A trade union was formed at Wal-Mart's Jinjiang outlet in Fujian Province on
July 29 after 30 employees appealed to the local federation of trade unions,
marking the giant retailer's first trade union in the country.
And 42 members in a Shenzhen store, Guangdong Province, founded a second
trade union on August 4 , just a day before the Nanjing committee.
Wal-Mart China has so far not given any response to the formation of three
trade unions within its enterprise.
And a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart China said she did not know anything about the
unions or similar moves at other Wal-Mart branches when she was interviewed by
China Daily last Friday.
However, the move was reported by Xinhua News Agency as being a result of
more than two years' efforts by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU)
to push the retail giant to set up labour unions in its 59 outlets around the
country.
According to China's trade union law, enterprises or institutions with 25
employees and above should establish trade unions, all employees have the right
to join the ACFTU, and anyone who applies to set up a union should be allowed to
do so by the company.
Xu Deming, vice-president of the ACFTU, said that trade unions, organized on
employees' own volition, can safeguard the economic, political and cultural
rights of workers and also help "lubricate" the relationship between employees
and employers.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc, which set up shop in China in 1996 and employs more than
30,000 people at stores across the country, has long resisted pressure in many
countries to unionize its workers, an action frequently criticized by local
trade unions and governments.
But Wal-Mart China released a statement last November, saying "should
associates request the formation of a union, Wal-Mart China would respect their
wishes and honour its obligation under China's trade union law."
ACFTU statistics show that by last September, only about 26 per cent of the
more than 150,000 foreign-funded enterprises in China had set up trade
unions.
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