Based on a case study of the Honda workers’ strike and its impact on workplace industrial relations, this article explores the potential of and barriers to workplace trade union reform in China. A rise in workers’ collective actions has put political pressure on the All China Federation of Trade Unions to promote effective trade unionism and create a vital foundation for exercising democratic union representation in the workplace. The main barrier to effective workplace unionism, however, is the lack of external support for workers’ unionization efforts. On the one hand, the lower-level local trade unions fail to comply with their legal responsibility because of their bureaucratic nature and structural integration into the patron–client relationship between the local state and the global capital. On the other hand, support for workers from civil society is handicapped by the party-state’s opposition to independent labour organizing. This dilemma has forced the higher trade union federation to intervene directly in workplace trade union reform and promote state-led wage bargaining.
All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) (2010a) A Report on the New Generation of Peasant Workers [Guanyu xinshendai nongmingong wenti de yanjiu baogao], Beijing: AFCTU (in Chinese). Available at: http://www.acftu.org/template/10004/file.jsp?cid=222&aid=83614.
3.
All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) (2010b) Further Strengthen the Building of Workplace Trade Unions and Give Them Full Play [Jinyibu jiaqiang qiye gonghui jianshe chongfen fahui qiye gonghuii zouyong], Beijing: ACFTU (in Chinese). Available at: http://www.acftu.org/template/10004/file.jsp?cid=222&aid=83564.
Caixing Net (2010) An open letter from the Nanhai district trade unions and Sishan county trade unions to CHAM workers, 2 June. Available at: http://policy.caing.com/2010-06-02/100149369.html (Note: This open letter was originally posted on the internet by Caixin Net. It has now been removed, but can still be found in other blogs which indicate the source as Caixin Net, e.g. http://bbs1.people.com.cn/postDetail.do?view=2&pageNo=1&treeView=0&id=100136168&boardId=1).
6.
ChanA (2005) Recent trends in Chinese labour issues – signs of change. China Perspectives57: 2–12.
7.
Chan A (2006) Organising Wal-Mart: The Chinese trade unions at a crossroads. Japan Focus, 8 September.
8.
ChanA (2009) Challenges and possibilities for democratic grassroots union elections in China: A case study of two factory-level elections and their aftermath. Labor Studies Journal34(3): 293–317.
9.
ChanA (2011) Strikes in China’s export industries in comparative perspective. China Journal65: 27–52.
10.
ChanCKC (2009) Strike and changing workplace relations in a Chinese global factory. Industrial Relations Journal40(1): 60–77.
11.
ChanCKC (2010) The Challenge of Labour in China: Strikes and the Changing Labour Regime in Global Factories, New York, NY/London: Routledge.
12.
ChanCKC (2012a) Class or citizenship? Debating workplace conflict in China. Journal of Contemporary Asia42(2): 308–328.
13.
Chan CKC (2012b) Community-based organizations for migrant workers’ rights: The emergence of labour NGOs in China. Community Development Journal, in press.
14.
ChanCKCPunN (2009) The making of a new working class? A study of collective actions of migrant workers in South China. China Quarterly197: 287–303.
15.
ChenF (2003) Between the state and labour: The conflict of Chinese trade unions’ double identity in market reform. China Quarterly178(December): 1006–1028.
16.
ChenF (2010) Trade unions and the quadripartite interactions in strike settlement in China. China Quarterly201: 104–124.
17.
China Labour Bulletin (CLB) (2006) Wal-Mart Unionisation Drive Ordered by Hu Jintao in March – A Total of 17 Union Branches Now Set up, Hong Kong: CLB. Available at: http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/39060.
18.
China Labour Bulletin (CLB) (2008) Union Chair Resigns over the Imposition of Collective Contracts at Wal-Mart, Hong Kong: CLB. Available at: http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/100310.
19.
China Labour Bulletin (CLB) (2009) The Observer: China Fears Riots Will Spread as Boom Goes Sour, Hong Kong: CLB. Available at: http://www.clb.org.hk/en/node/100376.
20.
China Labour Statistical Yearbook [Zhongguo Laodong Jingji Tongji Nianjian] (various years). Beijing: China Statistical Publishing House (in Chinese).
ChiuSWKFrenkelSJ (2000) Globalization and Industrial Relations and Human Resources Change in China, Bangkok: International Labour Organization Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.
HowellJA (2008a) All-China Federation of Trades Unions beyond reform? The slow march of direct elections. China Quarterly196: 845–863.
30.
HowellJA(2008b). NGOs, civil society and migrants in China. In: MurphyR (ed.) Labour Migration and Social Development in Contemporary China, London: Routledge, 171–194.
LeeCK (2007) Against the Law: Labor Protests in China’s Rustbelt and Sunbelt, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
33.
Martin J (2010) China: Honda workers’ strike – The beginning of a new labour movement? New York Times, 11 June.
34.
PunNLuHL (2010) Unfinished proletarianization: Self, anger and class action of the second generation of peasant-workers in reform China. Modern China36(September): 493–519.
35.
QiuJL (2009) Working-class Network Society: Communication Technology and the Information Have-less in Urban China, London: MIT Press.
36.
Reuters (2010) 21st July 2010 ‘Workers strike at another auto parts plant in China’. Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/07/21/china-labour-idUSSGE66K0CK20100721.
Southern Metropolitan Daily (2011) 2 March, P. A17. Available at: http://gcontent.oeeee.com/7/1b/71bfbe458113bbc3/Blog/b4f/433268.html.
39.
Takungpao (2010a) 1 June, p. A14. `bentian bubagong chenluoshu neng jieque jifeng?' (Can ‘not-to-strike’ agreement letter solve the Honda dispute?).
40.
Takungpao (2010b) 2 June, p. A14 `guanmei ping bentian bi gongren chenluo “bubagong”. (The Chinese official media criticizes Honda for forcing workers undertaking not to strike.).
41.
Takungpao (2010c) 14 June, p. A16. `Nanhai bentian yi minxuan gonghui zhuxi.' (Nanhai Honda plans to hold democratic election of trade union president).
42.
Taylor B and Li Q (2007) Is ACFTU a union and does it matter? Journal of Industrial Relations 49: 701–715.
