Recent Labour Reforms in China

Changes in Labour Institutions in China: Right Steps Towards Achievement of Decent Work
Published by Bookwell, New Delhi

China inheres in the psychological make up of not only Americans and Europeans but closer home of Indians also; for Indians it is not only Economics but geo-politics also. The sustained super performance of the Chinese economy and its impressive record of economic openness have at once caused amazement and concern to countries, pressure groups and common people all over the world. It’s impressive performance is held to be largely due to the controversial advantage it enjoys in the labour sector and this has been at the centre of debate and a subject of corrective discourses by the West. Globalisation process affects labour institutions and thus academics and the policy makers world over intensified their research on labour institutions. China is a big player in the globalisation process and labour institutions in it matter not only for it but also to the world. The place and role of labour institutions like the labour laws, the monopoly and captive trade union, the All China Federation of Trade Union (ACFTU), the labour compensation, labour productivity, and so on have been subjected to critical scrutiny not only by external scholars but also internally in China as China sought to structure the labour market and industrial relations system suiting the ‘socialist market economy’. It was realised that the stupendous success rate in the economic sphere has come at tremendous social costs, viz. rise in inequality, environmental damage, heavy job losses, labour and social unrest, sweatshop image, etc. These have prompted a rethink on the Chinese model of labour sector and a slew of reform measures aiming to correct the institutional problems and establish a just and harmonious society has been introduced in recent years. The reform measures not unexpectedly met with stiff opposition not only from domestic capital but also foreign capital and academics. The Chinese government hung on and introduced new labour laws that somehow sought to compromise the warring interests and at the same time increase labour protection, though both labour and capital camps would have preferred stronger versions in their favour. But the unfortunate coincidence of economic crisis has not helped the cause of these reform measures. There are calls for deregulation of the labour market to protect the dominant interest of the sustainability of the firm. The Chinese policy makers face the unenviable task of maintaining the labour standards and yet cope up with the problems thrown up by the economic slow down. These indeed constitute the subject matter that I seek to dwell in this monograph.