Defending workers' rights on social media: Chinese seafarers during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

This paper explores the power dynamics in the process of Chinese seafarers' labour rights defence activities on social media during the crew change crisis caused by the COVID‐19 pandemic. It shows that while exercising symbolic power is at the core of such activities, the effectiveness of symbolic power depends on the networking/distributing power of hub nodes and associational power of the maritime community to help generate visibility. The hub nodes, however, are subject to tight control in China, and as such, their ability to deploy networking/distributing power is constrained. This suggests that worker power is conditioned by sociopolitical factors.

Moral mobilization in the digital space: Seafarers exercising agency during the pandemic

“…WeChat supports three types of social networks (Harwit, 2017; Tang, 2022a; Tu, 2016): WeChat friends networks, WeChat groups and WeChat public accounts. A friend network consists of bilateral relationships that a user maintains on WeChat.…”

Fatigue during the COVID-19 pandemic: The experiences of Chinese seafarers

“…For example, when Chinese seafarers signed off a ship in a foreign country, they had to endure two to three weeks of hotel quarantine in the foreign country before being allowed to board a plane back to China, and when they arrived in China, they had to endure another two to four weeks of hotel quarantine in the city of landing before being allowed to go home. Furthermore, in many cases, crew changes between Chinese seafarers were not allowed in Chinese ports by the local authorities [33] , and as a result, many seafarers were forced to extend their sailing contracts. Compared with seafarers of other nationalities, Chinese seafarers were likely to face longer quarantine periods and more uncertainty about crew changes.…”

“…There have been many cases whereby local officials were punished for outbreaks [38] . As such, many local authorities were reluctant to approve crew change requests [33] . A captain explained the situation: In some ports, no one dares to say yes to crew change requests, unless there is an emergency.…”

The impact of 2008 financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic on the demand and supply of seafarer officers: Evidence from China

“…By April, China had managed to put the pandemic under control and removed the lockdown measures. Gradually it started to allow crew changes between Chinese seafarers in domestic ports, and by June such operations, though under strict quarantine control, had become largely routinised [33] . This released the pent-up demand for seafarers to replace those whose off-signing was overdue, which according to the market analysis at the end of June [29] exacerbated the shortage of 3 rd officers and 4 th engineers and pushed up their wages.…”