Chris is a labour law researcher, specialising in China and the right to strike. He spent 27 years in the SA union movement. Chris now lives in Canberra. More →
The U.S. Economy and China: Capitalism, Class, and Crisis
by Martin Hart-Landsberg
The U.S. economy is in bad shape and people are understandably seeking solutions.
Many, encouraged by mainstream media and politicians, believe that China’s trade policies bear primary responsibility for the structural decay of our economy and that recovery will require, above all, pressuring the Chinese [...]
Will the New Year see a resumption of collective bargaining in China?
In December 2009, a magazine article exposed the extent to which labour relations in China had deteriorated over the last year, with enterprises deliberately taking advantage of the government’s leniency during the global financial crisis to exploit their workforce. The writer called on [...]
Actually, the number of labour dispute has been escalating since the late of 2008. In the first half of 2009, labour dispute in the Yangtze River Delta increased about 4 folds compared to the same period last year. The labour dispute resolution team is seriously shorthanded with one labour dispute arbitration or judge having to handle over 200 cases in a year. Lack of capacity to solve labour dispute cases further contributes to the rise of unofficial labour actions.
mobilizing model produces unions that are directed by fulltime paid staff, in which workers play a subordinate role. At worst, workers become almost irrelevant in a numbers game in which the size of the union is what counts, rather than creating an organization they can learn to use to challenge the employer at work to win better wages and conditions.
Welcome to the new-look Chris White Online.
Chris’s website has received a re-design to make it fresher and easier to navigate, as well as install a number of upgrades to avoid spam and viruses.
Leave a comment below if you have any problems navigating the new site, or if there are any features you think we should [...]
Going it alone: a new report on the state of the workers’ movement in China
China’s workers are taking to the streets in ever increasing numbers.
Angered by management abuses, and emboldened by the passage of new labour legislation, they are staging strikes, roadblocks and protests to demand the payment of wages in arrears, better working conditions [...]
1700 Workers of Ssangyong in Korea have been in strike to defend their Jobs beginning in the 28th of may. The plant is occupied by workers and their families.
On 27th of June, 3000 armed strikebreakers, supported by water guns and helicopters, tried to break the resistance.
After more than 24 hours, the company withdrew their [...]
Tiananmen Square
In 1989, in Adelaide, on behalf of unions, I spoke at a protest rally condemning the crack-down and arguing that ’socialism’ has to be invigorated by democracy…albeit Chinese style. This has not happened as Deng’s power brutally crushed dissent and opened up the Chinese economy for capitalist profit-making.
For an exciting novel, read [...]
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