Description

From China Labour Bulletin:

Two major strikes over the last two weeks have shown that some local governments and managements have still not learnt important lessons from the privatization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) at the turn of the century.

The protests at the state-owned Golden Emperor Group textile plant in Chongqing’s Fuling district on 13 and 14 April, and the former state-owned Yimian textile factory in Baoding, Hebei, in the first week of April erupted for precisely the same reasons as in the majority of SOE privatization disputes a decade ago: wages arrears, inadequate compensation for lay offs and the misappropriation of assets by management.

In Chongqing, nearly all the factory’s 5,000 workers went on strike, with more than 2,000 holding a mass protest at the factory gate, and more than 300 workers staging a road blockade that resulted in extensive tailbacks, after the enterprise announced its bankruptcy and reorganization plans. The workers, who had not been paid for three months, were protesting at wage arrears and a redundancy offer of just 630 yuan for each year of service at the enterprise - less than the monthly minimum wage in Chongqing municipality.

In Baoding, several thousand workers staged a three day strike and mass demonstration at the factory gate, and then attempted to march up the highway to Beijing before the vice mayor of Baoding stepped in to mediate. The workers were complaining at the non-payment of economic compensation and pension benefits promised when the enterprise was privatized and sold to a Hong Kong-based company in 2004. The workers further claimed that nearly 500 million yuan worth of assets mysteriously disappeared at then end of 2008 and remain unaccounted for.

During the shock therapy-style privatization of SOEs in the late 1990s and early 2000s, over 30 million workers were laid off, often with wholly inadequate compensation, and managers were given free rein to plunder state assets. As CLB has shown in its research report No Way Out: Worker Activism in China’s State-Owned Enterprise Reform, the lack of government regulation and transparency in the process, coupled with the wholesale disregard of workers’ interests meant that disputes arising from SOE privatization, bankruptcy and closure often dragged on for many years, and many disputes remain unresolved today.

Yet even now, SOE managers are still trying to take a short cut to economic reform without regard to the rights and interests of their employees, many of whom have worked at the enterprise for decades. SOE workers laid off a decade ago did not simply lie down and accept their fate without a fight, and clearly those laid off today will not either.

From Boxun:

重庆消息：自4月13日开始爆发的重庆涪陵金帝集团罢工规模日趋扩大，据当地职工告诉记者，至今日，该企业将近有五千人全部参与了大罢工，工厂已经全部停工，工人中有相当一部份在堵路，事态正在越来越扩大化。

据此前的报道，该企业原来是军工企业，后改为纺织企业，上周五涪陵区政府开会，出台了改制政策，对国有企业进行改革，以每年630元为买断的标准，工人认为这个标准低，纷纷表示不满，因为得不到满意的答复，于4月13日开始举行全厂大罢工。

一位姓刘的女职工告诉记者说：“今天还在罢工，情况很复杂，工人没有上班，全部在马路上站着。”

另据官方的新华社13日报导，重庆涪陵金帝集团部分职工因工资问题，约三百余人用金属挡板将涪陵城区的涪清路堵塞，由于这是一条主干道，两头的汽车排起了上百米的长龙。堵路的工人说，他们都是涪陵金帝集团的职工，因为有三个月没有拿到工资，生活没着落，孩子要上学，所以只有堵路引起政府的重视。当地警察在现场戒备，双方未发生冲突。

但是一位姓张的男职工说：“有三、四千工人都几个月没有领到工资了，企业一拖再拖，几个月没有发工资谁受得了，大家都靠工资吃饭，区政府也没有明确表态，所以大家就出来堵路，所有车都必需经过这条路，堵的很长。”

14日晚上，又有近2千工人聚集在工厂门口抗议。 现场一位工人反映，涪陵区出台的补偿标准太低了，重庆市出台的2000年75号改革文件，涪陵区又出台了一个地方政策，两者有很大的差异。

据悉，涪陵金帝工业集团始建于1982年，于1994年改制建立，属国有大型纺织工业企业，重庆市农业产业化龙头企业。企业占地60万平方米，原有员工6000余。由于安置补偿标准不当，已经屡屡引发职工罢工事件，不过这次的事件时间更长，规模更大。

From RFA via Boxun:

重庆涪陵国营企业金帝集团工潮星期三进入第三天，工人仍未与区政府达成协议，近四千多工人在厂门口拉起“我要吃饭”等横幅。当天早晨，公安试图扣押多名工人，被罢工人士抢回。工人表示，现场不时发生小规模冲突。自由亚洲电台特约记者乔龙的采访报道

本月宣布破产重组的涪陵金帝集团因工人不满补偿，举行罢工已进入第三天，部分工人通宵静坐抗议，要求厂方按照2008年新的劳动合同法，执行补偿。据一位工人星期三告诉本台，罢工者在厂门口一度与在场公安发生冲突：“早上，警察和工人发生冲突了，现在有三、四千人，现在和区政府谈判。这里执行任务的警察大约有两、三百人，全部没有警号，他们违法”。

记者：几个工人被抓？

工人：抓了几个工人，被其他工人救出来了。

该工人表示，现场公安没有佩戴警号，显然是怕被他们记下，而导致冲突的原因则是公安试图扣押多名被认为是“领头”的工人。由于双方人数悬殊，因此公安未能得手。

当晚，另一位工人表示，现场公安不止两、三百人：“今天反正有很多警察都去了”。

记者：有两、三百吧。

工人：不止哦，具体多少，我不清楚。

罢工者说，由于全厂近五千工人日前突然获悉要失业，个个人心惶惶，决定向政府施压：“密密麻麻的一大堆人，几千人，坐的、站的、吼的、闹的都有。工人们还打出横幅：“工人要吃饭，还有执政为民”。

另有部分人，继续围堵当地的涪丰路，许多车辆需要绕行。另一位罢工者表示，区政府派出官员与工人谈判：“区委书记他也没过来，好像有一个女书记过来了”。

工人要求提高每年630元的工龄补偿，以及要求企业补交拖欠的职工养老保险，但都没有结果：“政策不改没办法，现在工人挺大意见，保险，还有就是买断工龄，都（钱）太低了”。

该集团的一位部门负责人表示，工厂涉及的违法问题多不胜数，除了买断工龄的补偿未按劳动合同法，十多年来，公司没有给工人缴纳过养老保险：“养老保险也没有缴啊，也是从自己工资扣的，公司十几年都没有缴过养老保险，几千万啊，还有有关系的都有房子，没关系的什么都没有”。

本台当天致电金帝集团办公室，但电话无人接听，而区政府办公室也无人接听。

工人担心，如果罢工持续，当局可能会采取强硬手段驱散，而在当天，工人之间已在流传，当局可能会从重庆市调派武警到当地。因此，他们正在考虑对策。

这是两周内，大陆所知的第二起大规模工潮，在河北省保定市的依棉集团上月29日爆发大罢工，持续五天以上。工人不满被买断工龄，本月3号，近三千工人徒步进京上访，半路上被当局拦截。