Where there is Oppression, there is Resistance

Excerpted from China Labor Translations, www.clntranslations.org

Ole Wolff electronics workers in Yantai China applied to establish a union after 67 women workers were fired in 2006 for complaining to the local Labor Department about sudden reduction in their wages, and the company’s refusal to sign employment contracts. Ole Wolff refused to acknowledge the OWYTU, so in September 2006 workers went on strike for 13 days.

The OWYTU was successfully established one month later, making it, in the workers’ own words, “the first Chinese trade union to be set up through strike. It describes itself boldly as a “red union” (chise gonghui) (i.e. Socialist) while dismissing the official All China Federation of Trade Unions as a “yellow union” (huangse gonghui). On the union’s internet blog is a feisty article, entitled: “Where there’s oppression, there will be resistance!” (Nali you yapo, nail jiu you fankang!)

The company’s attacks on union activists have included firing seven union activists — some more than once, such as Ms Liu Meizhen, who was been fired from Ole Wolff on four separate occasions. Acting union chair Ms. Jiang Qianqiu was fired for objecting to workers made to use cleaning fluid containing benzene (a known toxin). More recently, the company reduced the plant’s workforce from 200 workers down to approximately 30.

Union advisor Zhang Jun contacted Denmark’s biggest union federation, the United Federation of Danish Workers in April 2008, requesting its support. Ms. Jiang wrote, “We have almost exhausted all means, including judicial, administrative, media, the Internet etc, to stand up for our rights but still unable to make the company to comply with the laws.”

The Danish Union responded positively, and has convened negotiations between itself, the company, and the local Chinese union. In November 2008 a partial — but important — victory was achieved when six union activists who had been illegally fired by Ole Wolff won compensation of two months back wages.

For more information:

The Change to Win union federation sent a delegation to China in 2007 to explore the potential for solidarity.

“Imagining International Solidarity (with Chinese Unions),” from the Democratic Socialists of America’s Talking Union blog, by Paul Garver.

Editor's Note: For 37 years, Peacework was published by, but did not necessarily represent the views of, the American Friends Service Committee. Peacework's final printed issue (September 2009) focused on human rights violations and nonviolent activism in China. This issue was never posted to Peacework's previous AFSC-sponsored website. Since the print magazine was being closed down as part of budget cuts resulting from the financial meltdown, AFSC decided to spin Peacework off into a fully independent blogging platform, one not sponsored by AFSC. It was agreed that the contents of Peacework's archives, including the final issue, could be posted online by the newly independent Peacework. We are working to create that blog platform, and this article is one of those from that last issue.