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Journal of Chinese Political Science

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28-02-2017 | RESEARCH ARTICLE

China’s Bureaucracy in the Open-Door Legislation: the Labor Contract Law in Focus

Author: Chelsea C. Chou

Published in: Journal of Chinese Political Science | Issue 2/2018

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Abstract

China’s bureaucratic structure has undergone significant changes along with marketization. To deal with problems in the reform era, several new bureaucracies were established while existing ones were asked to adjust themselves. With these changes, the decision-making power of each bureaucracy has been reshaped. The situation is complicated by the introduction of public participation in the decision-making. Through examining the making of the 2008 Labor Contract Law, this paper illustrates a situation where existing bureaucracies managed to adapt to open-door legislation, and to regain the power that had been relinquished by marketization.

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The Ministry of Labor and Social Security was the predecessor of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

Please see the appendix for the list of interviews.

Informant 5. Interview conducted in Changsha, Hunan on May 15, 2008.

The website of the State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform, available at http://www.scopsr.gov.cn/jgsz/zbblsgy (accessed 15 July 2016).

Informant 26. Interview conducted in Beijing on August 18, 2012.

Workers under labor dispatch arrangements are not hired by the enterprises they work for, but by labor dispatching agencies. The major benefit for enterprises of hiring workers through labor dispatch agencies is that enterprises can use these workers but are not responsible for their contracts.

This article was removed from the second version and was not included in the final version either.

The NPC website for the public to leave comments is at http://www.npc.gov.cn/npc/flcazqyj/node_8176.htm (accessed 16 August 2014).

Informant 1. Interview conducted in Beijing on March 15, 2008.

Article 57 of the second draft stated that when a labor contract with a dispatched employee ended, the employer must renew the contract.

Informant 1.

Informant 4. Interview conducted in Beijing on April 25, 2008.

According to the NPC Organic Law, members on the NPCSC are not eligible to serve as officials in the administrative branch (Article 23). But when they leave the NPCSC, they have a chance to work for the State Council. Fuzhou Hua is one of these cases.

Informant 15. Interview conducted in Guangzhou, Guangdong on June 03, 2008.

Informants 10–4. Interview conducted in Yiyan, Hunan on May 25, 2008.

Informant 16–8. Interview conducted in Guangzhou, Guangdong on June 5, 2008.

This number excludes the staff in firm-level grassroots unions.

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The Chinese government did not release the detailed information of these public comments. We could only have a general sense of these comments through the published summary. Xinhua News Agency, ‘Laodong hetong lifa: baixing guanzhu naxie wenti?’ [‘The Legislation of the LCL: What Kind of Questions do Citizens Care About?’,(6 April 2006)]. Accessed 16 May 2012 @ http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2006-04/06/content_4393022.htm.

25.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, ‘Quanguo renda zhaokai shiping baogaohui jiedu laodong hetongfa’[‘The NPC Held a Video Conference to Interpret the LCL’, (29 September 2007)]. Accessed 10 June 2016 @ http://w1.mohrss.gov.cn/gb/zt/2007-09/29/content_198895.htm.

26.

The full text of the Proposal is published on 18 October 2005 at Xinhua News Agency. Accessed 20 September 2012 @ http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2005-10/18/content_3640318.htm.

27.

US-China Business Council, ‘USCBC Comments on the Draft Labor Contract Law (Draft of March 20, 2006)’,(19 April 2006). Accessed 23 August 2007 @ http://www.uschina.org/public/documents/2006/04/uscbc-comments-labor-law.pdf.

28.

Xinhua Daily Telegraph, ‘Yi kaimen lifa po “bimen liyi fazhihua”’[‘Using Open-door Legislation to Combat the “Institutionalization of Departmental Legislation”’,(11 June 2014)]. Accessed 15 July 2015 @ http://news.xinhuanet.com/mrdx/2014-06/11/c_133397943.htm.

29.

Xinhua News Agency, ‘Faxue zhunjia: xinlaodongfa shishihou hetong buneng yinian yiqian’[‘Legal Exports: Labor Contracts are not Allowed to be Signed Year by Year after the Implementation of the New Labor Law’, (12 August 2007)]. Accessed 15 June 2016 @ http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2007-08/12/content_6517677.htm.

30.

Xiuning Federation of Trade Unions, ‘Guanyu canyu laodong hetongfa caoan zhengqiu yìjian huodong de tongzhi’[‘Notice about Participating in the Activity of Sending Feedback for the Draft LCL’, (11 April 2006)]. Accessed 30 April 2008 @ http://www.xnzgh.org/jb/wj34.htm.

31.

Yijiang Wang, ‘Yaobuyaodua zhongxiao qiye jinxing “laodong hetongfa” huomian?’[‘Should small- and media-sized enterprises be exempted from the “Labor Contract Law”?’, (17 January 2009)], Center for China in the World Economy, Tsinghua University. Accessed 13 October 2012 @ http://www.ccwe.org.cn/ccwenew/alias/1238721766542309_344.html.

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Statistics on the Development of Labor and Social Security by National Bureau of Statistics of China.

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Statistics on the Development of Labor and Social Security by National Bureau of Statistics of China.

Title: China’s Bureaucracy in the Open-Door Legislation: the Labor Contract Law in Focus
Author: Chelsea C. Chou
Publication date: 28-02-2017
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Journal of Chinese Political Science / Issue 2/2018
Print ISSN: 1080-6954
Electronic ISSN: 1874-6357
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11366-017-9466-y

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