An authoritative and accessible account by insiders of the tumultuous changes in the contemporary labour relations of China.

"This enlightening book provides the first systematic introduction to, and exploration of, the emerging system of industrial relations in China, and draws on the authors' extensive research and direct involvement in the developments taking place. The authors argue that there are both unifying and fragmenting elements to the ongoing development of industrial relations, but overall it is one in which the state continues to maintain a major, and direct, influence. Divisions between workers and managers may be escalating with increased open conflicts, but this book reveals that the picture is far more complex and contradictory than to assume that the solution is convergence with western style industrial relations systems. They conclude that industrial relations institutions and processes still act within a political context and with the guiding hand of the Chinese Communist party."

This text examines the most economically critical and politically sensitive issues of China's reform process - labour market development, changing industrial relations, and labour-state and labour-capital conflict. It suggests that a system is emerging in China which is a form of capitalism.

This book examines industrial and employment relations in the emerging economies of Brazil, China, India, South Africa and Turkey, and assesses the contribution of industrial relations institutions to inclusive development. The book uses real-world examples to examine the evolution of industrial relations and of organised interest representation on labour issues. It reveals contested institutional pathways, despite a continuing demand for independent collective interest representation in labour relations.

Chinese development is widely considered to be an example of successful developmental catch-up with double-digit growth rates year on year. Some even talk of an emerging power, which may in time replace the US as the global economy’s hegemon. And yet there is a dark underside to this ‘miracle’ in the form of workers’ long hours, low pay and lack of welfare benefits. Increasing levels of inequality have gone hand in hand with super exploitative working conditions. Nevertheless, Chinese workers have not simply accepted these conditions of super-exploitation; they have started to fight back. Set against the background of China’s integration into the global economy along uneven and combined development lines, this volume explores new forms of resistance by Chinese workers, be it through the state trade union All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) or through informal labour NGOs. It also analyses the links between Chinese formal and informal labour organisations, with labour organisations outside China. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Globalizations.

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.

China’s labor landscape is changing, and it is transforming the global economy in ways that we cannot afford to ignore. Once-silent workers have found their voice, organizing momentous protests, such as the 2010 Honda strikes, and demanding a better deal. China’s leaders have responded not only with repression but with reforms. Are China’s workers on the verge of a breakthrough in industrial relations and labor law reminiscent of the American New Deal? In A New Deal for China’s Workers? Cynthia Estlund views this changing landscape through the comparative lens of America’s twentieth-century experience with industrial unrest. China’s leaders hope to replicate the widely shared prosperity, political legitimacy, and stability that flowed from America’s New Deal, but they are irrevocably opposed to the independent trade unions and mass mobilization that were central to bringing it about. Estlund argues that the specter of an independent labor movement, seen as an existential threat to China’s one-party regime, is both driving and constraining every facet of its response to restless workers. China’s leaders draw on an increasingly sophisticated toolkit in their effort to contain worker activism. The result is a surprising mix of repression and concession, confrontation and cooptation, flaws and functionality, rigidity and pragmatism. If China’s laborers achieve a New Deal, it will be a New Deal with Chinese characteristics, very unlike what workers in the West achieved in the last century. Estlund’s sharp observations and crisp comparative analysis make China’s labor unrest and reform legible to Western readers.