The Collective Transformation of Labor Relations and Improvement of the Government’s Labor Policy

Abstract

China is currently undergoing a transition from individual to collective labor relations. The enactment of the Labor Contract Law marks the initial completion of adjustments to individual labor relations in terms of legal construction, as well as the starting point for the adjustment of collective labor relations. The construction and regulation of individual labor relations is not sufficient to resolve the conflict between labor and capital or to maintain industrial peace. In the shift toward collective labor relations there are two complementary forces and paths: the government-led top-down construction process, and the workers’ spontaneous bottom-up mobilization. The shift from disputes over rights to disputes over interests is an important characteristic of the transition toward collective labor relations. Chinese labor policy urgently needs to be reconstructed and refined. Its content should include the guiding role of labor relations theory and choice of adjustment models, sound collective labor law, recognition of the collective rights of workers, handling of the relationship of labor’s two forces, etc.

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