Workers from several companies under the direction of the Anshan Iron and Steel Corporation Group have now visited Beijing three times in recent weeks in an attempt to get their complaints over retrenchment policies heard by the State Asset Management Committee. According to interviews thousands of workers have been retrenched and laid off with a one-off payment of one months wages for every year of service. For many workers, earning only 300 Yuan each month this means that after 30 years of service, they will only receive 10,000 Yuan in total.
Despite apparently healthy profits for the Group, the figure offered is appallingly low compared with other compensation payments for example in Daqing, some workers received 10,000 Yuan for every year of service and yet this amount if often not enough to cover basic living costs. In addition, the Anshan Iron and Steel Group operates a policy of 30:50 which means that workers are retrenched after 30 years of service or when they reach the age of 50. This is leading to insecurity and unhappiness among existing workers who feel they are simply waiting for their own jobs to end.
The following two interviews give insights into the complaints of the workers and the compensation system which gives rise to them. They also reveal the basic inability of the Anshan Group to listen to the workers complaints and the need for the workers to have to travel elsewhere for redress. In both interviews the workers dismiss the official union the ACFTU for its invisibility and its lack of power in representing the workers.
Incidentally, according to an academic abstract featured in the Radiation, Science and Health Organization website cancer is the leading cause of death for Anshan Iron and Steel workers who experience a death rate much higher than that of the local population and the population of other cities. (Please also see here).
As one workers states prophetically;
We workers sacrificed ourselves for the country in the hard times, we helped to build the country in our youth and we understand that now we are old, machines are more advanced while the enterprise has to reform and it is unavoidable to cut the number of employees. We truly understand these points, but still, the company should spare a thought for our livelihood. It is simply indecent to dump us. 10,000 bucks for a whole life of work
I can tell that if this problem is not solved, it is entirely nonsense to talk about keeping the country stable.
4 August 2003: Retrenched Anshan Steel workers Stage protests in Beijing
5 August: CLB Press Release