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Unrest as the Honeymoon Comes to on End

Nick Young reports from Hong Kong
***Millions of Chinese workers have moved to the Special Economic Zone next to Hong Kong "to find their luck" in the boom generated by the colony's money and mainland labour. But, strikes are increasing and dissatisfaction is growing — with potentially serious implications for post-1997 Hong Kong.***
A group of peasants in rough country clothes squat, bemused, in the brand new square outside Shenzhen railway station. Above them, a hu^e public screen flashes out Cantonese pop videos and advertisements The streets here, it turns out, are not paved with gold; but looking up at the gleaming marble and reflecting glass of the surrounding office blocks, you could believe that some of the windows are
In 1979. when Deng Xiao ping launched China s economic reforms. Shenzhen was little more than a rambling village on the border with Hong Kong. As a Special Economic Zone it is now a booming city with its own stock exchange, commercial centre and myriad export industries
For more than a decade China has achieved record growth by attracting foreign investment to such zones, through tax breaks and a [ilentiful supply of cheap abour Two-thirds of this investment has come from Hong Kong, many of whose entrepreneurs have family ties with Guangdong province At Dengs invitation they have moved their factories to Shenzhen and other sites around the Pearl River estu ary, and expanded production.
But according to Hong Kong based trade unionists and labour monitors, workers in the special zones are now less willing to accept the low pay, poor working conditions and lack of union representation that have previously been their lot In the marriage between Hong Kong money and mainland Chinese labour, the honeymoon may be over
Leong Apo of the Asia Monitor Resources Centre researches industrial conditions in the special zones of the Pearl River delta He says that strikes, which no most read ings of Chinese law are illegal, are increasing dramatically — even according to govern ment figures Moreover, although most strikes are still spontaneous, many are now better organised and more so phisticated in their demands
Around 6.5 million workers are employed in the Pearl delta's toy, shoe, garment and electrical goods assembly factories. All are migrants from the impoverished inland Erovinces, who come, says eong, 'to find their luck". Eighty per cent are young women, aged 16-25, who "for cultural reasons are more compliant.''
Tnose who fail to find their luck may turn to prostitution which, according to Leong, also now thrives in an area that has become "a centre for second wives."
Under China's residency laws, migrants have no right to live permanently in special zones where they are ac cepted for work, even if they marry a local resident. By the age of 25, women are usually refused work and required to return to their province of origin.
Until then, most live in dormitory accommodation provided by employers, with rent docked from their pay Government figures acknowl edge the existence of more than 6,000 technically illegal "three in one" factories, where shop-floor, canteen and dor mitories are all in the same building
In some cases, according to Leong, women are not al lowed out of the building "not even to buy something — the company will send a guard instead There are real concentration camps '
Facing possible militancy kindled by such conditions, the government this year in troduced the first compre hensive labour law in China's history Most of the rights it confers are only provisional - for example, a clause guar anteeing workers one day off per week may be sidestepped by enterprises with 'special production nature"
Yet the law provides a peg on which workers can hang then demands Within days of taking effect it was seized on and quoted by assembly workers in a Japanese Mat sushita (National Panasonic! plant in Zhuhai, who struck in protest at the cancellation of annual leave
To defuse conflicts, the
Communist Party-controlled All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is trying to increase its reach in the spe cial zones where less than half the workers are members. The Asia Monitor Resource Centre offers advice and training to ACFTU unionists, de spite their links to govern ment, in the hope of improving negotiating channels.
Leading a campaign for an independent trade union movement is exiled railway worker Han Dongfang. A veteran of the 1989 Tianamen protests, Han was imprisoned for two years before being re leased on medical grounds He has been refused re-entry to China since leaving for medi cal treatment
From Hong Kong, Han now produces the fjogong Tongxun Zhongguo tChinj Ljtxxit Hullenni newsletter, which is smuggled into China
Han dismisses the possibility that the official unions might reform themselves "unless there is an independent union pushing from out side " He is euually sceptical of the labour law, which he sees as mainly to impress the International Labour Organi sat ion."
Although accepting the
case for foreign investment, Han denies that Chinese workers are now much better off than before the economic reforms. Most of the gener ated wealth, he says, has stayed with a new economic elite Unless workers are now Sven the right to bargain for emselves, there will be "an
explosion."
This may be less apocalyptic that it sounds Most economists believe the government will eventually nave to shut down more of its lossmaking public industries, which provide not just jobs but a range of welfare benefits for their employees This will sorely test public tolerance of economic liberalisation.
Meanwhile a daily trickle of migrants continues to arrive in the special zones, often illegally, looking for wages which, despite complaints are far higher than elsewhere in the country
In Shenzhen, local gov ernment sets a minimum wage of 340 yuan per month In Han Dongfang s home province of Shanxi the minimum is 120 yuan.
If industrial relations in the special zones do become more volatile, the issues could affeet political' relations between China and Hong Kong
Many observers argue that the alliance between Hong Kong's capitalists and China's communist leaders is the best guarantor of freedoms in Hong Kong after it returns to mainland control in 1997 Beijing, it is said will not want to tamper with the dy-
namo of national growth.
But nor will Beijing want Hong Kong to become a bridgehead for labour unrest. If Hong Kong activists are seen as stirring up trouble, political freedoms could be swiftly curtailed.
E*< hane< rare $1-8.3 yuan
NICK YOUNG is a freelance British journalist based in Hong Kong