 China's New Labour Contract Law: is China moving towards increased power for workers?Haiyan Wang, Richard Appelbaum, Francesca Degiuli and Nelson Lichtenstein Third World Quarterly, 2009, vol. 30, issue 3, 485-501 Abstract: China's new labour law is a significant reform that offers workers greater employment security and income protection. It is a product of both unprecedented industrial unrest as well as the Chinese government's decision to move its economy to a higher-wage, higher-technology future. The law has energised many workers, who are now using the courts and the Communist Party-controlled trade unions to press their claims. But the law has also evoked a sharp reaction from many employers, who have sought to circumvent its purposes in two ways. First, they coerce many employees to resign their posts—thereby forfeiting important seniority claims—and then rehire them as new employees. Second, many labour-intensive manufacturers have begun to shutter their factories and shift production to even lower-wage regions of China or Southeast Asia. Although long an instrument of labour control and intimidation, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions has sought to use the new labour law to win for itself a measure of institutional and ideological legitimacy. Date: 2009 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:ctwqxx:v:30:y:2009:i:3:p:485-501 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/01436590902742271 Access Statistics for this article Third World Quarterly is currently edited by Shahid Qadir More articles in Third World Quarterly from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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