Overseas migrants quadruple in 2002

The government approved 123,000 applications from Chinese workers to work overseas in 2002. The Ministry of Public Security said this was up from 26,000 approvals in 2001, an increase of 473 percent.

Factory/mining deaths

10 January: an explosion at Songshu mine, Baishan city, Jilin province killed eight miners.
13 January: three workers died in a fireworks factory blast in Bei township, Guangxi province.
15 January: six died when a firework factory exploded in Beisijiazi village, Liaoning province.
16 January: five workers were killed in a firework factory explosion in Yinzu village, Hubei province.
11 workers died and nine were injured when an illegal fireworks factory exploded in Linli county, Hunan province on 18 January.

An explosion caused the deaths of 16 miners at the Lishu Coal Mine, Jixi, Heilongjiang province in late January, within one week of two other blasts that killed eight miners.

Xinhua News reported that seven coal miners died in a gas explosion on 14 February at an illegal mine near Panzhihua city, Sichuan province. Officials had ordered the mine closed, but coal extraction continued illegally.
Officials said 35 miners died while four were ‘missing’ on 24 February during a tremendous blast at the Muchonggou coal mine in Shuicheng county, Guizhou province. On 27 September 2000 a similar explosion at the same mine killed 162 miners, suggesting that official claims to improve safety at the time are nothing more than lip service.

An explosion at the Nanchuan Chemical factory that had been ‘closed for some time’ killed five and injured 23 people. The blast occurred in the Nanhai industrial estate, Foshan, in Guangdong province on 10 March. Some of the injured were passers-by hit by shattered glass, but the identity of the dead was unclear.

An explosion that caused a cave-in at the Mengnanzhuang coalmine, Yima township, Xiaoyi city, Lüliang district, Shanxi province killed at least 72 miners on 22 March. Relatives and miners have reported that the workers attempted to evacuate the mine an hour before the explosion after smelling gas, but their request was refused by management. Like many mines in China, it was operating without a licence. China News Service announced that illegal mines in Shanxi will be forced to pay Rmb100,000 (US$12, 081) as a reward to people who report them to the police.

On 5 April a fire at the Qingdao Zhengda food-processing factory in Shandong province killed 21 workers on the night shift. The factory, owned by Thai transnational corporation Chia Tai Group, is in Jimo county, Qingdao city.
Six coalminers died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a mine near Urumqi, Xinjiang. Although the mine won ‘model unit’ awards in 1998 and 2000, officials insist it is still one of the safest – this speaks volumes for the mines that are not in this ‘model’ category.

South China Morning Post, 21/31 January, 17/26 February, 11 March, 10 April 2003, and China Labour Bulletin Web site

Sex workers need OSH protection

A survey of 1,313 sex workers arrested in Yancheng, Jiangsu province showed that 420 (32 percent) were suffering from some form of sexually transmitted disease.

Migrant school demolished for road

Yaojiayuan High School in Beijing was knocked down on 9 April. The school was used to educate the children of migrant workers who now have no provisions for schooling. 30 teachers at the school were rendered unemployed by the demolition that was part of a scheme to widen a road.

Workers trust government more than union

On 2 January 2003, around 1,000 pensioners stopped traffic for about two and a half hours on a main road in Suizhou city, Hubei province, to mark their protest at non-payment of pensions by their employer, Tieshu Textile Group.

The protestors claim that pension payment by the company was cut off due to corruption by officials at the company, which is now believed to be near bankruptcy.

In a damning indictment of China’s only legal trade union, the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), one retired woman told the China Labour Bulletin (CLB), “We have more trust in the central government than we do in the union,” adding, “… the factory’s union was not helping the workers but helping the management and the government instead.”

It is believed that the company employs 7,000 workers, but also has 2,000 to 3,000 pensioners on its books.
Since 12 March, 20 to 30 pensioners have taken shifts to picket the factory main gate, and security workers told CLB that production had stopped.

On 13 March, CLB commented to the local union president, Mr Ni, that according to Chinese law the union’s job is to represent workers.

Ni said, “No comment.” He also denied any industrial action had taken place at the factory.
A retired worker has been secretly arrested, having been identified as the writer of poems and protest banners used at the protests. He was detained at the dead of night around 20 March. Before retirement the man is reported to have been an official of the ACFTU.

In a similar story, hundreds of workers at the Jiamusi Fengda Textile Factory in Heilongjiang province demonstrated at the Jiamusi City Hall on 1 March, demanding back pay and better unemployment benefits, one week after they blocked the railway between Jiamusi and Beijing. These sacked workers, who criticised the company for poor management and corruption, are supposed to receive Rmb120 (US$14.50) per month – even when they receive the money, it is not enough to live on.

CLB bulletins, 14, 21 March 2003, and www.wsws.org, 15 March 2003

Competition breeds exploitation

An investigation into toy factory working conditions conducted by the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee (HKCIC) reveals that exploitation continues and intensifies as a result of competition by factories seeking contracts from transnational corporations looking for cheap labour in Guangdong province, south China. Guangdong province is host to 4,500 of China’s 6,000 toy producing factories.

Hong Kong’s Trade Development Council says that China produces 72 percent of the world’s toys. Much of the subcontracting is done for massive toy producers like McDonald’s, Disney, and Toys ‘R’ Us.
HKCIC’s report concludes that despite much-flaunted codes of conduct by the western-based transnational corporations (TNC) to ‘protect’ working conditions [since China’s ACFTU-affiliated unions appear incapable of doing so], competition is so intense, with consequent bids for contracts so low, that local manufacturers are unable to comply with the codes – either they make unreasonably low tenders or the TNCs go shopping elsewhere.

Factory interviews by CIC show that they were selling toys in 2001 at around 30 percent less than for comparable products in 1992.

The TNCs are also demanding shorter supply times for the orders they place, adding to pressure on the workers. Whereas 45 to 60 days was the original supply time, this figure has now been slashed to 30 days.
CIC insists that no matter what the TNCs say in defence of their operations, working conditions will not improve unless the TNCs pay a price that can finance decent working conditions.

HKCIC: Unfair Trade for Unfair Toys: Buying Practices of Toy Corporations