The Inequality of Strong Capital and Weak Labor in China Labor Relations: The Reflection of Function and Development of Different Levels Labor Unions in China

With the advancement brought along by economic marketization and globalization, the overall labour relations in China have undergone drastic changes in the recent decades. Due to the reforms of state-owned enterprises, the wave of layoff has forced former employees at state-owned enterprises to give up most of their benefits. In combination with the flourishing market economy and the rise of enterprises owned by private and foreign funds, the numbers of mass incidents, together with their quantity, influence, and scale, have increased continuously. All such factors did not only shatter the long-established harmony of labour relations in China, but also influenced the existing labour policy and trade unions. As a result, the phenomenon of "Strong Capital and Weak Labour" has gradually developed.;While this study aimed to identify the roles of different level of trade unions under such circumstances, the purpose of this research was to explore the roles and functions of enterprise union and municipal union in labour relations. This research used qualitative case study as the main research approach and selected the Guangxi and Guangdong Provinces as the research locations. We have chosen different type of enterprises such as stated-owed enterprise, Taiwanese investment enterprise and Japanese investment enterprise. Chairman of the labour union, members of the labour force, government officials and Employer Organization were chosen as our research participants. In particular, we tried to learn how they viewed labour relations in China (especially the views of China union) by through interviews with them. Moreover, we have also made recommendations about reforms and innovations of enterprise union and municipal union.;The conclusions of the research are as follows: Firstly, there were internal and external factors that affected the function of enterprise union. The internal factor was the election of union chairmen. It was found that if the staff could elect their union chairman, the representativeness of the labour union would be improved. Meanwhile, if the working style of union could be improved and be distinguishable from the role of the human resources department, the staff would also render more support to the union. Secondly, some external factors included the industrial type and the presence of ''through up represent down'' policy can also determine the functions of enterprise unions. While the sense of the union to protect labour right in labour-intensive industries was weaker than technology-intensive industries, the presence of ''through up represent down'' policy could guarantee the independence of union leaders from employers/ management and enable unions to more readily protect labour rights. Moreover, the policy could also channel the voices from the grassroot labour to municipal union, which allows the municipal unions to formulate appropriate policies for grassroot labour.;Last but not the least, the research also revealed that labour unions play a crucial role in the labour relations in China, and the tripartite consultation is the main solution for labour union to improve the ''strong capital, weak labour'' situation. In the reform of union, different levels of union should address different problems. In the enterprise level, if the enterprise is deficient in economic performance, the enterprise union may protect the basic labour rights of staff by using Labour Law. Nevertheless, when the enterprise has better economic performance, the union may use collective bargaining to fight for better welfare and labour protection for their staff. Finally, the municipal unions need to promote legislation for the content, forms and frequencies of tripartite consultation that formalize and guarantee the development of tripartite negotiation on labour relations among the state, capital and labour.