Comparing Labour Activism and Workplace Relations in China and Vietnam: The Role of Market, State and Civil Society

Since 2003, industrial relations in China and Vietnam have been characterised by strikes mainly staged by migrant workers, leading the governments of both these ‘socialist’ countries to readjust their labour regulatory frameworks and policies (Chan, 2010; 2014; Siu and Chan, 2014). Previous studies have shown that the patterns of workers’ activism in the two countries have diverged in terms of scale, intensity and types of demands (Chan, 2011; Pringle and Clarke, 2011), but there is as yet no systematic research on the factors that have contributed to these differences, and no research on the specific role of migrant workers, their agency and their organisational behaviour prior to the manifestation of protest actions. This research project will identify the similarities and differences in the two countries’ industrial relations, and will isolate the factors that either engender labour activism or deter it from exploding into militancy and social instability. Specifically, it will examine how and why the patterns of workers’ activism and workplace relations differ by exploring the roles and impacts of market, state and civil society, in these two post-socialist countries. We will use Shenzhen in China’s Pearl River Delta (PRD) area and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in Vietnam as our major field sites to conduct this comparative study, as both these places are the cities in their respective countries where strikes are most prevalent. We will also focus on Taiwanese-invested export-oriented electronic factories so as to keep industry and source of capital constant in our comparison of the national/local institutional and cultural factors that affect labour relations, and because most of the strikes in both countries have occurred in the electronic industry. Methods used for data collection include documentary research, semi-formal interviews and observations. Six in-depth factory case studies (three for each country) will be conducted. This research will contribute to the current intellectual debates on workers’ activism, labour policies, industrial relations and social development in China and Vietnam. The research findings will be presented at international sociology, labour and development studies conferences and also conferences on China and Vietnam.