Published reports say that the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is urging Wal-Mart - which is aggressively expanding in China - to set up trade unions for thousands of employees.
Everywhere else in the world, Wal-Mart is vociferously anti-union, and there is no evidence that it feels differently in China. The ACFTU says that the company has ignored its efforts to establish contact.
"We have contacted Wal-Mart several times since its branch store opened in Beijing in July, but no progress has been made in establishing trade unions," said Feng Lijun, a local ACFTU official.
Apparently, it is common for Chinese workers to join trade unions that are actually affiliated with the companies that they work for - though most foreign-funded supermarkets in Beijing, for example, have not set up such unions. Chinese law says that all workers have the right to join a trade union, but companies are only required to allow the establishment of one if more than three workers request it.
Everywhere else in the world, Wal-Mart is vociferously anti-union, and there is no evidence that it feels differently in China. The ACFTU says that the company has ignored its efforts to establish contact.
"We have contacted Wal-Mart several times since its branch store opened in Beijing in July, but no progress has been made in establishing trade unions," said Feng Lijun, a local ACFTU official.
Apparently, it is common for Chinese workers to join trade unions that are actually affiliated with the companies that they work for - though most foreign-funded supermarkets in Beijing, for example, have not set up such unions. Chinese law says that all workers have the right to join a trade union, but companies are only required to allow the establishment of one if more than three workers request it.
- KC's View:
- We don't think that the ACFTU has to worry about Wal-Mart as much as it needs to be concerned about the UFCW…because once the United Food and Commercial Workers finds out that it only takes three employees to start a union in China, it'll be off and running to the east…
