Shake-up hits temporary staff

Like all State-owned enterprises, Linzhou Iron and Steel in Anyang, Henan province, was a self-sufficient society. Along with its 5,122 contracted workers, the 40-year-old company also relied on hundreds of temporary staff to run its school, hostel, restaurant and medical clinic.

But during its six-year push for privatization, which only started in earnest last August when the administering Puyang government approved the "restructuring", all temporary employees have been laid off.

A group of 13 female workers won a labor arbitration suit against Linzhou Steel in March. One of them, Hou Xiaoli, 31, said they had been paid 500 yuan ($75) a month less than contracted workers since 1994 and that the firm had withheld their pensions for 13 years. Despite their court victory, the firm is still refusing to repay each their 20,000-yuan pension investment.