<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4807.2300" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER <A href="http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/77585_pac08.shtml">http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/77585_pac08.shtml</A> Pacific Currents: China's labor unrest not likely to lead to reforms Monday, July 8, 2002 By JULIE CHAO COX NEWS SERVICE DAQING, China -- Much of industrial China has been gripped by labor unrest, from protesting oil workers in the eastern province of Shandong to retired steelworkers in Guizhou in the southwest. Disgruntled workers are blocking traffic and railways, staging protests, shutting down production and risking arrest. The widespread strife has been viewed by some as a serious threat to China's political stability. But experts say there is little chance of a Solidarity-style labor movement starting up any time soon. It's not just repression that's stopping workers from organizing; they lack the vision to unify their disparate causes. Two recent protests against state-run enterprises in this gritty city exemplify the plight. Workers of the Number Two Construction Co. haven't been paid in four years. They weren't fired, laid off or otherwise made eligible for any state benefits. They were simply told not to come to work because there was no money to pay them. They obstructed a railway in protest, but virtually nothing came of it. They are angry, frustrated and disheartened. Across town, thousands of workers at the Daqing Petroleum Administration have been holding a sit-in for months to protest a buyout package they say is unfair and leaves them with little for their future. Their rage is compounded by what they see as blatant corruption -- managers are thriving while the underlings suffer. They vow to demonstrate until their demands are met. These two groups of workers, living in the same city, victims of the same painful economic restructuring and driven by the same outrage at official malfeasance, barely know of each other's existence. To workers in Daqing, the bad guys are the local officials or bosses, not the central policies that allow those officials to get away with withholding paychecks or possibly even lining their own pockets. "Their only demand is to have enough to eat," Chen said. The lack of political freedoms, the absence of a free press and arrests of anyone who dares speak out on behalf of workers make it nearly impossible to spark a broader labor movement. Paltry payouts usually are enough to get most protesters to go home. Movements that are truly organized -- such as the Falun Gong spiritual sect, which has a hierarchy of leaders and set up sophisticated underground communications channels -- are viewed by the government as a genuine threat and ruthlessly suppressed. Still, the government's strategy for defusing labor protests -- arrest a few, pay off the rest -- cannot be maintained indefinitely, experts agree. "There's no chance of workers linking up," said Xian Yulin, a 59-year-old Daqing oil bureau retiree who sympathizes with the protesters. "Things are too tightly controlled. But sooner or later, it will explode. Something will happen. But now the time is not right." </DIV></BODY></HTML>