(Broadcast on January 6, 2003)
In the afternoon of January 2, more than one thousand retired workers from Tieshu Group, a textile enterprise in Suizhou, Hubei Province, blocked the railroad between Wuhan and Xiangfan for more than two hours. The workers were protesting against the Enterprises decision to cut the monthly pension subsidy of RMB 127 that they had been promised. A listener from Suizhou gave us a call, telling us the situation.
Listener:
This incident began when Vice Mayor Ding Guiqiao, after asking the workers on January 1 to wait one more day for the reply, told the old workers on January 2 that it is none of my business. As he didnt care about it, the workers said, You dont take care of our business. Then we will go to block the railway. Ding Guiqiao said, Do so if you have guts! Those old workers really did this - they blocked the railroad for more than two hours. This was in the afternoon of January 2. The action was spontaneous
they really blocked the railroad. There were a thousand of people, or even more. Among them an old comrade passed away. He got agitated, and suffered from a severe stroke. He was carried away from the railway. Meanwhile, under such circumstances, they [the city governments discipline committee and prosecuting office] posted a notice yesterday, saying that they would reorganize the factory. Ive asked an old comrade; he told me that there are six to seven thousand workers in the factory, and together with those retired workers, there are more than ten thousand people.
A staff from the general office of Tieshu Group confirmed with me that the policemen in the Public Security Bureau visited the factory every day to investigate the workers leaders. At the same time the factory asked every cadre and staff to conduct ideological work with his parents in the family.
Staff:
In fact even before the New Years day, the retired workers had come here. Yet starting from January 1, the situation has worsened.
Han Dongfang [Han]:
How many people were there?
Staff:
Oh
so many of them! At least several hundreds. The Suizhou city [government] called this January Second Incident, which has been notified.
Han:
Did the Public Security Bureau catch some of the leading workers?
Staff:
Now they are investigating the event. They now based the investigation upon the photos taken at that time. They are now looking into the case.
Han:
Are the public security officers still here now?
Staff:
Yes, yes. Lately they have come here every day.
Han:
Are the workers still protesting now?
Staff:
No. They didnt come here yesterday and today. It is because on Saturday afternoon, Zhou, the Deputy Director of the Provincial Labour Department came here to deal with the issue. In that afternoon they still blocked the entrance of the factory that is our factorys entrance in Qingnian Road. The blockade lasted for a while, and it didnt affect the traffic, because there were policemen on both ends to direct the traffic.
Han:
Did the trade union do anything in this case?
Staff:
They certainly tried to mediate in this dispute within the factory. The company has just called for a meeting for cadres from the rank of team leaders up, asking them to deliver the companys message to others, and try their best to conduct the ideological works among parents, relatives, friends and colleagues.
That staff said the pension subsidy of Rmb 127 had been approved by the government.
Staff:
On the average, every worker used to get a [monthly] pension subsidy of Rmb 127 from the company. Because of the bankruptcy, the pension has to be cancelled. Now it hasnt been cut yet it is just a proposal, because after the enterprise goes bankrupt, this part of the expenditure has been cut. This part of money includes many different items, including living allowances, gas supply subsidies and so on
about ten items altogether. According to the document, as the salary of our workers was very low, our company gave this kind of pension subsidy to them and the government had approved it.
A worker who joined the blockade action told me on the telephone that on January 2 when the vice-mayor and the factory boss spoke to the workers for the ideological work, they told them to block the railroad if they had guts to do so. The workers were so angry that they dashed to the railway. But this retired worker pointed out that apart from getting in a rage, the workers would like to kick up a fuss over it to attract the attention of the central government. They hoped that the central government would dispatch officials to Suizhou and look into the corruption among the city government and the factory leadership to see how they shield each other.
Retired Worker:
Yeah, Ding Guiqiao, the vice-mayor, and Wu Xiaoli [General Manager of the Group Ed] said something like this, If you really want to block the railway, just do so! Then the people have been agitated and went there in a fit of pique. If that Wu Xiaoli hadnt said something like this, things would have been different.
Han:
What did they write for the slogan at first?
Retired Worker:
Protect our rights through legal means is the slogan.
Han:
Protect our rights through legal means?
Retired Worker:
Right. On the banner above, it wrote Demanding money to scrape along.
Han:
Demanding money to scrape along?
Retired Worker:
Yeah.
Han:
Just these two slogans?
Retired Worker:
Yes, thats it.
Han:
Has the trade union offered any help?
Retired Worker:
The trade union
Now the trade union takes the same line with the leadership. They dont speak for the workers. Now the trade union just listens to the words of the leadership, the bosses, and the mayor
The leadership in Suizhou profit from our factory. They now try to cover it up. One of the reasons that the workers joined the petition is that they are agitated to take some collective action. Another reason is to appeal to some senior officials or even the central government for sending someone to our factory to unveil the scandal. Now we have no way to bring our petition letters to the central government. If you have any way or ability to disclose our affairs to the central government, ask them to investigate the case. Even if the Procuratorate of the City asks us to inform against the embezzlers, we cannot do so! We dont believe the authorities! They are just shielding one another.
This retired worker said that the government even followed the journalists of the Xinhua News Agency and interferred with their contact with the workers in order to cover up the issue.
Retired Worker:
Those journalists
the Public Security Bureau didnt allow them to contact the workers. Those journalists
one of them is from the Xinhua News Agency, taking pictures and video recording. He/She is from Hubei, but I am not sure where they come from. It seems that the Public Security Bureau didnt allow them have any contact with the workers. They
even they try to cover up the issue. Money has been spent to keep people from saying anything.
After the blockade, the Public Security Bureau of Suizhou put up notices at every corner of the city, threatening to arrest the workers leaders. A staff from the Groups Office of Retired Workers has shown his concern over such action:
Retirement Office:
There were about one thousand and three hundred retired workers. Together with those people around, there were lots of people. I am not very sure, as there were lots of people. Later, some staff came to disperse the crowd, but even they couldnt get inside. The police, together with some armed policemen, have already cordoned off the scene, and I couldnt go there. I dont know what happened inside. The blockade lasted for more than two hours.
Han:
It is said that the Public Security Bureau has posted some kind of notices, right?
Retirement Office:
Right. Right. They put them up everywhere so many notices!
Han:
To your knowledge, are the workers just struggling for their rights? Or are there any lawbreakers?
Retirement Office:
Those workers just fight for their rights. In some way, this involves every family. Actually I am not sure about this, but I havent seen any lawbreaker. I havent seen it. There wasnt any fighting, looting or smashing. They just express themselves in words. Even they gathered at the railway, they just simply staged a sit-in, without any disturbances or damages to facilities. Of course no one has been caught for the time being. Public Security Officers just threaten to catch [the leaders]. They come here every day, and pay family visits to ask questions like Do you know who is the leader? or Do you know who is the organizer? If they really catch anyone, or if any ordinary citizens are under arrest, I think there will be some repercussions. Those retired workers are dissatisfied. If someone is caught, they will still have lots of complaints. I am sure that there were no lawbreakers or troublemakers, because all of them are old people! The oldest are in their eighties, while the youngest are in their fifties. Thats what they are!
Finally, this staff person from the Retirement Office said that the retired workers would not make any trouble if their basic livelihood was secured.
Retirement Office:
The workers didnt go to the railway suddenly on that day. They had met the leadership of the company before. They had several meetings with the leadership. Later, the city government sent a deputy party secretary of the city here, and met the workers together. Maybe the workers were not satisfied with the reply. After several days, the incident was sparked at last and the workers went to the railway. It is not true that they broke up suddenly on that day and went to the railway. Thats not the case.
Han:
So things seem to be going from bad to worse...
Retirement Office:
Right. Right. Going from bad to worse.
Han:
So if the Public Security Officers catch the leaders, do you think it would give rise to further confrontations?
Retirement Office:
Very likely. When the workers gathered at the entrance of the factory, someone said in this way: We will seize the one who seizes our people. We will seize the department that seizes our own. Well go anywhere; when we have nothing to eat, we go to their place to have meals. This shows us a phenomenon that he is not satisfied, that he cant keep his balance. Chinese people like us are easily satisfied. If our basic livelihood can be secured, and our basic income can be maintained, we wont make any trouble.