[Broadcast on 22 April 2004]

On April 22, more than 500 retrenched workers from China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation’s [Sinopec Corp.] Jilin Branch in Songyuan City, gathered by the local Petroleum Administration Bureau [PAB] to protest against the corporation’s dishonest and threatening ways in retrenching them 2 years ago. The protestors also asked that the corporation carry out employment programs for their children. China Labour Bulletin [CLB] called to the Songyuan Municipal Government but the official on duty said he had no knowledge of the protest.

Official on Duty:

Right, I am the one on duty but I don’t know this [the protest].

Han Dongfang [Han]:

Didn’t the government intervene?

Official on Duty:

The government? Sure it did. Well, but… I am just on duty here and I don’t know anything about it.

A control room staff at the PAB witnessed the police blocking of the road in front of the PAB offices.

PAB Control Room Staff:

I didn’t see many people. I saw police, but not workers.

Han:

You saw police instead of workers?

PAB Control Room Staff:

Right, that is it.

Han:

How many police are there?

PAB Control Room Staff:

I don’t know, but you can ask the Complaints Office, it is the Complaints Office’s business.

A bus-driver in Songyuan told CLB that the secretary in his work unit had been sent to the PAB to do ideological work [education] with protestors.

Han:

The workers have been seeking help for the last two years, haven’t they?

Bus-driver:

Yes, they have.

Han:

It is said that today is the 2nd anniversary [of the initial protest] and the protestors gathered again [in commemoration] outside the PAB, right?

Bus-driver:

Yes, indeed. Now no vehicles could pass the PAB, the place is in a state of siege. The secretary of my work unit said he would go there to do ideological works, but I don’t have a clear picture of the case.

A Songyuan resident said she saw a lot of people gathering in front of the PAB as she passed by on a bus.

Songyuan resident:

I saw it when I was taking route number 1.

Han:

Whereabouts on route 1 could you see it [the blockade]?

Songyuan resident:

Around the PAB.

Han:

Are the protestors still there?

Songyuan resident:

I guess some remain by the gate. When the bus passed by, I saw a lot of people there.

A member of staff from the PAB said that the police had blocked the area in front of main gate before the start of office hours in the morning and the protestors had no chance to get closer to the building.

PAB Staff:

They wanted to complain to the PAB but today the police blocked the path.

Han:

The police blocked the path?

PAB Staff:

Right.

Han:

Did you see what was going on there?

PAB Staff:

Our vehicle took another route [to get to the office].

Han:

Which road was blocked?

PAB Staff:

The area near the Petroleum Building, that part of the Petroleum Building is right next to PAB.

Han:

Is it the road in front of the PAB?

PAB Staff:

Right, it was blocked, same as the PAB gate.

Han:

Were there a lot of police?

PAB Staff:

Quite a lot of them, police vehicles were stationed there as well.

Han:

The police vehicles were there too?

PAB Staff:

Right, it was blocked and nobody could get in.

Han:

How many workers were they blocking off there?

PAB Staff:

I am not sure. The workers hadn’t shown up when I passed by there this morning.

Han:

No worker was there then?

PAB Staff:

No.

Han:

You mean the police blocked the place before the workers arrived?

PAB Staff:

True.

Han:

Has the workers’ protest lasted for only a few days or has it already been some time?

PAB Staff:

It keeps going on, the protest has lasted for more than a year and it has different stages.

CLB interviewed a woman, whose husband had been cheated and threatened during the retrenchment program. Both of them were sick, jobless and would soon run out of the retrenchment compensation.

Retrenched Worker’s Wife:

I don’t have a job and my husband has been retrenched.

Han:

Your husband has been retrenched?

Retrenched Worker’s Wife:

Right. He is sick and so am I; we are just stuck at home. My husband was from the construction company [a subsidiary company of Sinopec] and before he was retrenched, the company told the workers that the company would shut down if they didn’t accept the retrenchment. If they didn’t want the company to shut down, they had to subscribe to the shares. Well….how to subscribe? Our three kids were all jobless and where could we find the money? We couldn’t afford the shares. Even if we could have afforded it, our income would be directly linked to profits - if the company didn’t make any profit, we would have no income. So retrenchment was the only option left! Our children had no jobs and the family used to be supported by my husband, he is a timid person and I am the same and now we are both sick.

Han:

But wasn’t it his choice to accept the retrenchment?

Retrenched Worker’s Wife:

Well… in a way yes. However, in those meetings and TV broadcasts, it kept saying that if they [workers] didn’t accept retrenchment, the company would shut down and such a message scared him, we did worry and therefore we put up with the retrenchment plan.

Han:

How many years had he been working there when he was retrenched?

Retrenched Worker’s Wife:

30 years and he got some 90,000 Yuan.

Han:

So about 3,000 Yuan for each year of services?

Retrenched Worker’s Wife:

Yes and about 10,000 people accepted the retrenchment plan.

Han:

Were they many cases like your husband - accepting the plan due to fear?

Retrenched Worker’s Wife:

Well, when they [the workers] get together, they all say so [that they accepted the retrenchment due to fear].

Han:

And do they regret it now?

Retrenched Worker’s Wife:

Of course.

Han:

And did the construction company shut down after all?

Retrenched Worker’s Wife:

No, we wouldn’t complain if it really would have shut down. Now it is profit-making and the employees there have their wages increased.

Han:

What do you do for your living then?

Retrenched Worker’s Wife:

No, nothing! The compensation we got from the retrenchment was used for our medical treatment, living expenses, and school fees for our children… and it is gone. Our children stay at home without jobs and we are so so worried.

Han:

How old are your children?

Retrenched Worker’s Wife:

The eldest one is 31, the second one is 30 and the youngest is 19, he will make the university entrance exam this year. They don’t have jobs and what can we do? We are all too useless.

Han:

Couldn’t they find any jobs?

Retrenched Worker’s Wife:

Well, where could they find jobs? My children are just stuck at home and I am so upset. We can’t live like this any longer.

A dependent worker [NOTE 1], who had worked as a cleaner for more than 10 years, told CLB that the corporation had been used to deduct a sum from her wages, claiming that was for labour insurance. However, after the restructuring of the corporation two years ago, she was laid off and, all their previous years of service and labour insurance payments had been cancelled out.

Dependent Worker:

I am… a dependent worker. I was a cleaner. I went to ask [the original company] but it didn’t take my case, I couldn’t have got my labour insurance premiums [or pensions] back, it is like I worked for nothing in the last 10 years.

Han:

Couldn’t you claim anything back?

Dependent Worker:

At first I worked with the trucks, carrying materials for construction, sands and cements… anyway, when I started working, I was told that I would receive labour insurance. After some years, I became a cleaner.

Han:

Were you told that you could get insured?

Dependent Worker:

Yes, I was told so in the beginning. But now, it is over and I couldn’t chase the payments back, I went to my previous workplace and it said, no, nothing. You know we used to earn less money, for examples when others got 100 Yuan, we would only receive 80, for some years, I can’t remember how long it has been. They paid us less and said it was due to the deduction of labour insurance.

Han:

Then it means you did pay for the labour insurance.

Dependent Worker:

Sure, we did, but now they just ignore the fact, I don’t have any proof either. I simply believed in whatever they told me and I didn’t have anything written down or a chop to prove it. At that time, it was like this. Now they said I was not insured and I have no way to claim it back.

An informant informed CLB that in March this year, some retrenched workers, in a desperate and stressed condition, attempted a group suicide by taking in poison and one was found dead. Some workers who attempted to complain about the case were sent to “re-education through labour”.

Notes

Note 1: Dependent workers are the family members of the State Owned Enterprises workers. When the three Northeast provinces developed heavy industries in 1950s, lots of migrant workers from middle part of China settled there, bringing along with their families. To provide their family members jobs, the head SOEs established some subsidiary industries and employed them as “dependent workers”. According to the explanation of People’s Daily on 3 March 2003, those “dependent workers” is not a type counted as fixed term workers in the SOEs, their labour premium is counted and they should be compensated in the retrenchment program, as long as they paid for the labour insurance during their years of services. Retrieved on 28 April 2004 from http://www.snweb.com/gb/people_daily/2003/03/03/p0303005.htm