China's creative approach to 'union' organizing

The development of industrial relations in China is moving into a critical period in which capitalism has become the dominant form of social organization. Official unions have sought to adapt to the changing environment through a range of initiatives through each level of their organizational structure. This paper explores the inherent problem in official unions by examining a period at the end of the 1990s when decline in the traditional organizing base was addressed by significant innovations in organizing methods and establishment of new forms of unions. Although many new unions were simply fictitious, unionization has increased. Nevertheless, owing to problems in the method of establishing unions, most notably the absence of worker involvement, unions are extremely weak. When the opportunity to reform arose, official unions lacked interest in initiating genuine representation, and in consequence have become increasingly irrelevant to China's unfolding industrial relations system. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.