The Emerging Industrial Relations of China. William Brown, Chang Kai, eds. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2017. 250 pp. $110 (hardcover) (original) (raw)

2018, Journal of Labor and Society

This edited volume "The Emerging Industrial Relations of China" is an important piece of scholarship that presents some of the cutting edge research of Chinese labor studies. The majority of the contributors are China-based, working and researching directly within the field. What sort of industrial relations are emerging in China? This is the central question the editors and contributors seek to address, with a particular focus on the institution building to protect workers' interests and manage industrial disputes by collective responses since the passing of the Labor Contract law in 2008. Although there are nuanced views from the contributors and editors, overall the volume asserts that the piecemeal reforms of the Chinese industrial relations hinged on the state-led unions can provide some nontraditional but effective ways to represent and defend workers' interests. Not everyone may agree with the initial optimism of this volume toward the Chinese labor movement presided over by the increasingly authoritarian state. Nonetheless, this book provides plenty of food for thought, other than what we have read in the Anglo-American literature. The book's pluralist approach adopts a variety of theoretical frameworks besides institutional analysis, such as liberal labor market theory (Heery, 2016), structural and associational power (Silver, 2003), mobilization theory (McAdam, 1988), and so on. It draws on substantial and original field studies in China's labor scene, which has increasingly become a forbidden zone for foreign scholars. Independent surveys with a large number of samples are used to provide insight into the state of Chinese industrial relations, for instance, the Institute of Labour Studies survey 2013, by Remin University of China. In what follows, I would briefly highlight the kernel of argument in the chapters. Chapters 1-3 set the theoretical framework of the book with some broad perspective analysis of Chinese industrial relations by the editors. In Chapter 1 introduction, Brown draws mostly from the western liberal theories of industrial relations to provide a basis for the following chapters. These theories see industrial relations as one between employers and employees. This sets the book apart from other theoretical approaches, such as Marxism focusing on capital-labor relations, and Feminism emphasizing gender relations and social reproduction. Brown sees collective bargaining as the central role in maintaining harmonious relationships between the employers and workers. From this way of framing, the challenges faced by the Chinese workers, with an ambiguous and weak role played by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), are not unique. While the ACFTU's status is problematic, often detached from the mass of workers (p. 64), trade unionism also has been on the decline in the West generally, particularly among the private sectors. However, this liberal framework has its limits in the context of the developing world, especially China, as Brown admits that the latter has far more extreme challenges than the West (p. 17). In Chapters 2 and 3, the editors seek to survey the landscape of Chinese industrial relations in a broad perspective. Chapter 2 provides some fascinating insights into the conservatism among some Chinese academics and party officials toward labor issues during China's transition to market economy. The debate between "Shanghai School" and "Beijing School" shows that some Chinese scholars saw labor rights legislation was "excessive protection for workers" (p. 27). The case of