About 100 former employees of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) protest in front of the bank's headquarters in Beijing against unfair layoffs compensation two days before the largest mainland Chinese bank launched its initial public offerings in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
On 25 October, the protestors held banners with the slogan "We want our jobs back, return our rights to live" when they were demonstrating in long queues outside the bank's headquarters facing Chang'an Street in Beijing, according to Hong Kong media reports. Reuters also reported that the protestors gathered outside the offices of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions in the morning on that day before they were dispersed by police.
The protestors complained that the bank forced them to accept unfair retrenchment arrangements in the last few years when the state-owned enterprise was trying to seek a stock market listing.
Originally, more than 200 former ICBC employees across China planned to take part in the protest, but half of them were not able to go to Beijing because they were taken away by local public security officers, the reports said.
The former ICBC employees also staged similar protests outside the ACFTU's offices and the bank's headquarters in Beijing in October last year and in July this year.
The demonstrators continued their protest outside the bank's Beijing headquarters on 27 October when the bank launched its listing simultaneously in Hong Kong and Shanghai. ICBC's share trading debut, worth up to US$21.9 billion, ranks as the world's largest-ever.
Sources: Apple Daily (26 October 2006), Hong Kong Cable Television (25 October 2006), Hong Kong Commercial Radio (27 October 2006), Reuters (26 October 2006)
27 October 2006
Related report: Hundreds of former bank employees protest over redundancies