with more and more peers and smarter algorithms, Li Jun also had his own dedicated service area. However, after working outdoors for a long time, the days of coming and going in the wind and rain are still indispensable. At first, the family members were worried about his safety, fearing that he might be in danger. After a long time, they gradually got used to it. For him, this job is relatively flexible and free, without too many requirements and constraints. As long as you keep a certain amount of orders, you can get a relatively fixed income. Although it is hard to go out early and come back late every day, I feel extremely fulfilled when I think of my parents and two daughters who stay at home.
This job also made him feel a lot of simple and sincere life flavor. When I first started as a courier, it was just in the heat of summer. A guest kept him waiting for a long time and finally called him three times before coming out. Just when he was a little upset and almost angry, the other party "changed" a bottle of iced coke from behind and said warmly: Master has worked hard in such a hot day. Hearing that sentence, all the anger in his heart disappeared. Running alone every day, he has to meet all kinds of people. And his biggest feeling is: there are still more good people. During the epidemic, Li Jun was also giving back to these human goodwill and doing his best to make more contributions. At the beginning of the epidemic, he saw a bill that had been hung up for a long time and no one answered it. Because the address was in the hospital, everyone was nervous. Later, Li Jun chose to take this order and did not accept the red envelope that the other party wanted to give. He said, "Even if I made a small contribution."
However, as he gets older, the old and new problems caused by the interweaving of the dual roles of "migrant workers" and "network contract workers" also make Li Jun feel a lot of guilt, anxiety and uneasiness. Although Hengshui, his hometown, is only over 200 kilometers away from Beijing-he can easily run the "working mileage" in less than three days, but the distance from his relatives makes it difficult for Li Jun to run into his little daughter’s heart again. Since she had to go back to her hometown to go to school at the age of 6, her children have been talking less and less, and even haven’t called her father for several years. Going out to work hard made Li Jun have no time to take care of his family, and he felt indebted to his parents and children.
Li Jun knows in his heart that he and the platform are only commercial cooperation, and he has not signed an employment contract, nor has he "five insurances and one gold". Working outdoors for a long time, the probability of accidents such as traffic accidents is relatively high. Unfortunately, will it be difficult to protect rights after a work-related injury? What should I do if there is a big change in the development of the industry and the basic income is not guaranteed? I am over 40 years old and have no old-age insurance. What should I do when I get old? These real problems arouse his anxiety about the future from time to time.
Solving these difficulties and problems has become his greatest expectation for this year’s two sessions: as a father, he hopes that the national education policy can pay more attention and support to left-behind children, so that they will be less worried and more at ease when they are away for a long time. As a laborer, he also hopes to get more comprehensive labor security, so that he can also have social security.
As Li Jun said, he is just "the most common migrant worker". Takeaway, vegetable delivery, errand boy, online car driver … In recent years, the development of new employment forms such as flexible employment has gradually become a climate, and many of the relevant practitioners are migrant workers. According to the data of the National Information Center, in 2019, the number of people providing services for the sharing economy was 78 million, a year-on-year increase of 4%. According to the analysis report on the current employment situation of new jobs released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in August 2020, the employment group of online contract delivery staff has grown rapidly, and the number of online contract delivery staff who "run on the road" every day has reached one million.
They run around all day, like the indispensable "capillaries" in urban operation. Due to the rapid development of the industry, the related labor and social security are still not perfect, and many people are facing problems similar to Li Jun. In this regard, first of all, it is necessary to standardize the employment relationship between flexible employees such as take-away workers and flash workers and the platform as soon as possible, so as to avoid the problems related to the rights and interests of workers, such as difficult identification of work-related injuries, lack of holiday protection and long working hours. In addition, it is necessary to accelerate the coverage of these groups by social insurance. Xu Xiaoying, a deputy to the National People’s Congress, once proposed to formulate a social security policy that can effectively protect the rights and interests of the labor force through institutional innovation in view of the characteristics of new employment forms such as flexible employment.
In 2021, Li Jun’s wish was simple: he hoped that he could take more orders every day and the whole family would be safe. The eldest daughter of this year’s college entrance examination can be successfully admitted to universities in Beijing and reunited with them as soon as possible. Li Jun’s goal is also a reflection of the simple wishes of many migrant workers.