Change for Nothing: China Resources (Holdings) Co. Ltd's Purchase in Xianyang, Shaanxi (I)

[Broadcast on 15 September 2004]

At 7 am of 14 September, several thousand workers from the Tianwang Textile Enterprise, originally the state-owned Xibei No.7 Cotton Factory, staged a strike to protest against their new employer, China Resources (Holdings) Co. Ltd’s [CRHCL] for unfair labour terms. CRHCL is a listed company in Hong Kong, New York and London and has recently bought their factory but failed to compensate the workers for the change of their employment status. It is reported that instead of providing compensatory contracts to workers, CRHCL forced the workers to sign unfair labour contracts. Strike organizers have urged the participants in an open notice that they should not block the road. However, as several thousand workers gathered in front of the factory, Renmin Road, where the factory was located, was packed with people and no vehicle could possibly go through. A cadre from Xianyang Municipal Trade Union told CLB that they did not send any union representative to follow the case as they did not receive any instruction from the municipal committee and the municipal government.

Municipal Trade Union:

For medium-scale enterprise, the usual practice is that the municipal committee and municipal government would send us forth if necessary. We don’t go if we are not asked to. Even if we would go, we have no idea who we should talk to as we don’t have any contact with them. They aren’t primary level unions.

Han Dongfang [Han]:

Have you heard about the case [strike]?

Municipal Trade Union:

Yes. From yesterday till now… I don’t know about [what is going on] today. Yesterday it was an entrance blockage… I think so. A section of the road was blocked by the Tianwang staff.

Han:

How many participants?

Municipal Trade Union:

I don’t know.

An official from the Neighbourhood Office of Renmin Road told CLB that CRHCL had not come up with an agreement with the workers.

Neighbourhood Office:

The case…when we first heard about it, our office sent out two leaders and four comrades to talk to the factory management in shifts. Just now, my colleagues have returned and said there were too many problems and they raised some terms. The preliminary feedback from CRHCL is that it would agree to all terms except the transitional fee. For example, if you had worked for the factory for 20 years, you would be compensated with one month of wage for each year of service. CRHCL doesn’t want to pay this sum and no agreement has come up.

Han:

What are the workers’ demands?

Neighbourhood Office:

They have five to six demands.

This official further revealed that there have been a series of protests staged by SOE workers in Xianyang since July 2004.

Neighbourhood Office:

In July and August, the Shaanxi No.2 Cotton Factory workers staged a mass protest and it also happened in many factories at Xilan Road. It led to serious blockage in Renmin Road and Xilan Road in those two months.

Han:

How was it solved?

Neighbourhood Office:

At last, the government… the municipal government said it would offer 2,000 community service jobs to the retrenched workers that they could earn a monthly income of 398 or 498 yuan. I don’t know the exact terms, but it is something like to give you some money so that you can survive. The workers protested because they had no way to survive, and the government wanted to use that programme to end the protest. Since July, there have been protests of this kind continuously.

This official tended to agree with the workers.

Neighbourhood Office:

Of course, workers have their reasons. For example, the workers of No. 7 Factory [Tianwang Enterprise], regardless of their years of service in the factory, are treated the same [after the restructuring]. Contracts vary from one to three years and their previous years of work are not counted. Therefore, all workers are reemployed as new workers and of course the wages are lower than before. For the first four months, the wage is just about 300 yuan [monthly] and the welfare is much worse than before.

Han:

Do workers still have pension and medical insurance?

Neighbourhood Office:

No, no more. [CRHCL] doesn’t care about that; it even ignores your seniority.

Han:

You mean the pension premium after the reemployment…

Neighbourhood Office:

[CRHCL] won’t take care of it and you gotta know that workers do care about that [pension] the most.

Using his mobile phone, an official from the judicial station at Renmin Road described the protest to CLB:

Judicial Station:

Hello! Hello!

Han:

Can you hear me?

Judicial Station:

Hello! Hold on! I am going to the other side. I am in front of the [Tianwang] enterprise and it is full of people, I have to walk a bit further.

Han:

Are you in front of the Tianwang Enterprise?

Judicial Station:

I can’t hear you, so many people here, I can’t hear. I have to walk further.

Han:

Okay!

Judicial Station:

Hello! Speaking.

Han:

Can you hear me now?

Judicial Station:

Hello!

Han:

Hello!

Judicial Station:

Yes!

Han:

I would like to know more about the strike there [Tianwang]. Are you on the spot?

Judicial Station:

Right, the situation is like this: people are still here, sitting on the roadside and no vehicle could pass through. Only pedestrians and bicycles can go through.

Han:

Have the police taken any action?

Judicial Station:

What could the police do under this condition? There are several thousand people. What can the police do?

Han:

How many people are there?

Judicial Station:

Several thousand.

Han:

Are they from the same factory?

Judicial Station:

Yeah. There are 6,000 to 7,000 workers in that factory.

Han:

Do the workers have their representatives?

Judicial Station:

Maybe, but I don’t know who they are.

Han:

Have the workers hoisted any banners or slogans?

Judicial Station:

Yes.

Han:

What did they write?

Judicial Station:

Some wrote “We want to survive”, some “Protect workers’ rights” and some “Give us back the funds we worked hard for”, similar stuff like those. Some notices on rules, such as no blockage of traffic, no littering, but it seems to be impossible as there are so many people. People won’t be aware of that even you write this kind of stuff.

Han:

Whose title are these notifications under?

Judicial Station:

My eyes are not so good and I couldn’t see things far away. I could only read those bigger characters and I can’t read those small characters on the posters. Too many people stationed by the factory entrance and I couldn’t get closer.

Han:

Is there any workers’ organization to prepare these posters?

Judicial Station:

Of course there is one, otherwise who wrote those [notifications].