Standing in solidarity with workers in China by Winnie Ng

Below is a speech that trade union activist and feminst Winnie Ng is giving to the Toronto and York District Labour Council on June 4

During the spring of 1989, thousands of students and workers occupied the Tiananmen Square calling for an end to corruption, freedom of speech and political reform. At the height of the protest, 1 million plus people were demonstrating across the country with such fervent hope for human rights and democracy in China.  At first the Chinese government let the protest be then on June 4, 1989, they launched a bloody military crackdown where as many as 2,000 students and workers were killed.

The rest of the world watched in horror and disbelief at the violence against unarmed protesters, but at the same time, we were inspired by the extraordinary acts of courage by ordinary citizens.  The iconic image of a lone citizen with bags in his hands standing in front of a line of tanks is forever seared in our memories of Tiananmen Square.

The Chinese government began its shift to market economy in the late 1970s with privatization, deregulation, and wholesale of state owned enterprises.  In 1989, a decade later, the “Iron Rice Bowl”–a reference to a system of guaranteed workers’ job security and benefits “from cradle to grave” was abandoned and thousands of workers were laid off as corrupt officials   colluded with crooked businessmen to sell off state assets. The rampant corruption and the lack of free speech and transparency to hold the government accountable was one of the main causes of the protest.

Now twenty years later, as the pace of corporate globalization accelerates, workers and migrant labour from rural areas are the ones scaffolding China’s economic growth as an emerging world superpower, and paying the price for it. In an eight year period, from 1998 to 2006, more than 40 million workers have lost their jobs as a result of possibly, the world’s largest privatization project. Today, rights violations and worker unrest are a common occurrence.  In the words of brother Han Dongfang, a railway worker and founder of the Chinese Autonomous Trade Union in Tiananmen Square in May 1989, “ When it is a matter of survival, and all exits are blocked, resistance becomes the only option”.  It is no longer taboo for workers to use strike action to defend their rights against corrupt officials and unscrupulous employers.  The resistance has taken place without the support of All China Federation of Trade Unions which has remained very much part of government’s apparatus since 1949. For example, in 1993 there were 10,000 strikes involving 700,000 workers, the numbers of strikes skyrocketed to 60,000 involving over 3.1 million workers.  

Workers in China, along with workers here and everywhere else are bearing the brunt of this current economic recession.  In extending solidarity to workers in China, we need to understand that in a globalized world we are facing a lot of the same policies and obstacles. As Canadian trade union activists, we need to continue to engage in critical and constructive dialogue with trade union delegations from China on the values of an independent trade union movement, and the possible collaborative strategies in countering the neoliberal agenda. We will also continue to resist the temptation of scapegoating Chinese workers and the divisions created by multinational corporations on the role of China as the cheap workshop of the world.  Lastly, it is for us as citizens to continue to mobilize and organize to hold our government accountable and ensure our democratic rights as workers, trade unionist, and citizens do not get chipped away as the corporate globalization agenda tightens its grip. 

Those brave souls in Tiananmen Square opened the road to the struggles of today. The courage and spirit of June 4 will continue to inspire us here and everywhere in our struggle for international working class solidarity.