Labor Activists and the New Working Class in China: Strike Leaders’ Struggles

208 Pages·2015·5.405 MB·English

by  Parry P. Leung (auth.)

Labor Activists and the New Working
Class in China
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND TRANSFORMATION
This series tackles one of the central issues of our time: the rise of
large-scale social movements and the transformation of society over
the last thirty years. As global capitalism continues to affect broader
segments of the world’s population—workers, peasants, the self-
employed, the unemployed, the poor, indigenous peoples, women, and
minority ethnic groups—there is a growing mass movement by the
affected populations to address the inequities engendered by the glob-
alization process. These popular mass movements across the globe
(such as labor, civil rights, women’s, environmental, indigenous, and
anti-corporate globalization movements) have come to form a viable
and decisive force to address the consequences of the operations of the
transnational corporations and the global capitalist system. The study
of these social movements—their nature, social base, ideology, and
strategy and tactics of mass struggle—is of paramount importance if
we are to understand the nature of the forces that are struggling to
bring about change in the global economy, polity, and social struc-
ture. This series aims to explore emerging movements and develop
viable explanations for the kind of social transformations that are yet
to come.
Series Editor:
Berch Berberoglu is Professor of Sociology and Director of Graduate
Studies in Sociology at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Titles:
Social Movements in Latin America: Neoliberalism and Popular
Resistance
James Petras and Henry Veltmeyer
Challenging Neoliberalism at Turkey’s Gezi Park: From Private
Discontent to Collective Class Action
Efe Can Gürcan and Efe Peker
Labor Activists and the New Working Class in China: Strike Leaders’
Struggles
Parry P. Leung
Labor Activists and the New Working
Class in China
Strike Leaders’ Struggles
Parry P. Leung
LABORACTIVISTSANDTHENEWWORKINGCLASSINCHINA
Copyright © Parry P. Leung, 2015.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-48349-2
All rights reserved.
First published in 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-69466-2 ISBN 978-1-137-48350-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-48350-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Leung, Parry P.
Labor activists and the new working class in China :
strike leaders’ struggles / Parry P. Leung.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Labor movement—China. 2. Labor unions—China.
3. Working class—China. 4. Strikes and lockouts—China. I. Title.
HD8734.L48 2015
331.880951—dc23 2014041089
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: April 2015
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Tables vii
Acknowledgments ix
List of Abbreviations xi
1 Understanding Labor Activism in China 1
2 The Macro-Setting: The New Working Class
under Chinese State Capitalism 31
3 The Micro-Setting: Strikes of Jewelry Workers in PRD 47
4 The Organizing Mechanism of the Strikes 75
5 Leading Strikes in China: The Critical Role
of Labor Activists 105
6 The “Citizen Strike”: Sustaining the Organizing Core 137
7 Conclusion: The Way toward an Organized
Labor Movement 159
Appendix Background of the14 Jewelry Worker Activists 183
Notes 187
References 193
Index 197
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Tables
3.1 Average monthly wage of three workers
of Sun Beauty Jewelry in RMB 58
3.2 Management structure of Golden Manufactory 60
3.3 Production structure of Golden Manufactory 61
6.1 Basic information of the Citizen Factory 138
6.2 Basic information of the Citizen strike 138
6.3 Position of activists in the Chemical Department 148
6.4 Basic information on the collective negotiations 152
7.1 Main features of the four types of strikes 161
7.2 Typology of the strike cases discussed in this book 163
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Acknowledgments
The core of this book is developed from my PhD research. Here
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr Alvin So, my
doctoral thesis supervisor, and Dr Pun Ngai, the supervisor of
my Master’s degree dissertation at the Hong Kong University
of Science and Technology, for their incessant guidance and
patience over the years. Without their inspiration and dedica-
tion, this book would never have been made possible.
My sincere thanks also goes to Suki Chung, Ka Wai, Monina
Wong, and Ping Kwan from Labour Action China, with whose
help I was able to access the field and got to know many of the
workers in the Pearl River Delta; to Suet-wah Choi, Mei Leung,
and Ka Mei from China Women Working Network, who are
my best friends and offered me continuous practical backup
for this project; to Debby Chan, Jenny Chan, Ken Yau, Sophia
So, Vivien Yau, Yiyi Cheng, Dr. Y. C. Chen, and Zicun, who
have been my comrades in the movement for many years. I am
also indebted to Dr. Chris Chan, Dr. Dimitri Kessler, Dr. Lin
Thung-Hong, and Priscilla Chan, who have been a constant
source of critical and reflective ideas throughout the process of
intellectual inquiry.
My gratitude must also be extended to the Chinese workers.
Each and every factory, construction or service worker I met
in the past 14 years has their own unique story and life experi-
ence. Through their laughter and tears I witnessed the immense
social suffering experienced by China in the era of capitalist
transformation, and at the same time the possibility for making
changes and social progress.