Emergence of Industrial Relations in China

"Labour relations are at the heart of China's extraordinary economic rise. This growth, accompanied by internal migration, urbanisation and rising income have brought a dramatic increase in the aspirations of workers, forcing the Chinese government to restructure its relationships with both employers and workers. In order to resolve disputes and manage workplace militancy, the once monolithic official trade union is becoming more flexible, internally. No longer able to rely on government support in dealing with worker unrest, employers are rapidly forming organisations of their own. In this book, a new generation of Chinese scholars provide analyses of six distinct aspects of these developments. They are set in the broader context by the leading authority on Chinese labour law and two western specialists in comparative labour relations. The result is a comprehensive study for scholars and graduate students working in Chinese industrial relations, comparative labour law, human resource management, NGOs and international labour organisations"-- "A profound change is taking place in employment relations in China. The opening up of the economy to both national and international competition is transforming the way in which employers and workers interact. It is also changing the institutions through which they interact and the ways in which the Chinese government is involved. Markets were initially slow to develop after China's post-revolution period as a centrally planned economy and they are still subject to a high level of state regulation. As exposure to market forces has gathered pace, the consequences for workers have often been difficult. The strike wave in the summer of 2010 emphasised the extent to which their response has increasingly been collective rather than individualistic. This has raised industrial relations challenges for China that echo those previously encountered elsewhere in the industrialised world"--