Striking Chinese Auto-Workers Block Roads, Railways

10,000 Workers in Xiangfan, Hubei Province, Protest against the Consequences of Privatization

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”.

10,000 workers from Xiangfan block roads to uphold their rights during factory privatisation
[Broadcast on 21 November 2003]

On 18 and 19 November, about 10, 000 workers from the Xiangyang Automobile Bearing Company Limited [ZXY] blocked the main roads and railway lines in the city of Xiangfan, asking that the government uphold the rights of workers’ during the privatization of their state-owned enterprise. The governor and vice governor of Hubei Province visited the workers on 20 November but no concrete progress was made in the meeting. Although the workers agreed to stop their road-blocking demonstration, factory production remains at a standstill. A Xiangfang citizen confirmed with China Labour Bulletin [CLB] details of the two-day protest.

Citizen:
Right… ZXY workers organized the road-blockage, quite a lot of them, the first and second bridges were blocked and vehicles couldn’t drive through. It seems to have been settled in the last two days.

An officer from the provincial Economic and Trade Commission [ETC] told CLB that the ETC department concerned had sent officials to handle the incident in Xiangfan.

ETC:
Oh yes, concerning the progress of the incident, you should call 87833556.

Han Dongfang [Han]:
How does ETC divide up the work?

ETC:
Yes… that incident belongs to the “to be stabilized” category.

Han:
Do you know if the case has been settled?

ETC:
The Stabilization Department [“wending”] is handling it, so we don’t intervene.

However, a member of staff at the ETC’s Stabilization Department claimed that he didn’t know anything about the case.

Stabilization Department:
I don’t really know the exact situation; my colleagues who are responsible for this case are not around.

Han:
When will they be back?

Stabilization Department:
Well, it depends if they will return [from Xiangfan city] next week.

Han:
Is the case nearly settled?

Stabilization Department:
No idea, I have told you that I don’t know anything.

Han:
Then is any other department handling this case in the Hubei Province?

Stabilization Department:
I don’t know, I have told you already. The work is done by those going there [to Xiangfan] and we don’t have any contacts.

A ZXY worker described the workers’ road-blockage on 18 and 19 November and their negotiations with the provincial governor on 20 November.

Worker:
I am a worker from ZXY, the biggest factory in China’s automobile bearing industry. ZXY is a listed company and employs more than 10,000 workers. On 18 November, more than 10,000 workers joined our demonstration and Xiangfan’s traffic was paralyzed. We continued the demonstration on 19 November meaning that railways and roads were blocked for two days. We had a conflict with the police on the railway line the first day and injuries were reported from both sides.

Han:
How did the conflict happen?

Worker:
It started with the riot police trying to remove workers from the railway line.

Han:
So it happened on the railway line?

Worker:
Yes, then on 19 November the municipal committee secretary arrived and talked to us, he offered us 915 Yuan [for each year of service in ZXY -- the previous offer was 914 Yuan]. Of course, we didn’t agree to that and continued protesting. On 20 November, the governor, vice governor, municipal committee secretary held a workers’ congress in the Grand Hall [of the city government building presumably]. They couldn’t offer us a definite answer on many issues but we guessed they might need some time to think it over. We are waiting for them [to respond], so we went back to our workplace today, although we were not working as [factory] production has stopped.

Han:
Since when did the workers stop production?

Worker:
Since 18 November. We were blocking the roads on 18 and 19 November and we refused to work on 20 and today [21 November]. You know, 10 workers are on the wanted list after we paralyzed the traffic of the whole city, but no detentions have been made, probably the authorities don’t want us to get even more aggressive.

The 10 wanted workers are: Yi Wenfa, Xiao Lihan, Jia Jie [Female], Li Qianli, Zhuang Luo, Chen Mingchang, Li Hongming, Liang Yuanlin, Wu Fasheng and Zhang Ming. At the meeting on 20 November, workers tried to make the provincial governor promise not to make any arrests.

Han:
We were in the high spirits when we met the governor on 20 November. We kept asking him to rescind the wanted list; we wanted him to promise that before we started discussing other issues.

Han:
Did he promise anything?

Worker:
No, he didn’t explicitly say [yes or no] nor answer us.

The worker talked about the workers’ demands.

Worker:
The maximum retrenchment compensation, was set at 914 Yuan [for each year of service], then a new housing policy was pushed through, to sell us our 20 to 30 year-old apartments at the market price of 688 Yuan per square metre. If you make a calculation… our old flats, let say 50 square metres, would cost 35,000 Yuan and 20 years of service would be worth less than 20,000 Yuan, right? Even for a couple both working in ZXY, they wouldn’t get much more than 30,000 Yuan. The money will flow back to the Housing Department after all. We all think it is a trap. You know the factory, the houses and the entire ZXY were built by several generations of Xiangfan workers; everything was built on our blood and toil. Our wages arrears, social security insurance, housing fund have not been covered in the last three or four years. This means that we workers paid our social security premiums and housing funds to ZXY, but the company didn’t pass them to the government departments concerned. After the retrenchment and restructuring, ZXY will be sold to Wanxiang Qianchao Company Limited, you know, the company owned by Lu Guan Qiu and the government won’t recognize our rights anymore. Although they promised to refund us those funds - how and when? As a lump sum or monthly installments? Nobody ever mentioned it [these details]. All these make a big difference to our livelihood. If they would count the funds we paid as monthly installments, we would receive a much higher sum of interest. Also, if we are retrenched, ZXY has to refund us the housing funds. Well, to my understanding, it should be both workers and the enterprise returning the resources to the society when an enterprise becomes privatized but it ends up that only workers are contributing. It has been going on like this for several years.

He concluded the workers were not against the reform, but simply wanted to save for themselves a way to properly survival.

Worker:
We don’t want to be reactionary forces against the [economic] reforms and we have nothing against the idea of privatization. We don’t lose anything but the old chains. Now we only want to ensure ourselves a decent livelihood, we fight for nothing but our survival.