A changing arena of industrial relations in China. What is happening after 1978
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425450810843366 |
| Published date | 04 January 2008 |
| Pages | 190-216 |
| Date | 04 January 2008 |
| Author | Kan Wang |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
A changing arena of industrial
relations in China
What is happening after 1978
Kan Wang
Renmin (People’s) University of China, Beijing, China
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the evolution of Chinese industrial relations after the
market reform of 1978, while basing its arguments and conclusion on analysis of the interactions of
key actors in the labour arena in China. The significant phenomena in the evolution of industrial
relations are the coming of transnational capital and the emergence of self-organising protests by
migrant workers.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a case study approach.
Findings – The Labour Contract Law and the local political economy experience strong effects from
TNCs and other business players. Meanwhile, globalisation has introduced the civil society movement
to China, which has given rise to an increasing number of NGOs working for labour rights. Tight
financial and technical connections between grassroots NGOs and international donor organisations
make it possible for bottom-up labour activities to counteract the unilateral influence of the state and
market over the Chinese workforce. Since the ACFTU, the official trade union umbrella, has many
institutional constraints to undertake a thorough transition towards labour in the near future, workers’
representation is diversified.
Originality/value – One implication for further theoretical studies is that tripartism cannot fully
disclose the reality of Chinese labour, and that labour representation derives from both unions and
self-organisation of workers, such as NGOs, which opens more room for the entrenchment of the
grassroots labour movement to sustain the balance of power among the state, ACFTU, firms,
international market forces and individual workers in the long term.
Keywords Industrial relations, Transnationalcompanies, Trade unions, China
Paper type General review
Introduction
Market reform has brought changes to the Chinese political economy, including the
retrenchment of the state and the creation of more room for development of the market
and civil actors. While withdrawal of the state is not without conditions, since the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP), along with its subordinate government, still has the
power of intervention, the state apparatus can no longer enjoy its previous unilateral
actions under a restructuring relationship involving the state, market, individuals and
their collectives, as well as the international community. Chinese industrial relations
are thus evolving a new political economic platform that is shifting away from a rigid
state-controlled environment to a flexible actor-negotiated arena, where tripartism
emerges but is developing with different aspects as compared to the visions of the
International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Western democratic nations.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
The author appreciates the support of the union Amicus and the Department of Human Resource
Management at the Business School of Strathclyde University, which led to the idea for and
composition of this article.
ER
30,2
190
Received 6 June 2007
Revised 23 July 2007
Accepted 25 July 2007
Employee Relations
Vol. 30 No. 2, 2008
pp. 190-216
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/01425450810843366
As global integration and domestic marketisation introduce new players to
transitional China, significant changes are taking place in industrial relations. It is that
believed Chinese society is under cleavage, due to the lack of an effective coordinating
mechanism for social elements, whose demands vary fundamentally and make social
management difficult (Sun, 2003, pp. 13-14). Moreover, diversification of interests leads
to conflicts among actors, which redefine their relationships with others and make
clearer boundaries around their territories. The boundary among classes is becoming
rigid, because of a renewed social monopoly and unbalanced welfare redistribution
(Sun, 2006, p. 23); an elite alliance at the top level is formed against the fragmentati on
or atomisation of disadvantaged individuals at the bottom level (Sun, 2006, pp. 19-20).
Resistance at the bottom escalates as the transition deepens and deprivation occurs.
Although the Confucian culture means the notion of rights in China mainly stems from
“membership”, instead of humanity (Nathan, 1986, p. 125), it is argued that rights
consciousness is not a “static” object but one that develops dynamically, following the
change in society (Pei, 2003, p. 26) as well as the rising burden of exploitation.
Being a disadvantaged group of industrial relations, workers, especially rural
migrant workers, are active in conducting resistant activities, ranging from legal
grievance complaints to class actions like wildcat strikes and street protests, so as to
claim their rights and interests. Since the Chinese social security system grants few
immediate material benefits or long-term livelihood guarantees for ordinary citizens,
labourers always have to save for themselves and there is less hesitation for workers to
pursue their interests, since they do not have to fear losing prospective gains from the
state welfare system.
The traditional labour movement in China was designed and guided under the strict
control of the ruling CCP, and the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), the
official union, only acts as a part of the labour administration to coordinate with the
state in supervising the workforce. Workers are thus excluded in the tripartite system
without real representation from ACFTU and end up in an atomised situation under
industrial relations (Taylor et al., 2003, p. 122). However, the traditional role of the
union is challenged by instability in the workplace and entrenchment of the civil
society movement in the labour field. As workers’ uprisings increase, Chinese labour
organisations are also under reconstruction, while ACFTU and emerging
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) related to labour both try to expand their
influence towards rural migrant workers and workers in foreign-invested as well as
privately owned enterprises.
Moreover, decentralisation during reform has strengthened the decision-making
power of local government and complicated the arena of industrial relations in China,
because there is sometimes a difference in interests between the central and local
administrations. ACFTU and its union branches are also affected, thanks to the dual
supervisory arrangement for regional trade unions, which receive direct work
guidance from ACFTU, but have their cadres’ performance assessment evaluated and
organisational incomes collected by local government.
There are different viewpoints in analysis of the circumstances. Based on the
authoritarian nature of the Chinese state, some scholars believe that a decentralised
state preserves its reign by allowing the local agents to predate local societies and
destablise the whole system as a result of over-exploitation and conflicts of interests
among agents (Pei, 2006, pp. 39-40, 44, 208). In the field of industrial relations,
disorganised despotism is experienced when the deprivation of workers transforms
from the central state to local actors, such as local governments and firms, and Chinese
Industrial
relations in
China
191
To continue reading
Request your trial