This is a seminar course that focuses on a dynamic social movement that has major implications for China’s present and future political economy. Over 50% of the rural workforce, or 280 million workers, are migrating to the urban areas, and most migrants work in either multinational corporations or domestic companies that are part of the global supply chain. These migrant workers (nongmingong 农民工) are facing seemingly insurmountable legal, social, economic, and political challenges. Yet, the All China Federation of Trade Unions, as an instrument of the Communist Party-state, provides little or no assistance to the migrant workers in terms of meeting their collective needs and demands. Meanwhile, Chinese laws do not permit the rise of independent trade unions. However, the massive migrant labor pool, along with the new concepts of human rights and labor rights as introduced by the process of globalization, are providing the impetus to workers to explore new ways of self-organization. Class actions, protests, and self-governance initiatives among workers are now commonplace.
This course is taught from the perspectives of sociology and political sciences. It introduces the students to the various domestic and global stakeholders in the Chinese labor movement. It also guides the students to examine the interactions among these stakeholders as they compete and cooperate to either maintain or reshape the current Chinese political economic structure.
The seminar surveys the background of Chinese industrial relations from the domestic and global perspectives. Students are expected to learn about the formation of the current Chinese labor movement, as well as its influence in restructuring the contemporary Chinese society. Students will also learn about the interests and behaviors of the key stakeholders, such as the party-state, the state-sponsored trade union, and the independent labor groups. They will gain an understanding of the dynamic interactions among these stakeholders and their impact on Chinese social restructuring through primary observations and readings. In the end, students will gain the knowledge and the skills to analyze the labor movement in contemporary China by considering many relevant factors.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of this course, students will:
gain empirical and theoretical insights about the grassroots labor movement in China;
understand the political, social, and cultural dynamics of different stakeholders, and apply that understanding to an analysis of China’s integration into the global political economy;
master methods for conducting fieldwork in China; and
learn to conduct comparative studies by assessing the similarities and differences between the demands and actions of the Chinese laborers and their foreign counterparts.
Method of presentation:
The course will be conducted through a combination of classroom lectures, including guest lectures, and in-class discussions. Field study will comprise a substantial portion of the course, allowing the students to engage in interviews and direct and indirect observations.
Each week, students will meet twice (1.5 hours per session). The second sessions are usually devoted to field trips.
Required work and form of assessment:
Attendance, in-class participation (30%)
Midterm examination (30%)
Final paper (40%)
Midterm Examination: This is an in-class midterm examination. The examination will be made up of two components. The first component will involve students writing short essays as answers to broad questions. The second component of the examination will involve students providing short answers to specific concepts and terminologies. Students will be expected to draw widely from class readings, lectures, discussions, and field trips in their answers.
Final Paper: At the end of the semester, students will be required to submit a final paper of 15 – 20 pages in length. Students will select a topic for the paper and submit it to the course instructor for approval no later than the date of midterm examination. The selected topic should be strongly related to the themes of the course. The final paper should involve a combination of review of secondary literature and findings resulting from the students’ field research. The objectives of the paper are to (1) expose students to the experience of conducting field research in China and (2) critically assess specific contemporary socio-political issues in China. Students must submit the final paper at the last week of class
content:
Introduction
Class 1. Overview of Chinese society under market reform
Readings: Gallagher (2005), 133 – 153.
Class 2. Self-identification of Chinese labor: workers’ view of themselves in time
Readings: O’Leary (1998); Lee (2003).
Class 3. Workshop: Skills on doing field study on Chinese labor: interviews, questionnaires and observation
Readings: Gustaffson and Li (2006); Solinger (2006).
Globalization and institutional change in China
Class 4. Multinational corporations, flow of transnational capital and effects on domestic labor force
Readings: Gallagher (2005), 62-97; GLS (2008).
Class 5. Economic globalization and rural labor migration
Readings: Solinger (1999), 40-78.
Class 6. The role of government as regulator, judge and player
Readings: Taylor et al (2003), 17-46.
Class 7. Labor laws and the official dispute resolution system
Readings: Cooney (2007); Thireau & Hua (2003).
Class 8. Government and labor
Guest speaker: Dr. Chen Shaoyun, State Council of the People’s Republic of China.
Discussion contents: Chen received a PhD in Law from the Warrick University, UK, and is involved in the making of labor policies in China. He will share with the students on the following topics: 1) perspectives of the government about labor; 2) politics of labor legislation and policy- making; and 3) the government’s attitudes towards global business.
Class 9. The state-sponsored trade union: dilemmas under globalization and market reform
Readings: Howell (1998); Taylor & Li (2007).
Class 10. The state-sponsored trade union (con’t)
Field trip: Visit the local trade union legal aid center, with the guide of Professor Qiao Jian, All China Federation of Trade Union.
Discussion contents: Qiao is a senior official of the union and has spoken at international labor conferences. Representing the official union position, Qiao will provide the inside stories and lead class discussions about 1) the dilemma facing the state-sponsored union; 2) how the union works to meet with the demands of migrant workers; and 3) the kind of international pressure the union is facing, if any.
Class 11. Midterm
Class 12. Entrenchment of the business associations
Readings: Taylor et al (2003), 47-76.
Class 13. Labor: the employer’s perspective
Field trip: Visit the research institute of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, with the guide of Mr. Shang Xiaoming of the China Enterprise Confederation & China Enterprise Directors Association.
Discussion contents: Shang is responsible for employer benefits and policy advocacy. Representing the employers’ position, Shang will discuss 1) the challenges and benefits of doing business in China; 2) the relationship between workers, the trade union and employers; and 3) the advocacy/lobby strategies of the companies and the chamber of commerce.
Class 14. Migrant workers: motivation, experience and actions
Readings: Solinger (1999), 122-149.
Class 15. Women at the workplace
Readings: Zheng (2003).
Class 16. Women at the workplace (con’t)
Field trip: Visit a women’s organization - This trip aims to offer students an opportunity to observe and communicate with labor and gender rights practitioners who are working on the cutting edge. Students will be able to observe the communities of local workers and the daily lives of female workers. This trip also provides a chance for students to directly talk with women and activists.
Labor protesting and new forms of organizing
Class 17. Reflections on labor protest and organization prior to the period of market reform
Readings: Perry (1994).
Class 18. Protest of laid-off workers in state-owned enterprises and its impact on the society
Readings: Chen (2006).
Class 19. Development of alternative labor organizations
Readings: Halegua (2008); Gallagher (2006).
Class 20. Wildcat strikes, protesting and informal labor networks of migrant workers
Readings: CLB (2001).
Class 21. Rights of migrant workers: legal aid and activism
Field trip: Visit a migrant workers’ organization - The trip has two purposes: 1) students can directly communicate with grassroots labor activists and workers to gain a first-hand understanding of the Chinese laborers and their demands for social change; and 2) students can practice their research skills.
Class 22. International labor standards and coalition of global labor movement at the grassroots level
Readings: Pun and Smith (2007); translated position papers of the Chinese labor organizations.
Guest speaker: Dr. Chang-Hee Lee, Senior Specialist for Industrial & Labor Relations, International Labor Organization of the UN.
Discussion contents: Lee is based in Beijing and has engaged in international cooperation with respect to labor issues for eight years. Lee will answer questions from the students and discuss the current polices of the ILO and UN to integrate China and its workers into the global community.
Class 23. Government attitudes and policy change towards self-organizing and the right to strike
Readings: Chinese government reports and media analyses.
Class 24. Struggle and cooperation between the state-sponsored trade union and the independent labor groups
Readings: Wang (2008).
New face of Chinese labor
Class 25. New generation of workers and the influence of global consumption
Readings: Fong (2006), 154-177
Class 26. Workshop: Multiple divides of Chinese workers: “old” vs. “new”, and, urban vs. migrant workers
Workshop contents: Based on the research conducted by the students during the course of the semester, in combination with what they have learned in class, this workshop focuses on critical reviews of the evidence of the Chinese labor movement and an in-depth look at the uneven social construction. An important purpose of this workshop is to uncover the future tendencies of the labor movement in contemporary China.
Required readings:
Chen, Feng. “Privatization and Its Discontents in Chinese Factories.” The China Quarterly. 185 (March 2006): pp.42-60.
CLB (China Labour Bulletin). “Industrial Unrest in China-A Labour Movement in the Making?” 2001.
Cooney, Sean. “China’s Labour Law, Compliance and Flaws in Implementing Institutions.” Journal of Industrial Relations. 49:5 (2007): 673-686.
Fong, Vanessa. Only Hope: Coming age under China’s One-Child Policy. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Gallagher, Mary. “Mobilizing the Law in China: ‘Informed disenchantment’ and the development of legal consciousness.” Law & Society Review. 40:4 (2006): 783-816.
Gallagher, Mary. Contagious Capitalism: Globalization and the politics of labor in China. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005.
GLS (Global Labor Strategies). “Why China Matters: Labor rights in the era of globalization.” 2008.
Gustafsson, Bjorn and Li Shi. “Surveys – Three Ways to Obtain Household Income Data.” Eds. Maria Heimer and Stig Thogersen. Doing Fieldwork in China. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2006. 129 – 152.
Halegua, Aaron. “Getting Paid: Processing the labor dispute of China’s migrant workers.” Berkeley Journal of International Law 26:1 (2008): 256-322.
Howell, Jude. “Trade Unions in China: The Challenge of Foreign Capital.” Ed. G. O’Leary. Adjusting to Capitalism: Chinese Workers and the State. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1998. 150-172.
Lee, Ching Kwan. “Pathways of labor insurgency.” Eds. Elizabeth Perry and Mark Selden. Chinese Society: Change, conflict and resistance. Curzon: Routledge, 2003.
O’Leary, G. “The Making of the Chinese Working Class”. Ed. G. O’Leary. Adjusting to Capitalism: Chinese Workers and the State. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1998. 48-74.
Perry, Elizabeth. “Shanghai’s Strike Wave of 1957.” The China Quarterly. 137 (March 1994): 1 – 27.
Pun, Ngai and Chris Smith. “Putting transnational labour process in its place: the domitary labour regime in post-Socialist China.” Work, Employment & Society. 21:1 (2007): 27-45.
Solinger, Dorothy. Contesting Citizenship in Urban China: Peasant Migrants, the State, and the
Logic of the Market. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.
Solinger, Dorothy. “Interviewing Chinese People: From High-Level Officials to the Unemployed.” Eds. Maria Heimer and Stig Thogersen. Doing Fieldwork in China. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2006. 153 – 167.
Taylor, Bill. & Li Qi. “Is the ACFTU a Union or Does it Matter?” Journal of Industrial Relations 49:5 (2007): 701-715.
Taylor, Bill., Chang Kai & Li Qi. Industrial Relations in China. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2003.
Thireau I, Hua L S. “The moral universe of aggrieved Chinese workers: Workers’ appeals to arbitration committees and letters and visits offices.” The China Journal 50 (2003): 83-103.
Wang, Kan. “A Changing Arena of Industrial Relations in China.” in Employee Relations 30:2 (2008): 190-216.
Zheng, Wang. “Gender, employment and women’s resistance.” Eds. Elizabeth Perry and Mark Selden Chinese Society: Change, conflict and resistance. Curzon: Routledge, 2003.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Wang Kan will receive a PhD in Labor Relations and Labor Law from the Renmin (People’s) University of China in 2009. He earned MA in Development Studies at the University of Leeds, UK, and spent several years as the China Labor Program Officer for Oxfam. He helped to organize two grassroots labor organizations in China, and have also been involved in doing policy research for the Chinese government and the Chinese national trade union. He has published many articles in English and Chinese, and serves as the editor of one Chinese and one British journal on industrial relations.
This is a seminar course that focuses on a dynamic social movement that has major implications for China’s present and future political economy. Over 50% of the rural workforce, or 280 million workers, are migrating to the urban areas, and most migrants work in either multinational corporations or domestic companies that are part of the global supply chain. These migrant workers (nongmingong 农民工) are facing seemingly insurmountable legal, social, economic, and political challenges. Yet, the All China Federation of Trade Unions, as an instrument of the Communist Party-state, provides little or no assistance to the migrant workers in terms of meeting their collective needs and demands. Meanwhile, Chinese laws do not permit the rise of independent trade unions. However, the massive migrant labor pool, along with the new concepts of human rights and labor rights as introduced by the process of globalization, are providing the impetus to workers to explore new ways of self-organization. Class actions, protests, and self-governance initiatives among workers are now commonplace.
This course is taught from the perspectives of sociology and political sciences. It introduces the students to the various domestic and global stakeholders in the Chinese labor movement. It also guides the students to examine the interactions among these stakeholders as they compete and cooperate to either maintain or reshape the current Chinese political economic structure.
The seminar surveys the background of Chinese industrial relations from the domestic and global perspectives. Students are expected to learn about the formation of the current Chinese labor movement, as well as its influence in restructuring the contemporary Chinese society. Students will also learn about the interests and behaviors of the key stakeholders, such as the party-state, the state-sponsored trade union, and the independent labor groups. They will gain an understanding of the dynamic interactions among these stakeholders and their impact on Chinese social restructuring through primary observations and readings. In the end, students will gain the knowledge and the skills to analyze the labor movement in contemporary China by considering many relevant factors.
By the end of this course, students will:
The course will be conducted through a combination of classroom lectures, including guest lectures, and in-class discussions. Field study will comprise a substantial portion of the course, allowing the students to engage in interviews and direct and indirect observations.
Each week, students will meet twice (1.5 hours per session). The second sessions are usually devoted to field trips.
Midterm Examination: This is an in-class midterm examination. The examination will be made up of two components. The first component will involve students writing short essays as answers to broad questions. The second component of the examination will involve students providing short answers to specific concepts and terminologies. Students will be expected to draw widely from class readings, lectures, discussions, and field trips in their answers.
Final Paper: At the end of the semester, students will be required to submit a final paper of 15 – 20 pages in length. Students will select a topic for the paper and submit it to the course instructor for approval no later than the date of midterm examination. The selected topic should be strongly related to the themes of the course. The final paper should involve a combination of review of secondary literature and findings resulting from the students’ field research. The objectives of the paper are to (1) expose students to the experience of conducting field research in China and (2) critically assess specific contemporary socio-political issues in China. Students must submit the final paper at the last week of class
Introduction
Class 1. Overview of Chinese society under market reform
Readings: Gallagher (2005), 133 – 153.
Class 2. Self-identification of Chinese labor: workers’ view of themselves in time
Readings: O’Leary (1998); Lee (2003).
Class 3. Workshop: Skills on doing field study on Chinese labor: interviews, questionnaires and observation
Readings: Gustaffson and Li (2006); Solinger (2006).
Globalization and institutional change in China
Class 4. Multinational corporations, flow of transnational capital and effects on domestic labor force
Readings: Gallagher (2005), 62-97; GLS (2008).
Class 5. Economic globalization and rural labor migration
Readings: Solinger (1999), 40-78.
Class 6. The role of government as regulator, judge and player
Readings: Taylor et al (2003), 17-46.
Class 7. Labor laws and the official dispute resolution system
Readings: Cooney (2007); Thireau & Hua (2003).
Class 8. Government and labor
Guest speaker: Dr. Chen Shaoyun, State Council of the People’s Republic of China.
Discussion contents: Chen received a PhD in Law from the Warrick University, UK, and is involved in the making of labor policies in China. He will share with the students on the following topics: 1) perspectives of the government about labor; 2) politics of labor legislation and policy- making; and 3) the government’s attitudes towards global business.
Class 9. The state-sponsored trade union: dilemmas under globalization and market reform
Readings: Howell (1998); Taylor & Li (2007).
Class 10. The state-sponsored trade union (con’t)
Field trip: Visit the local trade union legal aid center, with the guide of Professor Qiao Jian, All China Federation of Trade Union.
Discussion contents: Qiao is a senior official of the union and has spoken at international labor conferences. Representing the official union position, Qiao will provide the inside stories and lead class discussions about 1) the dilemma facing the state-sponsored union; 2) how the union works to meet with the demands of migrant workers; and 3) the kind of international pressure the union is facing, if any.
Class 11. Midterm
Class 12. Entrenchment of the business associations
Readings: Taylor et al (2003), 47-76.
Class 13. Labor: the employer’s perspective
Field trip: Visit the research institute of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, with the guide of Mr. Shang Xiaoming of the China Enterprise Confederation & China Enterprise Directors Association.
Discussion contents: Shang is responsible for employer benefits and policy advocacy. Representing the employers’ position, Shang will discuss 1) the challenges and benefits of doing business in China; 2) the relationship between workers, the trade union and employers; and 3) the advocacy/lobby strategies of the companies and the chamber of commerce.
Class 14. Migrant workers: motivation, experience and actions
Readings: Solinger (1999), 122-149.
Class 15. Women at the workplace
Readings: Zheng (2003).
Class 16. Women at the workplace (con’t)
Field trip: Visit a women’s organization - This trip aims to offer students an opportunity to observe and communicate with labor and gender rights practitioners who are working on the cutting edge. Students will be able to observe the communities of local workers and the daily lives of female workers. This trip also provides a chance for students to directly talk with women and activists.
Labor protesting and new forms of organizing
Class 17. Reflections on labor protest and organization prior to the period of market reform
Readings: Perry (1994).
Class 18. Protest of laid-off workers in state-owned enterprises and its impact on the society
Readings: Chen (2006).
Class 19. Development of alternative labor organizations
Readings: Halegua (2008); Gallagher (2006).
Class 20. Wildcat strikes, protesting and informal labor networks of migrant workers
Readings: CLB (2001).
Class 21. Rights of migrant workers: legal aid and activism
Field trip: Visit a migrant workers’ organization - The trip has two purposes: 1) students can directly communicate with grassroots labor activists and workers to gain a first-hand understanding of the Chinese laborers and their demands for social change; and 2) students can practice their research skills.
Class 22. International labor standards and coalition of global labor movement at the grassroots level
Readings: Pun and Smith (2007); translated position papers of the Chinese labor organizations.
Guest speaker: Dr. Chang-Hee Lee, Senior Specialist for Industrial & Labor Relations, International Labor Organization of the UN.
Discussion contents: Lee is based in Beijing and has engaged in international cooperation with respect to labor issues for eight years. Lee will answer questions from the students and discuss the current polices of the ILO and UN to integrate China and its workers into the global community.
Class 23. Government attitudes and policy change towards self-organizing and the right to strike
Readings: Chinese government reports and media analyses.
Class 24. Struggle and cooperation between the state-sponsored trade union and the independent labor groups
Readings: Wang (2008).
New face of Chinese labor
Class 25. New generation of workers and the influence of global consumption
Readings: Fong (2006), 154-177
Class 26. Workshop: Multiple divides of Chinese workers: “old” vs. “new”, and, urban vs. migrant workers
Workshop contents: Based on the research conducted by the students during the course of the semester, in combination with what they have learned in class, this workshop focuses on critical reviews of the evidence of the Chinese labor movement and an in-depth look at the uneven social construction. An important purpose of this workshop is to uncover the future tendencies of the labor movement in contemporary China.
Chen, Feng. “Privatization and Its Discontents in Chinese Factories.” The China Quarterly. 185 (March 2006): pp.42-60.
CLB (China Labour Bulletin). “Industrial Unrest in China-A Labour Movement in the Making?” 2001.
Cooney, Sean. “China’s Labour Law, Compliance and Flaws in Implementing Institutions.” Journal of Industrial Relations. 49:5 (2007): 673-686.
Fong, Vanessa. Only Hope: Coming age under China’s One-Child Policy. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Gallagher, Mary. “Mobilizing the Law in China: ‘Informed disenchantment’ and the development of legal consciousness.” Law & Society Review. 40:4 (2006): 783-816.
Gallagher, Mary. Contagious Capitalism: Globalization and the politics of labor in China. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005.
GLS (Global Labor Strategies). “Why China Matters: Labor rights in the era of globalization.” 2008.
Gustafsson, Bjorn and Li Shi. “Surveys – Three Ways to Obtain Household Income Data.” Eds. Maria Heimer and Stig Thogersen. Doing Fieldwork in China. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2006. 129 – 152.
Halegua, Aaron. “Getting Paid: Processing the labor dispute of China’s migrant workers.” Berkeley Journal of International Law 26:1 (2008): 256-322.
Howell, Jude. “Trade Unions in China: The Challenge of Foreign Capital.” Ed. G. O’Leary. Adjusting to Capitalism: Chinese Workers and the State. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1998. 150-172.
Lee, Ching Kwan. “Pathways of labor insurgency.” Eds. Elizabeth Perry and Mark Selden. Chinese Society: Change, conflict and resistance. Curzon: Routledge, 2003.
O’Leary, G. “The Making of the Chinese Working Class”. Ed. G. O’Leary. Adjusting to Capitalism: Chinese Workers and the State. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1998. 48-74.
Perry, Elizabeth. “Shanghai’s Strike Wave of 1957.” The China Quarterly. 137 (March 1994): 1 – 27.
Pun, Ngai and Chris Smith. “Putting transnational labour process in its place: the domitary labour regime in post-Socialist China.” Work, Employment & Society. 21:1 (2007): 27-45.
Solinger, Dorothy. Contesting Citizenship in Urban China: Peasant Migrants, the State, and the
Logic of the Market. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.
Solinger, Dorothy. “Interviewing Chinese People: From High-Level Officials to the Unemployed.” Eds. Maria Heimer and Stig Thogersen. Doing Fieldwork in China. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2006. 153 – 167.
Taylor, Bill. & Li Qi. “Is the ACFTU a Union or Does it Matter?” Journal of Industrial Relations 49:5 (2007): 701-715.
Taylor, Bill., Chang Kai & Li Qi. Industrial Relations in China. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2003.
Thireau I, Hua L S. “The moral universe of aggrieved Chinese workers: Workers’ appeals to arbitration committees and letters and visits offices.” The China Journal 50 (2003): 83-103.
Wang, Kan. “A Changing Arena of Industrial Relations in China.” in Employee Relations 30:2 (2008): 190-216.
Zheng, Wang. “Gender, employment and women’s resistance.” Eds. Elizabeth Perry and Mark Selden Chinese Society: Change, conflict and resistance. Curzon: Routledge, 2003.
Wang Kan will receive a PhD in Labor Relations and Labor Law from the Renmin (People’s) University of China in 2009. He earned MA in Development Studies at the University of Leeds, UK, and spent several years as the China Labor Program Officer for Oxfam. He helped to organize two grassroots labor organizations in China, and have also been involved in doing policy research for the Chinese government and the Chinese national trade union. He has published many articles in English and Chinese, and serves as the editor of one Chinese and one British journal on industrial relations.