reasing marketization of the Chinese economy after growth has been the driving force behind much of the economic policy during initial stages of economic development often compromising the labor force. Increasing environmental degradation and violation of workers rights are now a source of discontent; current economic policy and unions may provide the necessary instruments to appease these developments. At this stage wage bargaining, a core function for Western trade unions is not at the center of attention. Much more it is the instruments protecting workers rights. However, an important obstacle whic h ACFTU affiliated trade unions must overcome is their limited credibility with its members (see section 4.5). Limited credibility will result in failure of this pressure valve and the threat to release itself in another way, potentially causing political and social unrests, which cannot be in the interest of any government. It remains an open question whether the current trade union structure can achieve the goals the government has in mind without further reforming the organization and powers of trade unions. In sum, Chinese trade unions currently are facing a significant number of limitations including problems of representation, close management and party ties, weak enforcement of laws, and the desire for continuous attraction of investment and growth. Though their overall position is weak, trade unions are a potential tool in improving protection of workers rights. In order to develop into a powerful balancing labor market institution it will be necessary to build on its current, in comparison to Western unions limited, objectives and further evolve from there. At this stage protecting the legal rights of workers has become a central issue for the Chinese government and trade unions have the potential to be successful. A study based on the Chinese Economic Census Yearbook 2006 conducted by Ge (2007), while highlighting trade union s weak position, the weak enforcement of laws, as well as the limited scope of collective contracts, concludes that unions do contribute to the protection of workers rights. He further finds that in an employer dominated environment with frequent violations of the law, trade unions might be the only institutions, which currently can improve workers , working condition and legal status. Most importantly, unionized enterprises provide workers with the necessary channels to protect their legal rights, whereas in non-unionized enterprises workers interest might be significantly less protected.
5. Evaluating China s industrial relations
markets, for a number of reasons, are a special market. Workers as a factor of producti...
