According to reports, thousands of workers surrounded the general offices of the Yangzi Petrochemical Company Ltd, a state-owned enterprise (SOE) in the city of Nanjing. Reports from the city claimed that thousands of workers had blocked roads leading to the factory in the Jianye district of Nanjing April 16th, 2001 and that the incident had developed into a strike. In response, the authorities ordered Jianye district sealed off which caused diversions to eight local bus routes. Crowds gathered at both ends of the sealed off district and thousands of people had gathered at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial to discuss the incident. One report said that clashes had occurred between police and strikers and that the next day, April 17th, as many as 10,000 workers and supporters gathered on Nanjings Mahanhe Bridge to shout slogans against corruption.
The cause of the protest is believed to be that workers and intellectuals from the factory are furious at the corrupt practices of high-level managers including the Yangzi Petrochemicals president and managing director. They blamed company bosses for turning an efficient enterprise into a cash drain that had in turn led to the value of company shares dropping dramatically, leaving employees in fear of their jobs. The company president had disappeared and there were rumours that the protesters had forced the managing director to enter into talks.
The protests are taking place in an industrial area of the city where tens of thousands of workers have been laid-off over the last few years. Many middle-aged workers in the area have been forced into early retirement. Most have been left in poverty after their former employers had encouraged or coerced them into an illegal redundancy deal known as buying up seniority whereby workers years of service are purchased by the company in a one-off payment that wipes out employees pension entitlements.
(USA: gbnews-owner@yahoogroups.com 19/04/01, Dacankao 17/04/01)
The cause of the protest is believed to be that workers and intellectuals from the factory are furious at the corrupt practices of high-level managers including the Yangzi Petrochemicals president and managing director. They blamed company bosses for turning an efficient enterprise into a cash drain that had in turn led to the value of company shares dropping dramatically, leaving employees in fear of their jobs. The company president had disappeared and there were rumours that the protesters had forced the managing director to enter into talks.
The protests are taking place in an industrial area of the city where tens of thousands of workers have been laid-off over the last few years. Many middle-aged workers in the area have been forced into early retirement. Most have been left in poverty after their former employers had encouraged or coerced them into an illegal redundancy deal known as buying up seniority whereby workers years of service are purchased by the company in a one-off payment that wipes out employees pension entitlements.
(USA: gbnews-owner@yahoogroups.com 19/04/01, Dacankao 17/04/01)