Exploring the Plight of Dispatch Workers in China and How to Improve Their Conditions: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

The International Labour Organization has noted that “[i]n a world of globalized supply chains where employers seek to do away with their responsibilities in the name of ‘flexibility’ and ‘competitiveness’ and where governments have all but given up on the objective of full and decent employment, workers have found themselves increasingly reduced to accepting forms of work arrangements that afford lower pay, less security, less favourable working conditions and make it ever more difficult to access the right to collective bargaining.” The use of dispatch labor in China's development is one example of this. The dispatch labor system was introduced in China more than thirty years ago and has developed into a huge industry. However, attention to the working conditions and lives of the dispatch workers involved in this industry chain is still insufficient. It was not until the 2008 “Labour Contract Law” that the dispatch labor system was formally written into the law; nonetheless, legal loopholes and weak penalties for violations have meant that the situation for dispatch workers has not improved much. This study found that the impact of the dispatch labor system on dispatch workers is poorly understood by dispatch workers. Dispatch workers' labor contracts are unable to provide them with adequate protection, they are often treated unfairly regarding wages, social security, and welfare benefits, and their occupational health and safety is not treated seriously, meaning that they are vulnerable to occupational hazards. The occupational instability of dispatch workers is also unfavorable to their career development. At the same time, as the trade union does not fulfill its role, this also has a negative impact on the safeguarding of dispatch workers' interests. Interestingly, however, dispatch workers themselves did not hold clear negative views of their own identity.