The challenges of corporate social responsibility (CSR) multi-stakeholder practices : searching for a new occupational social work model in China

The emergence of China as a 'world's factory' in the new millennium was accompanied by the rise of a new working class which was composed of more than 200 million peasant-workers. As internal migrant labourers, these peasant-workers were deprived of citizenship rights to reside in the city and lacked basic labour rights and protections. In order to address the precarious working conditions of migrant workers who were employed by transnational corporations, a global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) movement emerged, introducing a wide range of transnational corporate codes of conduct, labour standards and labour rights. This article presents a case study of a transnational CSR multi-stakeholder training programme at a Chinese workplace, in an attempt to demonstrate how capital, transnational NGOs and local labour NGOs - and including social workers - are all involved in the project to promote labour rights in China. Specific focus is placed on the role of social workers in enhancing worker participation in this project; the challenges and dilemmas that they encountered in the process, and suggestions are provided regarding the future development of a new model of occupational social work in China.

随着中国成为新世纪的“世界工厂”，一个由逾2亿农民工组成的新工人阶级也正在兴起。作为国内的流动劳工，这些农民工没有城市公民权，无法在城市居住，也缺乏最基本的劳动权利与保障。为了改善在中国的跨国企业中这些农民工无保障的工作条件，全球掀起了一场企业社会责任运动。这场运动旨在推行跨国企业规范化的生产准则、劳动标准与劳动权利。本文是一个跨国企业社会责任多方利益相关者培训项目如何在中国进行的研究案例。本文将展示资本、跨国NGO以及当地劳工NGO，包括社会工作者是如何在其中促进中国劳工权利改善的。本文的讨论重点是社会工作者如何在此项目中提升工人的参与度，以及他们遇到了何种挑战与困境。它也将为中国企业社会工作新模式的发展提出建议。