6.2.4.1 Village-Enterprise Joint Party Branch
There are currently 17 Party branches administered by Xinmin Party committee, including 11 village Party branches, three village-enterprise joint Party branches and three government Party branches.187 In 2009, Xinmin Town Government set up a village- enterprise joint party branch mechanism to mediate the conflicts of interests between farmers and mines/enterprises. In the system, 17 village party secretaries have been assigned to mines as deputy managers. The village party secretaries are assigned to the joint party branch as party secretary, and the enterprise managers are deputy party secretaries of the joint party branch. When a conflict arises, the intertwined party
secretary and enterprise manager try their best to settle the dispute. On the one hand, the joint party branch is mainly responsible for assisting the development of villages and obtaining benefits for farmers, for example, the joint party branch arranges for the farmers to buy shares in mines, find jobs in enterprises, etc. On the other hand, it mediates the conflicts of interests between farmers and enterprises in order to remain there and address the conflicts within villages. When the conflicts cannot be addressed within villages, the town government is involved. In a worst case, the farmers then go to
187 In 2011, the administrative villages of Xinmin Town decreased from 17 to 11 in a town planning drive,
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county or upper authorities to complain when they are not satisfied with the results mediated by the town cadres. Consequently, the county and town cadres are faced with political legitimacy from local level and a performance evaluation from the upper
authorities. Thus remaining and addressing the conflicts within villages is the key task for the Party secretary of the Joint Party branch. The Party secretary’s skills, knowledge and prestige facilitate the dispute settlement in the negotiation process. As Mr. Qiu put it:
We have several high level village party secretaries and village directors in Xinmin Town. They know both the details of villages and corporations quite well. When the conflicts arise between villages and mines/corporations, the village Party secretary just goes and talks to the village and the corporation and then settles the dispute.188
In fact, the joint party branch mechanisms use mianzi of the village party secretary and corporation manager who are bonded together to address the conflicts. Because of mianzi, the two party secretaries try to reach an agreement as soon as possible. The joint party branch interlocks the corporations with the village in the course of sharing benefits. Mr. Sun, the party secretary of one administrative village and the joint party branch of Company A, has some shares in a coal-related production company. He has been elected as village Party secretary since 1991, and admitted that he is accepted by most local residents.189 In other words, he has high prestige among the farmers in all village affairs. He described the process of addressing a conflict as doing a business. Furthermore, he explained how the joint Party branch works as a mediation mechanism:
The joint Party branch functions as a mediator. The most intense conflicts happened between 2006 and 2009 in our village, and the main dissatisfaction involved land acquisition. What I do is to coordinate the interests of two parties, advising farmers to ask for less money and enterprises to pay more so that they can reach a consensus. I meet the deputy Party secretary, who is also the vice general manager of Company A, once every week, discussing the needs of the local people and the enterprises. We work together to find out the best solution to both parties. For example, if
188 INT-17-201211.
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the company wants to use the land of individual farmers, we get the farmer and company together to negotiate the price.190
Apparently, Party secretary’s skills, knowledge and prestige, and mianzi, as informal factors facilitate the dispute settlement in the negotiation process. The relations between farmers and enterprises are improved because the joint Party branch plays a salient role in mediating the conflicts of interests between villages and enterprises. Table 6.1 presents the comparisons of conflicts mediated in Xinmin Town from 2008 to 2011. The figures from 2009 when the joint Party branch institution was established drop sharply. In addition, the mines and enterprises invested over RMB 0.3 billion in improving the infrastructure and living environment from 2009 to 2011.
Table 6.1: Change of Conflicting Cases and Compensation Funds before and after the Establishment of a Joint Party Branch in Xinmin Town
Year Conflicting Cases Change (%)* Compensation Funds
(billion RMB) 2008 182 +8% 0.0860 2009 146 -21% 0.0650 2010 119 -19% 0.0575 2011 (till June) 39 -22% 0.0226
* Compared with the same period last year. Source: Own compilation
The village-enterprise joint Party branch in Xinmin Town is highlighted as an
institutional innovation and best practice by Fugu County Government. The model is further disseminated in those regions with rich natural mineral resources by the central state. Up until June 2011, Fugu County Government had set up 175 Party organizations in the non-public sectors, in which, 55 village-enterprises were joint Party branches. 31 core
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Party leaders in enterprises hold a post in the joint Party branches. Furthermore, 46 village Party secretaries and directors were sent to 46 mines as deputy managers. The Party-based mediation mechanism functions as a platform to not only connect the village and enterprise to build a harmonious negotiation environment, but also as a vehicle to distribute the benefits.
6.2.4.2 People’s Mediation Committee
In fact, before the joint Party branch mechanism functioned well, the People’s Mediation Committee (mintiao weiyuanhui) was already set up by Xinmin Town Government in 1998. Unlike the joint Party branch, it is composed of only local cadres, excluding the managers of enterprises. It is led by the core leaders of Party committee, government and people’s congress, filled by relevant governmental cadres from the disciplinary inspection, the organization, the justice and the civil affairs departments and the police station. The People’s Mediation Committee serves the villages that haven’t established joint Party branches or those that may be unable to address conflicts through the joint Party branch. It functions in a similar way to the joint Party branch in that the core principle of the mediation mechanism is to help the farmers get benefits from enterprises/mines. Mr. Qiu made the following claims:
The farmers rely much on the government. Compare to enterprises, the farmers are disadvantaged groups. We should help them to get some real benefits (shihui) from the enterprises/mines. Furthermore, if the business is interrupted, the owner will lose a lot of money. Actually the money the owner returns to the farmers is not worth mentioning, compare to the money he loses.191
Before 2011, all 17 village committees set up People’s Mediation Committees. In this sense, there are three types of People’s Mediation Committee at different levels,
including a village committee, a joint Party branch and town level. Initially Xinmin Town Government tended to let the civil dissension among farmers be mediated at village level,
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however, when more and more conflicts involved village and mine/enterprise, the joint Party branch was set up. If any case arises at the town level, the town mediate committee then intervenes.192 The three-layer mediation mechanism associated with economic measures stopped people appealing to the upper authorities for help from 2009 to 2011.