The Developing Role of Unions in China's Foreign‐Invested Enterprises
| Author | Michelle S. Luo,Andy W. Chan,Yujuan Zhai,Ed Snape |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12218 |
| Date | 01 September 2017 |
| Published date | 01 September 2017 |
British Journal of Industrial Relations doi: 10.1111/bjir.12218
55:3 September 2017 0007–1080 pp. 602–625
The Developing Role of Unions
in China’s Foreign-Invested Enterprises
Andy W. Chan, Ed Snape, Michelle S. Luo
and Yujuan Zhai
Abstract
This article evaluates the development of Chinese enterprise unions, drawing
on case-study evidence from foreign-invested enterprises in the Pearl River
Delta. Findings suggest that it was dicult for such employers to resist the
establishment of an enterprise union. However, they generally sought to co-opt
the union to meet organizational needs. Management strategy was critical in
shaping the union’s role, and our evidence suggests that this was influenced by
factors such as home-country policies, the expectations of overseas customers,
management ideology and pressures from the ACFTU and the Party-State to
comply with the requirement for a union. The implications for the role of unions
are evaluated.
1. Introduction
‘The ACFTU does havea mandate to protect workers’ rights and interests but this
has been consistently subordinated to the need to maintain social stability and to
bolster the political legitimacy of the Communist Party’ (China Labour Bulletin
2009: 33).
‘Labor unions in China havemade major progress in recent years’ (Yao and Zhong
2013: 633).
China’s market reforms have called into question the traditional ‘dual role’
of unions, whereby they served the interests of the state, maintaining labour
discipline and improving productivity, as well as serving their members (Chen
2003). This involveda subordination of worker interests to the priorities of the
State, with the latter meeting workers’ needs through paternalist policies. As
the State has retreated from this role and as the state-owned enterprise sector
Andy W. Chan is at The Hong Kong PolytechnicUniversity, Ed Snape and Michelle S. Luo are
at Hong KongBaptist University, and YujuanZhai is at Shenzhen University.
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2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Unions in China’s Foreign-Invested Enterprises 603
has contracted, the conflict of interest between employers and employees
has become more apparent, and the State has recognized that the ocial
unions need to do more to protect workers’ rights and maintain social stability
(Howell 2008: 847; Liu 2010: 34). This has coincided with labour shortages
that increase workers’ bargaining power, and with calls from the Chinese
media, public opinion and international agencies for more to be done about
labour rights. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is now
placing a stronger emphasis on organizing enterprise unions in privately
owned and foreign-invested enterprises (ACFTU 2010).
This article contributes to debates about the role of China’s enterprise
unions in this context. While econometric studies suggest that enterprise
unions are having an impact on workers’ welfare (Ge 2007; Lu et al. 2010;
Wang and Nie 2012; Yao and Zhong 2013), this is at odds with the long-
established view that Chinese unions do not represent the interests of their
members (e.g. Metcalf and Li 2005; Taylor and Li 2007). Furthermore, the
econometric studies do not assess the detailed development of enterprise
unions, nor how managers, union leaders and workers view this. Our aim
is to address these gaps in our understanding. Drawing on case studies, we
provide fine-grained evidence on developmentsin union representation at the
enterprise level. Wefocus on three questions: First, what role do management
strategies play in union organizing, and what factors influence this? Second,
what are the implications for the development and role of enterprise unions,
and how is this perceived by those involved? Third, what are the implications
for possible future models for Chinese unions? We focus on foreign-invested
enterprises in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), one of the key export-processing
zones. This grounds our findings in a sector at the forefront of economic
development, of the rise in labour turnover and industrial disputes and of
union organizing (Friedman and Kuruvilla 2015).
2. Background and prior literature
The Changing System of Industrial Relations
A recent review concludes that in responding to the challenges of market
reform, the Chinese State has initiated an ‘experimental, gradualist and
decentralized approach to reform of the system of laborrelations’ (Friedman
and Kuruvilla 2015: 182). Regional government, employers and union
organizations have sought to strengthen workers’ rights and promote
collective negotiations, aiming to institutionalize conflict and ensure social
stability.
The ACFTU is seeking to organize workplaces and has experimented
with more open elections of enterprise union leaders (ACFTU 2008;
Howell 2008), while the implementation of collective contracts opens up
the possibility of collective bargaining (ACFTU 2007; Lee et al. 2016;
Pringle 2011). Government and local labour bureau have been pushing for
the implementation of the 2008 Labour Contract Law, which strengthens
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2016 John Wiley& Sons Ltd.
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