What is it about?
How do workers in China solve their labor dispute? Through official channels or extralegal ways? Additionally, how do workers view the trade union and think of the prospective trade union reform? This article uses a 10-year cohort study approach to present the evolution of worker attitudes towards the issues.
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Why is it important?
Our findings support our conventional wisdom in one way, and challenge our general perspective in another. First, the article shows increasing legal and action awareness among the workers, as more workers reported to solve their most recent disputes through wildcat strike. Second, unlike our general perspective that escalating labor struggle leads to formation of independent trade unionism, the paper finds that workers participating in more strikes incline to tighten the relationship between the union and the Chinese party-state, while workers with limited strike experience call for the separate between the union and the party-state.
Perspectives
This paper illustrates that the changing worker awareness in China combines pragmatism with idealism. Experience of strike increases the worker understanding of the role of the party-state, which can be a source of repression and a tool of achieving labor rights at the same time.
Dr. Kan Wang
China University of Labor Relations
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Labour resistance and worker attitudes towards trade union reform in China, Employee Relations, August 2016, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/er-03-2016-0065.
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