Judging Collective Labour Disputes in People's Courts: Is There a Right to Strike?

Abstract

Abstract: To mitigate collective actions arising from labour disputes, the Chinese central authority has promoted reforms regarding trade unions and the judicial system. The author examines court judgements of collective labour disputes involving strikes and finds that these reforms have led the courts to deny the right to strike through informal institutionalisation. In conjunction with the fact that political centralisation impeded trade union reforms, these reforms have not effectively enhanced the authoritarian regime's resilience.