this year, an employment storm in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, flooded the Internet. Only one month after recruiting 440 fresh graduates, Xingyu interviewed 107 of them in batches to persuade them to leave their jobs, giving a "choice of two": either to sign out for "personal reasons" and receive half a month's salary compensation, or to be transferred to front-line positions to "screw". Changzhou People's Society Department notified and confirmed the relevant facts, and the director of human resources of the enterprise was suspended. The official media pointed out that the move "reduced the contract to a note torn up at any time" and was "a blatant trample on the spirit of contract and social credit". Despite the company's subsequent public apology and the introduction of job-hunting subsidies and other remedial measures, its client company, Volkswagen China, quickly launched a special investigation-the cost of dishonesty has begun to become explicit.
This incident pushed a listed company to the public opinion outlet, and also pushed a fundamental question to the public: how should Chinese enterprises treat their employees? The domestic cement industry is experiencing an unprecedented deep adjustment, and going to sea has become the common choice of many cement enterprises, and cement kilns are ignited overseas. In this migration, there is a group of people who can not be forgotten-Chinese cement workers who have gone abroad. Their labor remuneration, overtime wages, social security and welfare are facing the test of "involution" in a new form.
One, cold winter and go to sea: The double setting
of cement industry, the adjustment of domestic cement industry is deep, exceed a lot of people to imagine. In 2025, the national cement output was only 1.693 billion tons, down 6 from the same period last year. At the enterprise level, the "Big Mac" Tianshan shares suffered a huge loss of 7.29 billion yuan in 2025, and Yatai Group entered the pre-restructuring process because it could not pay off its debts due, with a cumulative overdue debt of nearly 5.9 billion yuan; Cement prices in many places fell below 200 yuan/ton, and more than 10 enterprises went bankrupt and liquidated in the first half of this year alone. At least five cement " production lines in Chongqing are shutting down, production capacity is being cleared, and people are looking for a way out. The cold winter of the industry just accelerates the enterprises to push overseas. According to the statistics of China Cement Net, by the end of 2025, the African cement clinker production capacity of domestic cement enterprises has exceeded 31.8 million tons, accounting for 31% of the total overseas production capacity. Overseas business has also entered the harvest period: Conch Cement 's overseas revenue in 2025 was 5.846 billion yuan, an increase of 25% over the same period last year. Overseas gross profit rate is as high as 43.31%, far exceeding the domestic level; In the first half of 2026, its overseas gross profit margin further rose to 47. Huaxin Building Materials successively acquired a majority stake in Lafarge Africa in Nigeria and announced the acquisition of HPI in the Philippines. In the first half of 2026, the net profit attributable to the parent company increased by 55 compared with the same period last year.
Going to sea has changed from "optional questions" to "required questions", from "water test" to "main battlefield". This is a great migration of China's cement industry in the new cycle.
Second, the three forms of cement workers going to sea: the bottom line of going out is that
Chinese cement enterprises can move their production lines overseas, but it is people who really keep the kiln fire burning. Look from industry practice, the cement worker that goes abroad basically has 3 kinds of configuration:
one of, domestic group sends abroad directly. Employees sign labor contracts with domestic parent companies and are sent to overseas bases, often the backbone of management, technology and key positions; Second, labor outsourcing. Foreign cement enterprises contract technical labor to domestic professional labor contracting companies, and workers enter overseas factories after establishing employment relations with domestic professional labor contracting companies; Third, independent foreign workers. Some cement workers laid off due to the closure of domestic factories have entered foreign cement enterprises through various channels with their skills.
This group of people is the backbone of transplanting the technology, equipment and operation experience of the world's largest cement industry overseas. Overseas production capacity of tens of millions of tons, much higher than domestic gross margin, is largely based on their experience and sweat.
However, the employment situation reflected by the industry is hardly optimistic: the overall labor remuneration is low, the phenomenon of arrears occurs from time to time, social security is not paid in full according to the actual wages, there is no overtime pay for overtime work, or even forced overtime work in disguised form, and the welfare benefits and local employees are "two worlds". These workers are far away from their homeland, and once their rights and interests are damaged, they have to cross the barriers of mountains and seas, language and jurisdiction, and many of them can only swallow their pride.
Third, "territorial compliance" should not be a double standard
. Public opinion has a sharp criticism: some enterprises go abroad and strictly abide by the labor law of the host country for local employees-wages, working hours, social security and welfare are the same; But in the face of workers sent out from home, they have changed their way of playing, following the "domestic routine" of compulsory overtime and deduction of treatment.
This kind of "double standard" is both immoral and increasingly unworkable.
First, overseas compliance is never a free lunch. According to public reports, in January 2026, a Chinese-funded enterprise in Da Nang, Vietnam, was punished by the local authorities for illegal acts such as overtime work. 1. The labor law of the host country also grows teeth for Chinese-funded enterprises. If the "overtime culture" is moved out as it is, sooner or later it will be fined.
Secondly, it is not allowed to "pack and export" violations. On the overseas project complaint platform of the Ministry of Commerce 12335, the complaints of migrant workers are not uncommon: on the road project in Serbia, some workers were maliciously deducted wages, owed wages after returning home, and even forced to bear the return ticket at their own expense; In Hungarian factories, there are workers who are arranged to work by intermediaries on tourist visas and are owed wages for three months. 7. These cases are different industries, but they have the same roots as the risks that the cement industry may face when going to sea: some enterprises regard the "domestic experience" of lowering labor costs as the "advantage" of overseas competition.
It must be made clear that the Guidelines for Enterprises to Perform Social Responsibilities Abroad issued by the Ministry of Commerce clearly require that enterprises must abide by the laws and regulations of the host country on recruitment, employment, wages and welfare benefits, and social security, and prohibit the use of forced labor. The Labor Contract Law and the Social Insurance Law in China also do not exclude expatriate workers. When Chinese enterprises go abroad, no matter how far they go, they cannot go beyond China's laws; no matter how far they go, they cannot lose the bottom line of Chinese enterprises.
Four, three accounts: Why can't the inner volume be rolled up abroad
? The first one is the legal account. The research of the legal profession has made it clear that the labor relationship between expatriate workers and domestic employers will not be eliminated by expatriation, and the legal liability of employers will not be cut by "going to sea" or transferred by "outsourcing". Wage arrears, social security arrears, compulsory overtime, any one of them will eventually be returned to the domestic parent company. They think that overseas projects are "extrajudicial places", not legal blind spots, but risk mines.
The second is the economic account. The fact that the gross profit margin of overseas business is more than 40% shows that the high profits of offshore enterprises come from the market space of the host country, from the technology and operational capabilities accumulated by China's cement industry over the past decades, rather than from the deduction of employees. On the plate where the profit per ton is far better than that at home, it is typical to pick up the sesame and lose the watermelon by deducting the overtime pay of the expatriate workers and making a low social security contribution base. Moreover, once the wage arrears scandal ferments, the cost of recruitment, team stability and reputation paid by enterprises is much higher than little money saved.
The third is the image account. "Going out" should be "melted in". When the host society looks at Chinese enterprises, the most intuitive medium is how employees are treated. The lesson of the Xingyu incident is in front of us: once the employment dispute ferments, the customer starts the investigation, and the public opinion focuses on the review, the brand reputation accumulated over the years may be destroyed in a moment. In the overseas market, the employment scandal of an enterprise damages not only its own brand, but also the collective goodwill of Chinese cement and even Chinese manufacturing. When the internal volume is rolled up to the domestic counterparts, it hurts the industry; when the internal volume is rolled up to go abroad, it hurts the overall credit of Chinese enterprises. In such a race to the bottom, there is no winner anywhere.
Fifth, employees are the greatest wealth: from slogans to salary slips
, the national level has a clear orientation for "anti-involution", and the supply-side governance of the cement industry is also being further promoted. We believe that anti-involution means anti-price involution, anti-capacity involution, and anti-employment involution; it means anti-involution in the domestic market, and it means preventing involution from going abroad with enterprises.
For the cement enterprises that go to sea and the labor service companies that specialize in serving foreign cement, we put forward five appeals:
First, pay the labor remuneration in full and on time, and put an end to wage arrears. Wages are not only the bottom line of workers'rights and interests, but also the red line of enterprises' legal obligations. No matter what the operating conditions are and how long the repayment period is, the wages of the dispatched workers shall not be in arrears or deducted.
Second, pay social insurance in full according to the actual wages. Social security contribution base is not "money-saving space", underpayment and omission is not only illegal, but also the deprivation of employees'pension, medical and industrial injury security. Cement is an industry with high temperature, dust and heavy load, and industrial injury insurance can not tolerate any carelessness.
Thirdly, in terms of working hours, overtime pay and welfare benefits, domestic dispatched employees and host country employees should be treated as one. Compliance with the labour standards of the host country is only the minimum requirement; if one treats one's own people worse than local standards, it is not a matter of management ability, but a matter of management conscience.
Fourth, standardize the management of labor dispatch and outsourcing. Select partners qualified for foreign labor cooperation, specify the main body of wage payment and joint and several liability in the contract, and strictly prohibit layers of subcontracting and "dumping" workers to unqualified intermediaries.
Fifth, establish a care and complaint mechanism for overseas employees. Let the workers have something to say and reason, and let the problems be solved in the project department, not in the public opinion field.
For the industry, we call on industry associations and leading enterprises to take the lead in formulating compliance guidelines for overseas employment, incorporate employment credit into the industry evaluation and credit system, and make "treating employees well" a passport to go to sea, not a cost item.
With regard to policy and society, we are happy to see the opening of cross-border rights protection channels: the 12335 platform of the Ministry of Commerce continues to accept overseas labor complaints, and the cross-border services of trade unions have recovered the arrears of wages for migrant workers in Russia. 9.We suggest that overseas workers be further included in the normal coverage of domestic labor inspection and trade union rights protection, so that "overseas" does not become an enclave of supervision. Cement workers who
plan to work abroad should also be reminded that they should choose an organization with legal qualifications, sign a written contract, clearly write down the wage standards, settlement methods, overtime pay and social security terms in black and white, and keep attendance and wage vouchers; when their rights and interests are damaged, they should seek help from embassies and consulates, commercial departments and trade unions in a timely manner, and they should not be tolerant or afraid.
Conclusion
Cement is gray, but enterprises should have temperature; kilns need high temperature, but management can not lose warmth.
When Chinese cement enterprises move from the Yangtze River and the Yellow River to the Nile and the Mekong River, they should not only bring out technology, capital and production lines, but also respect labor and treat employees with a civilized background. Employees are the greatest wealth of enterprises-this sentence should not be written on the cultural wall, but should fall on every salary slip paid in full and on time, and on every social security record paid in full.
Inward roll, can not roll out of the country. Enterprises that truly care for their employees can walk steadily, far and with dignity in the world.
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