Chinese Investment and European Labor: Should (and Do) Workers fear Chinese FDI?

The rapid increase in Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) into Europe raises important questions about the implications of such for workers and organized labor in Europe: (1) does Chinese FDI flow more or less to regulated labor markets than do other investment sources?; (2) how do individual workers view the propriety of Chinese FDI given China's low-wage, labor-unfriendly profile in the global economy?; and (3) what are the strategies of workers councilors and union representatives in dealing with real or expected investment from China?  Quantitative and qualitative data on Chinese FDI, individual opinions about China and globalization, and on strategies of labor representatives provide some leverage to answer these questions.  First, Chinese FDI does not seem to be more (or less) focused on investing in European settings with the most regulated labor markets. Second, analysis of attitudes about Chinese and European interests in managing globalization suggest that less-skilled, more vulnerable, pro-labor-union workers in Europe tend to be more rather than less enthusiastic about Chinese management than their fellow citizens.  And third, interviews with works councilors and union representatives in Germany, France and the Netherlands affirm a cautiously optimistic view of Chinese investors as no more or less threatening to organized labor than other investors.  These patterns suggest a surprising, if tentative, embrace by workers and their representatives in Europe of that investment.