Report: Second Wal-Mart store in China forms union
Report: Second Wal-Mart store in China forms union
BEIJING -- Employees at a second Wal-Mart store in China have formed a union, a news report said Saturday, as labor officials push for workers at all of the company's 60 Chinese outlets to unionize.
Some 42 employees at a store in the southern city of Shenzhen, which was Wal-Mart's first Chinese outlet in 1996, voted Friday to form a union and elected leaders, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Employees at another store formed Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s first union in China last week following a lobbying campaign by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the umbrella group for unions permitted by China's Communist government.
The ACFTU has accused Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, of blocking union-organizing efforts. The company says it respects employees' wishes, but said before the vote last week that none had expressed interest in a union.
The Shenzhen union will "safeguard the lawful rights and interests of the employees," Zhou Liang, its new chairman, was quoted as saying.
Zhou said it would "cooperate with the enterprise operators" to "harmonize" the relationship between employees and employers and promote development, according to Xinhua.
Phone calls on Saturday to Wal-Mart's China headquarters, also located in Shenzhen, weren't answered. An employee who answered the phone at the Shenzhen store and wouldn't give her name said she had no information on the union vote.
The ACFTU often is regarded not as an advocate for better pay and working conditions for employees but as an intermediary that represents employers to workers.
Wal-Mart has 28,000 employees in China and says it plans to open 18 to 20 new stores in the country this year.
An ACFTU official expressed hope this week that the vote last week in the southeastern city of Quanzhou would lead to all of Wal-Mart's Chinese outlets forming unions.
"This is only the beginning. Our goal is to spread trade unions to every Wal-Mart outlet in China," said Guo Wencai, director of ACFTU's department of grass-roots organizations.
China doesn't permit independent unions and activists are frequently jailed and harassed.
Unions in China usually are formed at individual companies or stores, rather than representing workers across a whole industry.
The ACFTU has said one of its key goals this year is to "push foreign-funded or transnational companies to unionize."
About 26 percent of China's 150,000 foreign-financed companies have official labor unions, according to the ACFTU. It says it hopes to raise that to 50 percent this year.
The ACFTU says that under Chinese law, any company with at least 25 employees should establish a trade union.
A member of China's parliament said this year he would introduce legislation making it mandatory for foreign companies to organize official labor unions, according to state media. (AP)
August 5, 2006
Headlines and contents of the news articles shown on this page or the headlines and contents of the news articles shown on the linked pages do not reflect the view or opinions of MSN or Microsoft.
(C) 2005 Microsoft
BEIJING -- Employees at a second Wal-Mart store in China have formed a union, a news report said Saturday, as labor officials push for workers at all of the company's 60 Chinese outlets to unionize.
Some 42 employees at a store in the southern city of Shenzhen, which was Wal-Mart's first Chinese outlet in 1996, voted Friday to form a union and elected leaders, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Employees at another store formed Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s first union in China last week following a lobbying campaign by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the umbrella group for unions permitted by China's Communist government.
The ACFTU has accused Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, of blocking union-organizing efforts. The company says it respects employees' wishes, but said before the vote last week that none had expressed interest in a union.
The Shenzhen union will "safeguard the lawful rights and interests of the employees," Zhou Liang, its new chairman, was quoted as saying.
Zhou said it would "cooperate with the enterprise operators" to "harmonize" the relationship between employees and employers and promote development, according to Xinhua.
Phone calls on Saturday to Wal-Mart's China headquarters, also located in Shenzhen, weren't answered. An employee who answered the phone at the Shenzhen store and wouldn't give her name said she had no information on the union vote.
The ACFTU often is regarded not as an advocate for better pay and working conditions for employees but as an intermediary that represents employers to workers.
Wal-Mart has 28,000 employees in China and says it plans to open 18 to 20 new stores in the country this year.
An ACFTU official expressed hope this week that the vote last week in the southeastern city of Quanzhou would lead to all of Wal-Mart's Chinese outlets forming unions.
"This is only the beginning. Our goal is to spread trade unions to every Wal-Mart outlet in China," said Guo Wencai, director of ACFTU's department of grass-roots organizations.
China doesn't permit independent unions and activists are frequently jailed and harassed.
Unions in China usually are formed at individual companies or stores, rather than representing workers across a whole industry.
The ACFTU has said one of its key goals this year is to "push foreign-funded or transnational companies to unionize."
About 26 percent of China's 150,000 foreign-financed companies have official labor unions, according to the ACFTU. It says it hopes to raise that to 50 percent this year.
The ACFTU says that under Chinese law, any company with at least 25 employees should establish a trade union.
A member of China's parliament said this year he would introduce legislation making it mandatory for foreign companies to organize official labor unions, according to state media. (AP)
August 5, 2006
Headlines and contents of the news articles shown on this page or the headlines and contents of the news articles shown on the linked pages do not reflect the view or opinions of MSN or Microsoft.
(C) 2005 Microsoft
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