Spaces of labour activism: the case of autoworkers’ strikes in south China

Yunxue Deng

Chapter 22 in Handbook of Labour Geography, 2025, pp 376-387 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Based upon a study of autoworkers’ strikes in South China from 2010 to 2015, this chapter explores the interactions between the authoritarian state and workers in the making of safe spaces for strikes. It finds that the state contained labour activism by tolerating workers’ sit-in strikes whilst hindering their access to public space. To avoid direct state repression, autoworkers self-limited their strikes to taking place solely inside factories and did not try to make common cause with other workers across space. Although their strikes were localised within workplaces, through them autoworkers were nevertheless able to disrupt the broader production chain because their employers are reliant upon just-in-time logistics. The chapter concludes that the development of autoworkers’ spatial strategies is based upon their understanding of where the authoritarian state's boundary of tolerance lies and their strategy of exploiting weaknesses in the spatial organisation of production.

Keywords: Labour geography; Labour activism; Space; Authoritarian regime; Chinese autoworkers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781785363399
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