Jilin province: 30000 workers at Tonghua Steel on strike to protest against privatisation
Thursday, 30 July 2009.
Striking workers violently clash with the police, the chief executive is dead, dozens of police vehicles destroyed and dozens of workers arrested
Lizhi Chen, chinaworker.info
On Friday 24 July, several tens of thousands of workers and retired employees as well as their relatives at the state-owned enterprise of Tonghua Steel Group Corporation in the city of Tonghua (Tonghua Steel) staged a massive strike and demonstration to protest against the decision made by the provincial government of Jilin to sell Tonghua Steel to the privately-owned Jianlong Steel Group (Jianlong Steel) for "the second time". Striking and protesting workers clashed with the management of the company and armed policemen who came to suppress this demonstration within the factory zones of the enterprise. The chief executive of Jianlong Steel, Mr. Chen Guojun, threatened the workers that if they do not return to work, then everyone will be fired. The angry workers physically hit Mr. Chen, and around 9pm during the evening of 24 July, it was reported that Mr. Chen died as a result of severe wounds. During the clash, workers destroyed dozens of police vehicles, and dozens of them were arrested as a result. But the workers continued to occupy the factory zones until well into midnight, until the provincial government of Jilin explicitly declared through various media (including TV and radio) that "Jianlong would never participate in the restructuring of Tonghua Steel".
As a Chinese proverb states, "ice that has frozen three feet deep cannot be due to a single day's coldness". During the process of privatisation of Tonghua Steel, there have always been a high level of antagonism between the workers at Tonghua Steel and the privately-owned Jianlong Steel that attempts to control Tonghua.
Jianlong Steel belongs to the Chinese steel industry billionnaire Mr. Zhang Zhixiang, and most of the enterprises it controls are situated in the Zhengjiang, Hebei, Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces, as well as in the Beijing area. In 2007, the total amount of stock controlled by the Jianlong Group and the total revenue exceeded 50 billion RMB for the first time, and steel production level exceed 12 million metric tons. In the list of 500 top Chinese enterprises released not so long ago, Jianlong was placed in 158th place, 10 places higher than around the same time last year. At the moment, as well as the staple industry of steel production, Jianlong also incorporates some ship construction and electrical goods manufacturing industries under its banner. In 2008 Zhang Zhixiang was ranked 10th on the list of China's richest people, and it is estimated that his personal wealth exceeds 20 billion RMB. It is said that Zhang Zhixiang is a grandson of the vice-chairman of the Chinese Central Military Commission Zhang Wannian.
Jianlong Group usually purchase large or medium-sized state-owned enterprises at low prices and then expand and develop them, acquiring great amounts of wealth through the privatisation of state-owned assets. From 2005, Jianlong Group purchased 50% of the stock belonging to the largest state-owned enterprise in Jilin province - Jilin Metallurgy Group, amounting to a capital volume of more than 10 billion RMB. As of yet, this is still the largest example of "state-owned enterprise restructuring" in the entire north-eastern region of China.
Enterprises under the banner of Jilin Metallurgy Group include: the largest carbon-based chemical manufacturing enterprise in China (Jilin Carbon Compounds Group); the largest iron metallurgy enterprise in China (Jilin Iron Metallurgy Group); the second largest nickel production enterprise in China(Jilin Nickel Metallurgy Group); and the largest gold production enterprise in Jilin province (Jilin Gold Minerals Company). In addition, incorporated into Jilin Gold are a few companies that are already on the stock market. It is indeed around this time that Jianlong Group began to purchase Tonghua Steel for the first time. Tonghua Steel is the only large state-owned enterprise remaining in Jilin province, and most of its stock are owned by the state-capital assets committee of Jilin province. At the same time as a result of the restructuring program that occurred during the late 1990s, the workers at Tonghua owned a small amount of stock, involving tens of thousands of both employed and retired workers.
Under the explicit support of the Jilin provincial government, Jianlong Group purchased around 40% of Tonghua's stock in 2005 and began to engage in the full-scale management of this enterprise. After this the condition of the enterprise declined dramatically and the level of antagonism between the management layers and the workers intensified daily. Some experienced workers with more than 20 or 30 years of work experience saw their monthly salary decreasing to around 300 RMB, whereas the new management layers sent by Jianlong Group all had very high wages, the chief executive of the company mentioned earlier in this article - Mr. Chen Guojun, had an annual income exceeding 3 million RMB.
In 2008 as a result of the intensification of the antagonism between labour and capital, there occurred an incident during which workers killed a factory head. During the period from 2008 to 2009, both employed and retired workers at Tonghua Steel engaged in numerous demonstrations, leading to a march of 3000 people to report cases of corruption on 3 March 2009. This, however, was merely ignored as well as suppressed by the government and the capitalists. At the end of 2008 due to the effects of the economic crisis huge losses were experienced in the steel industry. From the autumn and winter of 2008 to the spring of 2009, Tonghua Steel ceased production, causing nearly 150,000 people living in the Erdaojiang district in the city of Jilin having insufficient home heating during the most intensely cold period at the heart of winter. This was caused by the cessation of production at the main factory zones and workers' residential areas of Tonghua Steel, which are located in Erdaojiang district, leading to a general paralyzation of the entire regional heating grid.
As Jianlong Group saw that capital-labour antagonisms have intensified and there is no profits to be gained, in March 2009 they declared that they would resign from the actual functional management of Tonghua Steel, but still kept control over stocks of high-level enterprises such as Jilin Steel and related mining industries under Tonghua. The intention is quite clear: controlling the upper levels of the production chain would in the future enable Jianlong to re-initiate their control over the entire production chain. It is said that after Jianlong declared that they would quit from Tonghua, fireworks went off in the Erdaojiang district for more than 2 hours by people holding celebrations for this event.
In order to sustain employment and house heating for its workers, Tonghua Steel continued to run even though it was losing money, many employees were struggling to make ends meet. (From the period of 2008 to April 2009, Tonghua Steel lost more than a billion RMB) Yet since March and April this year, the global steel market began to heat up again, and the prices of steel began to rise. By June 2009 Tonghua Steel began to make profits again, and the monthly profit margin exceeded 60 million RMB. At around this time, during mid-July, Tonghua Steel received an order from the state-capital assets committee of Jilin province, and was told that Jianlong Group would once again participate in Tonghua Steel, and this time the amount of stock it would control would exceed 65%. For the workers at Tonghua who have diligently struggled at their workplaces for nearly a year to reverse the losses of the enterprise, to see that just when there appeared a little bit of profit the avaricious capitalists and bureaucrats have returned to plunder them, is to really raise the level of their indignation.
On 23 July, the state-capital assets committee of Jilin province and the city government of Tonghua formally ordered Tonghua Steel to hand over the control of its stock to Jianlong Group. Angry employees and retired workers went onto the streets to protest. On the morning of 24 July, more than 3000 Tonghua employees and retired workers went around the entire city once and explicitly called for the "defense of the state-owned enterprise Tonghua Steel". The demonstrators went to numerous factory zones to mobilise other workers and virtually everyone responded to their called. Workers went on strike one after another and joined the demonstrators from Tonghua, by the afternoon of that day the number of demonstrators had already exceeded 10,000 people. At around this time, the local government sent both police and riot police, as well as around 1000 armed militias to suppress the peaceful demonstrators, and some of the armed police were called from the nearby cities of Changchun and Jilin. The management layer of Jianlong Group continued to threaten the workers and caused many incidents. They stated that if the workers do not immediately return to work, then they would all be fired. This eventually made the situation out of control. Workers violently clashed with the armed police, and fought with the managers, leading to the death of the chief executive Chen Guojun, and the arrest of dozens of workers. By 10pm that evening, more than 30,000 workers and their relatives still occupied the factory zones and refused to retreat. In order to pacify the situation, the local government sent another extra 2000 or so policemen, and through various media, including both TV and radio, they formally declared that Jianlong Group has decided to quit from Tonghua Steel, and would never again participate in its "restructuring" process. The incident is still developing as this report is being written.
Under the effects of the current global economic crisis, the Chinese government is continuing to engage in policies based on neoliberal privatisation, and letting the capitalists to have a free reign in avariciously plundering the masses. The basic political rights and economic interests of the workers are being trampled on without any consideration, and this kind of situation has finally caused the current incident. Workers through numerous incidents such as these are already very clear about the real political situation, and know that underneath the hypocritical coating of the "communist party" only goods labeled with "market is supereme" and "capital is omnipotent" are sold. Without the conscious self-organisation and struggle of the working class, and without building independent trade unions and realise the freedom to strike, there would never be the true realisation of the basic interests of the working class as a whole.
Chinaworker calls for:
Lizhi Chen, chinaworker.info
On Friday 24 July, several tens of thousands of workers and retired employees as well as their relatives at the state-owned enterprise of Tonghua Steel Group Corporation in the city of Tonghua (Tonghua Steel) staged a massive strike and demonstration to protest against the decision made by the provincial government of Jilin to sell Tonghua Steel to the privately-owned Jianlong Steel Group (Jianlong Steel) for "the second time". Striking and protesting workers clashed with the management of the company and armed policemen who came to suppress this demonstration within the factory zones of the enterprise. The chief executive of Jianlong Steel, Mr. Chen Guojun, threatened the workers that if they do not return to work, then everyone will be fired. The angry workers physically hit Mr. Chen, and around 9pm during the evening of 24 July, it was reported that Mr. Chen died as a result of severe wounds. During the clash, workers destroyed dozens of police vehicles, and dozens of them were arrested as a result. But the workers continued to occupy the factory zones until well into midnight, until the provincial government of Jilin explicitly declared through various media (including TV and radio) that "Jianlong would never participate in the restructuring of Tonghua Steel".
As a Chinese proverb states, "ice that has frozen three feet deep cannot be due to a single day's coldness". During the process of privatisation of Tonghua Steel, there have always been a high level of antagonism between the workers at Tonghua Steel and the privately-owned Jianlong Steel that attempts to control Tonghua.
Jianlong Steel belongs to the Chinese steel industry billionnaire Mr. Zhang Zhixiang, and most of the enterprises it controls are situated in the Zhengjiang, Hebei, Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces, as well as in the Beijing area. In 2007, the total amount of stock controlled by the Jianlong Group and the total revenue exceeded 50 billion RMB for the first time, and steel production level exceed 12 million metric tons. In the list of 500 top Chinese enterprises released not so long ago, Jianlong was placed in 158th place, 10 places higher than around the same time last year. At the moment, as well as the staple industry of steel production, Jianlong also incorporates some ship construction and electrical goods manufacturing industries under its banner. In 2008 Zhang Zhixiang was ranked 10th on the list of China's richest people, and it is estimated that his personal wealth exceeds 20 billion RMB. It is said that Zhang Zhixiang is a grandson of the vice-chairman of the Chinese Central Military Commission Zhang Wannian.
Jianlong Group usually purchase large or medium-sized state-owned enterprises at low prices and then expand and develop them, acquiring great amounts of wealth through the privatisation of state-owned assets. From 2005, Jianlong Group purchased 50% of the stock belonging to the largest state-owned enterprise in Jilin province - Jilin Metallurgy Group, amounting to a capital volume of more than 10 billion RMB. As of yet, this is still the largest example of "state-owned enterprise restructuring" in the entire north-eastern region of China.
Enterprises under the banner of Jilin Metallurgy Group include: the largest carbon-based chemical manufacturing enterprise in China (Jilin Carbon Compounds Group); the largest iron metallurgy enterprise in China (Jilin Iron Metallurgy Group); the second largest nickel production enterprise in China(Jilin Nickel Metallurgy Group); and the largest gold production enterprise in Jilin province (Jilin Gold Minerals Company). In addition, incorporated into Jilin Gold are a few companies that are already on the stock market. It is indeed around this time that Jianlong Group began to purchase Tonghua Steel for the first time. Tonghua Steel is the only large state-owned enterprise remaining in Jilin province, and most of its stock are owned by the state-capital assets committee of Jilin province. At the same time as a result of the restructuring program that occurred during the late 1990s, the workers at Tonghua owned a small amount of stock, involving tens of thousands of both employed and retired workers.
Under the explicit support of the Jilin provincial government, Jianlong Group purchased around 40% of Tonghua's stock in 2005 and began to engage in the full-scale management of this enterprise. After this the condition of the enterprise declined dramatically and the level of antagonism between the management layers and the workers intensified daily. Some experienced workers with more than 20 or 30 years of work experience saw their monthly salary decreasing to around 300 RMB, whereas the new management layers sent by Jianlong Group all had very high wages, the chief executive of the company mentioned earlier in this article - Mr. Chen Guojun, had an annual income exceeding 3 million RMB.
In 2008 as a result of the intensification of the antagonism between labour and capital, there occurred an incident during which workers killed a factory head. During the period from 2008 to 2009, both employed and retired workers at Tonghua Steel engaged in numerous demonstrations, leading to a march of 3000 people to report cases of corruption on 3 March 2009. This, however, was merely ignored as well as suppressed by the government and the capitalists. At the end of 2008 due to the effects of the economic crisis huge losses were experienced in the steel industry. From the autumn and winter of 2008 to the spring of 2009, Tonghua Steel ceased production, causing nearly 150,000 people living in the Erdaojiang district in the city of Jilin having insufficient home heating during the most intensely cold period at the heart of winter. This was caused by the cessation of production at the main factory zones and workers' residential areas of Tonghua Steel, which are located in Erdaojiang district, leading to a general paralyzation of the entire regional heating grid.
| 2009年3月3日通钢数千工人上访 |
As Jianlong Group saw that capital-labour antagonisms have intensified and there is no profits to be gained, in March 2009 they declared that they would resign from the actual functional management of Tonghua Steel, but still kept control over stocks of high-level enterprises such as Jilin Steel and related mining industries under Tonghua. The intention is quite clear: controlling the upper levels of the production chain would in the future enable Jianlong to re-initiate their control over the entire production chain. It is said that after Jianlong declared that they would quit from Tonghua, fireworks went off in the Erdaojiang district for more than 2 hours by people holding celebrations for this event.
In order to sustain employment and house heating for its workers, Tonghua Steel continued to run even though it was losing money, many employees were struggling to make ends meet. (From the period of 2008 to April 2009, Tonghua Steel lost more than a billion RMB) Yet since March and April this year, the global steel market began to heat up again, and the prices of steel began to rise. By June 2009 Tonghua Steel began to make profits again, and the monthly profit margin exceeded 60 million RMB. At around this time, during mid-July, Tonghua Steel received an order from the state-capital assets committee of Jilin province, and was told that Jianlong Group would once again participate in Tonghua Steel, and this time the amount of stock it would control would exceed 65%. For the workers at Tonghua who have diligently struggled at their workplaces for nearly a year to reverse the losses of the enterprise, to see that just when there appeared a little bit of profit the avaricious capitalists and bureaucrats have returned to plunder them, is to really raise the level of their indignation.
On 23 July, the state-capital assets committee of Jilin province and the city government of Tonghua formally ordered Tonghua Steel to hand over the control of its stock to Jianlong Group. Angry employees and retired workers went onto the streets to protest. On the morning of 24 July, more than 3000 Tonghua employees and retired workers went around the entire city once and explicitly called for the "defense of the state-owned enterprise Tonghua Steel". The demonstrators went to numerous factory zones to mobilise other workers and virtually everyone responded to their called. Workers went on strike one after another and joined the demonstrators from Tonghua, by the afternoon of that day the number of demonstrators had already exceeded 10,000 people. At around this time, the local government sent both police and riot police, as well as around 1000 armed militias to suppress the peaceful demonstrators, and some of the armed police were called from the nearby cities of Changchun and Jilin. The management layer of Jianlong Group continued to threaten the workers and caused many incidents. They stated that if the workers do not immediately return to work, then they would all be fired. This eventually made the situation out of control. Workers violently clashed with the armed police, and fought with the managers, leading to the death of the chief executive Chen Guojun, and the arrest of dozens of workers. By 10pm that evening, more than 30,000 workers and their relatives still occupied the factory zones and refused to retreat. In order to pacify the situation, the local government sent another extra 2000 or so policemen, and through various media, including both TV and radio, they formally declared that Jianlong Group has decided to quit from Tonghua Steel, and would never again participate in its "restructuring" process. The incident is still developing as this report is being written.
Under the effects of the current global economic crisis, the Chinese government is continuing to engage in policies based on neoliberal privatisation, and letting the capitalists to have a free reign in avariciously plundering the masses. The basic political rights and economic interests of the workers are being trampled on without any consideration, and this kind of situation has finally caused the current incident. Workers through numerous incidents such as these are already very clear about the real political situation, and know that underneath the hypocritical coating of the "communist party" only goods labeled with "market is supereme" and "capital is omnipotent" are sold. Without the conscious self-organisation and struggle of the working class, and without building independent trade unions and realise the freedom to strike, there would never be the true realisation of the basic interests of the working class as a whole.
Chinaworker calls for:
- The workers at Tonghua Steel should immediately organise worker's committees at every level, and take-over the day-to-day running of the enterprise through democratically elected representatives, and put an end to the attempts of privatisation via the power of mass pressure.
- The workers at Tonghua Steel should immediately build their own independent unions, and in the name of the entire workforce engage in collective bargaining with the local government to demand that the management of the entire enterprise be passed into the hands of the workers collectively in a democratic manner.
- Immediately release all workers and worker's representatives that were arrested by the police during the clash, oppose the violent suppression of the workers' demonstration by the local government and the police and the violation of workers' basic rights.
- Immediately build independent investigative committees for this incident, and have democratically elected worker's representatives participate in the entire investigative process. There must also be a thorough investigation into the violent actions of the police as well as the actions of the capitalist management that caused the antagonism to intensify.
- All socialists and left forces should actively support and defend the important struggles against privatisation, against capitalism and against bureaucratic dictatorship conducted by the Tonghua Steel workers. Just like the support that was given to the workers at Yimian Textiles in Baoding, Hebei province, leftists should see this as an important step in carrying forward the socialist labour movement and conscientiously support it.
Ultimately, we at Chinaworker believe that only through the complete overthrow of the capitalist system and bureaucratic dictatorship, and the realisation of genuine democratic socialism in which the working class and the labouring masses engage in the democratic management and planning of the economy in a bottom-up fashion through public ownership of all assets, can there be a fundamental solution to the current global economic crisis.
| 通化钢铁车间内景 |
Post comment
You must be logged in to post comments
