Labour relations, production regimes and labour conflicts in the Chinese automotive industry

Abstract

Abstract The auto workers' strikes that erupted in southern China in 2010 triggered significant labour relations reforms in Guandong province. Against this background, the author draws on extensive empirical research in leading car assembly plants and their suppliers to construct a typology of their production regimes for analysing current changes in labour relations. While this framework is helpful in understanding the growing diversity of China's manufacturing industries generally, it is used here to conceptualize the fragmentation and segmentation of labour relations between various firms, layers of suppliers and regional clusters in the automotive industry. The article concludes with a discussion of prospects for further reform.