In this Issue:
1. Editor's Note
2. STATEMENTS
- Open letter to Jiang Zemin from the workers of Liaoyang Ferroalloy Factory
- China Labour Bulletin press statement on the arrests of Liaoyang labour leader (2002-04-11)
3. WORKERS' TESTIMONY
- Interviews with Liaoyang workers
4. OFFICIALS SPEAK
- Talking to a Liaoyang trade union official
5. INTERNATIONAL ACTIONS
- ICFTU Complaint to ILO - Case No 2189 updates on events in North East China
- International Labour Campaign Mission Arrested
6. ANALYSIS
- The Third Wave of the Chinese Labour Movement in the Post-Mao Era
7. NEWS UPDATES
- Press Releases on Liaoyang (April to June 2002)
*******************************************************************************
Editor's Note
While the Communist Party of China decided, for the first time in its own history, to award the title of ‘China's Model Workers’ to several private entrepreneurs in this year's May Day celebrations, workers in Liaoyang Ferroalloy Factory continued their precarious struggle for subsistence in the streets of Liaoyang. Many of these workers are in their fifties and have uncomplainingly dedicated their entire working lives to production in various industrial plants in the "rust-belt" of north eastern China. Three months after several thousand workers from the bankrupt plant staged street demonstrations to press their demands to the government to provide guarantees of their retirement and retrenchment payments and to investigate malpractice in their enterprise, the workers were met with detentions and numerous violent confrontations with the police.
This bulletin features a special update on the Liaoyang struggle. From the news releases included, the sequence of events unfold. The latest news provided by the protesting workers in late May is that the city's government has given a verbal reassurance that their grievances will be investigated and their detained leaders will soon be released. It has yet to be shown if this pledge by the government will materialize.
In an open letter sent by the Ferroalloy Factory workers to president Jiang Zemin in early March, 2002, a more detailed account is given on how the workers see the collapse of their enterprise as a result of malpractices and corruption.
Accounts given by the participants of the demonstrations shows the mixture of helplessness and commitment felt by the struggling workers. Meanwhile the official union reveals how incapable and unwilling it is to stand by the workers in such a crisis.
There has been considerable international concern about the Liaoyang workers' demonstrations. Most significantly, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions lodged a formal complaint with the International Labour Organization's Committee on Freedom of Association over the government crackdown on the labour organizers. Furthermore, an attempted visit by a mission of international independent unionists' was turned back by the police in Liaoyang. This mission, although small in size and prevented from making contact, apparently greatly encouraged and boosted the morale of the workers.
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STATEMENTS
Open letter to Jiang Zemin from the workers of Liaoyang Ferroalloy Factory
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/1870
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
China Labour Bulletin press statement on the arrests of Liaoyang labour leader (2002-04-11)
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/1816
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WORKERS' TESTIMONY
Interviews with Liaoyang workers
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/1888
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OFFICIALS SPEAK
Talking to a Liaoyang trade union official
"According to the policies of the party and the city government, we have to support the government and we have to support the workers, right? We have to support both, right?"
30 March, 2002: interview with a Liaoyang trade union official about what the union did on behalf of the protesting workers:
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/1852
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTERNATIONAL ACTIONS
ICFTU Complaint to ILO - Case No 2189 updates on events in North East China
Following up on its first submission of a complaint against the Chinese government crackdown on the Liaoyang workers' organizing efforts, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions submitted a further complaint about the latest developments and government repression on 2 June, 2002. The complaint also spells out a chronology of events in Liaoyang:
4 June, 2002: ICFTU complaint to ILO:
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/1876
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Labour Campaign Mission Arrested
An international labour solidarity mission comprising five French unionists was prevented from visiting the protesting workers in Liaoyang . The mission members were first detained by the police in Liaoyang on 26 May, 2002 and then expelled from China:
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/8767
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANALYSIS
The Third Wave of the Chinese Labour Movement in the Post-Mao Era
7 June, 2002:
"The 2002 outbreak of workers protests marks a watershed. They are distinct from the previous decade of labour organizing in their advocacy, constituency, actors, and modus operandi. Hence they represent the third wave of labour organizing in post-Mao era".
Analysis of the 2002 Daqing and Liaoyang protests, "The Third Wave of the Chinese Labour Movement in the Post-Mao Era"
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/1894
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEWS UPDATES
Press Releases on Liaoyang (April to June 2002)
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/1882
1. Editor's Note
2. STATEMENTS
- Open letter to Jiang Zemin from the workers of Liaoyang Ferroalloy Factory
- China Labour Bulletin press statement on the arrests of Liaoyang labour leader (2002-04-11)
3. WORKERS' TESTIMONY
- Interviews with Liaoyang workers
4. OFFICIALS SPEAK
- Talking to a Liaoyang trade union official
5. INTERNATIONAL ACTIONS
- ICFTU Complaint to ILO - Case No 2189 updates on events in North East China
- International Labour Campaign Mission Arrested
6. ANALYSIS
- The Third Wave of the Chinese Labour Movement in the Post-Mao Era
7. NEWS UPDATES
- Press Releases on Liaoyang (April to June 2002)
*******************************************************************************
Editor's Note
While the Communist Party of China decided, for the first time in its own history, to award the title of ‘China's Model Workers’ to several private entrepreneurs in this year's May Day celebrations, workers in Liaoyang Ferroalloy Factory continued their precarious struggle for subsistence in the streets of Liaoyang. Many of these workers are in their fifties and have uncomplainingly dedicated their entire working lives to production in various industrial plants in the "rust-belt" of north eastern China. Three months after several thousand workers from the bankrupt plant staged street demonstrations to press their demands to the government to provide guarantees of their retirement and retrenchment payments and to investigate malpractice in their enterprise, the workers were met with detentions and numerous violent confrontations with the police.
This bulletin features a special update on the Liaoyang struggle. From the news releases included, the sequence of events unfold. The latest news provided by the protesting workers in late May is that the city's government has given a verbal reassurance that their grievances will be investigated and their detained leaders will soon be released. It has yet to be shown if this pledge by the government will materialize.
In an open letter sent by the Ferroalloy Factory workers to president Jiang Zemin in early March, 2002, a more detailed account is given on how the workers see the collapse of their enterprise as a result of malpractices and corruption.
Accounts given by the participants of the demonstrations shows the mixture of helplessness and commitment felt by the struggling workers. Meanwhile the official union reveals how incapable and unwilling it is to stand by the workers in such a crisis.
There has been considerable international concern about the Liaoyang workers' demonstrations. Most significantly, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions lodged a formal complaint with the International Labour Organization's Committee on Freedom of Association over the government crackdown on the labour organizers. Furthermore, an attempted visit by a mission of international independent unionists' was turned back by the police in Liaoyang. This mission, although small in size and prevented from making contact, apparently greatly encouraged and boosted the morale of the workers.
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STATEMENTS
Open letter to Jiang Zemin from the workers of Liaoyang Ferroalloy Factory
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/1870
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
China Labour Bulletin press statement on the arrests of Liaoyang labour leader (2002-04-11)
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/1816
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WORKERS' TESTIMONY
Interviews with Liaoyang workers
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/1888
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OFFICIALS SPEAK
Talking to a Liaoyang trade union official
"According to the policies of the party and the city government, we have to support the government and we have to support the workers, right? We have to support both, right?"
30 March, 2002: interview with a Liaoyang trade union official about what the union did on behalf of the protesting workers:
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/1852
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTERNATIONAL ACTIONS
ICFTU Complaint to ILO - Case No 2189 updates on events in North East China
Following up on its first submission of a complaint against the Chinese government crackdown on the Liaoyang workers' organizing efforts, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions submitted a further complaint about the latest developments and government repression on 2 June, 2002. The complaint also spells out a chronology of events in Liaoyang:
4 June, 2002: ICFTU complaint to ILO:
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/1876
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Labour Campaign Mission Arrested
An international labour solidarity mission comprising five French unionists was prevented from visiting the protesting workers in Liaoyang . The mission members were first detained by the police in Liaoyang on 26 May, 2002 and then expelled from China:
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/8767
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANALYSIS
The Third Wave of the Chinese Labour Movement in the Post-Mao Era
7 June, 2002:
"The 2002 outbreak of workers protests marks a watershed. They are distinct from the previous decade of labour organizing in their advocacy, constituency, actors, and modus operandi. Hence they represent the third wave of labour organizing in post-Mao era".
Analysis of the 2002 Daqing and Liaoyang protests, "The Third Wave of the Chinese Labour Movement in the Post-Mao Era"
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/1894
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEWS UPDATES
Press Releases on Liaoyang (April to June 2002)
http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/1882