Research Reports

China Labour Bulletin has produced an extensive series of Chinese and English language research reports that provide an in-depth analysis of some of the key labour rights issues in China today, and offer a series of recommendations designed to resolve the most pressing problems.  Several older reports have executive summaries in French, German and Italian.

 

English Language Reports

A series of reports tracking the development and characteristics of China's workers' movement since 2000, as well as specific incidents during in the reform of state-owned enterprises.

• NEW! Reimagining Workers' Rights in China
• China’s Walmart workers: Creating an opportunity for genuine trade unionism
• Over-worked and under-paid: The long-running battle of China’s teachers for decent work
• The Workers’ Movement in China: 2015-2017
• Searching for the Union:The Workers’ Movement in China 2011-13
• A Decade of Change: The Workers’ Movement in China 2000-2010
• Unity is Strength: The Workers' Movement in China 2009-2011
• Going it Alone: The Workers’ Movement in China (2007-2008)
• Speaking Out: The Workers’ Movement in China, 2005-2006
• No Way Out: Worker Activism in China’s State-Owned Enterprise Reforms
• The Liaoyang Workers’ Struggle: Portrait of a Movement

• Throwaway Labour: The exploitation of Chinese "trainees" in Japan
• Hired on Sufferance: China’s migrant workers in Singapore
• The Mass Production of Labour: The exploitation of students in China’s vocational school system
• Paying the Price for Economic Development: The Children of Migrant Workers in China
• Small Hands: A Survey Report on Child Labour in China
• Falling Through the Floor: Migrant Women Workers' Quest for Decent Work in Dongguan, China

Health and Safety

A series of investigations into one of the most critical issues faced by workers in China today, high rates of work-related accidents and deaths, and the tremendous difficulties workers encounter in claiming compensation for occupational disease.

• Time to Pay the Bill: China’s obligation to the victims of pneumoconiosis
• The Hard Road: Seeking justice for victims of pneumoconiosis in China
• Help or Hindrance to Workers: China's Institutions of Public Redress
• Bone and Blood: The Price of Coal in China
• Deadly Dust: The Silicosis Epidemic among Guangdong Jewellery Workers

Trade Unions and Collective Bargaining

Research report on collective bargaining efforts in the Global South. 

• NEW! A Union at the Frontline of Collective Bargaining in India

Research reports and commentaries that examine the attempts of the Chinese government and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) to manage labour relations in China.

• NEW! Waiting for Weiquan: Worker rights protection at the All-China Federation of Trade Unions
• Holding China’s trade unions to account: An in-depth investigation into the All-China Federation of Trade Union’s reform initiative
• Understanding and resolving the fundamental problems in China’s construction industry
• Swimming against the Tide: A short history of labour conflict in China and the government’s attempts to control it
• Protecting Workers’ Rights or Serving the Party: The way forward for China’s trade unions
• Breaking the Impasse: Promoting Worker Involvement in the Collective Bargaining and Contracts Process