Conversation with a Retrenched Oil Worker in Daqing (1)

13 April 2002

(Broadcast on 13 April, 2002)

Protests by retrenched oil workers in the city of Daqing have been continuing for over six weeks. Thousands - and on occasions, tens of thousands - of former oil workers have been gathering in Daqing’s Iron Man Square on a daily basis. In this broadcast, I ask why? At the time of the retrenchment, workers voluntarily applied for compensated redundancy, so what was the background to these agreements? How has the Daqing Petroleum Administration Bureau (DPAB) and the Daqing government reacted to protests from workers who dedicated their working lives to developing the Daqing oilfield? How have these workers been treated by the authorities? Over the next few programmes, we will use our broadcast to give the retrenched Daqing oil workers an opportunity to tell their side of the story. Please listen to the first of these broadcasts:

Teacher:

The leaders are saying, “Nobody can say we cheated them. The compensation deal was voluntary and based on a contract that workers applied for and signed. Anyone who feels they were cheated can take us to court.”

Han Dongfang:

Do you personally feel you were cheated?

Teacher:

Definitely. When the severance contract came through in December that year, they said they were offering us a formal redundancy deal. “If you don’t take it, the company will collapse and nobody is going to be able to make a living anywhere else. Nobody is going to hire you at your age and that’s the bottom line”. That’s what they told us at the time. Isn’t 200,000 retrenched workers enough proof? What more evidence is needed, for God’s sake?

Han:

Do the workers in Daqing know that according to China’s Contract Law, if any party forces the other party to sign a contract, that’s to say provides false information or engages in dishonest behaviour prior to or during the process of the agreement, the contract is null and void. You…

Teacher:

They didn’t tell us anything at the time! They just threatened us saying “If you don’t take the compensated redundancy, you’ll be laid off anyway. The enterprise will be streamlined and production efficiency inspected. Production is being gradually scaled down each year.” What they meant was if we didn’t accept the deal we would end up on welfare. A laid off worker only gets Rmb 300 per month in livelihood allowance. That’s what they told us. And what’s more this allowance only lasts for three months and then that’s it – you’re on your own. Show me a worker who doesn’t worry about that. They gave us threats and menaces – simple as that. I’m telling you that’s what they said. If it wasn’t for these redundancies there wouldn’t be so many people so angry. They threatened us with redundancies and bankrupt factories. What could a husband and wife do who were on the wrong side of forty? If they didn’t take redundancy, what else was there to live on?

Han:

I heard that at one point they were detaining people. Have you heard anything about this?

Teacher:

Yes. They have grabbed people. They are in the detention centre.

Han:

Have they all been released?

Teacher:

No. There is still a woman in there. She's on hunger strike.

Han:

She's still inside and refusing food?

Teacher:

Yes. Her surname is Ma. She hasn't eaten for a number of days and can only speak with difficulty. At one of the protests she grabbed a megaphone and said to everyone "[R]etrenched workers have no need to smash things up and loot as it would only play into the hands of bad people like the Falungong who would manipulate [the protests]. You must respect public order and not break windows and doors". I head her say all this as I have been down to the Square everyday for over a month. I reckon she is right. At about 4 o'clock in the afternoon that day, she was grabbed by three plain-clothes police. The people who saw it say she was hit and blood was coming from her mouth. Two days ago I heard that she was carrying on the struggle by refusing food. She's not a retrenched worker but her husband was made redundant from the No.4 Oil Extraction Factory. She was speaking on behalf of her husband who she said was not good at speaking in public and that 'I have stood up to speak out for him and organise this group of people.'

Han:

And she was detained?

Teacher:

On 4 or 5 of March. I remember it was a Monday or Tuesday.

Han:

Those were the two days of the largest protests?

Teacher:

Yes.

Han:

And she was detained after she had made a speech and was on her way home.

Teacher:

Yes. There's another [detained] guy called Li Yang, an old guy.

Han:

His name is Li Yang?

Teacher:

He was detained. He's about 60 years old and retired, not a retrenched worker. I think they said he worked at the radio broadcasting station. There was also a young bloke who was inside for more than 20 days. He paid them Rmb 200 and I think he got out on 4 March.

Han:

Was he beaten while in detention?

Teacher:

Yes. He said that they hit him with a floor mop until it broke into three or four pieces. He told us that they charged Rmb 50 for a packet of Daqing brand tobacco. That's what he said happened over there.

Han:

Who did he pay the fifty bucks to?

Worker:

To the Dongfeng Detention Centre. Rmb 50 for a pack of Daqing tobacco. He said there were two meals of noodles and pickled vegetables each day and he had to buy a quilt and mattress for Rmb 100. He could take them with him when he left.

Han:

He was in there for twenty odd days and but he still goes to the Square. Isn't he afraid?

Teacher:

That's right. He says he is prepared to die in the Square.

Han:

The people who were detained - were they activists who stood out more than the others?

Teacher:

Yes. There are 22 trucks of People's Armed Police (PAP) stationed outside the DPAB. One of them asked me (what I was doing there) and I said "have you guys come here to oppress us?". He said "We've come here to protect you. The DPAB is spending a lot of money to keep us here. Five bucks for each day on duty." They're billeted over at the martial arts school. Including the plain clothes police there are about 2,000 altogether. There are lots of plain clothes police. The workers are saying they are prepared to see this thing through, even if it takes till National Day on October 1. That's eight months away!

Han:

If it's not sorted out they are going to carry on until National Day?

Teacher:

Yes. People are saying, "men who don't come will lose their mother-in-law, women who don't come will lose their father-in-law". Everyone must come! These people have already made a resolute decision to stick it out until October 1. As long as it takes! There can be no surrender!

Han:

What if the government takes the gloves off?

Teacher:

You mean violent repression

Han:

Yes.

Teacher:

It's difficult to say. Yesterday my work unit telephoned me and said "[D]on't go to the Square. If you go again, then the nature of this whole thing could become very different. It will end up like Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989 [Ed. note: this is a reference to the violent suppression of the 1989 Democracy Movement by People's Liberation Army troops in which hundreds, possibly thousands of people were killed.] machine guns will be used." I told them, "I'm not afraid and I'll go everyday. I've got to die some day anyway. The loss of some is heavier than Mount Tai, of others lighter than a feather. My death [in such circumstances] will be heavier than Mount Tai and have significant impact.

Han:

Who told you they would resort to machine guns?

Teacher:

Some young bastards at my work unit. There're five of them assigned to keeping an eye on me, thinking I am some kind of key target. It's like they are making me out to be somebody from the Falungong! They wanted to make my daughter write a pledge, but my girl told them, "There's no way I can make such a pledge. If my mum doesn't go [and demonstrate] how is she going to live? My mum has worked for them for 26 years and then they cheated her. If she doesn't go to the Square, where is she going to make ends meet, to find food to eat or even a place to sleep? She has to go!" At nine o'clock this morning the leader [official] telephoned me at home and said my bonus would be cut if I didn't stay at home. He said docking my bonus was one thing but what if I was picked up and detained. Either way I suffer. I told him I wanted to be detained. At least they'd have to cook for me at the detention centre and I wouldn't have to wash the dishes either. I am willing to go to prison and I am not the only one either.

Han:

Out of the 80,000 retrenched workers, how many think like this?

Teacher:

Ninety per cent of us.

Han:

Are you really that solid?

Teacher:

What else can we do? The problem is we all live quite far apart in separate districts. Factory No. 7 is about 80 miles north of here. There is one couple from Factory 9 who have been coming every day for over a month. It costs them Rmb 10 a day in bus fares alone and there's the cost of a bowl of noodles for lunch on top of the travel. Some people bring their own lunch. There're some folks who come by bike from Ying Lang and Dong Hu district. Also some of my students from Factories 2, 3 and 5 who rang to say their work unit leaders were pulling them away from the bus stop. Some people don't come by bus. They live fairly near but still have to leave home at six in the morning to cycle down here. Those guys are 100 per cent solid behind the protests. These are all ordinary working people who are not armed and not counter revolutionaries either. They are simply seeking justice. I think it's unlikely to turn out like 1989 when they used machine guns. That'd be launching terror on the people. We are not afraid. If they kill me I can leave what little money I've got to my girl. Doesn't the country want to reduce staff and increase efficiency? If I die then isn't that one less worker on the payroll? I am not afraid of death and will greet it with shout and a smile. There is one women, she's about 50 years old. She said a few things out of place and was detained. She said: (here goes)

Zeng Yukang

Can't sleep at night

He longs for the wind

And the dust storm it brings

To lock the workers in

From avenging his sins.


[Note: Zeng Yukang is the DPAB general manager].

I don't know where she is now. I heard she has been arrested for agitating and making reactionary speeches. There was one man who said:

Oil workers know no fear

The earth brings us oil

To cast off poverty's hat

We work all hours in all conditions

And look forward with hope

To the red dawn when our work is done.

Blood, sweat and tears have built these tall buildings

We toil endlessly while you sit in luxury

The boss's house is built in a day

We long for the rainbow of old age

Though even now we work all hours

Morning to night we toil away

And the morrow may bring us destitution.

The Iron Man shouts for all to hear

A home and peace for the workers.

Han:

What happened to him?

Teacher:

I haven't seen him. The laid off workers said they are going to wait until Qing Ming Festival on 5 April. They are going to wear white flowers [Note: white is the colour of mourning and Qing Ming is a Chinese festival for remembering the dead] and demand to leave the Party. None have joined any Party activities for over a year The Party doesn't care and even if we paid Party subs, we wouldn't know who to pay them to anymore. The retrenched workers said that at the time they were told "[T]his is a good offer and will help transform the DPAB into an efficient company, open up the subsidiary companies and gradually reduce production. The DPAB is like a mother ship with too many people on board. We'll give you Rmb 4,500 as a life jacket if you agree to jump overboard. You won't go under and past experience shows that if you don't take it you'll be laid off anyway." Well, who wouldn't be worried after being told that! Mass lay offs! They said the pension premiums would remain the same as employed workers right up until the legal retirement age. We'd have been idiots not to take it. This is what they told us and it was broadcast on the TV a number of times so everyone involved, including family members would be clear. That's how it was.

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