State Power and Labor-Capital Relations in Foreign-Invested Enterprises in China: The Case of Shandong Province

Abstract

Primarily based on fieldwork conducted in Shandong province, this paper attempts to explore the social and political implications of the presence of foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs)-particularly those funded by entrepreneurs from other East Asian countries-in China and specifically the impact that these enterprises have on the role of the Chinese state in the field of labor. Major findings are as follows. The presence of FIEs has changed the landscape of Chinese industrial relations by introducing a new and typical wage labor relationship, which has been characterized by conflict between labor and management. Such conflict has helped reshape the state`s role in the field of labor relations. Instead of relying on direct arbitrary administrative intervention as it did in handling labor relations in the pre-reform years, the Chinese state has since been compelled to establish and use new labor institutions such as labor laws and trade unions to regulate labor relations in FIEs. With new labor institutions emerging, the state gradually came to play the role of referee rather than player or intruder in the domain of labor-capital relations.