From Iron Rice Bowl to Informalization: Markets, Workers, and the State in a Changing China

Chapter 9. The Anti-Solidarity Machine?: Labor Nongovernmental Organizations in China

Chapter 9 The Anti-Solidarity Machine? Labor Nongovernmental Organizations in China Ching Kwan Lee andYuan Shen The increase in insecurity and informalization of the Chinese workforce described in this volume has not happened without opposition from workers acting independently (see the May 2010 wildcat strikes in Honda plants), unions (as Mingwei Liu, chap. 8 in this volume, demonstrates), and other civil society agents such as labor friendly organizations. Labor-related nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in China are growing in number and visibility, despite formidable challenges to their existence. In this chapter, we provide a preliminary analysis of their organizational cultures and practices. Although these organizations all claim to pursue and protect workers’ rights, in actual practice many have become more keen on developing their roles as government liaisons and on building patronage,on the one hand,and market opportunities , on the other.We trace these characteristics to the political and economic circumstances under which these organizations have emerged and survived.We also examine two activities commonly undertaken by Chinese labor NGOs: labor law education and the collection of unpaid wages for workers.We find that, rather than cultivating workers’ collective power, many labor NGOs have an anti-solidarity tendency. China has the largest workforce in the world, reaching almost 800 million in 2005, but the government allows only one union, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), to represent worker interests. As part of the mass organization apparatus of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the ACFTU has been and still is hamstrung by its political subordination to the CCP and by its financial dependence on employers, who contribute 2 percent of their 174 Lee and Shen payrolls to the union fund. For three decades, the Chinese export-oriented, labor-intensive, industrialization strategy has subjected Chinese workers to one of the most exploitative labor regimes of the modern world. Egregious labor violations, now well documented in academic and journalist accounts, have spawned the emergence and growth of Chinese labor NGOs since the 1990s. The sorely felt need for the protection of labor and advocacy of workers’ rights beyond the framework of the ACFTU is palpable, especially among aggrieved and injured workers and concerned academics, journalists, and legal workers. To put this Chinese development into perspective, we must note that the growth of non-union worker organization and mobilization is not unique to China. In the United States, for instance, the increase in immigrant workers , the process of de-industrialization, the restructuring of the economy toward low-paid service work, and the casualization of employment have led to the growth of some 150 worker centers (Fine 2006; Gordon 2007a).These community-based (rather than workplace-based) organizations target workers, such as women, immigrants, and casual labor, traditionally shunned by unions as “un-organizable.” Social movement unionism is another tendency observed in many parts of the world, including Brazil, South Africa, South Korea, and Japan (Seidman 1994; Chun 2005, 2008; Gottfried 2008). Here, union activists join hands with a variety of community organizations to address worker issues as community and citizenship issues. The distinctive political economy of China is shaping the rise of a unique kind of labor NGO.Let us begin with a sketch of the landscape of labor NGOs in China: their leadership, organizational features, and financial support. The Nongovernmental Organizational Landscape in China: A Preliminary Overview We use the term labor NGOs in a broad sense to refer to those nonprofit organizations whose primary or secondary objectives relate to workers or certain segments thereof (e.g., women workers or migrant workers) and labor issues (e.g., industrial injuries and occupational health, litigation, or skill training). There is no accurate or official count of the number of labor NGOs operating in China. Some of these NGOs are registered as minban feiqiye danwei (“nongovernment nonprofit units”),but most are registered as commercial entities or have no formal registration at all.For example,since 2006 the Panyu Secretarial Support Center has operated without a license. Based on information gathered at several national workshops that we have organized for labor NGOs in the past two years, we are aware of the existence of some thirty labor NGOs in the major cities, with Beijing (eleven), Shenzhen (six), and Guangzhou (three) The Anti-Solidarity Machine? 175 having the largest numbers.Others are found in secondary cities such asWuhan and Qingdao and in the centrally administered city of Chongqing.Several labor NGOs have developed branches...