What Future for Chinese Labour and Transnational Solidarity?

Andreas Bieler,Chun-Yi Lee

doi:10.1080/14747731.2016.1207933

Abstract

In this article we argue that class struggle is central to the future of Chinese workers and the improvement of their situation. Technological upgrading in itself will not automatically result in better working conditions. Moreover, we point out that Chinese workers have a number of old and new sources of power to draw on. What is, however, most problematic in this respect is the role of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, operating as an official mediator rather than an independent trade union, and the resulting lack of associational power. Hence, informal labour NGOs have an important role to play in supporting social justice for China’s workers.

Highlights

In this Conclusion we argue that class struggle is central to the future of Chinese workers and the improvement of their situation
Andreas Bieler is Professor of Political Economy and Fellow of the Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice (CSSGJ) in the School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham, UK. He is author of The Struggle for a Social Europe: Trade Unions and EMU in Times of Global Restructuring (Manchester University Press, 2006) and co-editor of Global Restructuring, Labour and the Challenges for Transnational Solidarity (Routledge, 2010). His personal website is http://andreasbieler.net and he maintains a blog on trade unions and global restructuring at http://andreasbieler.blogspot.co.uk
The main focus of this volume has been on how to understand the dynamics underlying the Chinese model based on super-exploitation of workers and their resistance to it. In this Conclusion, we will first highlight the centrality of class struggle in obtaining gains for workers, before we examine the various power resources available to Chinese labour

Summary

Introduction

In this Conclusion we argue that class struggle is central to the future of Chinese workers and the improvement of their situation. In this Conclusion, we will first highlight the centrality of class struggle in obtaining gains for workers, before we examine the various power resources available to Chinese labour. The decline in available cheap labour, they argue, has increased the bargaining power of these migrant workers.

Results

Conclusion