Wal-Mart warned not to revenge for forming unions by local staff

All-China Federation of Trade Unions Wednesday warned the world's largest retailer Wal-Mart not to take revengeful measures against some of their local employees who have set up four trade unions over the past 10 days.

The federation, led by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and backed by the government, will take measures to protect these workers if they are revenged by Wal-Mart, said Guo Wencai, director of the federation's grass-root building department.

It is not allowed to replace trade unions with any organization in other forms, the official said.

Wal-Mart should not question the legality of these trade unions, Guo said, noting that under the Chinese law, it is compulsory that any company or institution with a staff of 25 or more must set up its own trade union.

According to some local media, a Wal-Mart spokesman questioned if these trade unions were legal, by saying that the company had not been officially informed by the federation about the matter.

The federation has never made such a notice prior to the establishment of any of the existing more than 1.17 million grass-roots trade unions across the country, Guo said.

The official confirmed that since the first Wal-Mart trade union in China was set up in Jinjiang City, Fujian Province, on July 29, four more Wal-Mart trade unions have been established by its local employers. Three in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, and one in Nanjing, the provincial capital of Jiangsu Province.

It is not likely that the setting-up of trade unions will have negative impacts on these five Wal-Mart stores, and instead, they may benefit from it, he said.

Currently, all Wal-Mart stores in China are operating normally, and hopefully, Wal-Mart trade unions should be established and operated like all other trade unions in the country, which are set up in a relaxed and harmonious mood, according to the official.

According to previous reports, the number of trade union members topped 150 million last year.

Guo disclosed that in the first six months of this year, almost 9 million Chinese had joined in trade unions, while over 80,000 trade unions were newly set up in the country.

Meanwhile, the country has witnessed large-scaled growth of trade unions in foreign-funded companies, he added.

Source: Xinhua