By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .
Sign up with Google
Sign up with Facebook
Q: Any of you ever see a teacher's strike in China?
Yesterday I got to see something amazing, as not all, but many of the teachers in the public high school, where I used to work at, walked off the job over wages and retirement savings. It seems someone in the government walked off with part of their retirement savings and they may never get it back. On top of this they always got a yearend bonus, but not this year
( no why ) and lastly they aren’t getting a raise that was promised by the provincial government here again ( no why ). All together the government owes the group of teachers more than 3,000,000 RMB.
I was really proud to see that they overcame what was undoubtedly a lot of fear/ intimidation and stood up to those that are in control. In typical Chinese style the school and city leaders promised them they would pay them all the money owed them in ten days, then a few hours later took back the offer to pay them anything. So now it is day two of something I never thought I would see in my little corner of hell.
Several years ago, here in my city, the drivers of the gov't cars decided things weren't fair, so they arranged a protest outside the mayor's building. The gov't warned them to cease this action on the grounds it was disrespectful but the drivers, about 200 of them, didn't budge.
So the gov't told them the mayor would meet with them in 'The Big Hall'.
Into the big hall they went only to be locked in and the power turned off. No lights, no air, no meeting. They were let out after about 12 hrs.
Naturally the drivers weren't happy, so they hired a bunch of buses with the intention of presenting their grievances at The Great Hall of the People in Beijing. About a 4000k drive away.
So off they went, in convoy style, on their course to Beijing.
But bad luck for them. Because, about 30k out of town, the police, having been tipped off, were waiting for them.
The police marched them off the buses, confiscated the buses, and made the recalcitrant buggers walk back to town with their tales between their legs.
Boy, did this get the drivers' gander up! Now they were really mad.....so what did they do?
Well, the next day they returned to work under their old conditions and the matter was resigned to history.
Now the only person who talks of this attempted but futile action of the oppressed little man standing up to the regime is moi.
And my wife warns me against doing so but, what the heck, here it is...for your information.
KimOnach:
I hear your story, but I'd really like to have seen how this rolled on the ground.
Because from experience, I always see a lot of motivation but also a lot of disorganization and very little solidarity whenever there's a protest somewhere.
Even from your story I can see a lot of ways this could have been done better.
Robk:
You would think with a 5000 year history that China would understand that absolute repression/humiliation of people will usually end with terrorism or desperate acts against that said aggressor.
I have heard MANY stories of government buildings being bombed, people running into school principal offices and blowing them up. The media censored most of it but it does happen and A LOT. If all of these stories were unfolded, somehow I get the idea that many people would get the idea China is not stable by far.
It is beyond me that they never get the idea of requiring stuff in writing.
I mean, trusting somebody's promise in China, then be surprised they don't deliver? Really?
When I sign a contract, I want every single fucking detail in writing in it, and since I perfectly know there very well be be no lawful body to enforce those contracts anyway (unless I'm in Hong Kong), I make damn sure I get leverage on the side and I usually go full ballistic on Non Delivery Day One. The promise of anything else doesn't exist, but guess what, people are full of contradiction, so I usually even get delivered on oral promises.
But yeah, on the other hand I have seen people chasing their money for years, taking a lot of dumbasses out for drinks and fucks just for the hope of getting it someday. I don't judge, just glad I'm cynical enough.
Eorthisio:
Yes you are totally right, they should always ask for written agreements, but then again this is China, there is no rule of law, who is going to enforce their agreements against guanxi loaded officials?
Shining_brow:
"I have this in writing!!"
"Yeah - and....? I'm still not going to pay you".
If they want something done, they should get on the net - and preferably put up videos on YouKu... and YouTube (to show the government that they've shown the rest of the world)
I saw this kind of stories popping up times to times since a few years. If Chinese people starts to be less apathetic and are ready to take responsibilities for their own lives, defending their rights... That's really great ! I kind of feel it's gonna take an other 50 years to get somewhere (as RiriRiri said it, it's a long road), but if at least there is a progress in that direction, that's all good. Of course, there are rights, but duties too 
Several years ago, here in my city, the drivers of the gov't cars decided things weren't fair, so they arranged a protest outside the mayor's building. The gov't warned them to cease this action on the grounds it was disrespectful but the drivers, about 200 of them, didn't budge.
So the gov't told them the mayor would meet with them in 'The Big Hall'.
Into the big hall they went only to be locked in and the power turned off. No lights, no air, no meeting. They were let out after about 12 hrs.
Naturally the drivers weren't happy, so they hired a bunch of buses with the intention of presenting their grievances at The Great Hall of the People in Beijing. About a 4000k drive away.
So off they went, in convoy style, on their course to Beijing.
But bad luck for them. Because, about 30k out of town, the police, having been tipped off, were waiting for them.
The police marched them off the buses, confiscated the buses, and made the recalcitrant buggers walk back to town with their tales between their legs.
Boy, did this get the drivers' gander up! Now they were really mad.....so what did they do?
Well, the next day they returned to work under their old conditions and the matter was resigned to history.
Now the only person who talks of this attempted but futile action of the oppressed little man standing up to the regime is moi.
And my wife warns me against doing so but, what the heck, here it is...for your information.
KimOnach:
I hear your story, but I'd really like to have seen how this rolled on the ground.
Because from experience, I always see a lot of motivation but also a lot of disorganization and very little solidarity whenever there's a protest somewhere.
Even from your story I can see a lot of ways this could have been done better.
Robk:
You would think with a 5000 year history that China would understand that absolute repression/humiliation of people will usually end with terrorism or desperate acts against that said aggressor.
I have heard MANY stories of government buildings being bombed, people running into school principal offices and blowing them up. The media censored most of it but it does happen and A LOT. If all of these stories were unfolded, somehow I get the idea that many people would get the idea China is not stable by far.
IIRC, the taxi drivers in Hangzhou went on strike cos they wanted more money.
They got a raise within a couple of days.
Update: Once again the people in charge have agreed to pay the teachers, but not until Friday, which is actually the last day of this term for most teachers and students.
As some of you have pointed out, they really do seem to lack (not surprisingly) the required organizational skills to pull this off. Even though my wife is involved I try to stay out of it, aside from being supportive of her choices. For now they have agreed to go back to work this afternoon, I figure it gives them a chance to tell their side of the story to the students. I feel it will take a united front including the teachers, students, and their parents to pull it off. That and the fact that it is the “number one” school in this city should help. Having something in writing seems like a good idea, but honestly copies of a signed agreement in China are only good for ass wipe, but only if the paper is fit for the task.
I have heard of teacher strikes, hospital staff strikes, taxi-driver strikes and much more
You can't allow people to glimpse into a life of freedom/fairness and then tell them they can't have it here. It is just not possible. People willing sacrifice themselves for very few causes and throughout history, this has ALWAYS been one of them.
DrMonkey:
"It's Democracy spreading"... I think cynicism is the intelligence of the cowards, so I feel like I'm walking on a tight rope when thinking about this. What you see here, it's people seeing a common interest in defending their rights on their own initiative, where they would not have one chance to prevail if they were doing that alone.
Democracy is a different thing : it's the population (actually) choosing who have (actual) power at regular intervals, with multiple candidates from distinct parties. If people don't see their common interest into democracy, and assemble enough will to have it, then it won't happen. So far, I'm not overly convinced that in China, people see any good in democracy, or even understand what it's about and ask themselves what is at stake. One might think that rule of law would lead to democracy : Singapore is a very good counter-example of that.
Englteachted:
Since when is worker's rights and fair pay a 'Democracy' thing? Those are actually communist's ideals straight from the mouth of Marx.
Robk:
You guys are right, I will omit that part as I worded it poorly. What I meant to say was that it seems the people are taking on freedom of expression no matter how badly the Chinese officials wants them to shut them up.
The taxi drivers in Guangzhou went on strike tail end of last year.
There was also a spate of stikes in Pearl Delta factories a few years back over the Foxcon suicides. One factory I know of just sacked all the strikers. After that, the Government set unions up, but the shop stewards are the factory managers. They were elected of course, everyone got to vote for manager A or manager B.
royceH:
Hahahaha..... You just couldn't make this stuff up if you tried.
The mayor of our supersonic, soon it be 'international city' is also the head of the petro-chemical company, the biggest business in the province.
ScotsAlan:
Well...people cant say politicians are detatched from industry here :-)
