(Broadcast on September 14, 2002)
Taking their inspiration from the three months of sustained collective protests by oil workers in Daqing earlier this year - March through May - workers from the Chuandong Oil Exploration and Drilling Company (COEDC), a subsidiary of the Sichuan Petroleum Administration Bureau (SPAB), have organised and taken action to improve their retrenchment contracts. The workers' demands on the company centre on unemployment allowances, pension benefits and alternative employment or reinstatement for younger retrenched workers. To date, the workers have not received a satisfactory response from the company. On September 9, the retrenched oil workers raised banners and pasted up handbills in the streets claiming that the company had dishonestly coerced them into accepting the retrenchment deal. At the same time, the workers began a collection to fund legal action against their former employers. However, Chongqing Police Emergency Unit intervened to stop the street collection and scuffles broke out when they attempted to arrest people. I telephoned the home of a retired SPAB employee to get a clearer picture of the situation and had the following conversation with a retired teacher from the bureau.
Han Dongfang (Han):
Can I ask you if there are any retrenched workers in your family?
Retired teacher (teacher):
Yes.
Han:
Which family members are retrenched?
Teacher:
Me.
Han:
How many years did you work for the company?
Teacher:
Twenty-seven and a half years.
Han:
And how much have they compensated you for each year of service?
Teacher:
For each year... Rmb 4,200... lets see... altogether it was just over Rmb 110,000. The deal also covers food, housing, clothing and kids' schooling. But for the last two years we have had to pay annual contributions of up to Rmb 5,000 into the pension fund. Last year it was Rmb 4,700 and this year Rmb 5,300. That's 10,000 bucks altogether.
Han:
Do you feel it is difficult to make ends meet?
Teacher:
If we get ill then we're in big trouble [with the medical bills].
Han:
What are the chief demands of the retrenched workers?
Teacher:
They mainly want what we call the "the three funds" [see below] sorted out. Some of the guys want to get back to work as well.
Han:
Like who?
Teacher:
As far as I can gather it's the younger workers. It's not so bad for people like me as I am a teacher and coming up to fifty years old. But for the younger ones who are twenty or thirty something with kids at school, the thirty-odd thousand bucks [compensation] isn't going to last very long. Schools are pretty expensive these days if they are not attached to a company or work unit and the cash isn't going to cover it. Then they are looking at twenty or thirty years of pension contributions until they reach retirement age. All in all, it's not easy for them. The last round of redundancies was at the end of November 2000, another round earlier in June 2000 and before that in November 1999. They did it in three stages more or less.
Han:
Was it really voluntary redundancy?
Teacher:
That's kind of difficult to say. The company tried pretty much everything including coercion. They'd tell you that there was no work and you had to go as the company was going to shut down, that kind of thing. It's difficult for all of us right now. We've been at the same job for decades and then suddenly its gone. Sure they give you compensation but you're still on your own with a hard road ahead of you. Do you see what I mean? This is what it's like for us and in my book it's coercion.
Han:
Do you have children?
Teacher:
One, already married and trying to find work.
Han:
When did the workers start this latest protest?
Teacher:
I think it was around the beginning of last week. We only heard about it through the grapevine when the police made some arrests after the protest got going. Some of us went down there to see what was going on.
Han:
Were there any arrests?
Teacher:
The police... What I heard was that someone from the company rang up the Public Security Bureau (PSB) and told them a load of lies, that it was the Falungong [on the streets] cheating people. So the PSB guys come steaming over without really knowing what was going on and start handcuffing two workers. Some workers were collecting money so they could get a collective petition together [in order to take the company to court -- Ed.]. People willing to help put in thirty bucks but the PSB thought it was a scam. I wasn't there myself so I didn't see exactly what happened but I know for sure that those two guys were arrested.
Han:
And have the detainees been released?
Teacher:
Yes. On the same day. There was a large crowd on the housing estate and everyone was getting pretty worked up about the police. Lots of noise about the fact that the PSB guys had not bothered to get a clear picture and just relied on the phone calls from the company. Then the detained workers were released.
Han:
Were there any more arrests afterwards?
Teacher:
I think two more people were grabbed by company security outside the [company] gates on another day but they were let go after just half and hour. We got to negotiate with the company boss and he [agreed to] ring the company's security staff. They were out within half-an-hour.
Han:
How many people have been involved altogether?
Teacher:
A fair number but I couldn't put a figure on it as we went over there in the evening and it was like a mass siege with a never-ending stream of people on the streets. We got there at about seven in the evening.
Han:
What date was that?
Teacher:
Can't remember exactly but it was definitely in the evening when we went over there.
Han:
This week or last week?
Teacher:
Last week.
Han:
Is it still going on?
Teacher:
I looked out the window today and the banner is still there, the one calling on people to sign up to the petition, so it looks like it's not over yet.
Han:
What form are the protests taking?
Teacher:
Well everyone is still being reasonable and is hoping the [company] leaders will help sort it all out. They haven't yet though.
Han:
Where is everyone gathering today?
Teacher:
In front of the company gates and on the roads leading to their offices. That petition banner is still up but I haven't actually been down there.
Han:
What's written on the banner? Can you see from where you are?
Teacher:
Looks like "The Petition of 10,000"
Han:
They are trying to get as many as possible to sign up?
Teacher:
Some are signing their names and others are using a thumbprint.
Han:
I heard that some banners are saying "Oil Workers Unite and Fight for your Rights"
Teacher:
Yes. That sounds about right.
Han:
And another one saying "We've been cheated and forced to take redundancy".
Teacher:
More than likely. They used a computer to print that slogan and paste it up. I can't see exactly what's on the banners but that one is certainly on some of the handbills. I don't want to tell you anything that I 'm not sure about even though I have a good idea of the situation.
Han:
So there are handbills and posters pasted up on the walls as well as banners.
Teacher:
That's right.
Han:
And what are the demands written on the posters?
Teacher:
That the leaders come out and solve the problem! The retrenched workers are doing carrying jobs, shifting goods across town and so on. Some are selling vegetables or working as shoe shiners on the streets. There are thousands in this situation.
Han:
Any concrete demands though?
Teacher:
Yes, the "three funds".
Han:
What do they include?
Teacher:
Medical, pension and unemployment benefits. I am not too up on the details. The unemployment benefit is a local fund and is the responsibility of the Chongqing government to issue to us. But we don't really know what kind of arrangement the company has with the Chongqing government over any of these funds, medical care, pensions or the dole.
Han:
In your view, have the workers here been influenced by the actions of the Daqing oil workers?
Teacher:
Possibly. I can't say as I am just a bystander really.
Han:
But you are involved as this affects your rights?
Teacher:
Yes. You could say that.
Han:
But you haven't joined the protests?
Teacher:
Not so far. I am still thinking about it. Is it legal to use the law? Will it work? That's what's on my mind.