L'économie chinoise a connu une croissance économique importante depuis 30 ans, mais celle-ci n'a pas bénéficié aux travailleurs chinois, qui supportent toujours des conditions de travail très éprouvantes, avec un niveau de protection très insuffisant. Pourquoi les travailleurs chinois ne profitent-ils pas de ce développement économique ? Les causes sont multiples : outre le facteur démographique, la recherche prioritaire des intérêts économiques constitue la raison principale. Pourquoi faut-il améliorer la protection des travailleurs en Chine ? Et par quels moyens cette amélioration peut-elle se produire ? La thèse montre, d'une part, l'évolution et les mouvements de la classe ouvrière dans l'histoire chinoise, en comparant sa situation avant et après 1949, et les raisons, historiques et politiques, qui ont conduit le gouvernement chinois à négliger la protection des travailleurs, bien que ces derniers aient bénéficié d'une place privilégiée dans le système communiste. D'autre part, sont envisagés les moyens, politiques et législatifs, pour initier l'amélioration de cette protection. Pour cela, une réforme politique serait la solution radicale, impliquant une démocratisation à long terme et mettant l'accent sur la protection des droits de l'homme, et sur les droits des travailleurs en particulier Ce qui suppose notamment que soit garantie l'indépendance des syndicats. La protection des travailleurs est donc indissociable de la construction de l'Etat de Droit. / Chinese economy has made significant progress for more than thirty years, but the Chinese laborers still benefit very little from the economic growth, who have to endure difficult working conditions with insufficient working protection. Why can the Chinese laborers not profit from the economic development? The pursuit for the economic interests as the highest priority is the main cause in addition to a large population. Why must the laborers' working protection be improved? By what means can this working protection be improved? This paper describes the history of the development of Chinese working class and workers' movement, especially the difference between before and after 1949 and analyzes the reasons why the Chinese government ignored the workers' protection from the point of history and politics, even the working class has preferential position in the Communist system. On the other, it analyzes the ways to improving the laborers' protection from the political and judicial points of view. In the long term, the political reform is the fundamental approach, which means the democracy and the protection of human rights, especially protecting the legitimate rights and interests of workers, which requires guaranteeing the independence of trade unions. The protection of workers' rights cannot be separated from the realization of a state under the rule of law as well.

Agriculture is a major employer of labour in South Africa with about 8.8% of the total labour force directly involved in agricultural production (StatsSA, 2007a). Farm wages and working conditions in the Albany district were researched in 1957 by Roberts (1958) and 1977 by Antrobus (1984). Research in 2008, involving face-to-face interviews of a sample survey of 40 Albany farmers, was undertaken to update the situation facing farm labourers and allowed for comparisons with the work previously done. Farm workers were governed by common law until 1994 when the government intervened with legislation. The introduction of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (1997) for farm workers, amended in 2002 to include minimum wage legislation, and the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA) of 1997 impacted the supply and demand of farm workers. Other impacts have been due to the Albany district experiencing an increase in the establishment of Private Game Reserves and game-tourism with a simultaneous decline in conventional farming. It was concluded from the survey conducted that minimum wage legislation decreased the demand for regular and increased the demand for casual labour, which incur lower costs including transaction costs, than their regular counterparts. The ESTA of 1997 contributed to a decreased number of farm residents, which had spin-off affects on the supply of labour. Farmers experienced a simultaneous price-cost squeeze, which furthermore decreased the demand for labour. Studying the working and living conditions showed that farm workers had limited access to educational and recreational facilities which negatively impacted the supply of labour.

This thesis is an investigation of the impact of commercial game farming on former farm workers in the Bushman's River area of the Eastern Cape. In its examination of the broader economic and political changes that have facilitated a move from agriculture to game farming, it analyses how these changes affect farm workers. The main concern of the thesis is the ways in which farm workers (at the local level) respond to changes at the national and global level (legal and political changes, the advent of tourism, and the injection of foreign capital and businessmen into the area). Lack of knowledge about their rights under the current political dispensation, as well as the perceived need for mediation between themselves and foreign landowners, points to a general sense of powerlessness. Feelings of alienation from local government structures aimed at fulfilling this function indicate a significant gap between the statute at the national level and the local reality. Local reality is informed by a strong conservatism which is generated by African Independent Church structures and local Xhosa perceptions of manhood and respectability. This conservative discourse leads to a frame of reference which is largely informed by pre-1994 interactions with farmers and government. This results in a situation in which farm workers, largely unaware of their rights in the new dispensation, operate as they did in the past; waiting for landowners to decide their fate for them. What ensues is a lack of meaningful interaction with government and landowners, perpetuating their subjugation and cynicism as to whether government structures are in fact working in their interests. The thesis comes to three main conclusions. The first is that game farming has been negatively received by farm workers due to the associated threats of unemployment and eviction. The second is that despite high levels of subjugation, even the very poor are agents to some degree. The creation of a masculine identity which is internally articulated, as opposed to outwardly expressed, and the grounding of reputation in the family suggest that farm workers have developed mechanisms to deal with their disempowered position. Lastly, farm workers are in possession of social capital which has made it possible for them to deal with their low status in the societal hierarchy. This includes the Church, family and fellow community members. These coping strategies have however proved a disadvantage in the current era because they prevent direct communication with landowners, government and NGOs.