Wal-Mart Agrees to
Unionization in China
By DAVID BARBOZA,
NYTimes on the Web, August 9, 2006
SHANGHAI -- After years of
fighting unionization efforts at its stores, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest
retailer, said today that it would work closely with Chinese officials to
establish labor unions at all of its outlets here.
Wal-Mart said it would form an alliance with the government-backed All China
Federation of Trade Unions because it wanted to create “an effective and
harmonious way of facilitating the establishment of grassroots unions” at its
stores.
The announcement came less than two weeks after Wal-Mart employees established
their first union in China, the first time that a union had ever been formed at
a Wal-Mart store. Since then, four other Wal-Mart stores in China have
also formed unions, according to the government union officials.
Wal-Mart’s decision surprised observers because while the company had signaled
earlier that it would not do anything to stop unions from forming at its Chinese
stores, it had never suggested that it would actively participate in backing
unionization efforts.
Wal-Mart’s decision to allow unions comes after years of pressure from the All
China Federation of Trade Unions, which has been pushing companies with large
foreign investments here to allow unionization, which is required under Chinese
law.
Forming a union at Wal-Mart stores, which have been plagued by labor disputes in
recent years, has proved incredibly difficult. For instance, the AFL-CIO
has tried but failed to set up unions at Wal-Mart stores in the United States.
But exactly what it means to have a unionized Wal-Mart store here is unclear
because unions in China do not have the history of bargaining power.
Wal-Mart officials see China as a potentially huge market and are determined to
expand rapidly here. The company already has about 60 retail outlets and
30,000 employees here. And because of China’s mighty factories, this
country is Wal-Mart’s primary sourcing base for the millions of goods its sell
around the world.
Wal-Mart initially signaled its approval of unions here in late 2004, when the
company said that if workers in China moved to unionize, Wal-Mart would not stop
them.
But today, after meeting with union officials here, Wal-Mart issued a statement
that seemed not just conciliatory but a strong echo of the Chinese government’s
latest propaganda campaign, which promises to build a “harmonious society.”
In a brief statement today titled “Wal-Mart Supports China’s Effort to Build a
Harmonious Society,” the company said that it would collaborate with the All
China Federation because the two groups had the “mutual aim” to establish
grass-roots unions.
Exactly how the unions are being formed and who has control of them is still
unclear, and some experts doubt the unions now being formed at Wal-Mart will
engage in collective bargaining negotiations with the company.
Liu Kaiming, director of the Institute of Contemporary Observation, a labor
rights organization based in Shenzhen, applauded the Wal-Mart announcement today
but questioned whether it would lead to significant change.
“I don’t see any bargaining power in the unions in China,” Mr. Liu said.
“The function of Chinese unions is to urge workers to participate in the work,
to care about their welfare and to organize recreational activities for them.”
Independent unions are banned in China. But the All China Federation of
Trade Unions — the government-controlled labor union — issued a statement
earlier this week, suggesting that it would be able to contend with one of the
world’s biggest companies.
“If Wal-Mart union members are subjected to unfair treatment at work, unions at
the national, provincial, city and district level will strive all out to protect
employees’ legitimate rights,” the announcement said.
|
