Description

[Note: It seems that the Rongguanduo mine is run by the Inner Mongolia Xingye Group, which is headquartered in Chifeng and appears to be a private domestic enterprise. Readers with more information should contact the administrator].

From AFP via The Age:

DOZENS of mine workers in northern China were denied pay for three months and then beaten when they protested, state media reported yesterday, in the latest case of labour rights violations.

The 63 workers travelled to the Rongguanduo iron ore mine in the Inner Mongolia region in March, attracted by job notices promising good pay and benefits, the Beijing Morning Post reported.

But the labourers, from neighbouring Jilin province, were overworked in dirty and dangerous conditions, and when they tried to leave, mine bosses refused to pay them, according to the report, which cited some of the workers.

Instead, workers were told they must pay for their food, equipment and other costs that exceeded the salaries due to them.

When workers protested, they were threatened by knife-wielding hired thugs, it said.

Several workers who left separately were later tracked down and beaten up.

The workers were treated like slaves, being watched round the clock by thugs, including at meal times and when they went to the toilet.