From dependency to defiance? Work-unit relationships in China's state enterprise reforms

Abstract

This paper outlines the economic reform process being undertaken in China and the subsequent partial closure and radical down-sizing of the state-owned enterprise sector. Redundancies arising out the restructuring process have eroded the state-worker contract of the iron rice-bowl. This has resulted in growing and sometimes violent labour unrest. The planned workforce projections until the end of the year 2000 suggest that the numbers of redundancies has increased, adding to China's 'surplus labour' problem. A critical issue is thus whether the Chinese government, together with state-enterprise management, can contain potential future labour and civil unrest using its present methods.