Post by HardTimeTrucker on Apr 28, 2011 7:25:52 GMT -5
Government backs down on port fees in trucker strike
www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20110423000085&cid=1101
The municipal government of Shanghai is reducing some fees to placate angry truckers as a protest against rising fuel costs has blocked the country's largest harbor for four days.
Authorities have agreed to eliminate or reduce a range of port fees, Wen Yunchao, a Chinese rights activist who has been monitoring the protests, told Financial Times.
A report from the official Xinhua news agency on Saturday (Apr. 23) also said the Shanghai government has been actively taking measures to respond to the truck drivers' strike, adding that the new policy implemented will include "lowering fee standards and removing nonstandard fees" but without mentioning further details.
From Wednesday (Apr. 20) onward, about 2,000 truck drivers went on strike at the port, which moved almost 80,000 containers a day in 2010 and replaced Singapore as the busiest container port in the world, causing major problems for the export of goods.
A group of striking truckers told media that the soaring cost of fuel, coupled with hefty transportation fees, have eroded their earnings, leading them to stage the demonstration.
"There is too much inflation," said one of the strikers, who agreed to be interviewed but declined to give his name. "We will continue to protest, thousands of us are on strike... we are not transporting anything. We have stopped everywhere."
China, now the world's number two economy, witnessed a 32-month peak in the consumer price index in March, which hit 5.4%, despite the government repeatedly vowing to fight inflation.
This year alone the government has raised fuel prices twice, biting into the revenues of truckers, cab drivers and also farmers who use diesel for tractors.
"It's a sign of rising tensions and people are finding it more difficult to make ends meet," said Patrick Chovanec, an associate professor at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management in Beijing.
The government's recent decision to raise state-set fuel prices at a time when food and housing prices are already climbing was partially driving the truckers' concerns, said Chovanec. "If you do that in an environment where people are already stressed out about rising prices then it can create a very volatile situation."
Authorities have engaged warily with the truckers, without allowing any mention of the industrial action to appear in its tightly controlled state media.
"We're currently not aware of the situation," an unnamed spokesman with the Shanghai city government said earlier.
However, local reports have said the protests have spread to other cities such as Ningbo and Tianjin, the largest port in northern China and the main maritime gateway to Beijing, with nearly half of the truck drivers on strike in the city.
If the strike is handled poorly, "it will intensify conflict in the whole economy and society and also be a model for other industries," Chang Kai, a labor expert at Renmin University in Beijing, was quoted by Wall Street Journal as saying.
Last year, a spate of labor disputes disrupted production for many foreign automakers including Toyota and Honda, which laid bare the rising demands of China's 150 million migrant workers and raised questions about the region's future as a low-cost manufacturing base.
www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20110423000085&cid=1101
The municipal government of Shanghai is reducing some fees to placate angry truckers as a protest against rising fuel costs has blocked the country's largest harbor for four days.
Authorities have agreed to eliminate or reduce a range of port fees, Wen Yunchao, a Chinese rights activist who has been monitoring the protests, told Financial Times.
A report from the official Xinhua news agency on Saturday (Apr. 23) also said the Shanghai government has been actively taking measures to respond to the truck drivers' strike, adding that the new policy implemented will include "lowering fee standards and removing nonstandard fees" but without mentioning further details.
From Wednesday (Apr. 20) onward, about 2,000 truck drivers went on strike at the port, which moved almost 80,000 containers a day in 2010 and replaced Singapore as the busiest container port in the world, causing major problems for the export of goods.
A group of striking truckers told media that the soaring cost of fuel, coupled with hefty transportation fees, have eroded their earnings, leading them to stage the demonstration.
"There is too much inflation," said one of the strikers, who agreed to be interviewed but declined to give his name. "We will continue to protest, thousands of us are on strike... we are not transporting anything. We have stopped everywhere."
China, now the world's number two economy, witnessed a 32-month peak in the consumer price index in March, which hit 5.4%, despite the government repeatedly vowing to fight inflation.
This year alone the government has raised fuel prices twice, biting into the revenues of truckers, cab drivers and also farmers who use diesel for tractors.
"It's a sign of rising tensions and people are finding it more difficult to make ends meet," said Patrick Chovanec, an associate professor at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management in Beijing.
The government's recent decision to raise state-set fuel prices at a time when food and housing prices are already climbing was partially driving the truckers' concerns, said Chovanec. "If you do that in an environment where people are already stressed out about rising prices then it can create a very volatile situation."
Authorities have engaged warily with the truckers, without allowing any mention of the industrial action to appear in its tightly controlled state media.
"We're currently not aware of the situation," an unnamed spokesman with the Shanghai city government said earlier.
However, local reports have said the protests have spread to other cities such as Ningbo and Tianjin, the largest port in northern China and the main maritime gateway to Beijing, with nearly half of the truck drivers on strike in the city.
If the strike is handled poorly, "it will intensify conflict in the whole economy and society and also be a model for other industries," Chang Kai, a labor expert at Renmin University in Beijing, was quoted by Wall Street Journal as saying.
Last year, a spate of labor disputes disrupted production for many foreign automakers including Toyota and Honda, which laid bare the rising demands of China's 150 million migrant workers and raised questions about the region's future as a low-cost manufacturing base.