“工头”:权力来源及其对劳资关系的影响一种历史比较的视角

Foremen: Their Power Source and How Such Power Influences the Labor-Owner Relationship——A View from Historical Comparison

本文通过对珠三角地区的一家小型私营企业的参与观察和访谈,研究了工头的权力及其在劳资关系中的作用。文章认为,工头因为处于劳动力流动网络中的信息中介位置,技术交换网络中的单边垄断位置,以及组织体系内部的管理中介位置,所以具有了足以与企业主相博弈的权力。这种权力对劳资关系产生了重要的影响。文章将现状与《上海罢工》所描述的中国工业化早期的情况加以对比后认为,社会环境的不同以及工头权力的具体行使方式的不同,使其对劳资关系的作用结果产生了差异。

Through participant-observation and interviews, the author studied the power held by the foremen in a small private business in the Pearl River Delta and the role of such power in the labor-owner relationship. The foremen were found to be powerful enough to compete with the business owner because they occupied the relay position where information about the flow in the labor force network got exchanged; the unilateral position where they could monopolize the exchanges in the technical networks; and the in-between managerial position within the organizational structure. This power has important influences on the labor-owner relationship. The comparison of this current case with the situation in the early stage of industrialization in China described in the book “Strikes in Shanghai” concluded that differences in the social environments and foremen’s power execution methods had contributed to the differences in the outcomes in regards to the labor-owner relationship under the influence of foremen’s power.