Trade unions: as divers as China

No union here
Wikipedia Two years after China's only allowed trade unions, the ACFTU, started to organize the renowned anti-union US retailer Wal-Mart, more details are emerging on what is happening on the ground in different parts in China. CLNT did a great job in translating articles on trade union development in both Suzhou and Guangzhou.
Both regions have a large representation of foreign companies, the official target for the campaign of large scale trade union organizing branches, under orders of the central government. Both regions are interesting because the trade unions have a very diverse approach, focusing on industrial harmony in Suzhou, but more aggressive in Guangzhou. Both approaches seem to be based on the different kind of employers working in those regions.
In Suzhou a group of ten representatives from larger foreign companies, like Siemens, Cannon, Sanyo and others discussed for the Suzhou Daily the problems they faced in setting up unions: convincing their employers of their good will, seemed high on the agenda. Unions should create an alliance between capital and labor, is the message - one that will be dreaded by many trade unions outside China.
In Guangzhou the situation is more confrontational. A Guangdong newspaper, the New Express, quotes Guangzhou City Trade Union Federation Chairman Chen Weiguang when he warns foreign companies who do not accept trade unions for the last time. Chen is identifying Taiwanese and Hong Kong companies as the hardliners, resisting trade unions, while other nationalities have duely accepted the trade union.Chen: "I am surprised that these business people, who share the same Chinese culture with us, can be so dead-set against trade union organization."
Getting more information from the ground becomes more important as the trade union and its international affiliations will be rooting in China's economy. The next two years are going to be at least as interesting as the past two.
More at CLNT.

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