21세기 중국 노동자의 집단적 저항과 국가의 대응: 노동계약법과 단체협상제도를 중심으로

The purpose of this article is to critically analyze the legal- institutional response and problems of the state, focusing on the changes in the tripartite relations among labor, management and government in China in the 21st century, and examine the implications of labor politics. The main subjects of study are as follows. First, it is an analysis of the phenomenon of collective strike of Chinese workers. Second, the state’s various legal and institutional responses to worker resistance. Third, it examines the labor contract law and collective bargaining system in terms of legalization of labor relations. The discussion is summarized as follows. First, Since the 21st century, there has been a steady construction of laws and institutions to guarantee workers’ rights and interests, but there are still many legal and institutional deficiencies, and they are limited to a level that cannot represent the actual interests and demands of workers. Second, from the viewpoint of looking at labor disputes, the state and managers are more passive in the protection of workers’ rights and interests because the unitarist perspective of labor- management relations dominates overwhelmingly rather than the pluralist perspective. Third, in the collective disputes of workers, the state tends to focus on maintaining the stability of society rather than ‘protecting workers’ rights and interests’. Fourth, it seems that the duality and contradiction of labor union’s role within the socialist system will inevitably be maintained. Due to the nature of the party-state system, it seems difficult to escape from the framework of “socialist corporatism”. Fifth, in the process of increasing collective disputes and strikes, although social demands for strengthening the independence and representation of labor unions are erupting, the Chinese Government could not accept labor’s demands. This cannot but deny the self-identity of the workers’ state under the socialist system.