[Broadcast on 18 March, 2003]

From 12 March onwards, retired employees from the Tieshu Textile Group [TTG] have held collective demonstrations and blocked the factory entrance for a whole week. They demanded that the workers’ collective fund be returned, that the proposed cuts to the pension scheme be halted and called on the government to investigate their allegations of corruption by the TTG’s former leaders. According to a current employee of TTG up until 18 March, no production has resumed. She told CLB that current employees have played a very supportive role in the retired employees’ protest.

Employee:

Yes, I work in TTG. I should have gone to work today, but we ended up standing outside [by the entrance of the factory].

Han Dongfang [Han]:

Did you go to work today?

Employee:

No, I didn’t, really couldn’t.

Han:

Did you try to go through the entrance?

Employee:

Well, we went to have a look but we had to return home.

Han:

When did you arrive there?

Employee:

Hmm. this afternoon… at 3pm. The retired old workers, old cadres were changing shifts there, they are always there. 8 am, 2 pm [shifts]. What do they really want? They want to find out how the factory lost [RMB] 400 million - they need to see some solid evidence.

Han:

How do the current employees react to the retired employees’ protest?

Employee:

We do support them. You know the terms of our factory are really bad. We have been working there for more than 20 years and each month we are paid less than 500 bucks. Isn’t it disappointing for the current employees? The retired employees are upset too.

She then told CLB that the factory used to made direct deduction from workers’ wages as retirement pension and housing fund. The workers had no way of knowing that 3 years of their pension and [housing] money had gone missing until the news of the imminent bankruptcy of TTG.

Employee:

It is our money, like the money we invested in the [TTG’s] shares, the collective fund, and 3 years of our labour insurance… housing fund, 3 years of it was all directly deducted from our wages. But the factory didn’t pay it [for insurance, housing fund and retirement pension]; they just spent it [somewhere else].

Han:

Can’t you trace it?

Employee:

No, there is no way to trace it. That is why we are outraged, like working for them all our lives but [it turned out] it [TTG] has stopped paying for our pension… the retirement money, labour insurance for 3 years. Same with our housing fund, no payments have been made in the last 3 years.

A TTG’s retired employee complained to CLB that the whereabouts of her and her husband’s RMB 4000 share fund was unknown.

Retired employee:

We are all retired.

Han:

Which work unit were you belonging to?

Retired employee:

The cotton mill.

Han:

From the TTG?

Retired employee:

Right. When the factory was flourishing, it asked each of us to pay [for the shares]; the first installment was a thousand bucks, the second 1,200 or a thousand something. So we two paid about [RMB] 4,000 altogether.

Han:

Then what happened to your money?

Retired employee:

Hmm… they [the factory leaders] now say…they mean... they won’t pay us back as they have gone bankrupt.

According to a cadre from TTG office, the assistant mayor held a discussion with the retired employees by the factory entrance in the morning of 18 March, but the workers refused to elect any workers’ representatives. He said the government agreed to refund the workers’ collective fund first and he believed the protest had some impact.

Cadre:

It is still under discussion.

Han:

Did the factory start to discuss with the workers?

Cadre:

Right, since this morning.

Han:

Did the workers send any representatives?

Cadre:

Er… no, no representatives, just by the factory entrance.

Han:

How many workers were there?

Cadre:

Hmm… several hundreds.

Han:

Several hundreds?

Cadre:

Yeah.

Han:

Who did the factory send [as the representative] then?

Cadre:

Hmm… a municipal leader, the assistant mayor.

Han:

But if there were no workers’ representatives, how could one discuss with several hundreds?

Cadre:

[The assistant mayor] He had to listen to them.

Han:

But still, everyone has his/her own opinion, how did it work?

Cadre:

Well, [we] had to talk slowly.

Han:

Alright, so are there any results yet?

Cadre:

For now [the assistant mayor] agreed to refund the collective fund first.

Han:

To refund them [the workers] the collective fund first?

Cadre:

Indeed.

Han:

Who is going to repay them?

Cadre:

The company [TTG].

Han:

Does it have such a big sum of money?

Cadre:

He has started refunding it.

Han:

Do you think the workers would get any refund if no protest has been held?

Cadre:

He did want to refund, just not in a very fast way.

Han:

Does it mean the one-week-protest is quite effective?

Cadre:

Hmm… probably.

Han:

How about the pension cuts? Any solution?

Cadre:

That hasn’t been solved yet.

Han:

Any possibility of a solution?

Cadre:

At the moment… it is hard to tell.

Another cadre whose 2 family members are retired employees from TTG told CLB that the refund of the collective funds only covered those retired employees who were sick but couldn’t afford medical fees. To apply the refund, they would need to get a certificate proving that they were seriously ill. Moreover, the reason that workers refused to have a workers’ representative was that, according to previous experience, workers’ representatives were very often threatened by the Suizhou City Public Security Bureau [PSB].

Cadre:

The retirees’ shares… only those who are sick; who can’t afford the medical fees would get the refund [of the shares] first. It is actually using one’s own savings, isn’t it? Those who are still working, who have not yet retired, won’t get any refund; the company hasn’t that much money.

Han:

So only the retired employees with specific difficulties can receive the refund?

Cadre:

Right, exactly.

Han:

How to prove one has specific difficulties?

Cadre:

Proof of hospitalization. Anyway it’s our own money.

Han:

Has the action [protest] lessened?

Cadre:

No, not yet. The factory… [the retired employees] are still protesting, in front of the entrance. At a discussion in the morning, [the factory] wanted to have a workers’ representative to discuss with. Representative…. Who wants to be one? So there is no representative.

Han:

No representative [why not]?

Cadre:

Who dares to be the representative? Ha-ha…

Han:

How could they talk if there is no representative?

Cadre:

Well, they [the retired employees] are really scared.

Han:

What are they scared of?

Cadre:

Scared of… well it has always been like this, the representatives always have a hard time - the PSB will seize them.