The Militant - July 30, 2001 -- Chinese miners protest

Vol.65/No.29 July 30, 2001

Chinese miners protest

BY GREG MCCARTAN
Dispatches from Beijing July 9 reported the blockade of a major rail line by coal miners demanding up to 30 months' back pay. Some 10,000 miners, retirees, and family members marched on the train station in Jishu township, located 1,000 miles northeast of the capital. Three to four thousand people entered the station and blocked the lines.

A spokesperson for the mine bureau confirmed that up to 10,000 workers at the provincial-run mines had not been paid for two to three years.

Bureau officials cited "difficult financial conditions" and their inability to sell the coal as the reason for the arrears. One official acknowledged that the miners "are doing the hardest work for no pay. Their families are living a very difficult life."

Five hundred riot police were mobilized, but a policeman on the scene told the AFP wire service that there had been "no confrontation, the police are there to maintain order. The coal miners are very orderly."

Related article:
Pennsylvania miners rally to defend their union

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