Some of the protesting workers told China Labour Bulletin how their previous employers owe or have delayed their pension payments. A staff member of the Retired Workers Office of the First Inner Mongolia Machinery Factory told CLB on 8 November that there were about 10,000 retired workers from her factory, but she was unwilling to disclose how many of them had participated in the sit-in. Another staff member of a company near the municipal government building said on the same day that he estimated that 3000 to 4000 people had participated in the sit-in and that a large number of police had been stationed around the area.
A retired female employee of a steel factory in Baotou explained that as the government did not endorse any pension schemes, retired workers could only depend on their previous employers to pay their pensions. However, if company profits were low, their pension payments were often not paid out.
Another retired female worker from Baotou Iron & Steel Group, Co. Ltd. told CLB that they only receive 400 Yuan pension payment a month, although they are entitled to 600 Yuan. She complained that her company had failed to enroll its workers in a collective retirement scheme and the factory always delayed payment of pensions.
Around the same time, a few hundred workers from Dahua Chinaware Factory staged a demonstration in front of the city government building. A protestor told CLB that the management had decided to sell the factory without negotiating with them about their re-employment. The workers were worried about their future livelihood and were urgently seeking help from the local government. He also said that although there had been no trade union in the factory for the past few years, workers were still required to pay union membership fees. The worker said the manager had warned them during a company meeting last week that he would use every available means, both legal and illegal, to get rid of any workers who tried to interfere with the plan to sell the factory.
Many retired workers in China have become more aware and assertive of their pension rights in recent years. From 22 to 24 October, about 10,000 retired textile workers from various companies under the former Tianma Textile Group (now Macat Textile Factory) staged a sit-in protest in the eastern city of Bengbu, Anhui Province, to demand an increase in their pensions. Their action has prompted the State Council to issue an urgent notice to local authorities in Bengbu to grant the workers a 60-Yuan increase per worker per month, but most of the petitioners are still not satisfied with the offer. They are demanding a pension similar to that given to retired civil servants, which is three times more than they are currently receiving.