The New York Times recently reported that the All China Federation of Trade Unions, the only union allowed by the Chinese government, is pressuring companies to accept the union. This essentially amounts to the Chinese government pressuring major companies into accepting the union. The story reports that Wal-Mart is complying with the request. Indeed, about a month ago, Wal-Mart reached an agreement with the union in two cities.
This news might not sound quite right to many who know Wal-Mart. Typically when you hear Wal-Mart and Union in the same breath it has something to do with firing workers, espionage, closing stores, intimidation, or some other nasty anti-union activity. Wal-Mart really really REALLY hates unions. So this piece of news poses some questions:
Why is Wal-Mart cooperating with the Chinese union but still using their same dirty tricks here in the US?
Will this raise production costs in China as we suggested a few weeks back?
Will Wal-Mart agree to the unions and then simply leave causing thousands to lose their jobs?
We'll keep an eye on the situation and let you know what the answers might be.
Posted by Taylor - September 12, 2008 02:23 PM - In The News