ANYANG, Henan: Workers at a state-owned steel mill in Anyang, where authorities ended the takeover of their plant by a private firm after a five-day protest, yesterday urged for the election of their own representatives to negotiate with the local government.

An official group responsible for the restructuring of Linzhou Iron and Steel held meetings with the company’s middle management at a discreet location yesterday, asking them to probe workers’ attitudes toward the takeover.

The workers, who claimed to have not learned the news, said their attitude has always been clear. It was, after all, Fengbao Iron & Steel’s planned purchase of their enterprise after an auction last month at a price 64 million yuan less than the initial bid that led to the protest, a senior employee said.

They ended the protest only after provincial leaders who arrived at the plant promised on early Saturday to suspend Fengbao’s takeover.

Linzhou Steel's deputy general manager Cai Xinjie told China Daily that the government group tried to hold a meeting with their middle management on Sunday, but failed.

“We couldn’t find enough of them,” he said. “I don’t know where people went.”

The official group, led by Sheng Guomin, deputy Party chief of Puyang city, was not available for comment. Linzhou Steel is in Anyang, but authorities in Puyang, which was formed from part of Anyang, administer its operations.

While Cai insisted that the official probe is still at an initial stage and “will take time” before soliciting opinion from the ordinary employees, the workers demanded direct meetings with the group with representatives of their own.

“It was we the working people who stood up, fought for Linzhou Steel and got it back. We should be there at the meetings,” a senior accountant with the company told China Daily. She refused to disclose her name.

“How are these cadres who tried to sell the company off capable of representing us in meetings with the government?” she asked.

“Not one of them stood up when we were out there fighting for Linzhou Steel. Now that the fruits are ripe, here they are, trying to represent us.”

Linzhou Steel’s labor union chairman Guo Jianjun told China Daily the number of workers’ representatives stands at around 170.

“We’ve managed to keep the proportion of grassroots workers among these representatives in line with state regulations. But some retired in recent years; others left. So now, we may be having a few more managers as representatives than in the past,” he said.

“The workers’ attitude now may be somewhat inappropriate. After all, it was they who recommended these people to be their representatives,” Guo said.

The workers, meanwhile, insisted that they never had any say in elections.

The Linzhou Steel restructuring plans, dated May 31, cited the strong wills of its employees as the main reason for privatization.

The workers claim they never wanted violence. “We’ve all been compelled to come this far,” said Fu Linxue, a Linzhou Steel guard for 16 years.

On Thursday night, day three of the protest, local police cut off all phone signals around the factory, triggering workers to smash two government cars inside the compound.

Cai, speaking on behalf of Linzhou Steel management, said he doesn’t know who blocked the signals.

“We don’t trust them anymore. This has been going on for too long. They’ve lost our trust,” said Wang Mingxian, 39. He has been working at the factory for 21 years and earns about 800 yuan a month.

A banner outside the compound read: “Learn from the Tonghua steelworkers. The 40 years of wealth accumulation is not up for grabs.”

Linzhou Steel’s auction was held on the same day when a protest against private takeover erupted at a steel factory in Tonghua city of Jilin province, where workers beat the newly appointed general manager to death.

Workers said they were left in the dark of a deal that was about to see Jianlong, a large private steelmaker, take control of Tonghua by increasing its stake in the plant to 65 percent from 36 percent.

The incident has forced Jianlong to terminate its merger plans and reshuffle the leadership of Tonghua.

On Friday, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions said workers’ representatives must be involved in corporate restructuring plans.

“Any layoff and resettlement plans as well as relevant issues related to the workers’ interests are not to be implemented if they were not passed by these meetings,” the federation said in a circular.