RS29F Labour unrest in China (2003)

2009

METU Studies in Development, 2019

This paper puts forward three arguments regarding the nature and consequences of China's rising labor unrest. Firstly, China's rapid economic growth in the reform era was made possible by a large reserve army of labor, consisting mainly of semi-proletarianized migrant workers from the countryside. Secondly, the deepening proletarianization of and discrimination against migrant workers in recent years has led to a significant increase in labor movements. Finally, rising labor unrest has resulted in significant wage increases, the relative formalization of labor, and a significant decline in profitability.

Journal of Labor and Society, 2018

This edited volume "The Emerging Industrial Relations of China" is an important piece of scholarship that presents some of the cutting edge research of Chinese labor studies. The majority of the contributors are China-based, working and researching directly within the field. What sort of industrial relations are emerging in China? This is the central question the editors and contributors seek to address, with a particular focus on the institution building to protect workers' interests and manage industrial disputes by collective responses since the passing of the Labor Contract law in 2008. Although there are nuanced views from the contributors and editors, overall the volume asserts that the piecemeal reforms of the Chinese industrial relations hinged on the state-led unions can provide some nontraditional but effective ways to represent and defend workers' interests. Not everyone may agree with the initial optimism of this volume toward the Chinese labor movement presided over by the increasingly authoritarian state. Nonetheless, this book provides plenty of food for thought, other than what we have read in the Anglo-American literature. The book's pluralist approach adopts a variety of theoretical frameworks besides institutional analysis, such as liberal labor market theory (Heery, 2016), structural and associational power (Silver, 2003), mobilization theory (McAdam, 1988), and so on. It draws on substantial and original field studies in China's labor scene, which has increasingly become a forbidden zone for foreign scholars. Independent surveys with a large number of samples are used to provide insight into the state of Chinese industrial relations, for instance, the Institute of Labour Studies survey 2013, by Remin University of China. In what follows, I would briefly highlight the kernel of argument in the chapters. Chapters 1-3 set the theoretical framework of the book with some broad perspective analysis of Chinese industrial relations by the editors. In Chapter 1 introduction, Brown draws mostly from the western liberal theories of industrial relations to provide a basis for the following chapters. These theories see industrial relations as one between employers and employees. This sets the book apart from other theoretical approaches, such as Marxism focusing on capital-labor relations, and Feminism emphasizing gender relations and social reproduction. Brown sees collective bargaining as the central role in maintaining harmonious relationships between the employers and workers. From this way of framing, the challenges faced by the Chinese workers, with an ambiguous and weak role played by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), are not unique. While the ACFTU's status is problematic, often detached from the mass of workers (p. 64), trade unionism also has been on the decline in the West generally, particularly among the private sectors. However, this liberal framework has its limits in the context of the developing world, especially China, as Brown admits that the latter has far more extreme challenges than the West (p. 17). In Chapters 2 and 3, the editors seek to survey the landscape of Chinese industrial relations in a broad perspective. Chapter 2 provides some fascinating insights into the conservatism among some Chinese academics and party officials toward labor issues during China's transition to market economy. The debate between "Shanghai School" and "Beijing School" shows that some Chinese scholars saw labor rights legislation was "excessive protection for workers" (p. 27). The case of

2012

… We have also drawn on discussions with scores of Chinese academic experts and government and union officials, to whom we are extremely grateful. We have also had valuable research assistance from Zhu Han, LL.M., NYU School of Law, 2010. All opinions, assessments, and errors are our own.

In the Western press, there regularly have been reports about the plight of Chinese paid a pittance for working long hours making products for export 1 . The reports are accurate, and in fact, in a great many factories labour standards have continued to decline. But there are new developments in the labour arena that herald change. The formerly vast pool of impoverished workers from the countryside has begun drying up, as increasing numbers consider it not worthwhile to migrate from their villages. Western multinationals have devised "corporate codes of conduct" setting a floor for labour standards and, under pressure from the international antisweatshop movement, are seeking to enforce the codes in the Chinese factories that produce goods bearing their brands. The Chinese Federation of Trade Unions has mounted new efforts to establish union branches in foreign-run enterprises, and has begun organising enterprise-level trade-union elections in state-owned enterprises. These and the several other important developments, which will be examined in this paper are still just emerging. Tracking them helps us see what may lie ahead in the coming decade in Chinese labour relations.

Over the past decade, the industrial relations system in China has made the country an attractive destination for global corporations due to its low wage rates, restrictive labour laws and the nonrecognition of independent trade unions and the right to strike. This has been the result of a unique industrial legacy of a praetorian political system coupled with the astigmatic ideology of a highly centralised political system dominated by a single party. This is all changing and changing quickly.

Intro to a special issue of South Atlantic Quarterly on Apple. Foxconn, and the labor protest in China

Labor Problems and Workers Strikes in 20th Century China, 2019

Nowadays people all around the world talk about China’s rising power and its economic miracle. Hundreds of discussions rose up questioning if China can beat the USA and become the World‘s leading country. Former director of Harvard’s Belfer Center and political scientist Graham Allison in his recent performance on the TED Conference stage was discussing actually a hot topic - “Is war between China and US inevitable?”. Saying how China is powerful, he mentioned one interesting comparison case of building Sanyuan Bridge in Beijing and Harvard Anderson Memorial Bridge in Boston. He was amazed by the fact that the bridge in China was totally renewed by hardworking men in 46 hours, while the same amount of work in Boston has been done in 48 months. Also following my interest in China, I talk to many people from different backgrounds asking what the reason for China’s rapid developing might be in their opinion. Mostly they do mention hard-working Chinese labor, telling about the cheap working class and how fast are they in a working process. That made me to choose this topic as my final paper and deepen into it further. Thus, doing my research, I have realized that Chinese labor has been influential in the developing of the country since the ​early 20th century.

Labour activism has undergone significant transformation in China over the last decade. Between the mid-2000s and mid-2010s, an increase in labour protests seemed to herald a growing and more self-confident labour movement. A series of high-profile collective actions that took place in the early 2010s brought forward a time of renewed optimism, during which the public debate on Chinese labour came to be dominated by the idea of China’s workers ‘awakening’ and taking their fate into their own hands. Far from the optimism of those years, today the effects of economic slowdown and the tightening of civil society have thrown China’s workers into a state of uncertainty and disorientation, and the Chinese labour movement has once again found itself at an impasse. This issue of Made in China takes a look at the current conjuncture.