Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A58-W17
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A58-W17
Release Date: April 5, 2004
发布日：2004年4月5日
Topic: Ciping Huang Testify in US Senate about Chinese Workers Miserable Condition
标题：黄慈萍在美国国会为中国工人的悲惨状况作证
Original Language Version: English (Chinese version at the end)
此号以英文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
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Ciping Huang Testify in US Senate about Chinese Workers Miserable Condition
On March 29, 2004, Ciping Huang, on behalf of the Wei Jingsheng Foundation, was invited to give testimony in the US Senate on behalf of the Chinese workers' interest. In the question and answer session, she also brought out the detail accounts such as factories to exam female workers' monthly cycles to "ensure productivity" and use of prisoner labor that many got exported, as well as the Chinese government suppress the news of workers' uprises and punish the journalists who report these. Due to time restraint, she was not able to straight further of the global environmental pollution caused by China and risk of weapon build up's and how harmful it would be to the business world when the long suppression resulted into large scale unrest even revolution.
The other two testified at the hearing are: Dr. Mark Barenberg, the Columbia University Professor who drafted the 301 Petition on behalf of AFL-CIO and had his own account of personal experiences and witnessed on Chinese workers' condition while teaching at Beijing University, and Mr. Nicholas Lardy, a senior fellow of Institute for International Economics, who agreed that the Chinese workers' condition is a problem and need to be upgraded, yet oppose the other two witnesses from the point of favoring business and economy.
The hearing lasted for 2 hours. Senator Byron Dorgan chaired the hearing, while the US Representative George Miller actively involved with the session. After the hearing, Ciping Huang was interviewed by several news media, including Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, as well as Press Associates Union News Service, a US publication about the workers and unions.
The following is Ciping Huang's testimony.
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Respectful members of the Congress:
My name is Ciping Huang. I am the executive director of Wei Jingsheng Foundation, a non-profit organization that emphasizes democratic elements for China, including workers' rights. And I am also the Secretary General of Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition, a world wide Chinese human rights and democracy organization. Thank you for giving me this chance to talk about Chinese workers' miserable condition, in supporting the section 301 petitions filed by AFL-CIO.
I have confidence that our Chinese workers, including the migrant peasant workers, back in my homeland, will appreciate this opportunity for the outside world to know their suffering, and thus might be a chance for some improvement. As the organization that have promoting Chinese workers' rights for years, have urging the world for the welfare of the Chinese workers, as well treating support and educate our follow Chinese workers in our homeland as our duty, I thank you for let me to speak on their behalf.
Although this testimony could be a little lengthy, it is only a tip of the iceberg for the mounting problem of the Chinese workers, which we have documented some in our website at: www.chinalaborunion.org where has some of the information we have collected on labor and human rights problems in China (mostly from China so they are only in Chinese language).
As a past worker himself, Mr. Wei Jingsheng fights endlessly for Chinese workers' rights and it is one of the prime goal of the Wei Jingsheng Foundation - to defend Chinese workers' rights and to speak up for them, to provide advices and possible legal helps for the Chinese workers the best ways in rightfully protect themselves and their own rights.
To start with, I want to share with you the turning point of my personal interest on workers' rights. It was back in the April of 1998 when I was visiting my parents in Hefei, the capital of Anhui province, where the local state own enterprises were experiencing massive layoffs. What I learnt was what often happened, the government was not responsive at all to the rightful request until the protest got out of control. Then in an effort to dismiss the mass, the government would agree with the conditions requested, but only arrest the leaders later on and not cashed out their promised. At the age of 30's, my former classmates were already worried to be laid-off because they were "too old" - 35 was a rip age for the females to be forced into "retirement" without any safety net.
In representing the Chinese workers' interest and as a human rights defender myself, the core question I have for these who arguing in favor of the business' community's profit is: what is your opinion and approaches if you know that your profit is based on the abuses of the human rights of many, and does moral has a value?
1. Current Status of China's Workers
There are more than 750 million workers in China. China's 2002 census showed approximately 160 million in manufacturing and mining, nearly 12 times the manufacturing workforce in the United States.
China has approximately 780 million peasants. Between 180 and 350 million are estimated to be "excessive" or in "dire poverty" and available for urban employment. Joining the current of more than 100 millions, ten to twenty million will enter the nonagricultural workforce each year.
The workers of China are grossly underpaid and lack of basic protections, such as pension and health insurance. China's export workers earn pitifully low wage - as little as 15 to 30 cents per hour - and receive brutal treatment. Some had to work up to 12-16 hours a day, 7 days a week. They do not enjoy many safe nets taken for granted by the US workers, such as Social Security, pension fund, Medicare and Medicaid. In fact, many workers of Chinese state-owned enterprises were laid off when they were still in their prime ages, such as late 40's and early 50's (for women, it starts at age of 35), and dumped into an already overly crowded and poorly protected society.
Even the workers who stay on their jobs are earning meager wages that may be withheld or unpaid altogether. The factories are sweltering, dusty, and damp. Workers are fully exposed to chemical toxins and hazardous machines, and suffer sickness, disfiguration, and death at the highest rates in world history. China's unremitting repression of labor rights robs China's workers of wages, health, and dignity.
China's factory workers have not received much wage advantage, even though the productivity has risen dramatically. Even though, their wages are often suppressed by nonsense penalties and excuses, or simply not paid at owners/managers' will with or without excuses. There is no competitive labor market, let alone rights of unionization, to ensure that workers' earnings grow with their productivity.
With various mechanisms for artificially suppressing workers' bargaining power, Chinese factory workers live under conditions that neutral researchers (and Chinese officials themselves) describe as "bestial," "horrific," and "abominable." Their rights of freedom, rights of association and unionization, have all taken away by the suppressive government. Yet, what had happened to them often do not even fit China's own labor law. Nevertheless, the Chinese government turns a blind eye on it, systematically and purposefully.
2. Laid-off Workers
In the year of 2003, there were still over 30 million laid-off workers in the cities all over China, affecting direct family members of over 100 million. Many of the workers were laid off because of their factories were sold to private owners, who usually have business interests with officials in charge of the selling-out. Since the new owners often have "official background", they usually took over the factories for much less than the real value, laid off older workers and gave very little to compensate those being laid-off.
In July 2003, a factory in Kaifeng, Henan was sold to private owners. The true value of the factory was estimated to be at least 10 million Yuan. It was sold for 950 thousand Yuan. Worse yet, the new owner paid only 150 thousand Yuan and used the 800 thousand Yuan that should have been paid to compensate laid-off workers as the purchasing payment.
In November 2003, over 7,000 workers from an auto part manufacture plant in XiangYang, Hubei went to the streets to demonstrate against a private buyout of their plant. The workers protested that many of them would be laid off with little compensation and the others' salary and benefit would be cut significantly after the takeover.
The life of laid-off workers is very hard. Many of them could not afford basic food and clothing. On Oct. 1, 2003, the Chinese National Day, a laid-off worker from Hubei, Mr. Yang, PeiQuan, poured gasoline on himself and light it up in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. He had tried everyway to live by asking help from all levels of government agencies, but he finally lost any hope and chose suicide as a form of protest.
3. The Life of Migrant Workers
China further reduces labor costs by a system of government-engineered labor exploitation on a scale that is unmatched in the present global economy, even though the Chinese economy has been painted with a glorified picture especially for its cheap prices of the goods. China's comprehensive regimentation of its young migrant factory workers uses internal pass controls that prevent workers from moving their permanent residence from impoverished villages to factory towns and cities and turn ordinary workers into highly exploitable outcasts in their own country.
There are over 100 million migrant workers in nowadays Chinese cities. These migrant workers are almost all from poor places in the countryside and thus they are also called "peasant workers". They do the hardest and dirtiest jobs in the cities, yet treated as second-class citizen and live at the lowest level of the metropolitan community.
Migrant workers usually work under unsafe or even toxic environment, with much less and even no welfare at all. According to the official statistics in 2003, there were 25 million migrant workers working without any protection at places where toxic air and/or excessive dust were constantly present. Each year, there were more than 10 thousand accidents of being poisoned at work associated with countless injury and death. In the summer of 2003, over 30 migrant workers from the city of ShaoXing, Zhejiang were dead because of long-hours outdoor working under extremely hot weather.
Migrant workers usually work long hours with very low pay. Yet their pay at is often delayed or even unpaid for many months or even years. A migrant worker at a restaurant in Baotou, a big city of Inner Mongolia, worked over 12 hours everyday and was paid only 150 Yuan per month. An official report revealed that, the amount of unpaid salary to migrant workers was as much as 10 billion Yuan in the entire country as of 2003, which is very significant for many who came from poor countryside where annually house income was less than 2000 Yuan.
Suffering from unpaid wage, unfair treatment and extreme poverty, tragedies happened often when asking for unpaid salary but being refused. Among these, Mr. Li, ZiHao from Henan tried to suicide by criminating himself in January 2004; Mr. Hu, WeiGuo from Hubei jumped off from a high building in Beijing one day after the New Year of 2004; and Mr. Xu, DianPin from Heilongjiang, was beaten and severely injured by his employer in December 2003. An official report pointed out that there were over 100 suicide accidents involving unpaid migrant workers in the Pearl River delta region during 2003.
The migrant workers have very little help from the government and there is no independent labor union to protect their rights. As a result, their rights are often severely violated and they have no place to go for justice. Migrant workers are required to pay for a "temporary residence card" which could be in thousands Yuans in order to stay in the cities they work. Like South Africa in its past, these workers are discrimated against. Their children have trouble to get into schools (usually asked to pay more; many were rejected for admission). Young women were locked up in the factories during the days and in their dorms in the nights, suffering varies abuses including rapes by the owners and managers. When a fire broken out, they died in dozens, even hundreds for unable to escape from the locked doors. These migrant workers also are the most likely victims of the government's repatriation program which produced many wrongfully treatments even deaths and was only cancelled recently after major public outcries.
4. Worker's Health and Safety
The year of 2003 is one of the worst years for worker's health and safety. One government report revealed that accidents and death at work increased by 16% compared with 2002. There were 132,830 deaths from January to October 2003. The sad fact is that most of the accidents could be avoid if proper health and safety measures were taken.
One of the worst accidents is the explosion of a natural gas well in Kaixian, Chongqing on December 23, 2003. Because of low quality drilling and unqualified technical personnel was unable to control the accident at an early stage, over a thousand people were killed during the accident (mostly by hydrogen sulfide gas poisoning) and more than ten thousand people were injured.
Death rate from underground coalmines remains to be the highest in China than the rest of the world. It was estimated that there were at least 5000 miners dead from underground accidents each year.
According to Shanxi government report, there were 153 coalmine accidents in the province during 2003, 496 people were dead. Among these, a single underground gas explosion accident claimed 62 lives at Xiaoyi city coalmine on March 22. The owner of the coalmine was informed many times that the health and safety measures at the mine were out of date and that production should be held until improvement was made. The warnings were, however, ignored and the workers were ordered to continue working.
In other cases, 48 people were killed in an underground explosion accident at Jianxi Coalmine in Jianxin on November 14, 2003; one accident at JiXi coalmine of Heilongjiang on February 23, 2004 killed 32 lives with 5 missing; an underground explosion at the Wangjiazhai coalmine in Guizhou took 24 lives with 2 missing.
5. Labor Movement in China
China's manufacturing workers are not permitted to organize independent unions to defend their basic rights and raise their wages. They are not permitted to strike. The full force of state terror - beatings, imprisonment, psychiatric internment, and torture -- is deployed against workers' attempts to exercise their right of association.
On one hand, the Chinese government-controlled media did all they could to cover up and not report workers protests around the country. It is believed that thousands of workers protests have taken place annually. On the other hand, the Chinese government continues its harsh treatment of self-organized workers.
Over 20 laid-off workers were arrested during a protest staged in Suizhou, Hubei in February 2004. A laid-off worker from XiuShui, JiangXi, Mr. Xu, GaoJin, was jailed for 4 months and house arrested for 6 months because he established a Laid-off Workers Association trying to get local laid-off workers together to help each other. Even these lawyers who defended for workers' rights were put in prisons.
In May 2003, after over 13 months detention (which is illegal by the government's own law), the 2 laid-off worker leaders from Liaoyan, Liaoning, Mr. Yao, FuXin and Mr. Xiao, YunLiang, were sentenced 7 and 4 years prison term by the Chinese government. Recent report revealed that their treatment in JinZhou Prison was very harsh and their health had deteriorated significantly. Yet the government repeatedly refused their appeals for an "out of prison treatment".
6. Effects on Workers of the World
If the workers' rights of one-quarter of the world's workforce are radically suppressed - as they in fact are, in China -- then labor conditions for the world's unskilled and semiskilled workers are worsened; domestic and global demand is depressed; excess productive capacity is created; and a path of inequitable, unsustainable development is promoted.
And when the fundamental right of association is denied, a crucial pillar of democratic governance is lost. The right to form autonomous associations in civil society is a precondition to resisting state tyranny and to mobilizing citizens for participation in pluralist political institutions. In recent years, autonomous worker organizations helped democratize such countries as South Africa, Brazil, Poland, and South Korea - a fact that is not lost on leaders of the Chinese autocracy.
By lowering wages by between 47 and 85 percent, as calculated by expert in the field, China's labor repression diverts millions of manufacturing jobs from countries where labor rights are not so comprehensively denied, increasing unemployment and poverty among workers in developed and developing countries. Highly conservative methodologies show that China's labor repression displaces hundred thousands manufacturing jobs in the United States alone. However, the real extended cost of unemployment could be in millions. Safeguarding the human rights of China's factory workers is a common interest of workers in all countries, as well as fair business competition.
Please understand that the Chinese government has successfully created an "unfair trade" under the umbrella of "free trade". Although they enter WTO, they do not carry out what they should have done, but instead, they use it for their own advantage, including being able exporting into the US market while still control and restrict the import of the American goods.
We support AFL-CIO to file this section 301 petition, because we believe this is important to the welfare of both American workers, as well as millions Chinese workers and their human rights, including rights of unionization to protect their own interest. This is also an opportunity to take away unfair business environment against US companies. And in a long run, it is an action for a real globalization - an equal, fair and democratic society.
Thank you very much for your attention.
黄慈萍在美国国会为中国工人的悲惨状况作证
3月29日，黄慈萍代表魏京生基金会被邀请到美国国会为中国工人的利益而作证。在回答问题期间，她例举了大量的实例，比如工厂如何检查女工的月经以“保证生产效率”，将监狱劳犯制作的产品用于出口，以及中国政府如何压制有关工人运动的报道并惩治做这类报道的记者等等。在作证期间，她没有时间能够直接指出由于中国而引起的全球性环境污染的危害、武器增多的危险，以及长期镇压和压制有可能造成大规模的防抗和革命，从而对全球商业的威胁。
另外两个作证人是：马克巴瑞博格(Mark Barenberg)博士，哥伦比亚大学法学教授，他负责起草了全美劳联产联的301请愿书。他有亲身经历，在中国北京大学教书期间，亲眼目睹了中国工人的状况。另一个是尼古拉罗迪(Nicholas Lardy)先生，国际经济研究所的高级研究员，他同意中国工人的状况的确问题严重，应该改进，但是他站在经济和商业的利益上反对前两个作证。
听证会进行了2个小时。参议院巴朗岛根(Byron Dorgan)主持了听证会，美国众议员乔治米勒(George Miller)在听证会上也很活跃。听证以后，黄慈萍接受了媒介记者采访，包括自由亚洲电台，美国之音，以及联合工会新闻组织，和美国其他有关工人和工会的媒介人士。
下面是黄慈萍的作证词。
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尊敬的国会议员：
我叫黄慈萍，是魏京生基金会的执行主任。魏京生基金会是非盈利组织，特别关注于中国民主事宜，包括中国工人的权益。我也是中国民主运动海外联席会议秘书长。这个组织是世界性的中国人权民主机构。谢谢你们给我这次机会，让我来讲述中国工人的悲惨状况，表达我们对劳联产联基于301条款的请愿的支持。
我肯定，我家乡的中国工人，包括农民工，会非常感谢今天有机会让外面的世界知道他们的困境，从而有助于改善他们的现状。我们这个组织，多年来致力于促进工人权益，一直在呼吁全世界关注中国工人的利益，同时致力于提高中国工人的素质。我十分感谢你们今天让我有机会代表中国工人讲话。
尽管这个作证可能有点儿长，但它仅仅是中国工人问题冰山的一角，整个中国问题，我们已经在网站www.chinalaborunion.org上有所描述，那里我们收集了不少于有关中国工人和人权的事例。（大多数直接来自中国自己的报道，并以中文形式发布）。
曾经是工人一员的魏京生先生，为中国工人的权益一直在不懈地奋斗。这也是魏京生基金会的主要宗旨之一，——保护中国工人的权益，为他们说话，提供建议和可能的法律帮助，以使得中国工人能够以更好的途径合理地保护自己，维护工人的权益。
作为发言的开端，我愿意叙述我自己的个人经历，告诉你们让我开始关心中国工人权益的一个契机。这要追溯到1998年的4月，那时我正在看望我在安徽省会合肥的父母亲。当时那里的国营企业正在经历大量的裁员。我听说政府对工人的正当要求置之不理，直到罢工变得不可收拾。然后为了收拾残局，政府同意工人的要求，但是不久就把罢工组织者逮捕了，而且一点儿也不履行曾经答应工人的那些诺言。当时我三十出头，我过去的同学和我同龄，已经开始担心被解雇，因为35岁已经是“太老”的年纪，女职工通常在这个时候被强迫进入“提前退休”，且没有其它保障。
作为长期为人权奋争的我，站在中国工人利益的基本点上，我的核心问题是：那些老是为了商业财团利益而争论的人们，如果你们得知自己的利益是建立在对众多百姓人权的践踏上，你们有何看法？用何途径？而你们的道德价值观又在何处？
1）中国工人的现状
中国有七亿五千万工人。2002年人口统计表明，近乎有一亿六百万为制造工厂和矿山工人，几乎是美国制造业劳力的12倍。
中国还有近七亿八千万农民。其中估计一亿八千万到三亿五千万的农民处于极度贫困或贫困状态，因此寻求到城里来打工。在今后20年内，估计每年会有一百到两百万农民转入已经超过一亿人口的非农业劳力市场。
中国工人基本尚处于低工资收入状态，并且没有基本的保障，比如缺乏退休金和医疗保险。中国出口工业工人的工资少的可怜，几乎是一小时15到30美分，同时受到残酷的待遇。有些工人不得不一天工作12到16小时，每周工作7天。他们完全不能够象美国工人那样享受基本的福利，比如社安保险，退休金，政府医疗保险等等。实际上，许多国营工厂的工人在正当壮年的时候就遭到解雇，一般在40到50岁之间（女性的解雇则在35岁就开始了）。被解雇的工人被抛进了已经十分拥挤、更加没有保障的失业大军。
即使那些没有失去工作的工人，他们微薄的薪金还要遭到推迟支付或是不予支付。工厂的生产环境肮脏、闷热。工人们有时完全暴露在有害化学物质和毒气的设备面前，承受着疾病、功能减退，以及世界工业界最高的死亡率。中国长期以来无视工人的权利，严重剥夺了工人的工资、健康和尊严。
在大幅度提高了生产率的同时，中国工厂的工人却没有得到多少工资的提升。相反的，他们的工资要遭受种种不合理的扣留和罚款，有的时候，甚至主管人毫无理由地不发工资。中国没有竞争的劳力市场，没有独立的工会组织，因此无法保证工人在生产率提高的情况下增加收入。
在各种人为地压制工人商议工资的状况下，中国工厂工人的处境，就是中立调查组织（包括中国自己的官方机构）也认为是“悲惨”、“令人吃惊的”、以及“不公正”的。工人们的种种基本权利，包括自由组织工会的权利被政府统统剥夺。那些发生的事情其实都不符合中国自己的劳工法。不用说，中国政府对此一贯视而不见。
2） 下岗工人
2003年，中国各城市大约有三千万工人下岗，直接影响了近乎一万万家庭成员的生活。许多工人被解雇仅仅因为他们的国营工厂转卖给私人，而新厂主常常是那些经手卖厂、自己想经商赚钱的官员。由于新厂主有“官方为后台”的背景，他们会以低于实际价格的数目来购买工厂，然后用微量的遣散费把老工人解雇。
2003年六月，河南开封的一家国营工厂被私人接管。工厂的真实价值估计至少有一千万人民币。但是它却以不到95万的价格出售了。更糟的是，新厂主自己只支付了15万，然后动用了应该用于支付解雇工人的80万遣散费来购买工厂。
2003年11月，河北襄阳汽车轴承厂的七千多名工人走上街头示威，反对他们的国营工厂私有化过程中的不公正。这些工人们在工厂转卖以后，原来的收入大幅度减少，只会得到极少量的遣散费。
下岗工人的生活十分艰难，不少人衣食无着。2003年10月1 日中国国庆节期间，河北下岗工人杨培权来到北京天安门广场，用汽油浇身自焚。他已经想尽一切办法请求各级领导帮助解决困难，最终失去了希望而以自杀的形式来表示强烈抗议。
3） 农民劳工的生活
中国劳动力价格低下，缘由于中国政府机器对劳力的榨取和剥削的程度完全不能够和当今世界经济匹配。中国政府蓄意建立的户口制度，使得年轻的农民工不能够从他们原来贫穷的乡村，转到他们工厂所在城市永久居留。这样，农民工就在自己的国家里，从一个普通工人变成了被高利剥削的另类贱民。在南非结束了种族隔离之后的今天，中国的这种歧视，是一个由国家政府推行的非常可耻的大规模系统化的歧视，在世界上独一无二。
当今中国各城市里有一亿多农民工，几乎都是来自贫穷的乡村，因而被叫做“农民工”。他们在城市里承担着最繁重、肮脏的工作，但是被视为二等公民，在城市社区里处于最低下的阶层。
农民劳工通常在不安全、有毒性的环境内工作，福利甚少，甚至根本没有福利。根据2003年官方的统计，有两千五百万农民工在没有保护的毒性或过脏的环境下工作。每年都有一万多起中毒事故，连同无以计数的工伤事故和死亡。2003年夏季，来自浙江绍兴的30多名农民工由于在户外劳动过久而中暑死亡。
农民工通常工作时间长，薪水低廉。并且薪水的支付要拖延好几个月甚至好几年。在蒙古省大城市包头某饭店打工的农民工，每天工作12个小时，只有每个月150元人民币的收入。官方报道披露，2003年全国拖欠农民工的总数已经达到一百亿人民币。对于来自贫穷地区的农民工来说，这是个巨大的数目，因为他们家乡每户平均年收入只有两千元。
在拖欠工资、不公平待遇和极度贫穷的惨境下，农民工在讨询拖欠工资时常有悲剧发生。其中几个例子是：河南的李子豪在2004年1月企图用自杀来申述不公；湖北的胡卫国在2004年新年的第二天从北京高架桥上跳下；黑龙江的徐殿彬因为讨要工资，在2003年12月被雇主严重打伤。官方报道指出，2003年仅仅在珠江三角州地区，就有100多起因为拖欠工资而引发的自杀事件。
农民工几乎不能够从政府那里得到任何帮助。中国没有独立的工会来保护工人的权利。结果，工人们的权益经常遭到侵犯，而且没有申诉、得到公平处理的地方。农民工还要支付“临时居住证”费用，以便在所工作的地方住下来。如同过去的南非，这些工人们处处受到歧视。他们不但要花巨额（高达上万人民币）来购买临时居住证，而且他们的孩子上学也成了问题，因为是“临时居住”，他们的孩子必须支付更多的学费才能入学，而且常常被赶出校门。一家工厂的年轻女子，白天黑夜都被锁在工厂或简陋的宿舍里。当火灾发生的时候，有数十人乃至上百人因为无法逃出被锁住的房间而丧生。这些农民工通常也是政府遣返的牺牲品。遣返过程中发生了许多不人道的事情，甚至造成死亡。在公众舆论谴责下政府最近不得不停止遣返。
4）工人的健康和安全
2003年是工人健康和安全状况最遭的一年。一份政府报告披露，和2002 年相比，工人事故死亡率上涨了16%。截至于2003年10月，共有132，830工人因工作事故而死亡。更令人悲哀的是，如果建立了基本的安全措施和健康保障，大多数事故都是完全可以避免的。
其中一起恶性事件是2003年12月23日发生的重庆开县天然气喷井事故。因为造井时使用的是低质材料，又因为不合格的技术人员没有在事故初发阶段采取控制措施，一千多名职工在事故中丧身，上万人遭到毒气的侵害。
中国地下矿井的矿工死亡率一直是世界之最。据估计每年至少有5000名矿工死于矿井事故。
根据山西政府的报告，2003年该省发生了153起矿井事故，496人死亡。其中，2003年3月22日孝义市煤矿的一次地下毒气事故中，就有62名矿工丧生。煤矿的主管曾经被多次告知，矿井的安全和健康措施过时，应该停产加以改进。但是警告被一次次地忽视，工人们被强迫进入矿井劳动。
还有另一些事例，比如江西省建新煤矿2003年11月14日发生了爆炸事故，48名工人死亡；黑龙江省鸡西煤矿2004年2月23日的事故中，有32名矿工死亡，5名失踪；贵州省汪家寨煤矿的地下爆炸中也有24名工人死亡，2名失踪。
5）中国工人运动
中国制造业工人不被允许组织独立工会来保护自己的基本权利以及提高工资。他们也不被允许罢工。任何工人想要为自己的权益组织起来的行动，则遭受镇压、监禁、心理羞辱、人身攻击、肉体折磨等等。
一方面，中国政府控制的媒介想尽一切办法掩盖全国各地工人抗议的事实，据估算每年至少发生过几千起工人示威抗议。另一方面，中国政府继续对组织独立工会的工人们实行镇压。
2004年2月，湖北生随州市有20多名下岗工人因为抗议而遭到被捕。一个来自江西省修水县的下岗工人徐高金先生被监禁了4个月，拘留了6个月，仅仅因为他发起了“下岗工人协会”以便让下岗工人相互帮助。
2003年5月，两名来自辽宁省辽阳地区的下岗工人领袖姚福信先生和肖云良先生在被拘留了13个月以后，分别被政府判处7年和4年的徒刑。最近我们得知，他们被监禁在条件恶劣的锦州监狱，两个人的身体健康遭到严重损害。而政府仍旧不断地拒绝他们“狱外治疗”的申请。
6）世界工人的影响
如果占有全世界工人数量四分之一之多的工人权益被无理剥夺，就象在中国发生的情形那样，那么，全世界非技术劳工和半技术劳工的状况就会恶化，国内和国际的需要就会压缩，从而造成过量的生产，产生不公平竞争，增加社会不稳定。
而且，当结社的基本权益遭到拒绝的时候，政府就失去了民主的关键支柱。在进步的社会里，结社自由是防止国家专制、引导人们参与多元化政治体系的基础。最近几年来，自由独立工会在各个国家起到过推进民主的重要作用，比如在南非、巴西、波兰和南朝鲜，这个事实中国独裁当权者并没有忘记。
按照专家的计算，中国工人的工资被压低到实际应有的47-85%以下。中国以这样廉价的劳力，从许多国家吸收了成千上万的制造业工作机会。那些国家里，工人的权益是不能够被轻易践踏的。而这些国家因此遭受了上升的失业率，发展中和发达国家的工人生活都趋于贫困化。非常保守的估计说明，仅美国市场而言，中国劳工就取代了几十万人的工作，而受波及的约人人口过上百万。保护中国工人的基本人权是世界各国工人的共同利益，也是造就公平竞争的基础。
希望诸位明白，中国政府已经在“自由贸易”保护伞下成功地制造了“不平等贸易”。尽管他们加入了世界贸易组织，他们不能够执行应该做的事情，而是利用这个机会为自己造福，包括更大量地向美国出口，而限制美国的物品进入中国市场。
我们支持全美劳联产联根据301法制定的请愿书，我们相信这不仅对美国工人有利，而且对成千上万的中国工人有利，可以促进他们享受到基本人权，包括建立独立工会来保护自己的权益。这也是一个让美国摆脱不公平贸易环境的良机。从长远的角度来看，这个行动会促进真正的全球化，让世界走向一个平等、公正和民主的社会。
谢谢你们的倾听。
（魏京生基金会首发，请注明出处。）