Abstract
At the end of 2001, China finally joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) after a tortuous and prolonged process of negotiations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
See Gao (2006, 2009).
- 2.
See Gao (2009, 2008, 2009, pp. 1–15).
- 3.
Zhao and Griffin (1994), Shi et al. (2008).
- 4.
Ibid.
- 5.
Sun (2005).
- 6.
Zhong (2005).
- 7.
Polanyi (2007).
- 8.
In 2002, the reemployment rate of laid-off workers from state-owned enterprises was 26%. The main channels for reemployment of laid-off workers were concentrated in the field of informal employment. According to a sample survey by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in 66 cities in 2002, of the laid-off workers who re-entered employment, 85.4% were engaged in temporary work, only 9.4% became regular workers. See Guo (2004).
- 9.
According to the above statistics, by the end of 2002, excluding the state-owned and collective sectors, investment by various non-public sectors of the economy accounted for 43.5% of the total investment in the whole society; exports by the non-public sectors accounted for 62.3% of the total. From the perspective of total employment, at the end of 2002 the total number of employed persons in the urban areas was 247.8 million, of which 71.63 million were employed by state-owned danwei, accounting for less than 30% of the total, while various non-state-owned danwei employed more than 70% of the total.
- 10.
China Statistical Yearbook 2003, chapter 5, National Bureau of Statistics of China.
- 11.
Jiang Ying, Understanding on a number of issues concerning the separate legislation on collective contracts. Retrieved from http://www.btophr.com/expertteam/lunwen/006.htm.
- 12.
Wang and Li (2001).
- 13.
Guo (2004).
- 14.
Han (2008).
- 15.
See Footnote 13.
- 16.
Liu (2006).
- 17.
Pan (1999).
- 18.
Ren and Pan (2006b).
- 19.
At present, 57.6% of the workers in China’s secondary industry are migrant workers; 52% of the workers in the tertiary industry nationwide are migrant workers; 90% of the workers in urban construction, environmental sanitation, housekeeping and catering service are migrant workers. See Liu (2005).
- 20.
Burawoy (1985).
- 21.
See Footnote 18.
- 22.
Ibid.
- 23.
See Cross-strait Foxconn research group (2010).
- 24.
Ibid. See Pan (2011, pp. 125–135).
- 25.
Shen (2011, pp. 109–115).
- 26.
Li et al. (2006).
- 27.
Li and Qu (2005).
- 28.
As special attention was given to the probation period which was often exploited as a loophole in the labor employment system, The Labor Contract Law strengthened the protection of workers in the probation period. For workers who are to serve a term of labor contract longer than three months but less than one year, the probation period shall not exceed one month; for workers who are to serve more than one year but less than three years, the probation period shall not exceed two months; for workers who are to serve a term longer than three years, whether the term is fixed or not, the probation period shall not exceed six months. If the labor contract has specified no fixed term other than completion of a job, or if the term of the labor contract is less than three months, the contract shall not stipulate a probation period. The same employer and the same worker can only arrange one probation period. The Labor Contract Law also set limits on the minimum wage of the probation period. The wages of the workers in the probation period shall not be less than the lowest wage of the same work position in the employer danwei, nor less than 80% of the wage stipulated in the labor contract. It is also emphasized that the wage in the probation period shall not be lower than the minimum wage of the local area of the employer danwei. The Labor Contract Law also stipulates that the employer danwei cannot fire a worker in probation period at will. During the probation period, the employer danwei shall not terminate the labor contract except that the worker has the circumstances stipulated in Article 39, or in Item 1 and Item 2 of Article 40, of this Law. If the employer danwei decides to terminate a labor contract during the probation period, it should explain the reasons to the worker(s). See the full text of the Labor Contract Law of the People’s Republic of China.
- 29.
As of September 2009, the number of people who have participated in the basic pension insurance, basic health care insurance, unemployment insurance, work injury insurance and maternity insurance stood respectively at 214.74, 273.99, 122.03, 134.59, and 87.97 million. The numbers have increased over the previous year respectively by 13.37, 50.88, 5.58, 12.86, and 10.22 million. From January to September, the income of the five social insurance funds reached 947.1 billion yuan, an increase of 223.3 billion yuan, or 30.8%, over the same period of the previous year. See the report about Liu Jichen, head of the Legal Affairs Department of ACFTU, answering the reporters’ questions at Xinhua Net on January 17, 2010. Retrieved from http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2010-01/27/content_12884603.htm.
- 30.
Interestingly, a group of university students carried out a survey of Coca-Cola China through firsthand experience of working part-time in the company, and published a report of the title “Coca-Cola Investigation Report.” According to this report, a large number of dispatched workers and other types of informal workers work in the system of Coca-Cola China. These workers do the most dangerous, the harshest, and the most tiring work, they have the longest working hours, but are paid the lowest wages, which often come in arrears or in reduced sums. See College Student Observers’ Group on Coca-Cola (2008).
- 31.
According to rough estimates, there are more than a thousand labor dispatch companies just in Beijing. Under the current system, the labor dispatch workers are most likely to encounter the following types of inequality. Firstly, they are likely to receive unequal treatment in comparison with the regular workers of the employer danwei. The treatment here mainly refers to non-statutory treatment, such as year-end bonus, work clothes, etc. This is followed by the problems of insurance and work injury, in particular the rescission of labor contracts. According to the Labor Contract Law, if the enterprise take the initiative in terminating labor relations with an employee, it should give the employee a sum of economic compensation. However, because only work relations, not labor relations, exist between the employer and the dispatch worker, the legal responsibilities are evaded.
- 32.
See Rong et al. (1998).
- 33.
Zhou (2008, pp. 89, 208–209).
- 34.
See Zheng (2008, p. 40).
- 35.
In 2004, Lang Xianping proposed that it was necessary to halt the property rights trading of state-owned enterprises and to ban management buyout (MBO). A complete professional manager system with incentive mechanisms and fiduciary responsibilities must be set up. [see Lang Xianping’s (2004); also see Lang Xianping’s (2004)]. Soon after, a debate with the mainstream economists ensued, focusing on the major issues of state-owned enterprise reform, such as management buyout, the dilution and transfer of state-owned assets, employee stock ownership, etc. (see The Economic Observer, September 11, 2004). Interestingly, most of the public opinions in the discussion of property rights trading focused on protecting the rights of laid-off workers, which indicated a gradual transfer of public attention from the problem of enterprise efficiency to the problem of equality, which involves the vital interests of the common people.
- 36.
Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer recently published an article in Harvard Business Review: “Strategy and society: the link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility.” They proposed a brand-new perspective and pointed out that the relationship between corporate growth and social welfare was not a zero-sum game. In fact, in this new era, if companies can analyze and identify the social consequences of their business actions, can discover opportunities to benefit both the society and themselves, so as to determine which corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives they should address, they will find the most effective ways of doing business. CSR should be perceived as an opportunity rather than as damage control or a PR campaign. This requires dramatically different thinking—a mind-set, the authors warn, that will become a decisive factor determining a company’s success in future competitions. See Porter and Kramer (2006).
- 37.
Liu (2008).
- 38.
Roscow and Casner-Lotto (1998, pp. 218–234).
- 39.
See the “SA8000 Corporate Social Responsibility International Standard” (Second Edition).
- 40.
See Ellerman (1998).
- 41.
See Weitzman (1986).
- 42.
Halal (1999).
- 43.
Schultz (1961).
- 44.
Walker (1974, p. 9).
- 45.
Chaudhuri (1992, p. 296).
- 46.
See Briefs(1992), Streeck (1984, pp. 392–394).
- 47.
See Briefs (1992, p. 104).
- 48.
See Likert (1961).
- 49.
Based on empirical data from surveys in Japan, K. Odaka defined four categories of employee participation: (1) Participation as suggestion. That is, in most cases, the employees as individuals put forward constructive opinions on technologies, interpersonal management, and so on, to influence decision-making. This is a speak-up model. For example, employee opinion surveys belong to this type. (2) Participation as consultation. That is, the employees or their representatives and the managers or their representatives hold discussions on the enterprise’s improvement plan and reform agenda. Although the final decision or resolution of the enterprise is not made by the employees, the employees can freely express their opinions, thoughts and criticisms, for examples, the workers’ congress, the staff council. (3) Participation as co-determination. That is, the employees and their representatives meet regularly with the managers and their representatives to co-determine the regulations, rules and management decisions of the enterprise. In this case, to participate in the enterprise’s decision-making process is not only a right of the employees, but also their obligation; the enterprise also provides institutional guarantees for this process. (4) Participation as self-government. That is, groups of employees have full rights to make decisions in the operation and management, and share the management rights of the enterprise. Examples for this type range from project teams to employees’ self-government committees. See Odaka (1975).
- 50.
See Crouch (1979), Webb and Beatrice (1920), Dunning (1860).
- 51.
Pateman (1970), Blumberg (1968), Poole (1986).
- 52.
Pateman (2006, pp. 65–67).
- 53.
Castells (2006). See also She Xiaoye et al. The General Report on Changes in China’s Corporate Organization and Employee Participation (unpublished manuscript).
- 54.
See She Xiaoye, “Employee participation in the enterprise (Case 1): the pattern of employee participation in a state-owned enterprise—taking Mine F as an example.” The General Report on Changes in China’s Corporate Organization and Employee Participation (unpublished manuscript).
- 55.
“Copartnership” refers to the enterprise system in which two or more owners possess the elements of production. In copartnership, the partners jointly invest, jointly possess the ownership of means of production and jointly hold the usafruct of production elements, share the responsibilities of management and supervision, share the surplus profits and share the risks. See Wang (1995).
- 56.
See Li Yingfei and Qu Jingdong, “Employee participation in the enterprise (Case 2): the pattern of employee participation in a private enterprise—taking Company HX as an example.” The General Report on Changes in China’s Corporate Organization and Employee Participation (unpublished manuscript).
- 57.
Zhang (1995).
- 58.
Wei (1996).
- 59.
Zhang (1994).
- 60.
Zhang (1996).
- 61.
In fact, even in the history of syndicalism in the West, trade unions have increasingly become “an essential part of the social control mechanism”, or a part of the “management and control system” of the enterprises. Where the managers’ power cannot reach, trade unions can often help train and discipline the employees. For details on this viewpoint see Hyman (2008).
- 62.
See Jihui (2002), Zou (2001).
- 63.
In December 2003, at an enlarged meeting of the Third Session of the 14th ACFTU Presidium, Wang Zhaoguo said in his speech, “In 2004, the trade unions’ work should focus on the following key areas, strengthening the construction of trade unions at the grassroots level, giving full play to the grassroots trade unions, showing solicitude for the workers’ production and life, safeguarding the vital interests of the workers. In short, we should get organized and effectively safeguard our rights.” That means the key points are to push the construction of the trade unions to the most basic level, and to truly realize the slogans, “where there are workers, there should be trade union organizations,” and “to maximally organize the workers into the trade unions.”
- 64.
The number of grassroots trade unions has reached 1.324 million, an increase of 12.7% over the same period of last year. The total membership has reached 170 million people, up 13.1% over last year, of which 40.978 million are migrant workers. A total of 61,000 trade unions have been set up in overseas-invested enterprises (including enterprises with investment from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), the membership of which has reached 11.797 million. 54.5% of all overseas-invested enterprises and 55.5% of their employees have been unionized.
- 65.
In the aspects of legislation and policy participation, the trade unions have actively participated in the drafting and revision of laws and regulations including the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law, the Employment Promotion Law, the Labor Contract Law, the Social Insurance Law, the Labor Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Law, the Enterprise Wage Regulations, etc. The trade unions at province and prefecture levels have participated in the development of 245 local laws and regulations, of which 153 involve the rights and interests of employees, 40 involve the rights and interests of trade unions. Besides, the trade unions have also participated in the development of 895 local regulatory documents (excluding laws and regulations).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 China Social Sciences Press and Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Qu, J., Fu, C., Wen, X. (2018). Social Construction and the Governance of Labor Relations. In: Organizational Transition and Systematic Governance. Social Development Experiences in China. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7377-9_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7377-9_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-7376-2
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-7377-9
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)