Strikes in Vietnam and China: The Impact of the State on Workers' Struggles for Their Rights

The Institute for the Study of Social Change presents a talk with China expert Anita Chan.

Join us for a presentation by China expert Anita Chan, who will discuss labor conditions in Vietnam, where strike waves have been hitting in the past three years, and China, where strikes have been sporadic. Chan will present data comparing the two countries' key players' attitudes towards strikes and the differences in their legal regulatory frameworks. Chan's research shows that the countries' different industrial relations laws have caused them to diverge. She will discuss the question of whether a legal framework that grants workers the right to strike at this stage in these two countries' development obstructs or furthers workers' struggles for their rights.

****

Anita Chan is a sociologist specializing in China at the Australian National University. She is the author of five books, including China's Workers Under Assault and Children of Mao. Her newest co-authored book is Chen Village: from Revolution to Globalization. Coming publications will include edited volumes "Wal-Mart in China" and "Labor in Vietnam." Chan's current research focuses on Chinese management styles, worker-management relations in Chinese firms, the Chinese trade union, global production chains and corporate social responsibility.

Sponsored by the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education and Institute for the Study of Social Change.