Confrontation and Harmony --- Investigation of Employment Practices - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Working Between Confrontation and Harmony --- Investigation of Employment Practices of Chinese Enterprises in Africa TANG, Xiaoyang Tsinghua University

Background  Rapid growth of Chinese economic activities in Africa 12000 140000 120000 10000 100000 8000 80000 FDI stocks 6000 Trade 60000 In $ million 4000 40000 2000 20000 0 0 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Source: MOFCOM of P.R.C.

Background  Areas of Investment • Construction • Energy • Mining • Manufacturing • Telecom • Agriculture • Service

Employment  Topics • Influx of Chinese Workers? • Low Wages? • Poor working conditions? • Hard work? • Disciplines?

Influx of Chinese Workers?  State of Local Employment • Various ratios of local worker by sectors 90.00% 90.00% Agriculture Agriculture Hydropower Hydropower 80.00% 80.00% Municipal Municipal Construction Construction 70.00% 70.00% Commercial Housing Commercial Housing 60.00% 60.00% Telecommunication Telecommunication Catering Catering 50.00% 50.00% Trading Trading 40.00% 40.00% Manufacturing Manufacturing 30.00% 30.00% 20.00% 20.00% Source: The Ministry of Finance of Angola, June 30. 2007 10.00% 10.00% 0.00% 0.00% Local Employment % Local Employment %

No. of No. of Tenant Tenant Tenants: Tenants: Com- Com - Approx. # Approx. # panies panies (in of Chinese of African (signed) oper- ation) workers Workers Egypt TEDA 49 38 103 1102 Zambia Chambish 36 26 1372 7973 Nigeria Lekki 26 6 50 400 Mauritius Jinfei n/a 0 n/a n/a Nigeria Ogun 34 7 177 1619 Ethiopia Eastern 12 6 300 1600 Source: Field research

 a large number of Chinese workers have come to Africa recently. Source:MOFCOM

 employment of local workers is both encouraged by governments and motivated by economic calculation (reduce labor costs)  early reliance on Chinese employees  related to Chinese companies’ labor intensive business models.  short term need and long term trend

Low Wages?  No clear unambiguous answer Case study: two Chinese tanneries in Ethiopia

Low Wages?  Quick return vs. long term investment  Low wages first and increasing pay incrementally  Chinese perspective vs. African perspective?  Employer perspective vs. employee perspective?

Poor working conditions?  Investment first and enjoyment later: “ eat bitterness” and African acceptance

 Divergent views on working and living conditions e.g. labor protection and safety issues in mining 3 accidents/week vs. 1 accident/month

Hard work ?  stereotypical perception of Chinese work ethics and African characteristics • “the Chinese do not rest;” “their work cannot be done by human beings;” • “slow”, “inefficient”, “backward,” or simply “lazy.” • learn spirit of hard work

 Questions What makes up hard work? Overtime? Heavy load?

Disciplined Organization ?  Punctuality “Late arrival is delay, early arrival is waste, punctuality is integrity.”

 Authority and Paternalism “100% cooperation, 100% understanding, 100% implementation and 100% obedience”

Conclusion Capitalist Logic  pursuit of profit, and forever renewed profit, by means of continuous, rational, capitalistic enterprise – Max Weber Industrialization transforms traditional society Adaptation and Social Integration  capitalism with Chinese characteristics vs. capitalism with African characteristics tangxyang@gmail.com