[Broadcast on 12 June 2004]
From 1960s to 1970s, when the government promoted industrialization in China, it was a common practice for the large-scale state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to employ the men to work in the main factories and mines while their wives worked in the SOEs subsidiaries. These women workers were called dependent workers. However, since 1980s, the government often trades off the rights of the dependent workers, who worked for the SOEs subsidiaries while their husbands had worked in the mining industry for decades, by setting up new services companies, in order to accommodate young graduate workers. CLB has conducted a series of interviews with a dependent worker from Tongchuan Mining Bureau of Shaanxi, who would talk about the plight of these women workers, who are in their 50s to 80s and receive no pensions and medical care.
Han Dongfang [Han]:
How about the working hours of the dependent workers?
Dependent Worker:
We basically began working in the farm at 8 a.m.
Han:
8 a.m.?
Dependent Worker:
Right, 8 a.m.
Han:
How about the noontime?
Dependent Worker:
We didnt go home at noon.
Han:
So you kept working till what time in the afternoon?
Dependent Worker:
We brought some bread and vegetables with us when we set off to work. We worked till 5 to 6 p.m. when it wasnt the busy season. Our homes were five or six Li (one Li = 500 meters) away from the workplace. Some even lived more than 10 Li away from the farm. When weve gone home, we had to prepare the supper and take care of our babies. Most of us were mothers. I had three children at that time; they lived in my hometown most of the time.
Han:
You mean your children didnt grow up with you?
Dependent Worker:
No.
Han: [Did you get medical insurance] when you were sick?
Dependent Worker:
When the mining bureau was running well, as dependents [of the regular workers] we could have 50 percents of the medical expenses reimbursed if we were sick.
Han:
50 percents?
Dependent Worker:
Right.
Han:
How about the regular workers?
Dependent Worker:
They got full reimbursement.
Han:
All of them got full reimbursement?
Dependent Worker:
Sure!
Han:
Did you get any employment contract?
Dependent Worker:
No, we didnt sign any, but our work was organized by the mining bureau, it was a de facto labour relation.
Han:
Did workers see it as a de facto labour relation?
Dependent Worker:
Yes. Some other mines did offer work contracts.
Han:
You mean other workers did sign their work contracts?
Dependent Worker:
Yes!
Han:
But not at your mine?
Dependent Worker:
No, not in my mining bureau. But I know other mines like the Wang Shiba Mine would offer contracts.
Han:
Wang Shiba Mine?
Dependent Worker:
Yeah.
Han:
Did the [dependent] workers there sign any employment contracts?
Dependent Worker:
They did.
Han:
What did you do after you left the farm?
Dependent Worker:
I was then assigned to a canteen. Its a canteen inside the farm.
Han:
Was it for the farms staff or open to the public?
Dependent Worker:
It wasnt a staff canteen; it was run by the service company, which had to bear the responsibility for any profit or loss.
Han:
Was it open to all?
Dependent Worker:
Right.
Han:
How long did you work there?
Dependent Worker:
I was there for three to four years.
Han:
Three to four years?
Dependent Worker:
Yes.
Han:
So you were assigned to move for each time you changed your job?
Dependent Worker:
Yes.
Han:
Was it the work units [mining bureau] appointment instead of your resignation?
Dependent Worker:
Yes, indeed.
Han:
How long did you work in that canteen?
Dependent Worker:
I worked there for four or five years.
Han:
Four to five years?
Dependent Worker:
Right.
Han:
Were the wage and welfare terms the same as your previous jobs?
Dependent Worker:
Well, the canteen was responsible for its own profit and loss, so the welfare we received was a certain percentage of the profit it made. It really depended on how much business it made.
Han:
Was the business good then?
Dependent Worker:
Yes, pretty good.
Han:
How much did you earn on an average day?
Dependent Worker:
The wage was fixed at one Yuan 22 cents or one Yuan 38 cents, no matter how much the profit was.
Han:
You mean it didnt matter which post you were assigned to and your wage remained the same?
Dependent Worker:
The company decided that.
Han:
Was there a rule on this?
Dependent Worker:
Yes.
Han:
Did you earn the same wage working in the canteen as in the farm?
Dependent Worker:
Right.
Han:
That means only the jobs were different [but your wage remained unchanged]?
Dependent Worker:
Yes, but if you couldnt finish the assignment, you couldnt get that rate.
Han:
Any deduction in your wage if you failed to finish the tasks?
Dependent Worker:
Yes, it only paid you the part you have done.
Han:
Who set up those rules?
Dependent Worker:
The leaders from the service company made the decision.
Han:
Which year did you start working in the canteen?
Dependent Worker:
It was in the late 1970s.
Han:
Late 1970s?
Dependent Worker:
Yeah.
Han:
Did you leave that service company after you stopped working in the canteen?
Dependent Worker:
No.
Han:
What did you do next?
Dependent Worker:
I was transferred from the farms canteen to the intellectual youths canteen.
Han:
How long did you work in that intellectual youths canteen?
Dependent Worker:
I worked there for two to three years.
Han:
Which year did you leave it?
Dependent Worker:
It was probably in 1985 or 1986.
Han:
So altogether, you had worked for about 20 years?
Dependent Worker:
Hmm
Han:
I mean the total years of work.
Dependent Worker:
Probably more than ten years.
Han:
More than ten years?
Dependent Worker:
Aha.
Han:
Did you go through any procedure when you left?
Dependent Worker:
No.
Han:
Have you thought about retirement pension or anything like that when you left?
Dependent Worker:
When I left the service company, it offered a fixed amount of compensation to all workers. Everyone was given 100 Yuan. Those got there early did receive that sum, while those who arrived late didnt get anything.
Han:
What was that 100 Yuan meant for?
Dependent Worker:
That was a once-off compensation to the intellectual youths and retirement compensation to the dependent [workers].
Han:
Did everyone receive the same sum of 100 Yuan?
Dependent Worker:
Not really, that depended on how long you had worked there.
Han:
So how much did you get for your more than 10 years of services?
Dependent Worker:
I arrived there late as I learnt about that quite late. When I got there, I was told that all money had been given out; I had to wait until it [service company] had the money again. Many others didnt get it as well.
Han:
You couldnt get that 100 Yuan because you arrived late?
Dependent Worker:
No, you couldnt get that. In fact, 80 percent of us didnt receive it.
Han:
It sounds like what we call retrenchment program these days.
Dependent Worker:
It was just a way to get rid of the dependent workers. They paid you 100 Yuan and wanted you to pack and go.
Han:
That means that 100 Yuan was the compensation for all of the years of your service.
Dependent Worker:
Well.
Han:
Each year of service was worth less than ten Yuan?
Dependent Worker:
[laughs
]
Han:
Did you realize that you were retrenched at that time?
Dependent Worker:
No, we didnt know.
Han:
What did they [service company] say when they said they would gave you the 100 Yuan?
Dependent Worker:
They said we were getting old and they had to arrange for those intellectual youths. You know, they were jobless. Anyway, those jobless youth came to take over our places though they had no working experience. We, the older dependent workers, then could do nothing but to retire.
Han:
How old were you at that time?
Dependent Worker:
I was 40 something.
Han:
Were you forced to leave?
Dependent Worker:
The leaders held a meeting to tell us about that and thats how it was decided.
Han:
Had everybody got to leave?
Dependent Worker:
Hmm.
Han:
How many people left with you?
Dependent Worker:
Oh, a lot. About several hundred.
Han:
That was how the service company gave out the once-off compensation?
Dependent Worker:
Yes.
Han:
Have you tried to get that 100 Yuan back later?
Dependent Worker:
I tried but they always said they would repay me once they had the money.
Han:
You mean you have never received anything after you were forced to leave that service company in 1985 or 1986?
Dependent Worker:
No.
Han:
Have it ever said anything to you? Any explanation?
Dependent Worker:
No. It didnt give us any explanation when we left. It just said no, you gotta leave. Thats all. The leaders decided to give us 100 Yuan each as retirement compensation. It didnt care if we were happy with that or not. Some people got that sum and some didnt; in other words, it just forced us to leave.
Han:
Had anyone of you, in such a large group of workers, thought of fighting for it yourselves?
Dependent Worker:
Some tried. They looked for the leaders [of the company] and the leaders said they would hold a meeting to discuss it. But nothing ever came up. Then there were many changes among the leaders. New leaders came and the old ones left. When we went to ask again, they simply said they didnt know anything about that. Then, the matter was just brushed aside again.
Han:
What did those workers ask for?
Dependent Worker:
At that time we didnt know anything about Labour Law, definitely not. Those who looked for the leaders of the company would ask why they were stopped from working there. Some would ask why other people could receive that 100 Yuan but they had not received a penny.
Han:
Was that all they asked for?
Dependent Worker:
Well.
Han:
But when did you start thinking about the retirement problem?
Dependent Worker:
It was in 1984. When they [the leaders] started to register certain people we realized that.
Han:
What do you mean by registering certain people?
Dependent Worker:
They registered some [of the previous dependent workers] in the collective company.
Han:
You mean they employed some people into the collective company.
Dependent Worker:
Right!
Han:
How many of them? What is the percentage of the dependent workers from the old service company?
Dependent Worker:
About five percent.
Han:
Only five percent were registered [in the collective company]?
Dependent Worker:
Right, very few of us.
Han:
According to the information you gave me before, there were 7,000 to 8,000 dependent workers, but now only about 2,000 were not registered. How come?
Dependent Worker:
7,000 to 8,000 is the number [of dependent workers] from the 13 work units and the total number of registered workers [of the whole SOE] is about 7,000 to 8,000.
Han:
So how many of those 7,000 to 8,000 [dependent workers] were registered?
Dependent Worker:
About five percent of us, not that many.
Han:
Then why were there only some 2,000 people in your collective petition?
Dependent Worker:
A lot of reasons there. Some are really old by now, like in their 70s or 80s; some are too sick to move around; some have passed away, load of different reasons.
Han:
How did you start working on it after you found out the truth in 1984?
Dependent Worker:
It was until 2000 we started to make complaints.
Han:
When did you realize the differences between the workers employment benefits?
Dependent Worker:
We learned about that in the same year of the registration [2000] when there was a document reminding those collective workers to register.
Han:
Do they [collective workers] have pension insurance?
Dependent Worker:
Yes.
Han:
Was it in 2000?
Dependent Worker:
Yes, in 2000.
Han:
That is why the [dependent] workers started to complain?
Dependent Worker:
Right, we had started since then.
Han:
How did you make your complaints?
Dependent Worker:
First we went to the service company because we [dependent workers] all worked in the same work unit. Some of us worked even longer than they did [those dependent workers who became collective workers]. Why were they entitled to work in the collective company but we couldnt have the same treatment? We had been working in the unit for a long time and had never stopped. Thats how we went to ask them [the service company].
Next Saturday CLB will broadcast the third part of this interview.