China's New Labour Contract Law: is China moving towards increased power for workers?

Wang, Haiyan; Appelbaum, Richard P.; Degiuli, Francesca; Lichtenstein, Nelson

doi:10.1080/01436590902742271

Cited by 86 publications

(76 citation statements)

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“…'Open and direct communication between employees and managers is the most efficient means to identify and resolve work problems and build a harmonious enterprise', stated a 2008 Foxconn company report, issued shortly after the passage of China's Labour Contract Law (Foxconn Technology Group, 2009: 16; for the requirements of the new law, see Gallagher and Dong, 2011;Wang et al, 2009;Ho, 2009;Chan, 2009). Yet, little known to the public, from 1988 through 2006, Foxconn, like many other foreign-invested enterprises, evaded its basic responsibilities and failed to set up a trade union to strengthen workers' communication with management.…”

Section: The Enterprise Union: In Defense Of Workers' Rights?mentioning

confidence: 99%

A suicide survivor: the life of a Chinese worker: The life of a Chinese worker

Chan¹

2017

Preprint

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In 2010, 18 employees working for Foxconn in China attempted suicide. These shocking events focused the world's attention on the manufacturing supply chains of China's export industry and the experience of working within them. What had driven these young, migrant, assembly line workers to commit such a desperate act? This article provides a first-hand account of the experiences of one of those who survived a suicide attempt, 17-year-old Tian Yu. Her personal narrative is embedded within the broader context of labour process, work organisation and managerial practice at Foxconn, the Taiwaneseowned multinational that provides products and components for Apple and others. The factory conditions are further shaped by the company trade union and Chinese government policies. The paper concludes with additional contextualisation indicating the emergence of an alliance of workers, students, scholars and transnational labour movement activists who are campaigning for Chinese workers' rights.

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Section: The Enterprise Union: In Defense Of Workers' Rights?mentioning

confidence: 99%

A suicide survivor: the life of a Chinese worker: The life of a Chinese worker

Chan¹

2017

Preprint

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“…Even though, India as a developing country rejects this evaluation, because India believes that in the context of developing country labour law has positives economic impact (Deakin et al, 2007). In the perception of developing countries, a study has found that China's labour law offers workers employment security and income protection (Wang et al, 2009). Moreover, according to Dev Raj Adhikari Dhruba Kumar Gautam (2010) labour law improve a quality life of worker and can play a substantial role in the context of developing country.…”

Section: Literature and Case Law Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compliance with Labour Law in the Fish Farming Industry in Bangladesh: an Empirical Analysis

Ferdous¹,

Bhattacharjee²

2018

FMIR

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Importance: Bangladesh fish farming sector contributes significantly to the national economy. But this industry is in global attention due to some key reasons. The welfare of labour in the fish farming sector has neglected because employers do not follow the existing labour law. They are abused in many aspects. As a result, its affected workers' mind, decrease work efficiency and reduce export market which has led to the loss of revenue in Bangladesh.Research Question: Thus, research question has set: a) Does application of labour law influence the fish farming workers' mind? b) To what extent have the Bangladesh labour law been executed in the fish farming industry in Bangladesh?Methodology: The 132 data collected through a structured questionnaire from fish farming workers in different fish cultivating farms in three specific areas in Bangladesh. A convenient sampling technique has followed for collecting data. Focus Group Discussion (FGD) conducted to capture the necessary qualitative information about workers perception which has not covered by the structured questionnaire. The survey conducted between

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“…Starting in the early 2000s, a series of policy initiatives sought to reduce inequality, including a reduction and then elimination in the agricultural tax, an increase in subsidies for rural health and education (Wang 2008, p. 23), and increased spending on pensions for urban residents (Frazier 2010). In 2007 the Labor Contract Law was passed against vociferous opposition from domestic and especially foreign capital that, among other things, aimed to enhance the stability of employment for long-time employees and required that all employees have labor contracts (Chan 2009;Cooney et al 2007;Wang et al 2009). Why then, in such an environment has labor conflict continued to rise quickly?…”

Section: A New Compromise?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Insurgency and institutionalization: the Polanyian countermovement and Chinese labor politics

Friedman

2013

Theor Soc

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Why is it that in the nearly 10 years since the Chinese central government began making symbolic and material moves towards class compromise that labor unrest has expanded greatly? In this article I reconfigure Karl Polanyi's theory of the countermovement to account for recent developments in Chinese labor politics. Specifically, I argue that countermovements must be broken down into two constituent but intertwined "moments": the insurgent moment that consists of spontaneous resistance to the market, and the institutional moment, when class compromise is established in the economic and political spheres. In China, the transition from insurgency to institutionalization has thus far been confounded by conditions of "appropriated representation," where the only worker organizations allowed to exist are those within the state-run All China Federation of Trade Unions. However, in drawing on two case studies of strikes in capital-intensive industries in Guangdong province, I show that the relationship between insurgency and institutionalization shifted between 2007 and 2010. Insurgency and institutionalization: the Polanyian countermovement and Chinese labor politics Eli Friedman Cornell UniversityAbstract Why is it that in the nearly 10 years since the Chinese central government began making symbolic and material moves towards class compromise that labor unrest has expanded greatly? In this article I reconfigure Karl Polanyi's theory of the coutermovement to account for recent developments in Chinese labor politics. Spe cifically, I argue that countermovements must be broken down into two constituent but intertwined "moments": the insurgent moment that consists of spontaneous resistance to the market, and the institutional moment, when class compromise is established in the economic and political spheres. In China, the transition from insurgency to institutionalization has thus far been confounded by conditions of "appropriated representation," where the only worker organizations allowed to exist are those within the state-run All China In this article, I argue that Karl Polanyi's (1944) theory of the countermovement is useful in understanding labor politics in contemporary China-but only to a point. Polanyi claims that an expansion of the self-regulating market, and in particular commodifiction of land, labor, and money, implies the pursuit of a "stark utopia." If followed to its logical conclusion, this economic program would imply the destruction of society and the biosphere. In this conceptualization of the problem, society's revolt against the self-regulating market is born of necessity, since otherwise the world would be destroyed. And such a theory seems to go a long way in explaining what has happened in China over the past 30 years. As market forces were unleashed, social upheavals resulting from the commodification of labor burst on the political scene. In what appeared to be a striking confirmation of Polanyian theory (Wang 2008), the state began to respond by slowing down market reforms and incre...

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China's New Labour Contract Law: is China moving towards increased power for workers?

Cited by 86 publications

References 0 publications

A suicide survivor: the life of a Chinese worker: The life of a Chinese worker

A suicide survivor: the life of a Chinese worker: The life of a Chinese worker

Compliance with Labour Law in the Fish Farming Industry in Bangladesh: an Empirical Analysis

Insurgency and institutionalization: the Polanyian countermovement and Chinese labor politics

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