Chinese Workers in Comparative Perspective

Anita Chan (Editor)

Description

As the "world's factory" China exerts an enormous pressure on workers around the world. Many nations have had to adjust to a new global political and economic reality, and so has China. Its workers and its official trade union federation have had to contend with rapid changes in industrial relations. Anita Chan argues that Chinese labor is too often viewed from a prism of exceptionalism and too rarely examined comparatively, even though valuable insights can be derived by analyzing China's workforce and labor relations side by side with the systems of other nations. The contributors to Chinese Workers in Comparative Perspective compare labor issues in China with those in the United States, Australia, Japan, India, Pakistan, Germany, Russia, Vietnam, and Taiwan. They also draw contrasts among different types of workplaces within China. The chapters address labor regimes and standards, describe efforts to reshape industrial relations to improve the circumstances of workers, and compare historical and structural developments in China and other industrial relations systems.

Sujets

• Employabilité, métiers et formations
• Sociology
• Industrial relations
• Labour economics
• History of Asia
• China

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 21 mai 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801455865
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

CHINESE WORKERS IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

CHINESE WORKERS IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Edited by Anita Chan

ILR PRESS AN IMPRINT OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESSITHACA AND LONDON

Copyright © 2015 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2015 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2015

Printed in the United States of America

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Chinese workers in comparative perspective / edited by Anita Chan.  pages cm  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 9780801453496 (cloth : alk. paper) —  ISBN 9780801479939 (pbk. : alk. paper)  1. Industrial relations—China. 2. Employee rights—China. 3. Labor market— China. 4. Comparative industrial relations. I. Chan, Anita, editor. II. Lüthje, Boy. Exporting corporatism.  HD8736.5.C467 2015  331.10951—dc23 2014038200

Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Paperback printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

Par t I

Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction: The Fallacy of Chinese Exceptionalism Anita Chan

HISTORICAL AND STRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENTS 1.  Exporting Corporatism? German and Japanese Transnationals’ Regimes of Production in China Boy Lüthje 2.  Globalization and Labor in China and the United States: Convergence and Divergence Mingwei Liu, Frederick Scott Bentley, Mary Huong Thi Evans, and Susan J. Schurman

Par t II LABOR STANDARDS 3.  Recomposing Chinese Migrant and StateSector Workers Kevin Lin 4.  Industrial Upgrading and Work: The Impact of Industrial Transformation on Labor in Guangdong’s Garment and IT Industries Florian Butollo  5.  The Working and Living Conditions of Garment Workers in China and Vietnam: A Comparative Study Kaxton Siu 6.  Race to the Bottom: The Soccer Ball Industry in China, Pakistan, and India Anita Chan, Hong Xue, Peter LundThomsen, Khalid Nadvi, and Navjote Khara

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1

21

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85

105

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viCONTENTS

Par t III TRADE UNIONS, COLLECTIVE BARGAINING, AND THE RIGHT TO STRIKE 7.  Labor NGOs under State Corporatism: Comparing China since the 1990s with Taiwan in the 1980s Chris Kingchi Chan and Yubin Chiu 157 8.  One Step Forward: Collective Bargaining Experiments in Vietnam and China Katie Quan 174 9.  Creating a Right to Strike in China: Some Lessons from the Australian Experience Thomas Nice and Sean Cooney 193 10.  Trade Union Reform in Russia and China: Harmony, Partnership, and Power from Below Tim Pringle 210

Notes Contributors Index

235 267 271

Acknowledgments

Analyzing labor conditions comparatively can elicit insights. In the study of Chi nese factory labor the focus has been almost entirely on China itself, with scant reference or comparison to workers and work conditions in other countries. The aim of this book is to open up this wider window and through that gain new per spectives that will enable us to better understand the changes underway in China. The opportunity came when the China Research Centre, University of Tech nology, Sydney (UTS), developed a program to fund an annual international con ference. I took on the responsibility to organize the conference Chinese Workers in Comparative Perspective in November 2011. The chapters collected in this book are based on papers originally presented at the conference by scholars from four continents who specialize in Chinese labor. Thanks are due to Claire Moore for taking care of the logistics of the conference; Richard Appelbaum for reading the manuscript and providing valuable suggestions to authors; Dayaneetha de Silva for editing the entire manuscript before its submission to ILR Press; Katy Meigs for copyediting for Cornell University Press; the Faculty of Arts and Social Science, UTS, for underwriting part of the publication costs; and finally to Fran ces Benson, editorial director of ILR Press, for her unfailing support in enhancing the quality of the manuscript and getting it published.

vii

Abbreviations

ACFTU AllChina Federation of Trade Unions AFLCIO American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations CBA collective bargaining agreement CCP Chinese Communist Party CFL China Federation of Labor CPI consumer price index CSR corporate social responsibility FDI foreign direct investment FIE foreigninvested enterprises FNPR Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia GDFTU Guangdong Provincial Federation of Trade Unions GDP gross domestic product GZFTU Guangzhou Federation of Trade Unions HCMC Ho Chi Minh City ICJLR International Center for Joint Labor Research ILO International Labor Organization IR industrial relations ITUC International Trade Union Confederation JV joint venture KMT Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) LNGO labor nongovernmental organization MOLISA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs NBS National Bureau of Statistics of China NGO nongovernmental organization OEM originalequipment manufacturer PRC People’s Republic of China PRD Pearl River Delta SASAC StateOwned Asset Supervision and Administration Committee SFTU Shenzhen Federation of Trade Unions SMEs small and mediumsized enterprises SOE stateowned enterprise SWC staff and workers’ congress

ix