Chris K.C. Chan, (Chinese University, Hong Kong and Asia Monitoring Resource Centre) makes a presentation on ‘Changing State and labour relations in China’. He relates labour issues with the Chinese economy and economic problems. He shows that the Belt and Roadways initiative has been designed to help the over production in Chinese manufacturing industries and the tuse of Chinese labour abroad, has helped decrease unemployment in China.

1. Changing State and Labour Relations in
China:
Chinese and Workers Struggles
Dream
Chris K.C. Chan
Chinese University University of Hong Kong;
Asia Monitor Resource Center

2. Since 2008: Three Key
Questions
 How have state and labour relations in China
been changed in the past decade?
 What are the new initiatives of Xi Jinping?
 How have these initiatives impacted on labour
rights and social protection?

3. Soci-Economic Policies under Hu
 The discourse of ‘Harmonious Society’ by Hu
Jintao (2003-2012)
 The cancellation of agriculture tax and
introduction of agriculture subsidy since 2006
 RMB 4 trillion (USD 585 billion) public spending
in 2008
 Labour Contract Law, Employment Promotion
Law, Labour Dispute Mediation and Arbitration
Law (2007)
 Trade union direct election, collective
bargaining (2010)
 Legalization of labour NGOs (2011).
 Social security net: Social Insurance Law (2011)

4. 2012: The Economic Limit
 Economic slowdown
 Outflow of FDI

5. 2012: The Political Limit
 The labour protests for higher salary and trade
union democratization
 The environmental protests against population
 The peasant protests against land grabbing

6. Xi’s “Chinese Dream”
 Xi Jinping: Replace Hu in 2012
 By 2021: ‘moderately prosperous
society’
 2021-2035: ‘ a global leader in
innovation’
 2035-2049 :‘ become a global leader
in national strength and international
influence’

7. Soci-economic policies under Xi
 Strengthen control over civil society: National Security Law
(2015); Charity Law (2016); Foreign NGO Management Law
(2017)
 Freezing minimum wage (e.g. Guangdong announced in 2017
that the minimum wage would be adjusted 3 rather than 2
years.)
 Lowering the standard of social insurance (e.g. pension
insurance to 16% or low from 2019)
 Economy upgrading: tertiarization (e.g. sharing economy, e-
commerce and logistic industry); automation (e.g. Made in
China 2025; robotization )

8. Wage: raising but slowdown
Minimum wages
in Shanghai
Wages in
manufacturing

9. Populist authoritarianism?
 Party-Mass Service Centers are established in
factories and communities
 Populist authoritarianism: “The Mass Line
continues to serve as a linkage between the
state and society in the post-Mao China and a
powerful instrument for political mobilization
and regime legitimacy”.

10. Unemployment rate: declining

11. A contradiction?
 Economic growth has slowed down since 2012;
 Net FDI inflow into China has declined;
 The growth rate of minimum wage has also declined.
But
 Wages in manufacturing keep rising;
 Unemployed rate is low.
Why?
--how these have been achieved?

12. 1 A service-based economy?
GD
P
Workforce

13. Informalization in ‘sharing’
economy
 China sharing economy development annual reports
 (State Information Centre, 2016-2019)
years services provider
(million)
platform employees
(million )
GDP (billion, RMB)
2015 50 5 1956
2016 60 5.85 3452
2017 70 7.16 4920
2018 75 5.98 2942
didi (Chinese Uber) registered driver in 2016：15
million
a didi driver survey (2016) shows 42.24% were in full-
time while 57.76% in part-time job.

14. 2: Escalating labour conflicts
 Number of labour disputes: 589,244 in 2011 to 813,859
in 2015 (an annual increase of 8.41%. )
 Collective cases: increased by 12.25% annually from
2011 to 2015 (National Bureau of Statistics, 2016).
 Workers’ strikes increased from 185 in 2011 to 2,726
cases in 2015 (CLB, 2016).

15. Pension as a key demand
Participation rate of migrant workers in social insurance
Year Pension Medic
al
Unempl
oyment
Work
Injury
Maternit
y
2008 9.7% 13.1% 3.7% 24.1% 2.0%
2009 7.6% 12.2% 3.9% 21.8% 2.3%
2010 9.5% 14.3% 4.9% 24.1% 2.9%
2011 13.9% 16.7% 8.0% 23.6% 5.6%
2012 14.3% 16.9% 8.4% 24.0% 6.1%
2013 15.7% 17.6% 9.1% 28.5% 6.6%
Since 2013: migrant workers asked for
compensation and proper implementation of
pension insurance.

16. 3. Crackdown on civil society
1. 2015: 7 NGO activists
were criminalized.
2. 2018-2019: Nearly 50
workers,
students/graduates, NGO
workers were arrested.

17. 4. Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
 To provide overseas opportunities for its
State Owned Enterprises (SOEs)
 To reduce the SOEs’ overcapacity in heavy
industry and construction sector
 To booth Chinese economic growth
 To create dispatched job opportunities

18. Conclusion: ‘Chinese dream’ and
Chinese Workers
 1. The rise of service-based economy and
informalization of labour force.
 2. The escalation of labour conflict with
pension insurance as a key demand for migrant
workers.
 3. The crackdown of labour NGOs and the
return to populist authoritarianism.
 4. The ‘belt and road initiative” (BRI) and
dispatching oversea workers.

19. Stocktaking: Labor markets in
Europe and Asia, Informal Sector,
precariousness, platform economy,
wages, and geo-politics of Labor
rights, democracy and
representation