Heed workers' voices

Two mass protests by workers in less than two months against privatization of State-owned firms point to the difficulties workers face in effectively protecting their rights and interests.

In last month's protest in the city of Tonghua, northeastern province of Jilin, the workers assaulted and killed an executive who was managing the acquisition of State-owned Tonghua Steel there by a private firm. In a similar protest last week in the city of Anyang, central China's Henan province, workers held as hostage a leader of the local State-owned assets supervision and administration commission until a deal was clinched with local provincial authorities.

That explains why the All China Federation of Trade Unions released a document by the weekend, stressing that schemes for privatization of State-owned enterprises should be regarded as ineffective if they are not adopted by a workers' congress.