Railroad workers protest pension payout shortfalls in Harbin

Over a thousand employees and retirees protested in front of the Harbin Railway Bureau for two days after workers discovered their employers had not made required pension payments from 1986 to 1994, Caixin reported. As a result of the failure to pay, retirees were getting half of what their pension plan was supposed to guarantee each month. The workers demanded the bureau make up the difference as well as other benefits that had not been paid in years, such as an annual allowance to cover heating during the notoriously frigid province’s winters. For more on China’s troubled pension program, see CER’s in-depth report.