[Broadcast on 16 September 2004]
Workers revealed that China Resources (Holdings) Co. Ltd did not offer the senior workers, who had served in the factory for ten years or above, long-term contracts as it had promised at the beginning of taking over their factory. On 14 September, a 5,000-worker strike started and by 16 September, it has entered the third day. A worker from the subsidiary hospital of Tianwang Enterprise told CLB that Renmin Road, where the factory was located, was no longer blocked by the workers. He also mentioned that the factory management had called police for help but police did not intervene after finding workers staying there peacefully.
Worker:
I went to work at 8am, the north and west gates were all filled with people. Renmin Road is fine today. It is not blocked. In the last few days it was full of people and police blocked its two ends with police vehicles.
Han Dongfang [Han]:
In total, with several huge work units, how many workers were involved?
Worker:
Oh, at least 5,000 to 6,000 workers from the work units were in, retirees counted the most. The whole No. 7 Factory and its retirees together mark a big sum; more than 10,000 blocked the road yesterday.
Han:
Yesterday?
Worker:
Right. And I saw about 1,000 people today.
Han:
Have workers proceeded to a negotiation with the government and the factory management?
Worker:
Workers raised some demands and they [factory management] gave some feedback. But probably workers were not happy about the result and therefore they waited by the entrance.
Han:
Will the police do something at last
Worker:
The police
the factory [management] did call the police, dialed 120, and police went to have a look. They found the workers did nothing bad and made no damage. They were law-abiding people, so police didnt do anything.
Han:
Have the workers got their representatives?
Worker:
[Another voice: no workers representative] well, they cant find out anyway. They asked who was responsible. Workers said all were responsible. They wouldnt know, they [workers] all went and were all responsible.
This worker described what he had seen on the spot when he passed by this morning.
Worker:
In the banners, it was written Stop losing state assets, what else? Anti-corruption, Protect workers rights, Give us the fund we worked hard for, Love our factory and protect our families and something Reform is the direction and workers settlement is prerequisite. On the roadsides, there were also banners saying, To solve the problem, please follow the road regulations. You could see the slogans all by the two sides of the road.
A staff in the Tianwang Enterprise office told CLB that Tianwang Enterprise had sold the profit-making work units to CRHCL and only two community-areas were left:
Tianwang Enterprise Office:
Hello, here is Tianwang Enterprise. You should call CRHCL, I give you their number and they will tell you the whole story, OK? Its CRHCLs business, we are the remaining part of the enterprise, and we have no strike happening here. Ours are just community-based businesses, just as schools and hospitals, but not any production.
Han:
You mean Tianwang Enterprise has only these left
Tianwang Enterprise Office:
Right, only two communities left. I am working in the residential area and I will give you the [CRHLCs] administrative departments telephone number.
CRHLCs Xianyang Administrative Department refused to answer any inquires.
CRHLC:
We cant answer this question.
Han:
Have you started talking to workers?
CRHLC:
I cant tell.
Han:
Do the workers have their representatives?
CRHLC:
We havent seen any.
Han:
Is there any trade union in the work units run by CRHCL?
CRHLC:
Trade union
hard to say, I dont know anything.
Han:
Do you know which department of CRHLC knows the situation better?
CRHLC:
I dont know.
Zhang Fengying, deputy party secretary of Shaanxi Provincial Textile Company and Chairperson of the Shaanxi Provincial Textile Trade Union, told CLB that she was having a meeting with senior local government officials about the strike at Tianwang Textile.
Zhang Fengying:
I am in a meeting.
Han:
Pardon?
Zhang Fengying:
I am in a meeting.
Han:
Is it about the incident [strike]?
Zhang Fengying:
Right, we are having a meeting to talk about it. Leaders from Provincial State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission also come to the meeting.
The hospital staff whom CLB had interviewed before explained why the workers started the strike and retired workers came to support it. According to him, the new employment contract CRHCL offered could not guarantee workers livelihood.
Worker:
The main cause is related to CRHCLs August purchase of work units, that it only promises to give workers a new three-year contract, no matter you have worked here for 20 or 30 years. The first six months of that three-year contract is a probation period, in which CRHCL will only pay the workers a certain percentage of their wages. In fact, it is a way of not giving you the full salary. You know workers wages are already quite low and all they want is to make ends meet. 600, 700 or 800 Yuan are okay but once it goes lower than that, they couldnt survive with such low wages, with all those deductions
I have heard a worker saying that 100 to 200 Yuan were deducted from his salary. He was then involved into loads of problems, some side-effects. You see why the retired workers also joined the action.
While some 5,000 workers are fighting for their rights in Xianyang, CLB receives a call from Baotou, an industrial city of Inner Mongolia, where some 2,000 retired workers from China North Industry Group Corporation [previously known as Inner Mongolia Number Two Machinery Factory], staged a sit-in in front of the municipal government on 15 and 16 September. They demanded for an increase of their pension rate. An official from Baotou Municipal Letters & Complaints Office, however, told CLB that only about 200 retirees joined the sit-in, he conceded the protest was related to some tens of thousand peoples interests.
Letters & Complaints Office:
They came here in the morning for once, and we have reported it to our seniors.
Han:
How many people came?
Letters & Complaints Office:
About 200.
Han:
What are they asking for?
Letters & Complaints Office:
More wages [pension] for the retirees. We have reported that to our supervisor. This issue involves some tens of thousand people, so we must first inform our supervisor.
Han:
Which factories were these tens of thousand workers from?
Letters & Complaints Office:
From Number One and Number Two Machinery Factories, and also 202.
Han:
Number One Machinery Factory, Number Two Machinery Factory and Number 202 Factory?
Letters & Complaints Office:
Yes, correct.
Han:
Do the retired workers from these few factories sum up to tens of thousand people?
Letters & Complaints Office:
Right, exactly.
Han:
Will they come [to the Letters & Complaints Office] again?
Letters & Complaints Office:
I dont know.
Han:
Have you promised them a deadline to give them a further reply?
Letters & Complaints Office:
No.