A protest launched by retired workers with a central China water project contractor has lasted for six days as of Saturday, and the company has yet to reach an agreement with the protestors claiming that they have been treated unfairly in terms of retirement pay.

The traffic blocked by the former employees of the Gezhouba Group, a major contractor for the Three Gorges Project in the city of Yichang, Hubei province, resumed on Saturday with the help of more than 600 local policemen.

Since modest measures such as persuasion and using cordons to maintain order on the main streets were adopted by the police, no conflicts or unrest occurred, according to Deng Huilin, director of the local public security bureau.

However, the protestors who refused to leave insisted on demanding hikes in their pension payments.

The retirees complained that their pension payments had not been calculated fairly. Sources with the company said employees who retired before 2006 receive a monthly payment of around 1,500 yuan (238 U.S. dollars), while those who retired after 2006 enjoy a monthly payment of over 3,000 yuan.

The protestors, mostly aged between 60 and 70, have also complained about unreasonable terms in the company's medical care policy and excessive water and electricity fees charged by the company.

Gezhouba Group said that they considered the protest was organized. It held a meeting Thursday, and invited 60 representatives for the retired workers to engage in talks.

The representatives demanded that pension subsidies agreed upon by the company on Monday be given to them in March.

However, the company insisted that the money could be delivered before the end of July.

Jing Yanzhang, general manager of Gezhouba Group, said the company will do its best to meet the retired workers' reasonable demands.

"But it is very hard to solve all the problems raised by the retirees before the end of March," Jing said, noting that there are more than 35,000 retirees.

Headquartered in Yichang, the Gezhouba Group was the sole contractor of the Gezhouba Project, which built the first dam on the Yangtze River.

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