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China workers' protest march stopped
Saturday April 4, 2:14 PM
Authorities in northern China said Saturday they were trying to solve a job losses row that sparked protests by factory staff, but a protester said workers remained skeptical and angry.
More than 1,000 workers were prevented Friday from marching 140 kilometres (90 miles) to Beijing from the city of Baoding to protest the closure of their textile factory. "The government has now told us they will solve our problem but have given no timeframe," a former worker at Baoding Yimian Textile, who gave only his surname Yang, told AFP. "They might just be using this as a pretext to stop us going to Beijing," he said.
The factory, which employs around 4,000 people, had been shut for a week when the march began, another worker said on Friday. Employees angered by the closure of the factory set out on bicycle and foot from Baoding in Hebei province to Beijing to present a petition to the government, a centuries-old tradition.
They were angered by a factory restructuring plan that includes cutting jobs, and said a severance offer was insufficient. Local authorities talked them out of the march and provided buses to bring them back to Baoding, demonstrators said. Officials and protesters said there was no violence.
Zheng Ran, an official with Baoding's government, said authorities were meeting to discuss the issue. Many factories in China's export-dependent economy have closed down or cut staff as worldwide consumer demand has dried up in recent months, prompting official fears of potential unrest as huge numbers of workers are laid off. "The workers are unhappy but no one cares, so we decided to march to Beijing to petition," said Yang. "Many workers were at the factory a long time and given only a small severance. How can you not get angry?"
Saturday April 4, 2:14 PM
Authorities in northern China said Saturday they were trying to solve a job losses row that sparked protests by factory staff, but a protester said workers remained skeptical and angry.
More than 1,000 workers were prevented Friday from marching 140 kilometres (90 miles) to Beijing from the city of Baoding to protest the closure of their textile factory. "The government has now told us they will solve our problem but have given no timeframe," a former worker at Baoding Yimian Textile, who gave only his surname Yang, told AFP. "They might just be using this as a pretext to stop us going to Beijing," he said.
The factory, which employs around 4,000 people, had been shut for a week when the march began, another worker said on Friday. Employees angered by the closure of the factory set out on bicycle and foot from Baoding in Hebei province to Beijing to present a petition to the government, a centuries-old tradition.
They were angered by a factory restructuring plan that includes cutting jobs, and said a severance offer was insufficient. Local authorities talked them out of the march and provided buses to bring them back to Baoding, demonstrators said. Officials and protesters said there was no violence.
Zheng Ran, an official with Baoding's government, said authorities were meeting to discuss the issue. Many factories in China's export-dependent economy have closed down or cut staff as worldwide consumer demand has dried up in recent months, prompting official fears of potential unrest as huge numbers of workers are laid off. "The workers are unhappy but no one cares, so we decided to march to Beijing to petition," said Yang. "Many workers were at the factory a long time and given only a small severance. How can you not get angry?"
