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Union forms at Wal-Mart China
=============================
By David Lague International Herald Tribune
Published: July 30, 2006
BEIJING Workers at Wal-Mart Stores have formed their first trade union
in China, following official demands that the world's biggest retailer
allow organized labor in its stores here, according to reports in the
state media over the weekend. Wal-Mart has long battled to bar unions
from its stores, in the United States in particular, but the
government-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions, or ACFTU,
has been campaigning aggressively to set up branches in the company's
60 outlets in China. Senior Chinese officials and the state-controlled
media have accused Wal-Mart of obstructing efforts to unionize its
work force. The company has more than 30,000 employees in China. The
pressure on the U.S. retailer is part of a concerted drive to
establish branches of the official union in all foreign-funded
companies in China. On Saturday, at a Wal-Mart store in the southern
Chinese province of Fujian, 25 employees elected Ke Yunlong, 29, as
the chairman of a seven-member trade union committee, Xinhua, the
official press agency, reported. Earlier, 30 Wal-Mart employees had
applied to local labor authorities to register a union. "According to
China's trade union law, enterprises or institutions with 25 employees
and above should establish trade unions," Xinhua said. Beth Keck,
director of international corporate affairs for Wal-Mart, said the
company was aware of media reports that employees in China had formed
a union. She said that the company had not discussed the issue with
the ACFTU. But she acknowledged that the federation had earlier
signaled its intention to try to unionize the company's Chinese work
force. She added that Wal-Mart hoped to have a "cordial and productive
relationship" with the federation. "We know they have been interested
in having a relationship with our company for some time," Keck said.
"We will of course be looking forward to how this will evolve." It is
unlikely that Wal-Mart will suddenly face a militant work force. Labor
activists often accuse the tightly controlled ACFTU of siding with
management rather than workers. But if the official union can recruit
members among the employees of Wal- Mart and other foreign employers,
it could give the government increased influence over some of these
companies. China, with its vast and expanding pool of increasingly
affluent consumers, is an important market for Wal-Mart as it
reorganizes its international operations. The company said Friday that
it planned to sell its unprofitable business in Germany. In May, it
withdrew from the South Korean retail market. But Wal-Mart has been
growing rapidly in China since it opened its first store in the
booming city of Shenzhen in 1996. It now has outlets in 29 cities and
sourced more than $18 billion in merchandise from China last year.
Keck said Wal-Mart recognized its employees had the right to join a
union at any of its work places around the world. "In every country we
operate, we follow the laws concerning labor relations," she said. Of
the 15 countries in which the company owns work sites, she said, some
Wal-Mart employees in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Britain and Germany
are union members. The United States is the "clear exception" where no
employees are union members, she added. Don Greenlees contributed
reporting from Hong Kong.
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