'Military' rules for workers in a Chinese company in Serbia

This is how the interlocutor, who is employed by the Chinese company "Jinshan Construction", describes for Radio Free Europe (RSE) what the meetings of workers and managers look like before the shift in the mine in Majdanpek, in the east of Serbia.

He gives his statement to RSE anonymously because, he says, he is afraid of reprisals from his employer and losing his job.

The construction company "Jinshan Construction", registered in Serbia in 2019, is owned by the Chinese mining giant Ziđin (Zijin), which has been managing the mine in Majdanpek since 2018.

The rules were first learned from the local media in Serbia, which published part of the document in August. It contains the rules for workers at pre-shift meetings in the mine in Majdanpek.

Among other things, in the document, the authenticity of which was confirmed for RSE by an interlocutor from the company, it is stated that workers line up according to height, greet managers unanimously, and perform mutual checks on orderliness and mental state.

According to the employees of the parent company - Ziđin, the document appeared in that company as well, but it is not applied.

As RSE has learned, because of this case, the labor inspection in Serbia carried out surveillance in August, but the competent Ministry of Labor informed RSE that there was no reason to take any measures.

The international organization "China Labor Watch", which, among other things, deals with working conditions in Chinese companies, told RFE/RL about this case that it is "quite common" for Chinese companies to implement such "disciplinary measures" in order to control employees.

The company "Jinshan Construction" did not respond to RSE's questions.

 

What are the meetings like?

 

According to RFE's sources, meetings where workers line up by height, are called by name, and listen to company reports in the "machine" have been held before each shift, morning and afternoon, at the "Jinshan Construction" company for more than a year.

"The shift leader stands in front. He says 'Good day', the workers answer. Then he starts reading the report."

He states that the workers then listen to reports from the company, and sometimes these are reports about employees' misdemeanors.

"Everything is reported if someone commits an incident, the names and surnames of the workers who committed the offense are listed."

During the meeting, a roll call of the workers is also organized, according to the source, and one of the employees is called to tell the attendees about the rules of work in the company, which are mainly related to safety at work.

The meeting ends with a swearing-in, but only the company's Chinese workers do so, the source said. According to the document submitted to RSE, it is a "safety oath" (an oath related to safety at work).

"All this is to get you in order, to think the same as them, to follow the rules unconditionally, that's brainwashing," the RSE interlocutor points out, adding that workers can be punished if they don't attend these meetings by reducing their pay or risk being fired.

The interlocutor points out that the rules on pre-shift meetings stated that workers check each other's orderliness and mental state, but that this is not implemented.

RSE did not receive a response from the company "Jinshan Construction" regarding these meetings, among other things, and whether the meetings are held in accordance with the document that was leaked to the media in Serbia.

 

What does the document say?

The document titled "Details of the Seven Steps for Pre-Shift Meetings in the Mining Department of the Majdanpek Open-pit Mine Project" was published by TV N1 on its website in mid-August, followed by other media in Serbia.

Five pages of this document have been published, and according to the content, it can be concluded that more pages are missing. RSE came to the same document.

RSE from the company "Jinshan Construction" did not receive confirmation of the authenticity of the document.

The company Ziđin, after the document was published in the media, announced that it is not applied in the company "Serbia Zijin Copper".

 

"The rules only apply to the employees of the subcontractor company Jinshan Construction, which operates at the open-pit mine Severni revir of the Majdanpeč branch," according to Ziđin's press release dated August 14, as reported by the daily Danas.

As stated, the document regulates the organization of so-called pre-shift meetings, as well as "raising the level of discipline".

"Form a row in groups, line up according to height, wear protective equipment", it is stated on the first page of this document.

In the following text, it is stated that the team leader greets those present, and the employees reply unanimously "Good morning (or good evening) everyone".

The document also provides for a roll call.

"When the name is spoken, the person should immediately step forward and respond with a strong, loud and energetic voice so that everyone feels the enthusiasm and positive energy," the document says.

The document, among other things, foresees that the present employees check each other "first of all they check the appearance (neatness of clothing) and mental state".

Reading of relevant reports related to the company, meetings and more is also foreseen.

"Don't say there are no reports to read today because you can re-read existing documents," it said.

The seventh and last step provided by the document is the reading of the oath.

"The person leading the meeting will lead the recitation of the oath with the words 'I swear!'. Everyone raises their right hand clenched into a fist and holds it at ear level, 10 centimeters away from the ear. After the oath is finished, the guide says 'The oath is finished!' and they all lower their right hand together," it said.

 

Document in Ziđin – 'testing the situation'

One of the employees of the Chinese parent company Ziđin, in the mine in Majdanpek, told RSE anonymously that he saw that document in the workplace several months ago.

He asked for identity protection so that he would not suffer consequences at the workplace due to public speaking.

"We assume that some bosses brought it. It happens, they leave you a piece of paper and don't say anything, so you read it," he says.

He says that after that no one approached them with a request to act according to those rules.

 

"I think it was an attempt to see how it would go. I read it with a colleague and said - there is nothing to this. It does not occur to me to greet (the superior), Chinese law cannot be enforced here," he says. .

The president of the Independent Trade Union of the Majdanpek Copper Mine, Goran Antić, confirmed that the document appeared in Ziđin, but that it had not been applied until now.

"It was accepted by the employer that it is not in accordance with our legislation and that it is not appropriate because we are neither a police nor a military formation," Antic told RSE.

He adds that sometimes a document appears in the company to "test the situation". According to him, the unions reacted by suggesting to the representatives of Ziđin that this was unacceptable.

However, as he states, he does not know what is happening in small companies whose workers also work in the Ziđin mine in Majdanpek, but they work in a separate part of the mine compared to the "Ziđin" workers.

 

RSE did not receive a response from the company Ziđin until the end of the work on this article regarding these claims and the document.

 

What did the inspection in Serbia find?

The Ministry of Labor in Serbia told RFE/RL, when asked about the workers' claims and the document, that on August 15, it carried out an inspection at the "Jinshan Construction" company in Majdanpek.

According to reports, the inspector took the statement of the deputy director of the company "Jinshan Construction" in which "each of the seven steps" from the document were explained.

According to the inspection, he stated in his statement that these rules are primarily aimed at "safe and healthy work of employees", "application of preventive measures", as well as "raising employees' awareness of the importance of safety and health at work".

The Ministry's response to RSE also states that it was explained to them that the seventh step - taking the oath - does not apply to Serbian citizens and that they can ignore it.

"This step never applied to Serbian citizens, but is only applied to Chinese citizens, who, by taking the oath, should remember the safety rules and promise to work in accordance with the rules," the answer states.

The response also states that the supervision was attended by managers of the company "Serbia Zijin Copper" who confirmed that the seventh step of the "Seven Rules" act (the oath) applies only to Chinese citizens and that this step "is in accordance with their work and safety culture ".

 

"Given the established factual situation, the conditions for taking measures within the scope of the labor inspection have not been met," he wrote at the end of the Ministry of Labor's response to RSE.

The Ministry also stated that at the time of the inspection, "Jinshan Construction" had a total of 414 employed Serbian citizens and 158 seconded Chinese citizens.

 

Working conditions in Chinese factories

RSE previously reported on cases of inadequate working conditions in the company "Jinshan Construction", owned by Ziđin.

 

Chinese workers at the "Jinshan Construction" company in Bor in eastern Serbia testified in January 2021 for RFE/RL that they face restrictions on movement and intimidation.

The workers then sent footage and photos from the camp to RFE/RL that illustrate very poor conditions, dirty toilets with claims that a large number of people use them.

In addition, several workers claimed that their employer does not allow them to leave the illegal camp where they are placed, as well as that they are forbidden to have contact with the population in Serbia.

 

The company "Jinshan Construction" owned by "Ziđin" then publicly denied the claims of the workers about the poor housing conditions and, as a reaction to the reporting by RSE, sent the media photos of better conditions than those the workers testified about.

Ziđin, by the way, manages the gold and copper mine in Majdanpek because at the end of 2018, that company took over the mining and smelting company Bor (RTB), which also includes the mine in Majdanpek. Before that, RTB Bor was state-owned.

In the same year, the case of Vietnamese workers engaged in the construction of the Chinese car tire factory "Linglong" in Zrenjanin in the north of Serbia attracted public attention in Serbia.

The workers were housed in the factory grounds, in barracks, and pictures from that illegal camp were published by the world media.

This case of Vietnamese workers also attracted the attention of international organizations for the protection of human rights due to the suspicion that these workers are victims of labor exploitation.

After the story was published in the media, the Vietnamese workers were evicted from the substandard shacks they were living in and transferred to a new location.

One of the Vietnamese workers confirmed to RFE/RL in November 2021 that the employer had returned the workers' passports.