Wal-Mart to Help Create Chinese Unions

by Mike Bevel,
CollectionIndustry.com

Remember that time you told that one whiney friend (that you don?t really like hanging out with) that you couldn?t go see the new James Bond movie because you had to work late but really it?s because you had plans to go see it with your fun friend who isn?t whiney. But then remember how you got caught by the whiney friend who decided to go to the movie anyway, stag, and she saw you in line getting popcorn, Swedish fish, and a giant cola?

Well, it?s like that with Wal-Mart. They?re helping the Chinese unionize.

American Wal-Mart employees who have longed dreamed of the comfort of a union gig can really only look on in stunned disbelief as Wal-Mart and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) work together to unionize Chinese Wal-Mart employees.

?Our mutual aim is to establish grassroots unions within each Wal-Mart store throughout China,? said a statement issued by Wal-Mart and quoted in Business Week, among other places.

Possibly in Wal-Mart?s defense is the fact that unions in China roll a little differently than unions in the U.S. China won?t allow independent unions, and activists are frequently jailed as well as harassed. Unlike American unions, the ACTFU isn?t necessarily a vehicle for better pay and working conditions. Instead, it functions more as an intermediary between employees and employers.

Still, though: union. And Wal-Mart has been effective at stifling any attempts of American employees Norma Rae-ing.

According to the Business Week article, the new Chinese unions are relatively small, with only 25 or 30 members each. Also, unions in China represent the work force of individual companies or stores, rather than a whole entity.

The ACTFU sees the joint venture as a way to boost efforts to organize workers elsewhere. Wal-Mart, of course, sees it as a way to grease the wheels for global domination.