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Monday, March 18, 2002

The center said the thousands of laborers were protesting non-payment and that some of the workers had been without their salaries for more than 18 months. They also accused their factory leaders of bribery and corruption and were angry that their needs had gone ignored.

The human rights agency said police arrested one labor leader and were looking for about 16 others. It said protests such as this one worry the Beijing government as it fears feelings of discontent will grow amongst the country's hundreds of millions of laborers.

"The protests began on March 11 with 5,000 workers from six different factories, but now there are about 30,000 workers there from 20 different factories. Today it was very big and the police just closed the doors to the government buildings," said the agency's director Frank Lu Suqi.

News of Monday's protest follows closely behind reports of two weeks of demonstrations in the northeastern city of Daqing.

The unemployed oil workers of the Daqing oilfield began their demonstrations on March 1 when several thousand former workers gathered outside the oilfield's administrative offices to voice complaints about their pensions and severance pay.

Protests Swell

The Daqing protests swelled to about 50,000 people on one day last week. The Daqing oilfield is part of the state-run company PetroChina, one of China's largest petroleum companies. The Daqing workers have the same complaints as hundreds of millions of other laborers across China working for crumbling state-owned entities.

While the government has embraced modernization and foreign investment with economic reforms, it fears protests from those forced out of work by the closure of inefficient companies as China moves to a market economy.

Hong Kong-based labor activist Han Dongfang said at the Daqing oilfield alone more than 80,000 workers lost their jobs in recent years and that employees were increasingly upset over shabby medical insurance and small pensions.

The Daqing protests are considered by China-watchers to be the largest industrial action in years. The demonstrations in Liaoyang are thought to be a new wave of discontent as workers from different factories gathered to voice their anger, risking the wrath of the authorities. Some said they believed the demonstrating workers in Daqing inspired the Liaoyang protests.

The Information Center said the Liaoyang protests erupted after more than a year of labor disputes at several of the factories around the city. It said about 2,000 unemployed workers from one factory held a protest last October.

Lu said many of those protesting in Liaoyang were forced into action as they felt their needs were being ignored while China's parliament held its annual meeting in Beijing.

Copyright 2002 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

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