factory

Assetnbling cbss in

material management that tie workers' lifelong employrnent and militate to thought fu¡ther are the enterprise interests to the m"a¡ket success of against labour organislng. ' workers' uruhtãrubiliti has a-lso been traced to the composition and c'haracter temporarof worKorces in transnational manufacturing The preponderance of encourages certalnly subcontractors and iìy employed migrants, outworke¡s f..[rrg, oi -utgi;diry, job insecurity and isolation (Castells, 1979; Cohen' l99l)' rro*J*., O"yJ 1r oeiii,lgg"rt, thai these eflects are compounded by gendered orientâtion of sociulisatior, íni"n ..¿u".t the career moúvation and collective Still manufacturing in labour-intensive workers many unskilled young women racial and ethnic along divisions worþlace oJJ n"di"t point to" sectoral and and to worke¡s' lines (Balibar and Wallerstein, lggl; AMRC, 1995; Lee, 1995) rather than netlvorks suppod external and firms .aiu*. ot't patronage within to wo¡kers obstacles are considered factors labour organisationrl AÌ of ah"r" to cooperatively acting and problems of common modeìs

Assernbling class in a Chinese joint venture

3

factory Salþ

Sargeson

and the

in transnational manufacturing This chapter argues that participaúon -murket conditions that are intended to faciÌitâte .roUUrfrå"tl, oî bbour wholþ negative consequences for labour have áf.¡"fit.,ion need not "."""r"i" provide some workers with new actually Instead, tiese circumstances may

improvements i¡ their opportunities to educate and organise thtmttlt'et around young women âmong I observed is what Certainly this *oìkiIrg course of ln.the "o,]ditio.t.. in China provhce in Zhejiang ,"ãti.tl Jl¡.it, ".nture factãry between intersections the factory in one outlining thËr story I shall trace ove¡ conflicts local and development policy gtobuli"ation, national

;;"";;

.i

class,

impact of globalisation First, consider the picture many scholars d¡aw of the by the threat of capital pressured that, are told We or, -u-rr.,iu"*ring *o¡kforces. forces' workers have labour compliant more ãi-il 4 J"t i"rirrng lower waged, firms (Broad, 1995; transnationa.l of demands iiri"'.i"i_ ¡", to aËcede to th-e case study are (1) my to concern specific of are Co,rofr, f SSZI Two demands that lv.rLiti ".*o,-.c of producúvìty-buttà tugt scheme¡ a1d grcaterjnemployer the role n"-r¡ita¡ J itt-g and task a.[ocátion, and (2) marked red¡ctions Both 1995) Thomas' 1992; (Liemt' interests pf"y * *p*senting workers' to conÍibute they ""i."t because workers to iltimical to bt

J".. aå,,.íop*"*,

ure h.ld

pressures on productivitl¡ the individualisation of (Bryan' 1995; and the political disempowerment of organised labour

the intensification of "-rnpf.v.* Western, 1995).

and appatent inability to resist their exploitation' individualisation at operatrng factors related by explained often is the e.asu.. of tiei. public voice new owrseas investors th. nutionul ar-td loci level. Governments eager to attract an ideological and provide leaving, from unã ür"ot .ug. established busi¡esses (Bryan' 1995; accumulation caPital global to .-Ñ",.ury conducive .rli'iroltrnent .ãña* 'p"iiä*rôgij. thev impleÀent indigenise d brands of . neo-liberal introduce legislative and economic policy, propagate a må¡itocratic ideàlog16 labour markets and national in inflexibilities to .ii-inate -.urrri., measures are legitimated "o.r"irr. lonst¡ai¡ the activities of labour organisations. These

ùorf...r'

a¡rd 'opportrrnities for

ftp"r-it"a as providing 'frãedoms', at'choices' ""J .J"".."L.",' (Strina;, 1990). Meanwhile, the enterPdse level' corporate

China 49

of

ã.,r.lopin! an

awareness

remedy them,

Yei i" the course of conducting ethnographic

¡esearch

in a

Chinese

joint

was venture factory, I found that (at the precise moment when -the enterpnse locations disciplined more to cheape¡ production threatened witil the removal ol were. able to mount a offshore) young non-unionised, migrant female workers migrant employees' and local between divisions covert caípailn to elirninate their was campaign this of Positive utilisation of i-por,uirty, a key aspect

l.rIor.

what are usually thought to be mechanisms of workers' disempo\¡"erment' productivist Specifìca1l1¡ the'migrant workers appropriated a ¡neritocratic' to management prompt to and another one to discourse io justift their tactics from apafi workers local set that system eliminate the pay and promotion *igr"rrt, i,, th" f-tory lùo'"ot't¡ during their campaign these.w-orkers said that and tactical the absence of a trade union granted them advantages of invisibility risk-taking and coo¡dination of commiünent, flexibility, and reduced the degree required of them. îhe workers' actions ¡esulted in no immediate material gains; on the contlary they assisted in the i¡t¡oduction of an emploler]ent system designed to int"íri$, th. productivity of their labour' Yet, by their actions' they made gains it .otr"iorrr."rr-ruising and organising The workers reconstructed political of future renegotlaallegiances in the factory thereby establishing the Possibility in t¡ansnationa-l participaúon of their terms t¡e tioni witl -urrug"-"nt over in place of those relations class assembling began mar.rufacturing. Ii short, they based on workers' place-of-origrn.

In pursuing the argument that globalisation has-not had entirely debilitatirg .ff".* or.t thäe Chiiese workers, I shall begrn by critically examining two practice of influential sets of assumptions about ideological hegemony and the moves to government of an oudi¡e by followed labour politics. This witl be global in the participate to firms chinese allow th. conditions that "o,].t*åt conditions that are showlr to have been crr-rcial to the expansion of the I ""olro-y part of this chapter then cure-st ,ãy enterprise: Jinshagang factory The major

China 5I

Assønbling cLus in

50

SaLþ Sarguon

examines the organisation

ä;;;;*k"tJ;.ttttanc"

ol

production and pay schemes

restructuring of to tl'ost s"h"mes and the consequent

t

concludes by discussing

t-Tg-li

i""i iï can *ug"t in a transnational manufactunng slte

the factory,s production reglme.

;;.þ"#

in this particular

;tåuJ*tiot

^ã political aims and consequences have both narrow econoÍllc ana Dloader workers as well as their emPþers '

-

for

Theorising workers' tactics

gt::+t"1o:f tkt"n"U In the explanations of workers'. disempowerment. '¿t-d-¿?t is that the control of The hrst uå above, two important proposlnons "'ud" the second is Cuo.',;; J":;"ã

facilitated bv ideological hegemonv; inefrec"ôit¿ t'rtì'". ,,"a"pi""td bv political regulation and,tt-'e as workers cast to iìoth th"te propositions tend

¡

i;ä;';;;; ,t"JJ.ä;;;;t ;"t-'atio"s ,¡. ¡",i-, of .,-.tural changes

wrought by states and capir"' , -*' which denotes the ideas a-rrd ft"g";åiy' As a concept, 'ideological -rymbots and accumulation of relations persuade and organise peoPle to *ppott "*ittlttg a Bv 22)' lee1: ä'Ji;; è;åsci, igzi: gzs Tiihompson'-1e90; Giddens' i.,i.q,ã -!'",, *.1-"^

ïî:1:î;tf;;i*"îåi iiiir:'J.tåiïåi,; i;liri.,:ntll**ruÍr*r::6t':;:3:,:"'xl"'l:m;::x (faussig'-1980; Ong'.1987; Nash' their folk cultures i¡

fair and healthY mecharusm

DY

wl

response

practices from

thesà cultuial complexes invert' rather iöägî. ü"*"""i lr ls often concluded th'at For example' in her studv of ,t-t:t+;;,;ffi;potiti"ul-t"otì*i" ttierarchies instead of inspiring substanuve ä"ilJ" Jit -*"ti,^June Nush obseñ/es that' relations of culture rnti fto"t actuaìly strengthened

change, the workers'

ir ourmeishiP and dominaÚon in thal

Ut'-rn¡

that East Asian worke¡s display much Similarly, Etizabeth Perry (1996: 3) argues from the working ;;. ;;;i rn achieving higher' soc"ial status andorescaping the.bourgeoisie' than they the intelligentsia class into the ra¡ks of oflicialdom, as wo¡kers' institution-s that subordinate them do in contesting the structures aná

*ö,'t-;öÌñtu:'_11-låî'l*1"ff#Ji;î;,,',i1'î:ä#å"åî;ll In

of the counter-hegemomc to rely on a fixed' essentialist notion of potential in workers' cultures "áîJ"* worke¡s' p'ottt-ian opposition' it is likely they will miss

;"*;.Jit

flN""d, 1995: 105)'ïut

fórge collectivities. workers ""

be

politics must Sä.ù.ï"f,* ¡so assume that, in order to be potent' labour mirror in size' independent proletarian organisations which. t and institutiÔns that "";;;,J structure and modes of operaûon the othei organisations union go,r"rr, ,o"i"tiår. For example, Deyo concludes. thât strong ;;ü; to essential ;t;"d participation in formally constituted unions are ;;;tt6 e:'port "ä uctiåsm. if. finds that in thei¡ absence in Asia's among sma'll "î.",i*-r.Uo"t ;;;utì.t, 'where protest does tale collective forms it occurs (Deyo' t*l;;;;;""pt, *i rt -ni-a organisation and little chance of success' e{rective implication of ihe belitf in unions as wo¡kers' only ìõÀî' ieiiïi" recognitìon that

with the means of'protection and emancþation, combined with contemporary global deal to unable vehicles-are ,jr"r" .^-"ïtg""itationa.l "that *orke,* have no viable means by which to resist their ;h;i;;.t, is

i"Jiti¿i¡¡"ri." and the

intensification

of

etploitation (Gough'

1992;

Larochelle, 1992; Western, 1995)' education' collective But even apparently 'unsuccessful' attempts at mutual of labour activism organisation and resrstance are critical to the development where the .nî,fr"r"ø." ought not to be passed over especially in countries- which are assume that u¡ìons exoerience of waec labour is relatively new \{¡hy instigators of worker activism? essentiat the ure .r ;;o..L.uggl"t ;i;;;;; to orgutirutioil are visible and, consequently' readily susceptible

F;;;fl"b.".

co-

a repressive state has reEulation, represlion and sabotage ln situations where of association? If, as ;;ä;;*i' åì;;';-ight oot *o"'k"" draw on other forms labour' il'Aì;;;-""i""t are integraì to the state's strâtegies for controlling i"foì-J'put.r". of o,gã:ri'utio'l arrd' ad hoc tactics of resistance night fo¡ workers' struggles' ,o-.ti-., "*¿;;ttil; b. -or" suitable vehicles 1995) has convincingly demonstrared that in (1993; Elizabeth Perry ùe ¿hsence of Chjna in the early twentielh ce"rury lubour lragmentation'.. the formation of exclusive' vertically aligned' non.

polarized wealth a¡d cultivated a desire provided the mlths thatjustified the Utt dt-hfift^TliìOnrn, par' ãn the part of workers to become a "r

so doir-rg, theY assume notn

withoneanotherlnotherwords,theywillþoreimportantprocessesbywhich

if

evaÌuations

what 'really' not direcdy oppose "o-pti'"t in wafs $rat. {o efforts to approPriate hegemomc iaåLg1es *otkettl identities and their relations the bou¡eeoisie but nevertheless do ultä

ç"r*a i"¡t"t

,lniáns

^nd Droleta-rianassociationsdidnotprecludeagitationbyworkerstoimprovetheir

;;"mes. China's manufacturing workforce has historically been :;;;;^"dby a high degree of activism by groups formed around ethnicity with job and "fr-t*¡r.¿ rì-"-.i-".i*i",'*""de'a oc",-tputio" and the snobbe¡ies associated lssi.' However, in the contemPorary €ra' .despite the :;;;'tär;t"P";l capital' il;i;,1-t ;;i; "urr.n,1y iuki"g place betwcen chinese and global bv blinÌ