중국 국유기업의 노동관계에 따른 노동법제 변천과정에 관한 소고

Abstract

In China, rapid changes have been made in working conditions. Labor disputes have sharply increased in the 21st Century since China pursued a stable relationship between labor and management. Specifically, frequent, large-scale strikes have broken out in foreign investment companies since 2010. This leads to signaling a warning against Korea’s investment in China. Rapid growth of the Chinese state-run industries has been cited as one of the reasons for such frequent conflicts between labor and management across the country. During the 1990s, Chinese laborers preferred to work for foreign investment enterprises the most because they were paid high wages under the advanced management system. Over the past three decades, however, the Chinese state-owned companies have undertaken reforms of labor system, establishing the market-oriented labor relationships under the market economy system―which is based on labor contracts―rather than the administrative labor relationships under the planned economy system. As a consequence, the Chinese state-run industries were able to strengthen their competitiveness, their being rated as the most favored among Chinese laborers. In the process of transition, labor problems within the foreign investment companies surfaced that had been suppressed due to relatively higher wages. First, this article examines the labor relations in Chinese state-owned companies and the transition process of their labor legislation encompassing changes in the three-way relationships among the state, the industry, and the laborer from China foundation Year (1949) to the present. Second, this research tries to analyze the labor relations in the Chinese state-owned industries and the transition process of their labor laws, and predict their future development on the basis of the status quo regarding the labor relations. Finally, some recommendations for Korea’s foreign investment in China are addressed.