Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2002 09:05:44 -0500
From: Louis Proyect <lnp3-AT-panix.com>
Subject: AUT: Real workers resisting real capitalism


http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_1870000/1870936.stm

Wednesday, 13 March, 2002, 15:26 GMT Chinese oil workers in massive protest

State-run industry reforms have led to protests

Tens of thousands of sacked workers have surrounded the main office at
China's largest oilfield in protest against cuts in their lay-off benefits.
Up to 50,000 protesters are reported to have gathered every day at the
Daqing oil field in north-eastern Heilongjiang province for nearly two weeks.

The workers have real grievances, and they seem to be committed to
continuing the protests Han Dongfang, Chinese labour activist  Han
Dongfang, a Chinese labour activist based in Hong Kong, said that the
authorities had readied paramilitary police and a military tank unit, but
that there had been no confrontations.

The BBC Beijing correspondent says this is one of the biggest labour
protests in China in recent years. An oil company official said the
protests were the result of a misunderstanding and "should be resolved
soon". A local official confirmed that the demonstrations had been going
on, but said the police were not interfering.

Reports said the workers were protesting against cuts in severance pay and
heating subsidies promised them when they were sacked three years ago, and
an increase in unemployment insurance premiums.

"The workers have real grievances, and they seem to be committed to
continuing the protests until those grievances are addressed," said Mr
Dongfang.

Dongfang said the army had been readied. Mr Dongfang's organisation, the
Chinese Labor Bulletin, says the workers have set up their own independent
union. This is illegal in China, where workers can only seek redress
through official unions controlled by the Communist Party.

Daqing oil field is China's biggest, and opened in the 1950s. It was
long-promoted as a symbol of China's revolutionary industrialisation,
employing some 300,000 workers at its height. But the Daqing fields are now
well past their peak, revenues are falling and thousands of workers have
been sacked in recent years. [In other words, China can no longer afford
socialism.] Our correspondent says labour unrest is growing across China as
economic reforms force decrepit state run industries to lay off millions of
workers.

Louis Proyect
Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org




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