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Workers Strike Against Xiangyang Car Bearing Company in Xiangyang, Hubei

20:35 Nov 18 2003 Xiāngyáng qū, Xiangcheng District, Xiangyang City, Hubei, China

Description
From CLB:

On 18 and 19 November 2003, about 10,000 workers from the Xiangyang Automobile Bearing Company Ltd, Xiangfan City, blocked roads and railway lines across the city in a large-scale protest action aimed at pressuring the government to guarantee the lawful rights and interests of workers during the privatization of the former state-owned company, a process that will entail job losses for many of them. The two-day protest action paralyzed traffic throughout the city and led to a violent confrontation between the workers and the police. Several injuries were reported on both sides. In addition, the main railway line out of Xiangfan remained blocked for two whole days. On 20 November, the Hubei provincial governor and vice-governor went in person to the company to negotiate with the striking workers, but no satisfactory agreement was reached. Although the workers suspended their street demonstrations, all production at the factory remained suspended.

On 19 November, the city government held a closed-door meeting to discuss the crisis. On the public entrance to the building was pasted a “Proclamation” from the municipal public security bureau, listing the names of nine male workers and one female worker from the auto bearing factory whom the police had identified as being “criminal suspects” for their alleged role in leading the workers’ protest. The police proclamation ordered all ten workers to report to the criminal investigation section of the local public security bureau within two days.

(Those listed were: Yi Wenfa, Xiao Lihan, Jia Jie (female), Li Qianli, Zhuang Luo, Chen Mingchang, Li Hongming, Liang Yuanlin, Wu Fasheng and Zhang Ming.) According to reliable information received by CLB, all ten workers duly reported to the police station, where they were interviewed for several hours and were then allowed to return home. No arrests have as yet been made, but the official description of the ten workers as “criminal suspects” means that the police are now free to formally detain them at any time.

The Xiangfan workers’ protest was provoked by a combination of the job retrenchment policies carried out by management during the factory’s economic restructuring, and a simultaneous move by the government to privatize local housing. The maximum job-severance compensation standard set by the government is reportedly only 914 Yuan for each year of service, a low figure even by Chinese standards. At the same time, a new housing policy has been introduced that effectively privatizes the workers’ housing quarters. The government’s aim has been to sell to the worker’s families their current homes (which average around 50 square metres in size) for a ‘market price’ of 688 Yuan per square metre.

In effect, this would mean that a couple who had worked at the Xiangyang Automobile Bearing Company for 20 years would receive a combined compensation sum of around 30,000 Yuan after their retrenchment from the factory, but the same couple would then need to pay out around 35,000 Yuan in order to remain in their home. Many of the workers regarded this as a thinly disguised ruse by the government and remained sceptical of the benefits of buying their homes, most of which are 20 to 30 years old and had been built by the workers themselves.

In addition, workers told CLB that the factory currently owes them as much as 3-4 years’ worth of unpaid wages, social security benefits and housing subsidies, and they are deeply concerned that when their jobs are axed as part of the factory’s privatization, their legal entitlement to all these funds will simply disappear in the process. While several workers said that they supported China’s economic reforms and the restructuring of state owned enterprises, one worker told CLB: “We are fighting for our survival”.

From Boxun:

"中国人权民运信息中心"说,湖北省襄樊市7000余名工人11月18日、19日上街示威,抗议不合理的"工龄买断"、由此引发的工人失业以及单位负责人贪污等现象。

报道说,参加示威的是襄阳汽车轴承有限公司的工人。示威工人将襄樊市两座公路大桥堵死,导致全市交通瘫痪,铁路交通也一度中断。

报道说,示威的原因是该公司在私有化过程中,决定买断工人工龄,但此举不仅将导致3000名工人失业,而且买断费补偿过低,非常不合理。

同时,该公司还有3名负责人涉嫌集体贪污,正在接受审查。

人权民运信息中心还说,当局派遣了500多名公安驱散示威工人,双方发生冲突。过程中,10名工人受伤。目前仍有五名工人被拘留、五人受到当局通缉。

今年早些时候,襄樊还曾传出一起大规模的贪污腐败案。以原市委书记孙楚寅为代表的74名领导干部涉嫌集体腐败,其中包括该市有关单位、一些县市的"一把手"共达三十余人。
Credibility: UP DOWN 0

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