Harmony on whose terms?Putting the (working) class back into class compromise

Tim PringleSOAS, University of London

tp21@soas.ac.uk

Outline

• To demonstrate that it is strikes and the threat of strikes that remain the key impetus for collective bargaining

• To chart the progress of collective bargaining in China generally and Guangdong specifically

• To identify the responses of key actors to the emergence of collective bargaining

Main arguments

• That ‘actually existing conditions’ in China provide an opportunity for the development of forms collective bargaining

• That class struggle is a main driver of change• That collective bargaining is a class compromise

used to promote industrial ‘harmony’• Thus ‘social harmony’ is not a prerequisite for

collective bargaining – it is an outcome• That the ACFTU is beginning to recognise this

Methodology

• Fieldwork conducted in the summer of 2013 and summer of 2014 – some it ‘supervised’– Workers– LNGO activists– Academics

• Academic research published in Chinese and English journals and books

• Traditional and social media• Accumulated participant observation in labour

issues for 30 years….

Context

• Transition from a command economy to a market economy

• 15th Party Congress• SOE restructuring• Private capital and the ‘peasant worker’• Particularities– Household registration– Absence of freedom of association

Rising ‘forces of labour’• Labour shortages• Accumulation of knowledge

– Factory system– Labour laws– Access to social media

• Role of LNGOs (Chan 2012; C.K. Lee and Yuan Shen 2011)• Aspects of global production chain management

– Just in time ordering– Connected production– Structural Power to Associational Power (Pringle and Meng Quan:

forthcoming)• Relaxation of 户口制度• From rights to interests (Clarke et al 2007)

Labour Agency – is changing

Changing forms of protest

• From protests to strikes– Length of strikes

• Emergence of picket lines– From rights to interests

• Demands for representation• (Re) Collectivisation of labour relations• Phasing out of the victim narrative• From ‘place’ to ‘class’ loyalties• Emergence of ‘game-changing’ disputes

State response

• Develop legal framework for governing labour relations (Gallagher 2011)– Slowing of informalisation (Kuruvilla et al 2011)– The collectivisation of labour relations– Inclusion of collective negotiations 12th Five Year Plan

• Renewed emphasis on tripartite institutions– Centralised– Regional and local

• From repression to concession– Repression still happens

Employers Response

• Class interests of employers challenged by– Labour law– Labour shortages– Skill shortages and job-hopping

• Increasing diversity in autonomous local employers associations (Lee, Chang-Hee 2013)– Provision of ‘collective goods’ to meet employers’ class needs

• Generalised absence of enthusiasm for collective bargaining but: – Challenge from ACFTU for regional/sectoral bargaining– Response from ACFIC affiliates– Response from ‘bottom up’ FIE employer associations

The elephant in the room: ACFTU

ACFTU

• Huge!• Party led– The main problem?

• Politically powerful– Organisationally weak

• Lack of experience in capitalist labour relations– (Probably) never led a strike

• Under pressure from below and above– Not a monolith

Response of ACFTU to labour unrest

• Balancing 维稳 with 维权• Recruitment campaign• The importance of pilots

– Isolates risk– Diversity of labour markets

• Sector-level bargaining in clustered sectors• Bargaining as dispute resolution

– Closure bargaining• Gradual introduction of annual enterprise level bargaining in some sectors• Direct elections – an important change

– Policy level– Implementation level

• From direction to ‘qualified’ representation

Back to my main arguments

• That ‘actually existing conditions’ in China provide an opportunity for the development of forms collective bargaining

• That class struggle is a main driver of change• That collective bargaining is a class compromise

used to promote industrial ‘harmony’• Thus ‘social harmony’ is not a prerequisite for

collective bargaining – it is an outcome• That the ACFTU is beginning to recognise this

Sanitation workers strikesFormalising informality?

• Weak structural position due to extensive outsourcing– Landlords, street committees and private

companies– Rotation of contracts– Loss of seniority

• Strikes emerge in 2007• Sector-level union established to little avail

(Yangcheng Wanbao)

Analysis of Interview Data

• High level of fragmentation– Difficult to develop organisation– Conditions for solidarity weak and transient

• Strikes have produced a basic trade union consciousness

• That sanitation work should not be subject to market forces

• That the state should move to discipline employers in this sector

Borne out….?

• Yes! Recent strike in University Town, Guangzhou

• Contract-seniority based dispute• Considerable public• Two week sit-in – no arrests• Involvement of labour NGOs and labour

lawyers• Agreement in favour of workers

Working class identity -

The local government is the beneficiary of our hard work and it is in their interest to stand with us when the employer changes. We love the expression Yu proposed: “Steel-forged workers and ever-changing companies.” This is our community, and we are here to stay. (Wu Naiyang – Sanitation worker and organiser).

Harmony, class and conscious collective bargaining

• Harmony is the desired goal of states balancing the class needs of employers and employees– It is not a level playing field– Globally collective bargaining has been hammered by neo-liberalisation– China is different?

• Strikes are a working class weapon– Weapon of last resort?– Economic versus political strikes

• Collective bargaining is an instrument of compromise and conflict containment– Class identity and shared interest – ‘trade union consciousness’ is privileged over Leninist ‘class consciousness’ – Sector-level collective agreements will be key to promoting labour-friendly

agreements