The owner of a privatized mine in an impoverished rural county in Hunan has allegedly paid the county government two million yuan so that police could prevent striking miners from petitioning the provincial government in Changsha.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on 9 October that eight workers' leaders at the Qingxin (Bright and New) Mine in Jiangshui county had been detained at the onset of the strike, and while two had subsequently been released, several dozen workers who planned to travel to Changsha to press their case were placed under house arrest.
Local villagers and mine workers said that when the strike broke out, the mine owner paid the county government to blockade the mine and nearby town to prevent the petitioners from reaching the provincial capital. Over a hundred police officers surrounded the county bus station and train station, as well as the mine. And miners said the massive police presence could force many miners to return to work for fear of arrest.
According to workers interviewed by RFA, the origins of the strike lay in the mine owner's alleged misappropriation of 2.6 million yuan from company coffers after the former state-owned mine was restructured in 2000 into share holding company in which each employee was granted shares worth 5,000 yuan.
CLB's 2006 Chinese language report on coal mine safety identifies the collusion between mine owners and local government officials, that flourished after the widespread privatization of small- and medium scale mines in the 1990s, as the key factor behind not only the appalling safety record of China's mines but the routine abuse of miners rights.
The case of the Qingxin mine is merely an extreme example of the vast financial resources available to mine owners and the lengths they are willing to go to protect their interests.