Christoph Scherrer (Ed.) China’s Labor Question Rainer Hampp Verlag München, Mering 2011 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. ISBN 978-3-86618-387-2 Picture on cover: Workers are seen inside a Foxconn factory in the township of Longhua in the southern Guangdong province May 26, 2010 (reproduced by permission of REUTERS/Bobby Yip) First published in 2011 © 2011 Rainer Hampp Verlag München, Mering Marktplatz 5 86415 Mering, Germany www.Hampp-Verlag.de All rights preserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced or util- ized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereaf- ter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or re- trieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. In case of complaints please contact Rainer Hampp Verlag. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements............................................................................................................. vi Notes on Contributors........................................................................................................ vii Introduction: The many Challenges of Chinese Labor Relations..................................1 Christoph Scherrer Part I: The Basic Setting 1. Perspectives on High Growth and Rising Inequality .......................................................7 Hansjörg Herr 2. Restructured Class-Relations since 1978......................................................................28 Frido Wenten 3. Collective Contracts, but no Collective Bargaining ........................................................49 Siqi Luo 4. Fragmented Minimum Wage System ............................................................................70 Max J. Zenglein Part II: Heterogeneous Industrial Relations 5. Regimes of Production and Industrial Relations ...........................................................97 Boy Lüthje 6. Hegemonic Authoritarianism: The Textile and Garment Industry ................................117 Hao Zhang 7. Understanding Labour Activism: The Honda Workers’ Strike ......................................133 Hui Sio Ieng 8. Insider Views of Labor Struggles in Southern China....................................................152 Interview with Chen Weiguang Interview with Monina Wong and Parry Leung Part III: Companies in the “Harmonious Society” 9. Policies on Corporate Social Responsibility ................................................................158 Tatjana Chahoud 10. Chinese Companies’ Response to Corporate Social Responsibility ..........................182 Jochen Weikert Part IV: Commodification of Land 11. Financial Crisis, Land-Induced Financialization and the Subalterns in China............199 Ngai-Ling Sum 12. Regulating Land Transfers: Steps towards Private Ownership .................................209 Liu Pan and Wang Rui 0 Acknowledgements The idea for this book arose at a panel on Chinese labor relations of the Global Labour University (GLU) Conference in Berlin 2010. The lively debate that followed the insightful presentations of various alumni of the joint Master’s program Labour Policies and Globalisation at the Kassel University and the Berlin School of Economics signaled clearly a great interest among trade unionists and academics in learning more about recent workers’ struggles in China. I, therefore, asked the panelists to bring their presentations into a book chapter format and I invited a few more experienced scholars to contribute their specific insights on issues related to labor and social inequality in China. My thanks go to all contributors, who made this volume possible by writing insightful chapters in a timely fashion. Since all of us are not native English speakers we are very thankful to Damien Frettsome, Dan Hawkins, Donna McGuire and Cynthia Tilden-Machleidt for a superb job in copy- editing. Special thanks go to Halyna Semenyshyn for the formatting of all texts. Many thanks also to Rainer Hampp at Hampp Verlag who was enthusiastic about the book project from the very beginning. Financial support was granted by the International Center for Development and Decent Work which is one of the five Centers of Excellence for Exchange and Development programme managed by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) using funds from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The interviews in chapter eight appeared previously in the Global Labour Column of the Global Labour University. Christoph Scherrer Berlin June 2011 01 Notes on Contributors Tatjana Chahoud holds a PhD in Political Science and is Senior Researcher at the Department World Economy and Development Financing of the German Development Institute. The main focus of her research is on Foreign Direct Investment/Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and South-South Cooperation. Her recent publications include: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) in South Africa - A case study of German Transnational Corporations, DIE, Bonn (co-authored, 2011); India's Development Cooperation - Opportunities and Challenges for International Development Cooperation, DIE, Briefing Paper, Bonn (2009). Hansjörg Herr is a Professor for Supranational Economic Integration at the Berlin School of Economics and economic director for the MA Labour Policy and Globalisation and MA Chinese-European Economics and Business Studies. His recent publications include: Macroeconomic Policy Regimes in Western Industrial Countries, Routledge (co-authored with M. Kazandziska, 2011); Capitalism. A Blueprint for Reforming our Economics, Pluto (co-authored, 2011). Elaine Sio-ieng Hui is a PhD candidate at Kassel University, a Research Assistant at the City University of Hong Kong and alumna of the Global Labour University. She is working on the impact of labor law on working class consciousness. She has published “The Containment of Labour Unrest in the Post Socialist China”, New Research in GPE Working Paper 2011, University of Kassel. Siqi Luo is a PhD candidate at Frankfurt University and an alumna of the Global Labour University. She is working on collective bargaining in China. She has published “30-year industrial relations in Germany: Neo-liberalism under a non-liberal economy?” New Manpower - Labour Relations Journal, Vol. 256, Feb 2009, pp 114-125. Boy Lüthje is Senior Researcher at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt and Visiting Scholar East-West Center, Honolulu. He works on global production networks, work and labor relations, with a strong focus on China. His most recent book publication is: From Silicon Valley to Shenzhen. Global production and work in the IT industry, Rowman and Littlefield (co-authored, forthcoming 2011). Liu Pan is an Associate Professor of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu. She works on international economics and finance. Among her publications are: “Financial Modes of Transferring of Rural Land” (co-authored), Journal of Zhejiang Finance, 2010:4, 28-30; “Credit Risk , Risk Sharing and Compensation Mechanism after Earthquake” (co-authored), Finance and Economy, 2009(12), 77-80. Wang Rui is a graduate student in Finance from Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in China. Christoph Scherrer is Director of the International Center for Development and Decent Work at Kassel University and a member of the steering committee of the Global Labour University. He works on international political economy and labor. His most recent books are: Globalisierung, UTB (co-authored with C. Kunze, 2011); The Role of Gender Knowledge in Policy Networks, Nomos (co-edited with B. Young; 2010). 011 Ngai-Ling Sum is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University. She works on cultural political economy, globalization, financial crisis and the rise of BRIC economies. Her recent publications include: The Centring of (Semi-)Peripheral Economies: A Cultural Political Economy of ‘BRIC’ and the Case of China, in: Prokla: Journal of Critical Social Science, 161: 543-566 (in German, 2010); The Production of Hegemonic Policy Discourses: “Competitiveness” as a Knowledge Brand and its (Re-)Contextualization’ in: Critical Policy Studies, 3 (2): 184-203 (2009). Jochen Weikert holds a PhD in Political Science and is in charge of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) related aspects in development cooperation at the Private Sector Cooperation unit of German International Cooperation (GIZ) in Berlin. His work focuses on CSR and Emerging Market Multinational Corporations. His recent publications include: Re- defining ‘good business’ in the face of Asian drivers of global change. China and the global corporate social responsibility discussion, DIE (2011); Fast growth and big impacts: How Emerging Market Multinationals are advancing sustainable development, GIZ (co-edited 2010). Frido Wenten writes his PhD thesis at Kassel University on questions of workers' agency in the global political economy. He has done research on labor and social movements, especially in the Global South, and on Marxist social theory. His publications include: Aufbruch der Zweiten Generation. Wanderarbeit, Gender und Klassenzusammensetzung in China, Assoziation A, (co-edited, 2010); Arbeiterbewegungen in der globalisierten Welt. Eine