From bulletin@china-labour.org.hk Mon Mar 11 07:45:07 2002
To: brownh@hartford-hwp.com
Subject: China Labour Action Express No.1 (2002-03-11)
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 12:45:36 GMT
50,000 Daqing Oilfield Workers Organise Independent Trade Union
China Labour Bulletin, 11 March 2002
Fifty thousand oil workers in Daqing in northeast China stage mass demonstrations and organize an independent union in a struggle against retrenchment. The incident represents a significant yet precarious development in recent labour organizing in China—the local authorities responded by sending para-military police and deploying a PLA tank regiment.
China Labour Bulletin has talked with the organizers, officials of the local government and the government-run Heilongjiang Federation of Trade Unions. For CLB's special report and press release, please go to http://iso.china-labour.org.hk/iso/article.adp?article_id=2059
The Daqing Retrenched Workers' Provisional Union Committee stands as the first successful independent union organizing effort in China since the 1990s. To date, the union is still operating underground to avoid repression.
CLB will follow the matter closely, and will keep you updated on this significant move of retrenched state workers.