JAKARTA — When Mr Wei agreed to take a management role at a nickel smelting project in southeast Sulawesi, in Indonesia, in early 2020, his company promised that after six months of working seven days a week, it would pay for him to return to his family in Jiangsu, China, to spend a few days with them.
It did not happen.
Instead, as China all but cut itself off amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the 55-year-old said he continued working without a day off, earning 15,000 yuan (S$3,100) a month until he and 200 others quit in October in protest against the lack of holiday time.
Mr Wei, who would only give his family name because of concerns that he and his family would face retribu…
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