Labor disputes in China from a fundamental labor rights perspective

This chapter focuses on labor disputes regulations in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which are discussed as a part of the rule law, human rights and social stability discourse. The chapter is divided into two. A first introductory section discusses the current labor dispute settlement mechanism in the PRC through the perspectives of the government, workers, and trade unions. A second section explains why fundamental labor rights discourse does not serve as a useful point of departure for studying the PRC’s labour laws (including dispute resolution regulations) and analyzes the relationship between human rights protection and social stability strategy. It explores the logic of the rule of law discourse, which in the PRC attracts more of the government’s attention and scholarship than the concept of fundamental labor rights.