SOME ASPECTS OF THE RECENT EVOLUTION AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHALLENGES OF THE CHINESE WORKING CLASS

Abstract

China’s rise to the status of an economic power with global impact has been for several years now a topic about which there is broad consensus among researchers, analysts and even the general public. At the same time, many still seem to agree that its development towards the status of a great economic power took place without eliminating the existence of disproportions and the persistence of relative backwardness in certain areas. In its own way, the situation of Chinese workers, despite significant heterogeneity, seems to reflect a similar dynamic. According to Chinese and foreign researchers, in the last decade there has been a double movement, in which not only workers have sought different forms of organization parallel to unions, but in some cases employers themselves have resorted to alternative forms of mediation, in the face of inability of official unions to resolve labor conflicts. This article seeks to present a brief overview of this process, focusing in its final section on studies that point to the province of Guangdong as the epicenter of relevant experiences of resistance, organization and the search for solidarity for workers’ struggles in the country.