In this Issue:
1. Editor's Note
2. WORKERS' ACTION
- 2000 Brick and Tile Workers Take Over Factory for Pension Benefits in Inner Mongolia
- Updates on Workers’ Protests in Liaoyang and Daqing
3. VOICES FROM JIXI COAL MINE
- Why the Jixi Mine Blast? – An Interview with a Jixi Coal Miner (1)
- Unsafe Production and Unpaid Wages -- A Senior Coal Miner Talks (1)
- What has the ACFTU done? – An Interview with the Wife of a Jixi Mine Blast Victim
4. MONTHLY NEWS REVIEW
- Close the Mines, Send Off the Miners, Jail the Mine Bosses – What Next?
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Editor's Note
The Alarm Is On – Again!
On June 20 this year, 115 miners were killed in a blast that ripped through the state-owned Jixi Coalmine in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang. Concerns are raised, sadly once again, over the appalling safety records in China’s notorious mining industry with 11,047 deaths in the first 11 months last year.
In contrast to this gruesome picture, the ‘Safe Production Law’ was passed on June 29, 2002 – effective on November 1 this year.
All along, miners in China have been guaranteed a whole range of rights on safety issues, which are now enshrined in the Safe Production Law. Obviously, the unabated mine accidents are not due to a lack of laws and regulations, but the failure to put the legal codes into practice.
What is the reality behind these legal provisions?
Lucrative income that fuels the opening of new illegal mines, greed for quick profits that leaves no room for safety, corruption and the consequent lax enforcement of safety laws and regulations, and the subcontracting system that has blurred the chain of responsibility, is the reality faced by Chinese miners. At the heart of the problem is the fact that the miners cannot exercise the right even to protect their lives, and the official trade union is ineffective on mine safety.
For this issue on the Jixi mine blast, we have compiled a series of interviews with a senior coalminer who has been working at Jixi Coal Mine for 17 years. The compilation brings to light the events leading to the fatal blast, the working conditions at the mine, and the subcontracting system behind the continued tragedy.
Also featured in this issue is Han Dongfang’s conversation with the wife of a Jixi mine blast victim, who recounts what she has gone through after the loss of her husband.
These voices bring us to the longstanding concern – without the legal protection to organise themselves and thus to protect their own lives, coal miners in China will continue to work in constant fear that they may not come out of the shaft alive.
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WORKERS' ACTION
2000 Brick and Tile Workers Take Over Factory for Pension Benefits in Inner Mongolia
Around 2,000 former workers at Changzheng Building Materials Corp. occupied the brick and tile factory from July 15 to July 17, 2002 demanding payment of pensions. The workers tried to march from the factory to the Baotou city government offices on July 15, but were held back by a heavy contingent of 200 police and 700 armed police stationed outside the factory. Three workers were arrested and reportedly still under detention.
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/4768
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Updates on Workers’ Protests in Liaoyang and Daqing
In Liaoyang, an official at the Liaoyang Intermediate People’s Court speculated that the four arrested workers' representatives would not be put on trial. And in Daqing, the protests have petered out in face of government repression.
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/4780
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VOICES FROM JIXI COAL MINE
Why the Jixi Mine Blast? – An Interview with a Jixi Coal Miner (1)
A senior miner at Jixi Coal Mine talked about what happened on the day of the fatal blast, and the reasons for the increasing mine accidents.
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/2032
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Unsafe Production and Unpaid Wages -- A Senior Coal Miner Talks (1)
The senior miner with 17 years of experience at the coalface talked about the problem of safety at the Jixi mines, and what he felt was the root of the current crisis, in this 3-part series.
http://www.china-labour.org.hk:/public/contents/2056
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What has the ACFTU done? – An Interview with the Wife of a Jixi Mine Blast Victim
On June 25, a victim’s wife told CLB that the compensation offered by the Jixi Mining Bureau was unreasonable, and that the mine was guarded by the police to prevent further negotiations with the victims’ families.
http://www.china-labour.org.hk:/public/contents/2044
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MONTHLY NEWS REVIEW
Close the Mines, Send Off the Miners, Jail the Mine Bosses – What Next?
On June 29, the Safe Production Law was promulgated with effect on November 1 this year. What does it mean to the miners risking their lives in China's notorious mining industry which has been haunted by several serious accidents over the past month?
http://www.china-labour.org.hk:/public/contents/2062