2,000 Women Retirees Protest in Daqing

China Labour Bulletin, 28 June 2002

China Labour Bulletin has learned that over 2,000 retired women workers of Daqing Petroleum Administration Bureau (DPAB) staged protests in front of the bureau's headquarters on 24 June, 2002 to demand better pension payments. The women pensioners receive only 50 yuan a month from the DPAB. The wage necessary for a minimum standard of living in the poorer cities of China usually averages around 150 yuan per capita per month.

According to one woman worker, they have been staging demonstrations since last April at the DPAB alongside the 10,000—30,000 retrenched workers. The retirees, most of whom had worked for the oil company for over 20 years, are considering filing litigation against DPAB for fairer pension payments.

CLB has received reports from workers in Daqing that the four-month-old protests by retrenched workers of DPAB have subsided recently, in face of unrelenting detention of protesters and organizers by the police.