Steel bars are manufactured from a blast furnace at an iron and steel factory. Takeovers in the steel industry are provoking many worker protests. (China Photos/Getty Images)
It was the second time in less than a month that workers have been able to halt the privatisation of a Chinese steel plant as Beijing tries to overhaul the sprawling and inefficiently run industry.
Last month, a crowd assaulted and killed an executive who was managing the acquisition of state-owned Tonghua Steel in northeast Jilin province.
The latest protest was in central Henan province, where workers at state-owned Linzhou Steel Corporation opposed a proposed take-over by Fengbao Iron & Steel Co. Ltd, a private firm, the communist mouthpiece, Xinhua news agency reported.
The demonstration began on Tuesday and only ended on Saturday after a government mediation team promised to temporarily call off the deal, Xinhua said.
The workers demanded higher compensation for those who had lost jobs as well as unpaid wages over the course of the restructuring of Linzhou Steel, which began in August 2008. the news agency said.
Linzhou Steel, established in 1969, has 5,122 workers and pensioners on its regular payroll, of whom 2,995 were still working, according to Xinhua. The plant produces roughly 400,000 tonnes of pig iron and 100,000 tonnes of cement a year.
