Former employee Wu Lijuan from the Qianjiang Branch of Hubei Industrial and Commercial Bank was forced to be laid off 22 years ago and has been fighting for her rights ever since as she was not properly resettled. She has been considered a key figure by the authorities and has been restricted from leaving Hubei province for an extended period. An informant, Liu Fei, stated that Wu Lijuan’s demands are simple – she hopes to resolve the issues of having support for the elderly and medical care for the sick.
In 1987, Wu Lijuan started working at the Qianjiang Branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank, but in July 2004, the branch forced her to be laid off. She believed that her rights protected by the Labor Law were violated. “She was forced to be laid off, she did not agree to a buyout by signing, nor did she receive the 18,000 yuan offered by the bank. It has been 22 years since she was laid off, and she has not been able to afford to pay for pension and medical insurance.”
Wu Lijuan had tried to protect her labor rights through labor arbitration and civil litigation, but she did not receive a lawful arbitration or judgment, so she had to resort to petitioning to protect her rights. During this period, she had submitted appeals multiple times as requested by the Municipal Political and Legal Affairs Commission, petition system, and bank leadership, but the problem remained unresolved.
Throughout nearly 20 years of fighting for her rights, Wu Lijuan had organized collective rights protection actions for laid-off employees of the four major banks multiple times, speaking out for others and assisting in rights protection. As a result, she faced retaliation from the authorities, having been detained three times on criminal charges, five times on administrative detentions, and sentenced to one year of re-education through labor. She was detained in a black jail, where she suffered abuse and beatings, resulting in a wrist injury that did not receive timely treatment, leaving her permanently disabled.
During her detention at the Qianjiang Detention Center, she was subjected to torture and persecution. Several individuals bound her to a tiger bench, immobilizing her hands and feet with yellow tape and handcuffs, depriving her of food.
Liu Fei mentioned that what started as a small labor dispute has now escalated into many issues. “One case has led to a whole bunch of cases, snowballing.”
According to Liu Fei, from around 1999 to 2006, a large number of employees of the Industrial and Commercial Bank were laid off one after another, with many becoming sacrifices of the reform. “The Industrial and Commercial Bank is so large, the workers have dedicated their youth and sweat. They (officials) have gained the dividends of reform, while the laid-off workers have become sacrifices of reform.”
When contacted, the Qianjiang Branch of Hubei Industrial and Commercial Bank did not answer the phone.
Liu Fei mentioned that based on regular work age calculations, after retirement, they should receive around 4,000 yuan in pension. Yet now they have no support for the elderly and no medical care. Due to her persistence in fighting for her rights, Wu Lijuan has also become a key figure in the so-called “key petitioners” in Hubei province, restricted from leaving the province, with stability maintenance personnel monitoring her extensively.
Liu Fei hopes that the authorities will pay attention to this group of laid-off workers. “We are all facing aging, with no support for the elderly and no medical care. Our current demand is to solve the retirement process in a reasonable and legal manner, and all compensation should be settled at once.”