Arrested Baotou Workers Still Under Detention

(Broadcast on July 24, 2002)

Workers from Changzheng Building Materials Corporation (CBMC) in Baotou city Inner Mongolia, have blocked the road for three days in defense of their right to work and demand their pension benefit. The three-day street-protest lasted till last Wednesday (July 17) and ended with the government sending more than a hundred cadres to ‘educate’ the workers. However, local government policies fell short of the workers’ demands. So far the three arrested workers’ organizers have not been released. In order to keep abreast of the whole incident, China Labour Bulletin called Baotou again, and spoke to an official in the Donghe District government.

Official:

The road-blocking incident has been solved on that very day.

Han Dongfang (Han):

Have the demands of the workers been met?

Official:

Hmm… their demands….. the government has proposed a solution, but the workers just turned it down. And certain organizers stirred up trouble We [the government] have sent a work group of more than a hundred cadres to carry out investigations, in order to gain a better understanding of the case. During these two days, the workers’ mood has been more stable. Some individual troublemakers, like those three or four who attacked the police, were probably the organizers [of this protest] and we have caught a couple of them. They were stirring up trouble and they were the leaders.

Concerning the official version of workers attacking the police, CLB talked to a retired woman worker from the machine factory who happened to witness the conflict.

Woman Worker:

Who dared attack the police. Who dared? We would be grateful if they don’t attack us. Dare we ordinary folk beat them?

Han:

Have any workers been hurt?

Woman Worker:

Some were beaten up and sent to hospital; some are still in the hospital.

Han:

Is your place near it [site of scuffle]?

Woman Worker:

Not far at all.

Han:

Did you go there to have a look during those few days of the protest?

Woman Worker:

Yeah… I did.

Han:

How many people were there [participating in the demonstration]?

Woman Worker:

Oh, a lot. I went there at 8 p.m. They started blocking the road at 9 a.m. and they were still there at night, having come to no solution. But we couldn’t get across because the riot police cordoned off the area.

Han:

So the riot police blocked the people?

Woman Worker:

Yes. The outer ring was the riot police and the inner ring, public security officers. They were arranged in quite a number of layers, so there were a lot of them and we simply couldn’t get through. The place is just too big! The workers are really… really poor. One of my neighbors is a worker from CBMC. They really can’t make their ends meet and they have to rely on the seniors. They have blocked the road before, and they got Rmb 200, for five months. My colleague’s daughter joined them late and got only Rmb 40.

Han:

You mean each worker receives only Rmb 40 per month?

Woman Worker:

Indeed.

The official from Donghe District went further to say that the [retrenchment] package the Baotou City government proposed to the CBMC workers was the best in the country.

Official:

Their demands are not the same as ours. Our government has to solve the problem based on the policy of the party and what works best for the workers. But some of them are just being difficult on purpose.

Han:

Aha.

Official:

They just stand firm on what they want. The government does its best to try to solve the problem, giving them a pension, medical insurance, minimum living allowance, everything. But they simply don’t appreciate it. They keep saying, “it is my workplace, so I just want to work here”, but the land (where CBMC is located) is owned by the state and the government wants it returned. The district government wants to build an eco-industrial park there and the workers’ contracts must be terminated once and for all and then new arrangements would be made. For those approaching the retirement age, they retire. If you can’t find a job, what should you do? The government will provide you with a minimum living allowance. Moreover, if later, let say we have construction work in the park, you will have priority to be assigned work there. And after all, if you are still not happy with these arrangements, fine, you can receive a one-off severance pay. So you see, our policy is the best in Inner Mongolia and in the whole country.

Han:

What are the workers asking for?

Official:

They demand, “I want to stay here, I want to work and you just can’t terminate our contracts”.

However, a retired teacher, who lives near CBMC, held a different point of view. She thought the proposal of the government did not take into consideration what the workers want and need.

Teacher:

That has a great impact. The workers can’t survive and the CBMC can’t even pay them that monthly ….. that something…minimum… living allowance.

Han:

Doesn’t the government provide some solutions, such as offering an early retirement scheme or paying them a one-off severance pay?

Teacher:

Even if the government provides it, it should be up to the workers if they agree with it or not. I don’t think it works if you pay them a thousand or something. The workers wouldn’t agree to that. Nowadays, a thousand yuan is only enough to buy groceries for a year or two.

At last, CLB reached a retrenched woman worker from CBMC. She said that each worker received a monthly minimum living allowance of Rmb 40.

Woman Worker:

Well…we blocked the road because the government had decided to build a hotel in joint venture with CBMC. It sold the land but no new employment had been arranged for us. We didn’t know anything [about the plan]. And now, the place was sold and we are jobless. Of course we are not going to take it.

Han:

But we called the district government earlier this afternoon and they said the CBMC workers would have priority to be re-employed. Is that true?

Woman Worker:

It wasn’t meant to be like this at first. But two days…...three days after blocking the road, they issued a notice saying that we would have priority to be re-employed. But it would take about five years to complete the construction.

Han:

Besides this demand [employment], what other things are the workers fighting for?

Woman Worker:

We fight for our bellies. We are now unemployed at home. Since last month we have been paid a minimum living allowance of Rmb 156. Probably we are paid according to our ranks.

Han:

So taking you as an example, how much do you get?

Woman Worker:

Rmb 40 per month. My kid gets the same, with Rmb 30 more as tuition fee. It comes to Rmb 70. The two of us together get Rmb 110 per month.

An official who works in the Dongxing Sub-district Office (where CBMC is located) confirmed with CLB that the problem had not been solved and none of the arrested workers’ organizers had been released.

Official:

The problem hasn’t been solved yet…about the concrete solution, the government hasn’t come up with a final decision.

Han:

What are the workers protesting for?

Official:

For their jobs.

Han:

I am told that each worker gets Rmb 40 each month as the minimum living allowance Is it true?

Official:

We have nothing to say on this.

Han:

And also I heard that some workers were arrested. How are they now?

Official:

Probably not released yet.

Han:

So which law did they break exactly?

Official:

They blocked the main road [the expressway between Baotou city and the provincial capital of Huhehaote – Ed.] for almost thirteen hours.

Han:

Do you think the workers will block the roads again if their demands are not met?

Official:

We have nothing to say on this either.

The retrenched woman worker from CBMC further told CLB that many workers were scared after the arrest of the workers’ organisers.

Woman Worker:

Five or six of them were arrested. One woman and some guys. After the arrest, nobody dared to take to the streets again.

Han:

Are they scared?

Woman Worker:

Yeah (gives a wry laugh).

Han:

So what are you going to do next?

Woman Worker:

We'll keep on living like this. Just wait and see. Anyhow, we can just stay at home and see if anything new comes up.

Han:

And will the workers negotiate with the government if it doesn’t release [the arrested workers’ organizers]?

Woman Worker:

I haven’t heard anything [about that]in two days.