What does tourism mean for Chinese rural migrant workers? Perspectives of perceived value

<p>Labour NGOs operating in mainland China have played the role of de facto representatives of rural migrant workers since their emergence in the 1990s. After their rapid development for almost two decades, the introduction of the Overseas NGOs Management Law in 2017 restricted all foreign sponsors of labour NGOs, which were their main funding source. This has greatly influenced their goals and strategic choices when representing migrant workers. However, due to increased political sensitivity, few studies have explored the current challenges they face since the law was implemented. This study identifies both the pre-2017 and post-2017 goals and strategies of labour NGOs operating in Beijing, Tianjin and Yunnan Province. It also analyses six factors affecting the NGOs’ goals and strategic choices after 2017. A case study research method is used to draw on 15 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with the founders, managers and staff working in 10 different labour NGOs in the three regions. The research results challenge the applicability of four main social movement theories learnt from the west – Resource Mobilisation (RM), Political Opportunity (PO), Transnational Advocacy Networks (TAN) and Stakeholder theory – to explain Chinese grassroots labour movements conducted by labour NGOs. The results also show that labour NGOs are experiencing a significant decline after the introduction of the Overseas NGOs Management Law, but have not withdrawn from the historical stage. Many NGOs are adjusting their goals and strategies to adapt to the changed political climate and survive. Finally, this study advocates the development of a new social movement theory which could accurately guide grassroots labour movements in the context of China.</p>

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China's Rural Migrant Workers, the State, and Labor Politics

10.31219/osf.io/b6wn7 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Jenny Chan ◽

Mark Selden

Keyword(s):

Migrant Workers ◽

The State ◽

Labor Politics ◽

Rural Migrant ◽

Industrial Labor ◽

Class Power ◽

The Individual ◽

New Generation ◽

The Impact ◽

Rural Migrant Workers

The proletarianization of rural migrants is distinctive to contemporary China's development model, in which the state has fostered the growth of a “semi-proletariat” numbering more than 200 million to fuel labor-intensive industries and urbanization. Drawing on fieldwork in Guangdong and Sichuan provinces between 2010 and 2014, supplemented with scholarly studies and government surveys, the authors analyze the precarity and the individual and collective struggles of a new generation of rural migrant workers. They present an analysis of high and growing levels of labor conflict at a time when the previous domination of state enterprises has given way to the predominance of migrant workers as the core of an expanding industrial labor force. In particular, the authors assess the significance of the growing number of legal and extra-legal actions taken by workers within a framework that highlights the deep contradictions among labor, capital, and the Chinese state. They also discuss the impact of demographic changes and geographic shifts of population and production on the growth of working-class power in the workplace and the marketplace.

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The Role of Job Embeddedness in “New Generation of Rural Migrant Workers” Turnover Intention in China

Journal of Business and Social Review in Emerging Economies ◽

10.26710/jbsee.v4i2.268 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 281-290

Author(s):

Tang Meirun ◽

Jennie SooHooiSin ◽

Chuah Chin Wei

Keyword(s):

Social Identity ◽

Migrant Workers ◽

Turnover Intention ◽

Sampling Technique ◽

Guizhou Province ◽

Survey Method ◽

Turnover Rates ◽

Rural Migrant ◽

New Generation ◽

Rural Migrant Workers

The high voluntary turnover rates of “new generation of rural migrant workers” have been widely concerned in China. One important reason is their rural identity. The distinctive social identity has caused new generation of rural migrant workers face social identity discrimination, which further hinder the integration of values and goals between the individuals and the organizations. The values and goals gap between individuals and organizations further impact on new generation of rural migrant workers’ organizational identification, which reduce their organization embeddedness and increase turnover intention. Thus, this study seeks to explore the linkage between organization identification and turnover intention, which is mediated by organizational embeddedness. Additionally, this study also proposes the moderating effect of community embeddedness on the correlation between organization embeddedness and turnover intention. A quantitative with a survey method is proposed for this study. Data will be collected in manufacturing setting in Guizhou province of China. Multi-level sampling technique will be applied to determine the sample size.

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