This is a report I can vouch for, except the demands were more than being
paid. It involved a case (of which there are at least 30 similar ones in
Zhenzhou city alone) in which the workers' company was merged with a
'phantom enterprise' that fulfilled none of the terms of the merger,
including investing in and reviving production, restoring lost work
positions, payment of back insurance and health debts, and enterprise
autonomy. The company they merged it, it turned out, was actually one
that was slapped together by Party cadres, the factory director, and small
commercial businessmen (involved in wholesale/retail schemes).
The first thing the company did after merging was to start selling off
machinery and not reinvesting $$ from that in production, effectively
killing off productive possibilities. They rented out part of the factory
to a capitalist who enforced a dictatorship of production for the small
portion of the factory's workers who were reemployed. None of the rent
made from that arrangement went back into production either, as was
originally promised.
The workers, through their worker elected Workers' Representative
Congress, voted and demanded nullification of their merger arrangement and
the return of factory property to the workers. They really only started
their organization efforts when the company made it clear they intended to
sell the factory land and use the $$ to speculate in the land. All the
arrangements were illegal and this was plain as day to anyone who was
familiar with the case. What offended workers the most was that government
officials showed no interest in the case and sided with the illegal
merger, even after all terms were thoroughly violated.
I'll leave it at that for now..
Steve
Friday March 16, 2:24 PM
Labor organizer in China jailed for fighting for workers' rights
BEIJING, March 16 (AFP) -
A labor organizer in central China has been detained for demanding his
fellow workers at a paper factory be paid, a New York-based human rights
group said Friday.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Li Jiaqing was arrested on August 7 last year
as a suspected ringleader of a protest in which more than 100 workers
occupied a paper mill for two months to protest at a merger.
The mill where Li worked was a state-owned factory which halted production
in 1995. It was idle for two years until it merged with a local enterprise,
HRW said in a statement sent to Beijing.
The enterprise had promised to pay the mill workers' basic living expenses,
but instead siphoned off the assets of the old paper factory, according to
workers.
Li helped set up a workers' congress which democratically elected a slate
of leaders, including Li, who then issued a proclamation seeking to nullify
the merger.
In January last year, the workers submitted a petition to the city
government and bureau of light industry demanding safeguards for their
factories' assets.
When the petition met with no response, the workers began occupying the
factory in June.
On August 7, police arrested Li and the next day some 500 police forced
their way into the factory and detained 20 workers.
All were released after a day's questioning except for Li and another man
who was charged with obstructing traffic and imprisoned for four months.
Li was tried on a charge of "gathering a crowd to disrupt social order" on
February 13, as around 200 workers protested outside the courthouse
demanding his release.
The trial was adjourned and Li remains in a detention center awaiting the
verdict. If convicted, he could be sentenced to between three and seven
years in prison.
The government prosecuted Li partly on the basis that he tried to organize
a workers' congress at the paper mill in 1999, despite that being allowed
under the law, HRW said.
Chinese law prohibits free trade unions, but does allow, on paper, "staff
and workers representative congresses" at state-run enterprises.
The case demonstrates China's continued restrictions on basic worker
rights, HRW said.
"China says it respects economic rights, but the vulnerability of its
workers is actually increasing, particularly in state-run enterprises,"
said Jan van der Made, HRW's researcher in Hong Kong.
"They're caught in a squeeze, facing massive plant closures and lay-offs.
Workers lack the basic means to protest, such as the right to organize and
collectively express their grievances."
China last month ratified the UN Convention on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, but excluded a provision in the convention which allowed
for the setting up and joining of independent trade unions.
