INTERNATIONAL POLICY ANALYSIS Wage Strikes and Trade Unions in China – End of the Low-wage Policy? RUDOLF TRAUB-MERZ June 2011 n The wage strikes in China in 2010 shed a harsh light on the contradictions inherent in the inherited system of labour relations and the dilemma facing the All Chinese Federation of Trade Unions(ACFTU): if ACFTU continues to act as mediator in the interests of the state or the employers the employees will militate for better working and employment conditions without it. On the other hand, if it defines itself as representative of the workers’ interests – and thus as an actor in disputes – it must cease to function as an»outsourced« social bureaucracy of the Ministry of Labour. n Since the global economic crisis of 2008 it has become apparent that the Chinese accumulation model, with its high export surpluses and massive state investment in infrastructure, has reached its limits. The Twelfth Five-Year Plan(2011-2015) makes clear that the Chinese leadership intends increasingly to ensure economic growth by boosting the domestic market and by raising low wage and consumption rates. n Against the background of economic and social policy reforms the wage strikes and labour conflicts call into question the role of the All Chinese Federation of Trade Unions. Although ACFTU is currently supporting an initiative calling for mandatory collective bargaining, until enterprise trade unions become coupled to workers’ inte­rests through elections and obtain organisational autonomy genuine wage negotia­tions are unlikely. The new wage policy in China will probably be determined much more by the interplay between wage strikes and increases in legal minimum wages.