Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T07:14:04.015Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“Mediate First”: The Revival of Mediation in Labour Dispute Resolution in China*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2015

Wenjia Zhuang  and
Feng Chen
Wenjia Zhuang
Affiliation:
Centre of Chinese Public Administration Research, School of Government, Sun Yat-sen University. Email: wjzhuangsysu@163.com.
Feng Chen*
Affiliation:
Hong Kong Baptist University.
*
Email: fchen@hkbu.edu.hk(corresponding author).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The past few years have witnessed the revival of mediation as a chief method of labour dispute settlement in China. While the central government's campaign has reinvigorated the use of mediation in order to control social conflicts and maintain stability, its expansion and extensive deployment have also been driven by local authorities, as mediation can better serve their policy priorities and bureaucratic interests. Not only does the extension of mediation provide local bureaucratic agencies with flexibility and discretionary power to resolve conflicts without having to comply with legal minimums, it also legitimizes the courts' “non-legalistic approach” to settling dispute cases. The extensive employment of mediation by local authorities has chipped away at the role of legal procedures in settling labour disputes. The revival of mediation embodies a tension between the rule of law the government has promoted since the reform and the extrajudicial methods it needs for controlling conflicts.

提要

近年来中国政府开始重新强调将调解作为处置劳动争议的主要方式。虽然中央政府控制社会冲突和维持社会稳定的需要是重振劳动调解的根本原因, 但地方政府因自身施政的权衡和官僚利益的驱动而对调解的偏好, 是导致调解范围扩大和广泛运用的重要因素。劳动调解的广泛运用, 不仅给地方官僚部门化解劳动争议提供了法律程序之外的灵活性和酌情处事权, 甚至也使得法院动用“法外途径”来处置争议案件获得正当性。过度强调“调解优先”蚕食了法律在劳动争议处置过程中的角色。调解的复兴实际上映射出中国政府在改革时期提倡的“依法治国”理念与其依赖法外手段去控制社会冲突的现实需求之间的张力。

Keywords

mediationChinagrand mediationlabour disputedispute resolutionjudicialization调解大调解劳动争议争议处置司法化
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 222 , June 2015 , pp. 380 - 402
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Wenjia Zhuang gratefully acknowledges the fundamental research funds provided by the Central Universities, the Guangdong Province Philosophy and Social Sciences Youth Project under the 12th Five-Year Plan (GD14YGL08) and two key projects of the National Social Science Foundation of China (13&ZD041 and 12&ZD040); Feng Chen gratefully acknowledges the general research funds provided by the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong, faculty research grants from Hong Kong Baptist University, and the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation.

References

All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ed.). 1986–2011. Zhongguo gonghui tongji nianjian 1986–2011 (Chinese Trade Unions Statistical Yearbook 1986–2011). Beijing: China Statistics Press.Google Scholar
Cai, Yongshun. 2002. “The resistance of Chinese laid-off workers in the reform period.” The China Quarterly 170, 327–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, Anita. 2011. “Strikes in China's export industries in comparative perspective.” The China Journal 65, 27–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Feng. 2000. “Subsistence crises, managerial corruption and labour protests in China.” The China Journal 44, 41–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Feng. 2006. “Privatization and its discontent in Chinese factories.” The China Quarterly 185, 42–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Feng. 2014. “Against the state: labor protests in China in the 1950s.” Modern China 40(5), 488–518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Feng, and Tang, Mengxiao. 2013. “Labor conflicts in China: typologies and their implication.” Asian Survey 53(3), 559–583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Feng, and Xu, Xin. 2012. “‘Active judiciary’: judicial dismantling of workers’ collective action in China.” The China Journal 67, 87–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Labour and Social Security in Guangdong Province. 2000. “Guanyu qiye feizhengchang shengchan qingkuang xia jiechu laodong hetong jingji buchangjin jisuan jishu wenti de fuhan” (Reply to the question about the baseline of calculating economic compensation for terminating a labour contract under an abnormal operation situation), 22 June, http://www.szlabour.org/fagui/1635.html. Accessed 23 July 2013.Google Scholar
Dongguan Intermediate People's Court. 2009. “Dongguan laodong zhengyi susong chengxu diaocha baogao” (Survey report on labour disputes litigation procedure in Dongguan), 23 March, http://www.gdcourts.gov.cn/gdcourt/front/front!content.action?lmdm=LM52&gjid=20905. Accessed 18 August 2013.Google Scholar
Earl, Jennifer. 2003. “Tanks, tear gas, and taxes: toward a theory of movement repression.” Sociological Theory 21, 44–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fiss, Owen M. 1984. “Against settlement.” Yale Law Journal 93(6), 1073–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fu, Hualing, and Choy, D.W.. 2004. “From mediation to adjudication: settling labor disputes in China.” China Labor 3, 17–22.Google Scholar
Gallagher, Mary E. 2005. “Use the law as your weapon: institutional change and legal mobilization in China.” In Diamant, Neil J., Lubman, Stanley B. and O'Brien, Kevin J. (eds.), Engaging the Law in China: State, Society, and Possibilities for Justice. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 54–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, Mary E. 2006. “Mobilizing the law in China: ‘informed disenchantment’ and the development of legal consciousness.” Law & Society Review 40, 783–816.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guangdong High People's Court. 2009. “Guanyu jinyibu jiaqiang quansheng fayuan tiaojie hejie gongzuo de zhidao yijian” (Guideline on strengthening the mediation and reconciliation work in province-wide courts), http://www.law51.net/law8/guangdong/84.htm. Accessed 26 April 2015.Google Scholar
Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court. 2011. “Guangzhou laodong zhengyi susong qingkuang baipishu 2008–2010” (White Paper on labour disputes litigation in Guangzhou 2008–2010), 21 February, http://www.51labour.com/show/165472.html. Accessed 18 August 2013.Google Scholar
He, Xin, and Ng, Kwai Hang. 2013. “In the name of harmony: the erasure of domestic violence in China's judicial mediation.” International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 27, 97–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, Jieren. 2011. “Grand mediation in China: mechanism and application.” Asian Survey 51, 1065–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Labournet.com.cn. 2012. “Laodong zhengyi chuli tongji shuju” (Statistics for labour disputes settlement), http://www.labournet.com.cn/ldzy/ckzl/ckzl.asp. Accessed 23 July 2013.Google Scholar
Li, Fei. 2008. “Goujian hexie laodong guanxi – quanguo fayuan laodong zhengyi anjian qingkuang diaocha” (Building harmonious labour relations – national survey on the settlement of labour disputes by courts), Zhongguo fayuan bao, 22 April, http://rmfyb.chinacourt.org/public/detail.php?id=118654. Accessed 23 July 2013.Google Scholar
Liebman, L. Benjamin. 2014. “Legal reform: China's law-stability paradox.” Daedalus 143(2), 96–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lubman, Stanley B. 1967. “Mao and mediation – politics and dispute resolution in Communist China.” California Law Review 55, 1284–1359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. 2012. “2011 niandu renli ziyuan he shehui baozhang shiye fazhan tongji gongbao” (Annual report on human resource and social security 2011), http://www.mohrss.gov.cn/SYrlzyhshbzb/zwgk/szrs/ndtjsj/tjgb/201206/t20120605_69908.htm. Accessed 26 April 2015.Google Scholar
Ministry of Labour a. 1986–1996. Zhongguo laodong nianjian 1986–1996 (China Labour Yearbook 1986–1996). Beijing: China Labour Publishing House.Google Scholar
Ministry of Labour b. 1986–2011. Zhongguo laodong tongji nianjian 1986–2011 (China Labour Statistics Yearbook 1986–2011). Beijing: China Statistics Press.Google Scholar
Ministry of Labour and Personnel (ed.). 1989. Zhongguo laodong renshi nianjian 1949.10–1987 (China Labour and Personnel Yearbook 1949.10–1987). Beijing: China Labour and Personnel Publishing House.Google Scholar
Ministry of Labour and Social Security. 2008. “Guanyu yinfa Zhonghua renmin gongheguo laodong zhengyi tiaojie zhongcai fa xuanchuan tigang de tongzhi” (Notice on distributing the propaganda outline of labour dispute mediation and the arbitration law of the PRC), 22 February, http://www.gov.cn/gzdt/2008-02/22/content_897718.htm. Accessed 23 July 2013.Google Scholar
O'Brien, Kevin J., and Li, Lianjiang. 1999. “Selective policy implementation in rural China.” Comparative Politics 31, 167–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peerenboom, Randall, and He, Xin. 2009. “Dispute resolution in China: patterns, causes and prognosis.” East Asia Law Review 4, 36–37.Google Scholar
People's Supreme Court (ed.). 1988–1991. Renmin fayuan nianjian 1988–1991 (People's Court Yearbook 1988–1991). Beijing: People's Court Press.Google Scholar
People's Supreme Court (ed.). 2000. Quanguo renmin fayuan shifa tongji lishi ziliao huibian 1949–1998 (Collection of Historical Materials on National People's Courts’ Judicial Statistics 1949–1998). Beijing: People's Court Press.Google Scholar
Perry, Elizabeth J. 1994. “Shanghai's strike wave of 1957.” The China Quarterly 137, 1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court. 2011. “Shenzhen shi zhongji renmin fayuan laodong zhengyi shenpan baipishu” (White Paper on labour dispute judgments by Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court), 20 December, http://www.szcourt.gov.cn/ArticleInfo.aspx?id=4197. Accessed 18 August 2013.Google Scholar
Shipai Town Government. 2011. “Shipai zhen qiye jingying fengxian fangfan yujing ji yingji fang'an” (Warning and emergency plan for managing enterprise operation risk in Shipai town). Internal document.Google Scholar
Su, Li. 2010. “Guanyu nengdong sifa yu datiaojie” (About active judiciary and grand mediation). Zhongguo faxue 1, 5–16.Google Scholar
Su, Yang, and He, Xin. 2010. “Street as courtroom: state accommodation of labor protests in south China.” Law & Society Review 44, 157–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supreme People's Court. 1993–2006. Zuigao renmin fayuan gongzuo baogao 1993–2006 (Annual Report of Supreme People's Court 1993–2006), http://www.gov.cn/test/2008-03/21/content_925627.htm. Accessed 26 April 2015.Google Scholar
Tian, Chengping. 2008. “Guanche shishi laodong zhengyi tiaojie zhongcai fa cujin laodong guanxi hexie wending” (Enforcing labour dispute mediation and the arbitration law to facilitate labour relations), 21 January, http://w1.mohrss.gov.cn/gb/zt/2008-01/29/content_222812.htm. Accessed 21 March 2013.Google Scholar
Wall, J.A., and Blum, M.. 1991. “Community mediation in the People's Republic of China.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 35, 3–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waye, Vicki, and Xiong, Ping. 2011. “The relationship between mediation and judicial proceedings in China.” Asian Journal of Comparative Law 6(1), 1–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agency, Xinhua News. 2008. “Zhou Yongkang qiangdiao tuoshan chuzhi qunti shijian” (Zhou Yongkang urges that mass incidents be handled properly), Chongqing wanbao, 18 December, http://www.cqwb.com.cn/cqwb/html/2008-12/18/content_121894.htm. Accessed 24 July 2013.Google Scholar
Yang, Weihan. 2010. “Shizhong jianchi shifa weimin zongzhi qieshi weihu renmin hefa quanyi – fang zuigao fayuan yuanzhang Wang Shengjun” (Always adhere to the purpose of serving the people and conscientiously defending the legal rights and interests of the people – interview with Wang Shengjun, the president of the Supreme Court), 12 March, http://www.court.gov.cn/xwzx/fyxw/zgrmfyxw/201203/t20120312_174880.htm. Accessed 24 July 2013.Google Scholar
Zhang, Qianfan. 2003. “The people's court in transition: the prospects of China's judicial reform.” Journal of Contemporary China 12(34), 69–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, Jin. 2012. “Ganga de laodong zhongcai” (The embarrassing labour arbitration), Nanfang ribao, 29 June, http://epaper.nfdaily.cn/html/2012-06/29/content_7098335.htm. Accessed 24 July 2013.Google Scholar
Zheng, Guanghuai. 2010. “Laogong quanyi yu anfuxing guojia – yi Zhujiang sanjiaozhou nongmingong weili” (The rights of labour and the propitiatory state – a case study on migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta). Kaifang shidai 5, 27–38.Google Scholar
Zhuang, Wenjia. 2013. “‘Tiaojie youxian’ neng huanjie jitixing laodong zhengyi ma? Jiyu 1999–2011 nian shengji mianbang shuju de shizheng jianyan” (Mediating to harmony: a panel data analysis on arbitral mediation and collective labour disputes, 1999–2011). Shehuixue yanjiu 5, 145–171.Google Scholar