(Broadcast on 10 March, 2002)
Retrenched workers from the Daqing Oilfield have been staging daily demonstrations on Tieren (Iron Man) Square, in front of the Daqing Petroleum Administration Bureau (DPAB) since 1 March, 2002, to protest against deceit in the retrenchment agreement. Today is the 10th day of the action. Last Monday and Tuesday the number of participants reached over 50,000. An official of the DPAB talks about the workers action today.
Official:
Today, as soon as we arrived at the office, they also arrived. As soon as we left for home, they left.
Han Dongfang (Han):
About how many people were there?
Official:
Quite a lot. Today there were a lot of people.
Han:
More than last Monday? Last Monday there were over 50,000 people, though.
Official:
Its about the same. They are still there. They only leave after we leave for home. Inside and outside of the building, they are everywhere. Even the lift got blocked; we can only go up to the first floor. It just doesnt go any further. The lift is jammed, the corridors are blocked; everything is jammed.
Han:
Everything is jammed? Where do these people take up their activities now?
Official:
They are everywhere. In the courtyard, outside the courtyard, on the square, on Tieren Square.
Han:
Did they all come yesterday and the day before yesterday, on Saturday and Sunday?
Official:
They dont come when we dont come to the office. They said, We have plenty of time, its just like coming to work here. Thats what they said.
Han:
Did the government take any measures like clearing up the site?
Official:
No. But it is okay even like this now; there is no violence.
Han:
Last week we heard that they wanted to return to work.
Official:
Yes.
Han:
Do they still want that?
Official:
Yes, it seems they want that too.
Han:
We heard last week that the retrenched workers set up a provisional labour union. How is it now?
Official:
No, I havent heard that.
Han:
Dont they have representatives?
Official:
We ask them; they dont dare to send any.
Han:
Why wouldnt they dare?
Official:
I dont know what they think. In any case, nobody is willing.
Han:
Didnt the union [ACFTU] help?
Official:
They didnt go to the union [ACFTU] with this problem; nobody went to the union.
She went on describing what she saw on the scene of the demonstrations.
Official:
We havent opened the canteen for a week already. Either you go to eat somewhere, or just like them, you go hungry all day until you go home. Those among them who have the means go to eat in small restaurants; those who dont have the means just go hungry from morning to night. Now its actually a bit better. At first they ate and pinched things in the workers canteen, even with the police there. They were instructed not to arrest, so they didnt arrest anyone. In any case, the police was there.
An official at Daqing City Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) said that the city already organised an emergency unit to deal with the situation.
FTU Official:
The different levels of government organised an emergency unit; the situation is under control. Earlier, they stopped a train for 40 minutes, went into the canteen, and trashed everything into a mess. They didnt do much else. Now we go to see everyone one by one, talk to the street committee, sit around, try to see what demands they have. Then we try to persuade them going through the proper organisational channels and not to go to demonstrate.
He added that the workers had some reasons to take action.
FTU Official:
The workers did have some reasons to demonstrate. In the past, they worked so hard, they sacrificed so much, now this is what theyve got. How can they not feel bitter? There are three retrenched workers just among my relatives.
Han:
Did they take part in these demonstrations?
FTU Official:
These people in my family are very modest, they are all women, they didnt go. My wife is looking after the kid at home. Her temperament is quite even and she didnt want to worry about this problem. She didnt go either.
Han:
Was your wife also laid off?
FTU Official:
Yes. Her team leader said to her, dont go, just wait for the news at home, we will go.
However, the Petroleum Administration Bureau official had a different view on how the workers agreed to retrenchment.
PAB Official:
At the time, there were some who saw that big sum of money and were tempted. You have to think about it, if you take the money and it is not enough to cover your expenses, it is better not to take it. They took it then, and now they come back and say, it is not enough, you have cheated us. What attitude is that? At the time, no one forced them to sign; it was voluntary.
Regarding this, the FTU official had a different opinion.
FTU Official:
If you refused to accept the retrenchment agreement with compensation then the administration bureau worked on you. [They would say] If you dont agree, you will be laid off. You had to take it in a hurry. They didnt actually explain clearly what advantages and disadvantages there were in the agreement, they just gave you two pieces of paper to take a look. If you want to take this, fine. If you dont, you are out. When you're laid off we'll do nothing about it. This is obviously misleading. The information they gave to the workers was not complete at all. Just like catching the birds in the northeast: they put some seeds on the ground, and then raise the net. Once you get in, the net is pulled and you are trapped inside, Who cares if you can get out or not.
From the point of view of competition, after joining the WTO, the oil industry does have a problem. The price of labour is too high here. The imported refined oil costs the same as our crude oil. So, in a sense it is right that they want to downsize to increase efficiency. But it is just too ruthless the way they do it. It is like they dont care if you live or die. It is quite ruthless.
Apart from feeling cheated, there are other factors why retrenched workers want to return to work, according to this FTU official.
FTU Official:
The workers in Daqing are quite honest. The wage level has been rising in the past few years. Before that, nobody lived very well. But now there's a sudden drop, so people are upset. They all have twenty to thirty years of working years behind them. And they are sent home with just several tens of thousand yuan. All the leaders at the PAB get anything up to 100,000 yuan a go when they get their year-end bonuses. [Workers say,] "This bloke, his one-years salary equals to twenty years salary [of a worker]." Can the people find that fair and feel happy about it? I am not exaggerating; this is all true. The departmental grade cadres get over 100,000 yuan; section heads get fifty to sixty thousand, ordinary rank-and-file cadres get ten or twenty thousand. An ordinary worker gets four or five thousand. Then they order the retrenched workers to pay over 10,000 yuan for things like medical insurance. It was only a few thousand yuan before. Once he paid it, the little money he received [at the retrenchment] is almost gone. So, whats he supposed to do? This is when he is healthy; once he gets sick and has to be hospitalised, all of his money will be gone. The economy in Daqing is not bad; there is no need to be this ruthless.
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