TY - JOUR
T1 - From production to reproduction
T2 - Pension strikes and changing characteristics of workers’ collective action in China
AU - Hui, Elaine Sio ieng
AU - Chan, Chris King chi
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: College of Liberal Arts and Social Science, City University of Hong Kong; Hong Kong Research Grants Council CityU 11616115; and Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange RG003-A-17.
Publisher Copyright:
© Australian Labour and Employment Relations Association (ALERA) 2021 SAGE Publications Ltd, Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC.
PY - 2022/2
Y1 - 2022/2
N2 - Workers in the global South are becoming increasingly sensitive to their pension rights. In recent years, rural migrant workers in China have staged a series of protests to fight for pension protection. Drawing from two in-depth case studies conducted in the Pearl River Delta, we explain why workers staged pension strikes, what these protests looked like, how the employers and the government responded, and how these protests differed from previous strikes. Building upon insights from the sociology of collective action and labour process theory, we formulate a new framework for examining labour protests. In addition to seeing workers’ collective action as defensive or offensive, this framework helps us interpret these actions in relation to the spheres of production and reproduction. It classifies pension strikes in China as defensive actions located in the sphere of reproduction, which are distinct from previous strikes that were either defensive or offensive actions situated in the sphere of production. This synthesised framework assists us in theorising that workers’ protest activities, especially in the global South, are not restricted to the traditional production sphere but can also be found in the reproduction sphere.
AB - Workers in the global South are becoming increasingly sensitive to their pension rights. In recent years, rural migrant workers in China have staged a series of protests to fight for pension protection. Drawing from two in-depth case studies conducted in the Pearl River Delta, we explain why workers staged pension strikes, what these protests looked like, how the employers and the government responded, and how these protests differed from previous strikes. Building upon insights from the sociology of collective action and labour process theory, we formulate a new framework for examining labour protests. In addition to seeing workers’ collective action as defensive or offensive, this framework helps us interpret these actions in relation to the spheres of production and reproduction. It classifies pension strikes in China as defensive actions located in the sphere of reproduction, which are distinct from previous strikes that were either defensive or offensive actions situated in the sphere of production. This synthesised framework assists us in theorising that workers’ protest activities, especially in the global South, are not restricted to the traditional production sphere but can also be found in the reproduction sphere.
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U2 - 10.1177/00221856211052070
DO - 10.1177/00221856211052070
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85120744794
VL - 64
SP - 3
EP - 25
JO - The Journal of Industrial Relations
JF - The Journal of Industrial Relations
SN - 0022-1856
IS - 1
ER -