Hundreds of Women Workers Petition for Jobs in Daqing, Heilongjiang

(Broadcast on September 27, 2001)

For three consecutive days, from the 25th to the 27th September 2001, hundreds of women workers from the Daqing City Blanket Factory organised a collective petition to the city government. Their central demand was that the government assist them in a return to work for all 3,000 blanket factory workers who were sacked last year. A listener to CLB’s radio programme told us:

Listener:

Workers from Daqing’s No. 1 and No. 2 Blanket factories took part in a collective sit-down protest, demanding a return to work and [lawful implementation – Ed.] of redundancy procedures. The government is refusing their demands.

However, the government’s general office referred to the incident as a rumour. During my inquiries, a government official told me that he had not seen a large group of workers petitioning while he was on duty.

General Office:

No, no, that’s just a rumour!

Han Dongfang (Han):

Well what exactly is the situation at the blanket factories?

General Office:

Well I don’t want to say anything out of line and in any case, I didn’t see anything while I was on duty. There is nothing going on right now either. Petitions are dealt with by the City Complaints Office, they’re the ones who know how to deal with this kind of thing. It’s in their court.

I again dialed the Daqing city mayor’s hotline inquiry number: 12345. However, the only reply I got all day was the following recorded message:

Recorded message:

Hello. This is the mayor’s hotline. Please wait. (beep…beep…beep…beepbeepbeepbeep)

Afterwards, an official from the complaints department confirmed that workers from the blanket factories had indeed been collectively petitioning the government over the last few days.

Official:

Yes, I heard that they were petitioners from the blanket factories.

Han:

Were there a lot of people involved?

Official:

Well that’s er… [I am] not directly involved in meeting the petitioners… I didn’t ask anyone the details. We only heard that there was a petition going on but I couldn’t tell you exactly how many people there were. We work in the office and don’t actually meet the public, so I didn’t ask.

According to another cadre from the complaints office, the government has already dealt with the redundancy procedures for all 3,000 blanket factory workers last year. However, they are not happy with the deal and want to renegotiate.

Cadre:

These people’s contracts were terminated last year. They are not employed [by the blanket factories] any more. Due compensation was paid and that was it – end of story. Now these people want their jobs back and a new deal. Seems to me it’s already dealt with, how can the case be re-opened? Strictly speaking, they are not blanket factory workers any more. They have taken a long leave [xiagang i.e. made redundant but still kept on company’s book – Ed.] and the production equipment has been handed over to the bank. The government has looked into this again and again. The fact of the matter is, their contracts were terminated in line with the regulations.

Han:

When?

Cadre:

Last year, round about October.

Han:

Did they all agree to the redundancy arrangements at that time?

Cadre:

Yes. They signed on the dotted line and took the cash.

Han:

What was the basis for the compensation arrangements?

Cadre:

Years of service, in accordance with the rules.

Han:

Then why are they asking for their jobs back and a renegotiation?

Cadre:

They are demanding a renegotiaion “according to reason”. But it’s already been dealt with according to reason. They are no longer employees of the enterprise.

Han:

Altogether, how many people are involved in this case?

Cadre:

A lot of people – as many as 3,000!

Han:

And how many are asking for their jobs back?

Cadre:

Around 100.

A worker at the scene of the protest told me that the women agreed to redundancy arrangements because, at that time, the government was saying the company was bankrupt. They feel that now it has reopened, original blanket factory workers should get priority in hiring. He summed up the current economic situation and state of mind of the workers:

Worker:

I only get Rmb 100 a month [in welfare support]. I can’t afford to pay my child’s school fees. There was an incident when a particularly hard up woman worker had been paying her kid’s school fees but the school authorities were being really mean and not giving her the subsidy she was entitled to as a parent in economic difficulties. So this last time, she went to complain to the education authorities. The education department rang the school who immediately offered her a fee remission of Rmb 50. Now we are laid-off, what are those of us who are well in to our 30s and 40s going to do? Just at the time when we were at our best and able to work well, they lay us off. Now they are employing casual workers who get even less, and we are left with nothing but a hundred bucks a month. No welfare at all. What can we do with a hundred bucks a month? School fees are so high; we can’t even pay that.

I then phoned the trade union. Their line was that it didn’t make any difference whether the workers sought help from the union or not, they couldn’t do anything to help anyway.

Trade Union:

I am not too sure what’s going on with this collective petition. They haven’t been here.

Han:

Generally speaking, do people organising this kind of petition first notify the union?

Trade Union:

I don’t know. Yes, they do come individually with some questions. It would be no good coming to us with the kind of demands this petition wants.

Han:

Why would it be no use going to the union?

Trade Union:

With factories like these, the problem is that they are in severe economic difficulties. There is nothing we can do about it.

Han:

So in a factory like this one, where the economic problems are having a direct effect on workers’ rights and welfare, would the workers consider going to the union a first step – then our union could get involved to help?

Trade Union:

Hmm. I haven’t been involved in anything [like that] for a long time. Before there was that kind of thing, but not now. Seems like there are definite problems when a factory goes through reforms and you get a situation like this one [at the blanket factories], some people are going to lose out and it’s difficult to say anything about it.

Finally, the worker at the protest scene said that government should live up to its responsibilities.

Worker:

The city government should help sort this out for all of us. Or let us go back to work again, or otherwise sorts out a redundancy package based on year’s service and compensate accordingly for contract termination. The pay-off should be based on years of service.