Labour NGOs and workers’ resistance in China: a comparison between the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta regions

Ph.D.China’s labour NGOs are not simply a type of civil society organizations, but a by-product of the transformation of China into a world factory in the global neo-liberal context. The development of labour NGOs reflects the ever-changing capital-labour relationship and the tension and struggle of class relations driven by the post-Mao reforms. Labour NGOs thus have an uneven geographical distribution in China, with a concentration in the Pearl River Delta region that is labour conflict-ridden. This research seeks to explain why more NGOs are found in the PRD and NGOs tend to be more proactive and defiant compared to their counterparts in the YRD.Despite the existing literature that has contributed to making sense of labour NGOs’ survival strategies in the PRD and YRD, this research by adopting a comparative historical approach illustrates the factors of differentiated economic development trajectories of the two regions that give rise to their spatial heterogeneity in labour activism. The state-corporatist and socially-embedded economic model in the YRD have led to a higher level of governmental intervention in industrial relations as well as the handling of labour conflicts. Input institutions, instead of labour NGOs, have been successfully established to absorb workers’ grievances. On the contrary, the laissez-faire type economy of the PRD features a fragmented relationship between the local governments and the ventures in their precinct. Limited government intervention into problematic industrial relations within enterprises causes as a general absence of institutions to mitigate grievances. Labour NGOs in the region thus enjoy a higher degree of autonomy in intervening local industrial relations as well as labour representation when trade unions in the region are incapable of resolving labour conflicts.The research has also suggested a new typology of China’s labour NGOs with two dimensions – namely mode of operation and political orientation – to re-examine the conventional understanding that the twin traps of state’s co-optation and commercialization would lead to “conservatization” of labour NGOs. While previous studies proposed an “anti-solidarity” hypothesis that assumes most labour NGOs, particularly those “conservatized”, could only direct workers to defend their rights through individualistic and legalistic ways, my study of twenty-one labour NGOs in the PRD and YRD finds that whether a conservative NGO is likely to dissipate workers’ collective capacity or not depends on the service mode they have adopted. I argue, based on surveying workers’ experiences with labour NGO activities and collective struggles, that co-opted worker centres and movement-oriented labour NGOs have intentionally or inadvertently, facilitated and sustained workers’ collective capacity; while progressive community-based organizations would go even further by exploring the possibility of wildcat strikes and experimenting with new ways of rebuilding work-class identity and militancy. In short, once a labour NGO is situated in a class conflict-ridden area, no matter how conservative it may be, it is hard to escape from being involved in or even staging collective actions.勞工非政府組織在中國的分佈呈現出地域上的不平衡，其主要集中於勞務糾紛多發的珠江三角洲地區。本研究旨在探討為何珠三角勞工非政府組織數量多且取態激進；而長三角勞工非政府組織則數目少且較傾向與政府合作。與現有研究不同，本研究力圖通過歷史性地比較兩個地區不同的經濟發展路線來呈現兩地勞工運動的空間異質性。具體而言，長三角採取的是國家社團主義和社會嵌入的經濟發展模式；該模式導致當地政府較高程度地參與到了勞資關係和勞資紛爭的解決中；通過建立嵌入性機構而非勞工非政府組織，當地政府成功安撫了勞工的不滿情緒。相反，珠三角自由放任型的經濟模式形塑出地方政府與其轄區內企業之間碎片化的關係。政府對企業內部勞資關係的有限幹干預，導致一種缺乏機制緩解勞工不滿情緒的整體性局面的形成。珠三角地區的勞工非政府組織因而在干預地區勞資關係時具有較大自主權，同時在當地工會無力解決勞務糾紛的情況下會獲得較高的勞工代表性。此外，本研究也提出了一種劃分中國勞工非政府組織的新分類。該分類以運作模式和政治取向為雙維，來重新審視傳統的認知，即國家吸納和商業化的雙重陷阱將會導致勞動非政府組織的「保守化」。已有研究提出了一個「反團結」的假說，即認為大多數勞工非政府組織，尤其是那些「保守化」的勞工非政府組織，只能導致工人採取個體化的和合法的手段維護自身利益。通過對珠三角和長三角20個勞工非政府組織的研究，本文發現保守型勞動非政府組織會否削弱工人集體的力量取決於它們採取的服務模式。基於對工人參與勞工非政府組織活動以及集體抗爭經歷的考察，我認為，被政府收編的工人中心和運動取向的勞工非政府組織會有意或無意地增益和維繫工人的集體力量；而以社區為本的進步型機構則會進一步去探索野貓式罷工的可能性。簡而言之，無論一個勞工非政府組織有多麼保守，當其處於一個階級衝突多發地區之中，就難免不會參與到集體行動之中，甚至扮演籌畫角色。Ng, Tsz Fung Kenneth.Thesis Ph.D. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2019.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 261-277).Abstracts also in Chinese.Title from PDF title page (viewed on 22, March 2021)