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Tragedy recalls scenes in 1892
By John Gong |
August 7, 2009, Friday
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Print Edition
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IN the breakout of violence at the Tonghua Iron & Steel Co Ltd last month, Chen Guojun, the general manager appointed by the Jianlong Group, a private firm about to acquire a 66-percent majority stake in Tonghua, was beaten to death by angry workers and retirees.
The man was essentially a scapegoat of steel workers' resentment and resistance to changes the new owner was about to introduce.
It was reported that the equity restructuring deal struck between Jianlong Group and Jilin's state-owned assets supervision and administration commission ?? then the largest stake holder in Tonghua ?? was the main source of workers' discontent. Workers were concerned that their interests would be left out in the cold. But no matter how many grievances the workers held and how much injustice the restructuring deal entailed, that mass protest could turn deadly in today's law-and-order society is tragic.
The tragedy bears striking similarities with another violent steel mill confrontation in the same month but 107 years ago. In July 1892, Homestead, Pennsylvania in the United States was also a place boiling with animosity and anger between steel mill management on the one side, and factory workers on the other.
During contract negotiations with the union, Pits Bessemer Steel Works' factory manager, Henry Frick, adopted an unconciliatory strategy backed by iron-fist measures. After the negotiations failed, he sealed off the factory premises and contracted the Pinkerton National Detective Agency to provide security at the plant, while recruiting hundreds of strikebreakers. Violence broke out. Ten people were killed and Frick ended up with two bullets in his neck in a failed assassination attempt.
In a way, Chen Guojun is the reincarnation of Henry Frick. He was merely doing his job for the boss who pays his salary ?? reportedly a very high salary, in the millions in sharp contrast to the 1,000 yuan (US$146) a month that most workers get. And Chen, noted for his strong will and brute-force determination, reportedly didn't act in a scrupulous manner such as patiently listening to and kindly talking to the angry crowd.
However, no matter how rude and unscrupulous the man might have been, he did not deserve to die. "No steel mill is worth a single drop of blood," said steel magnate and legendary philanthropist Andrew Carnegie after the Homestead tragedy.
The fundamental question to consider is how to respect the interests of all parties involved in an effort to give an old fashioned state-owned company a new life.
Company growth needs capital, and investors seek returns, which can only come from improved productivity, implying layoffs and a larger workload for workers in turn.
How to strike a reasonable balance in this inevitable cycle seems to be the central issue in many of China's industrial privatization cases.
(The author is an associate professor of economics at the Beijing-based University of International Business and Economics. His email: johngong@gmail.com)
The man was essentially a scapegoat of steel workers' resentment and resistance to changes the new owner was about to introduce.
It was reported that the equity restructuring deal struck between Jianlong Group and Jilin's state-owned assets supervision and administration commission ?? then the largest stake holder in Tonghua ?? was the main source of workers' discontent. Workers were concerned that their interests would be left out in the cold. But no matter how many grievances the workers held and how much injustice the restructuring deal entailed, that mass protest could turn deadly in today's law-and-order society is tragic.
The tragedy bears striking similarities with another violent steel mill confrontation in the same month but 107 years ago. In July 1892, Homestead, Pennsylvania in the United States was also a place boiling with animosity and anger between steel mill management on the one side, and factory workers on the other.
During contract negotiations with the union, Pits Bessemer Steel Works' factory manager, Henry Frick, adopted an unconciliatory strategy backed by iron-fist measures. After the negotiations failed, he sealed off the factory premises and contracted the Pinkerton National Detective Agency to provide security at the plant, while recruiting hundreds of strikebreakers. Violence broke out. Ten people were killed and Frick ended up with two bullets in his neck in a failed assassination attempt.
In a way, Chen Guojun is the reincarnation of Henry Frick. He was merely doing his job for the boss who pays his salary ?? reportedly a very high salary, in the millions in sharp contrast to the 1,000 yuan (US$146) a month that most workers get. And Chen, noted for his strong will and brute-force determination, reportedly didn't act in a scrupulous manner such as patiently listening to and kindly talking to the angry crowd.
However, no matter how rude and unscrupulous the man might have been, he did not deserve to die. "No steel mill is worth a single drop of blood," said steel magnate and legendary philanthropist Andrew Carnegie after the Homestead tragedy.
The fundamental question to consider is how to respect the interests of all parties involved in an effort to give an old fashioned state-owned company a new life.
Company growth needs capital, and investors seek returns, which can only come from improved productivity, implying layoffs and a larger workload for workers in turn.
How to strike a reasonable balance in this inevitable cycle seems to be the central issue in many of China's industrial privatization cases.
(The author is an associate professor of economics at the Beijing-based University of International Business and Economics. His email: johngong@gmail.com)
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