Labour NGOs in China: From Legal Mobilisation to Collective Struggle (and Back?)

dc.contributor.authorFranceschini, Ivan
dc.contributor.authorLin, Kevin
dc.date.accessioned2023-07-27T05:19:05Z
dc.date.issued2019
dc.date.updated2022-05-29T08:17:29Z
dc.description.abstractSince their appearance in the mid-1990s, Chinese labour NGOs have mostly focused on three kinds of activities: establishing workers' centres; carrying out outreach programs on labour rights; and conducting social surveys and policy advocacy. Some scholars have strongly criticised this approach, considering it excessively unbalanced towards an individualistic and narrowly legalistic view of labour rights and thus in line with the political agenda of the Party-state. Still, in the past few years, as labour conflict intensified, a handful of labour NGOs have moved forward to adopt a more militant strategy focussed on collective bargaining and direct intervention into worker collective struggles. Based on dozens of interviews with labour activists and workers and detailed analysis of two case studies of NGO-fostered collective labour mobilisation in Southern China in 2014-2015, this paper will outline the personal and political reasons that motivated these organisations to move beyond a narrow legalistic approach and turn towards collective struggles. It will also describe the strategies that Chinese labour activists have adopted in dealing with collective cases. We will conclude by examining the main challenges that labour activists in China have to face when dealing with labour unrest and by questioning the sustainability and feasibility of this new approach in the current political climate.en_AU
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_AU
dc.identifier.issn2070-3449en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/294586
dc.language.isoen_AUen_AU
dc.publisherCentre d'Etudes Francais sur la Chine Contemporaineen_AU
dc.rights© All rights reserveden_AU
dc.sourceChina Perspectivesen_AU
dc.titleLabour NGOs in China: From Legal Mobilisation to Collective Struggle (and Back?)en_AU
dc.typeJournal articleen_AU
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access via publisher websiteen_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.issue1en_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage84en_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage75en_AU
local.contributor.affiliationFranceschini, Ivan, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANUen_AU
local.contributor.affiliationLin, Kevin, International Labor Rights Forumen_AU
local.contributor.authoremailu5165776@anu.edu.auen_AU
local.contributor.authoruidFranceschini, Ivan, u5165776en_AU
local.description.embargo2099-12-31
local.description.notesImported from ARIESen_AU
local.identifier.absfor441004 - Social changeen_AU
local.identifier.absfor449901 - Studies of Asian societyen_AU
local.identifier.absfor480400 - Law in contexten_AU
local.identifier.ariespublicationu3102795xPUB5100en_AU
local.identifier.doi10.4000/chinaperspectives.8826en_AU
local.identifier.thomsonIDWOS:000462675500008
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByu3102795en_AU
local.publisher.urlhttps://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/8826en_AU
local.type.statusPublished Versionen_AU

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