China's labor dispute settlement: Forced settlement,worker awareness of rights,and policy suggestions.
详细信息
文摘
China's labor dispute settlement has caught scholarly attention as the upsurge of labor disputes sharply increased since the 1980s. However, the current labor dispute resolution mechanism cannot provide sufficient protection to workers. This study investigates China's labor dispute settlement system and seeks its improvements. Different from previous studies' emphasis on China's political system, this study shows that both the power of globalization and the traditional mediation custom have affected the formation of China's labor dispute settlement. Methodologically, because little fieldwork has been conducted to look into labor dispute settlement, this study bridges this gap by sufficiently observing and investigating labor dispute resolution in the local legal practice. Through quantitative and qualitative (interviews and observations) research with courts and arbitration committees in Dongtai and Nanjing, two cities in Jiangsu province of China, this study samples diverse voices, including those of workers, employers, judges, arbitrators, lawyers, and trade unions. This study firstly finds the problem of forced settlement in the mediation practice of arbitrators and judges, who often impose undue influence on workers and urge participating parties to reach settlement plans. This practice stems from the tension between avoiding labor dissents by protecting working people and developing local economy by protecting employers. Settlement is the best way to satisfy the two-sided demands. Secondly, this study analyzes worker awareness of rights and legal consciousness in the dispute settlement proceedings. In spite of the traditional culture to pursue harmony and the expectation that workers would subordinate to the bureaucratic power, workers have shown their resistance to employers and government apparatuses by actively taking legal actions. Thirdly, after a quantitative analysis on types of enterprises involving in labor disputes, types of disputes, workers in most need of legal aids, and the results of dispute resolution, this study suggests perfecting the current dispute resolution system by improving the mediation practice and relying on either arbitration or litigation, but not both, to resolve most labor disputes. Such reform can save administrative and judicial costs, and more importantly, expedite the process to afford workers meaningful remedies to their grievances.