Twenty-six work safety inspectors in Chongqing municipality have submitted a joint resignation letter to the local government because of their low salaries and heavy work load.

"It's difficult to support a family on such a poor salary, which is the main reason for our resignation," Ma Huayu, safety supervision office director in Shihao town, Chongqing's Qi Jiang county, told China Daily yesterday.

Every inspector except one in Ma's office jointly submitted the resignation letter to the county and town government last week, he said.

The average inspector's month salary is 1,200 yuan ($175), but they are also required to pay about 200 yuan in mobile phone bills as they are asked to keep their phone on 24 hours a day to deal with business calls.

The inspectors have complained about huge phone bills several times, but the issue has not been resolved.

Although these 26 inspectors were not employed as civil servants in the office - 12 are temporary workers and 14 are loaned personnel - they have been performing the duties of civil servants for years.

"Local civil servants' income is twice as much as ours, which is quite unfair," Ma said.

"We hope the mass resignation will make the county government raise our salaries or employ us as civil servants," he said.

Inspectors are required to work overtime on weekends and holidays, but overtime pay is just 30 yuan per person per day.

County and town officials were expected to meet last night to discuss the issue and then release a statement today.

Ma said inspectors will keep working while waiting for the government's reply.

The safety supervision office in Shihao town has a very heavy work load. Besides supervising 17 local coal mines, they are responsible for monitoring geologic hazards and dangerous biochemical goods.

However, there was confusion about the mass resignation at the county government yesterday.

Press office director Zhang Lili told China Daily that Ma's request for a job transfer had been misunderstood as a resignation. "There is no mass resignation in the office," she said.

The county work safety supervision bureau was also unaware of the matter, a bureau official told China Daily.

In May, 48 work safety inspectors tendered their resignations over fears that they "cannot meet the tough rules" laid out for the coal-mining industry of Lianyuan city in Hunan province.

They eventually returned to work after being persuaded by local authorities.

(China Daily July 21, 2009)