Violent demonstrations force government to back down on sales, mergers of steel plants
Worker activism in China is on the rise. In two separate instances this summer, protesting steel workers have forced the government to back down on privatization plans.
State-owned Linzhou Iron & Steel Co. in Henan province was sold to Fengbao Iron & Steel last month. After the sale, workers were to be paid 1,090 yuan per year (C$175.25), which many workers believed was too little.
About 3,000 workers staged a multi-day protest in mid-August and 400 of them blocked a government mediator from leaving the plant. Eventually, officials called off the sale of the plant.
Weeks earlier, at the end of July, a manager was beaten to death when thousands of workers, afraid they would lose their jobs following the sale of the Tonghua Iron & Steel mill in northeast Jilin province, held violent demonstrations.
China has been trying to force consolidation, through privatization and mergers, on its large and fragmented steel industry.
Workers, afraid of losing their jobs, have heatedly resisted the government's efforts.
China's workers are represented by the state-controlled All China Federation of Trade Unions. The trade federation has taken a more active role in trying to represent workers' rights as worker protests increase amid the economic slowdown.
After the latest demonstrations, it posted a notice on its website saying corporate restructuring plans would be deemed invalid without express approval from workers
