From hutong to horizon: a study of the transformation of labour NGOs in China
| Date | 15 August 2023 |
| Pages | 957-973 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-01-2023-0051 |
| Published date | 15 August 2023 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
| Author | Ao Zhou,Stephen B. Blumenfeld |
From hutong to horizon: a study
of the transformation of labour
NGOs in China
Ao Zhou and Stephen B. Blumenfeld
School of Management, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
Abstract
Purpose –This study examines the transformation of labour non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
operating in Mainland China since the enactment of the 2017 Overseas NGO Management Law, which aims to
regulate foreign concerns functioning outside the direct control of the state. It focuses on the extent to which
these organisations have responded to the rapidly changing political and social environment by altering their
goals and strategies in support of migrant workers. It also considers the relevance of Western social movement
theories (SMTs) to China’s grassroots labour movement in the 2020s.
Design/methodology/approach –The research is based on case studies of ten labour NGOs operating in
Beijing, Tianjin and Yunnan. It draws upon fifteen semi-structured interviews with the founders, leaders and
activists affiliated with those organisations, as well as records and documented information of each of those
organisations.
Findings –While the power and influence of labour NGOs markedly diminished, most have been able to adapt
their goals and the strategies remain sustainable amidst both China’s changing political and social climates and
the global pandemic. It suggests that conventional SMTs can still offer valuable insights into understanding
the development of labour NGOs in China, although they might not fully interpret the specific conditions and
challenges faced by these organisations.
Originality/value –This study stands out as one of very few to offer empirical evidence on the inner
workings of China’s labour NGOs over the last six years. It also contributes to our understanding of social
movements in a non-Western context.
Keywords China, Labour movement, Labour organising, Labour NGO, Social movement
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Much of China’s economicsuccess overthe past 4 decades is attributableto its increasing rolein
the global economy, following thereform and “opening”during the 1970s. In that time, rural-
urbanmigrant workers (migrantworkers) have formedthe backbone of the country’semergent
urban workforce (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2020). As unskilled, recententrants to
theurban labour market,these workersare frequentlyexposed to harshworking conditionsand
flagrant denial of their labour rights. These include unpaid wages, excessive working hours,
forcedovertime and a varietyof occupationalhealth and safety hazardsin industriesor regions
where the country’s labour laws either do not apply or are poorly enforced (Zhang and Wu,
2017). Exacerbating the problems these 280 million workers face is a lack of or, where it
ostensibly exists, the ineffectiveness of formal union representation (Howell and Pringle, 2019).
Tellingly, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) only officially recognised and lawful
representative of workers’interests, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU),
continues to function as an arm of the state (Taylor and Li, 2007). Thus, despite growing
pressures to protect workers’interests and rights in the workplace and efforts by local
government officials to promote collective bargaining, industrial action is seldom sanctioned.
The
transformation
of labour NGOs
in China
957
This paper forms a part of the special section “China’s Labour Relations in a New Era of 2020s and
Beyond”, guest edited by Drs. Kan Wang and Dong Yan.
The authors are grateful to the research participants, who often took considerable risks in sharing
their knowledge and experience. The authors further wish to thank Dr Kan Wang (CULR) and Prof
Zuping Zhao (CULR) for their assistance in gaining access to those research participants.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0142-5455.htm
Received 31 January 2023
Revised 17 April 2023
26 June 2023
26 July 2023
Accepted 26 July 2023
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 46 No. 5, 2024
pp. 957-973
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-01-2023-0051
Instead, effective employee voice in China is largely manifest through ad hoc, grassroots
worker-led campaigns (Chan and Hui, 2013;Chen and Yang, 2017;Hui, 2021). This has
afforded an opportunity for labour non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to gain a
foothold in Mainland China.
Since their emergence in the Chinese mainland during the 1990s, labour NGOs have
functioned as de facto representative bodies committed to safeguarding the rights of
marginalised workers, mainly rural-urban migrants (Friedman and Lee, 2010). Yet, the 2017
Law on Managementof Activities of Overseas NGOs in MainlandChina (2017 NGO Law) has
considerablylimited foreign support forall NGOs operating inside the country.Owing to their
longstandingreliance on foreignsponsorship and financialsupport, China’s labour NGOs hav e
been profoundlyaffected by that legislation(Holbig and Lang, 2021). Unsurprisingly, since the
enactmentof the NGO Law in January 2017, many of those organisations have been compelled
to reassess their role as de facto tradeunions and guardians of workers’rights.
With increased sensitivity to the government’s restrictive approach to these organisations
(Franceschini and Nesossi, 2018;Fu and Distelhorst, 2018), there is growing reluctance
among scholars to engage with labour NGOs (Kuruvilla, 2018;Fuchs et al., 2019). That
hesitance notwithstanding, previous studies have mostly overlooked the crucial element of
goals and strategies in the development of labour movements (Alinsky, 1971;Tai, 2015).
Instead, researchers have focused on the contextual factors and external opportunities and
challenges that impact the successful achievement of these NGOs’goals (Franceschini, 2014;
Howell and Pringle, 2019). Consequently, little is known about the goals and strategic
changes of China’s labour NGOs in representing workers since the 2017 NGO Law. This
study aims to address this research gap.
Other scholars have applied social movements theories (SMTs) developed in the West to
explain China’s nascent labour movements (Lin, 2020). However, they neglect to consider
that, given the country’s changing political climates and unique industrial relations, Western
SMTs might not fully capture the inherent distinctions in China’s labour NGO-led labour
movement, especially after 2017 (Hui, 2022;Lin, 2020).
This study examines the goals and strategies of labour NGOs in Mainland China before
and after 2017, focussing on their efforts in mobilising rural-urban migrant workers.
It comprises case studies of ten labour NGOs based in Beijing, Tianjin, and Yunnan. Data
primarily derive from fifteen semi-structured interviews with these organisations’founders,
leaders, and activists, all conducted just before the global pandemic. Supplementary data
from policy documents and secondary literature were used to assess the impact of Covid-19
and the Chinese government’s pandemic response on these organisations’representation of
migrant workers’interests. Findings suggest that, while conventional SMTs provide
valuable insights into the growth of labour NGOs in China, they may not fully explain the
specific circumstances and challenges these organisations have faced since 2017.
2. Importance of goals and strategies to understanding China’s labour NGOs
Previous studies of Chinese labour NGOs have largely ignored the fact the establishment of
goals and implementation of strategies in pursuit of those goals is vital to the success of social
movements (Alinsky, 1971). Instead, their emphasis has been on the exogenous opportunities
and challenges impose on the successful achievement of goals (Franceschini, 2014;Howell
and Pringle, 2019). In general, however, capacity indicators, which can vary among registered
NGOs, fall short in accurately assessing effectiveness. For instance, despite that achieving
political and social transformation may seem ideal for this purpose, it overlooks the practical
limitations of such objectives for these organisations, most important being that their leaders
typically do not view this as their raison d’etre. Indicators like accountability and public
legitimacy also have subjective elements that limit their capturing of overall effectiveness.
ER
46,5
958
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