A New Deal for China’s Workers?

Cynthia Estlund

Cynthia Estlund

A New Deal for China’s Workers?

Harvard University Press | 2017

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674973299

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About this book

China’s labor landscape is changing, and it is transforming the global economy in ways that we cannot afford to ignore. Once-silent workers have found their voice, organizing momentous protests, such as the 2010 Honda strikes, and demanding a better deal. China’s leaders have responded not only with repression but with reforms. Are China’s workers on the verge of a breakthrough in industrial relations and labor law reminiscent of the American New Deal?

In A New Deal for China’s Workers? Cynthia Estlund views this changing landscape through the comparative lens of America’s twentieth-century experience with industrial unrest. China’s leaders hope to replicate the widely shared prosperity, political legitimacy, and stability that flowed from America’s New Deal, but they are irrevocably opposed to the independent trade unions and mass mobilization that were central to bringing it about. Estlund argues that the specter of an independent labor movement, seen as an existential threat to China’s one-party regime, is both driving and constraining every facet of its response to restless workers.

China’s leaders draw on an increasingly sophisticated toolkit in their effort to contain worker activism. The result is a surprising mix of repression and concession, confrontation and cooptation, flaws and functionality, rigidity and pragmatism. If China’s laborers achieve a New Deal, it will be a New Deal with Chinese characteristics, very unlike what workers in the West achieved in the last century. Estlund’s sharp observations and crisp comparative analysis make China’s labor unrest and reform legible to Western readers.

Author information

Cynthia Estlund is Catherine A. Rein Professor of Law at New York University School of Law.

Frontmatter Free access PDF PDF	i
Contents Free access PDF PDF	vii
Preface Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	ix
1. Introduction Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	1
2. The Rise of China, and of Labor Protest, in the Reform Era Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	27
3. Who Speaks for China’s Workers? The ACFTU and Labor NGOs Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	44
4. How Did the New Deal Resolve the American “Labor Question”? Bringing a Comparative Lens into Focus Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	73
5. Can China Regulate Its Way out of Labor Unrest? Rising Labor Standards and the Enforcement Gap Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	99
6. Can China Secure Labor Peace without Independent Unions? Strikes and Collective Bargaining with Chinese Characteristics Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	123
7. What Does Democracy Look Like in China? Reforming Grassroots Union Elections Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	149
8. Will Workers Have a Voice in the “Socialist Market Economy”? The Curious Revival of the Worker Congress System Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	174
9. Conclusion Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	195
Notes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	219
Index Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	277

A New Deal for China’s Workers?

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