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Workers' worries too often taken lightly
By Cao Xiaofan |
August 7, 2009, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A steel company executive's death last month from a beating during a riot at state-owned Tonghua Iron & Steel Co Ltd in China's northeastern Jilin Province resulted from workers' fears and anxieties.
The workers were facing wage cuts and layoffs as a result of a takeover in which Beijing-based Jianlong Heavy Machinery Group would buy a majority stake in Tonghua.
Tonghua's general manager, Chen Guojun, installed by Jianlong, was beaten to death during a 1,000-strong workers' protest on July 24.
Jianlong, one of the China's largest private steel makers, has made attempts to invest in Tonghua since 2005, but suspended a buy-out deal early this year because of financial losses in the global recession. It resumed the takeover bid in July, triggering dissatisfaction among Tonghua's workers as downsizing and salary-reduction rumors swirled.
Domestic media reported the average workers' monthly salary had been slashed to a top limit of 1,000 yuan (US$146) since 2005 while Chen earned about 3 million yuan a year. The underlying reason for the protest and death was the insecurity of the mill workers, who not only faced a transformation of identity in working for private enterprise, but were also deprived of their right to information about the reconstruction, said economist Liang Xiaomin, a professor at Tsinghua University.
Workers in state-owned enterprises usually reject overtures from private companies, which are regarded as pursuing, "overwhelmingly," business interests but neglecting social responsibilities, said Liu Qingbo, a professor at Jilin Business and Technology College.
China's government has stressed the importance of safeguarding employees' interests and rights since nationwide reforms in state-owned enterprises began during the 1990s. It specified a range of compensation measures for laid-off workers in a document regulating SOE reconstruction in 2006.
But the prescription was often put aside by groups with vested interests. "In practice, the interests of employees are taken lightly," Liang said.
(The author is a writer at Xinhua news agency.)
The workers were facing wage cuts and layoffs as a result of a takeover in which Beijing-based Jianlong Heavy Machinery Group would buy a majority stake in Tonghua.
Tonghua's general manager, Chen Guojun, installed by Jianlong, was beaten to death during a 1,000-strong workers' protest on July 24.
Jianlong, one of the China's largest private steel makers, has made attempts to invest in Tonghua since 2005, but suspended a buy-out deal early this year because of financial losses in the global recession. It resumed the takeover bid in July, triggering dissatisfaction among Tonghua's workers as downsizing and salary-reduction rumors swirled.
Domestic media reported the average workers' monthly salary had been slashed to a top limit of 1,000 yuan (US$146) since 2005 while Chen earned about 3 million yuan a year. The underlying reason for the protest and death was the insecurity of the mill workers, who not only faced a transformation of identity in working for private enterprise, but were also deprived of their right to information about the reconstruction, said economist Liang Xiaomin, a professor at Tsinghua University.
Workers in state-owned enterprises usually reject overtures from private companies, which are regarded as pursuing, "overwhelmingly," business interests but neglecting social responsibilities, said Liu Qingbo, a professor at Jilin Business and Technology College.
China's government has stressed the importance of safeguarding employees' interests and rights since nationwide reforms in state-owned enterprises began during the 1990s. It specified a range of compensation measures for laid-off workers in a document regulating SOE reconstruction in 2006.
But the prescription was often put aside by groups with vested interests. "In practice, the interests of employees are taken lightly," Liang said.
(The author is a writer at Xinhua news agency.)
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