By Wen Zhen
More than 4000 teachers in Shaodong County, Hunan Province held a sit-in protest in front of the County government offices on December 1, to complain that the teachers have not been paid their performance wages for the past two years.
The County government replied by threatening to fire the teachers or to relocate them to remote areas. The deputy County Party Chief who was in a passing car which hit one of the teachers, said that it would not matter if some teachers were crushed to death.
Chinese ‘Teachers’ Law’ Favors the Teachers
According to Chinese “Teachers’ Law” and the “Law of Compulsory Education,” teachers’ average salaries should not be less than the income of civil servants. However, the teachers of Shaodong County, Hunan Province have not received their performance wage since 2007. Without the performance pay, a County’s civil servant salary at the same level is three times what the teachers receive.
Many teachers in Shaodong had already appealed to the Department of Education and County Party Committee by letters or in person. These teachers hoped the government could uphold the law and issue the missing performance wages. However, as of December 1, the local government had not given the teachers a clear answer.
Seeing no other option, on December 1, over 3,000 teachers protested in front of government building.
Some of the protesting teachers had books in their hands, and some were holding lunch boxes and eating lunch. No one shouted slogans or held banners.
Most schools in the towns and villages cancelled classes.
Government Official Injures Teacher; Media Refuses to Report
According to report from one mainland rights website, Cival Rights and Livelihood Watch (CRLW), at around 3:20 p.m., the teachers saw a press vehicle from Legal Weekly passing by the government building. Some teachers went up and attempted to talk to the reporters. However, the car did not stop and even ran over one teacher’s foot.
The injured teacher intended to argue with the driver. But deputy County Party Chief Zhu shouted loudly from inside the car, “There are a lot of teachers in Shaodong County. You just drive on. It doesn’t matter if you crush a few of them to death.”
One reporter refused to listen to the teachers, saying, “Interviewing people involved in activities defending human rights is not on our agenda for the day.”
Lately, the same reporter approached the teachers and said that he has just interviewed some members of the government; the leaders of the law enforcement department had just had lunch with him. In addition, he told the teachers that local regime had instructed the media not to report on the protest.
According to CRLW report, there have been a lot of group sit-in protests for withheld performance wages throughout the whole nation. In the past month in Hunan Province alone, teachers in cities such as Loudi, Xinhua, Xinshao, Longhui, etc. have held sit-in protests to express their demands and to protect their legal rights.
