CHINA´S LABOR QUESTION

The Honda workers’ strike in 2010 gave high visibility to workers’ discontent and collective action in China. The strike triggered a wave of labour disputes and raises the question of changing industrial relations from below. The contributors analyze the dynamics of change and the state policies to contain the protest by suppressing independent action as well as addressing its underlying cause of inequality and bad working conditions. The state has enacted many laws aimed at channeling dissatisfaction into stable procedural mechanisms of individual grievances and employment rights. The implementation of these laws, however, lags behind as workers cannot access these rights without the right of freedom of association. The book discusses the implications of Chinese state policies that on the one hand see the need to address the extreme exploitation of workers and the unsustainable levels of inequality, but at the same time refuse to empower workers to bargain and achieve better wages and more equity.

Read more here: http://tiny.cc/chinaslabourquestion