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Wal-Mart: "The goal of China's unions is to build a harmonious society."

walmart2.jpg

Wal-Mart added insult to injury to its 1.3 million U.S. employees yesterday when it announced it would allow its workers in China to unionize. Wal-Mart has fiercely opposed American workers’ attempts to unionize—-in one case, closing a meat-cutting division after ten butchers voted to unionize. Nu Wexler, a spokesman for Wal-Mart Watch, says the company “is applying an inconsistent double standard. In the U.S., they aggressively fight unions in their stores. But if unions are a barrier of entry to an emerging market, Wal-Mart is willing to flip-flop on its position.”

Labor experts Oded Shenkar of Ohio University and Richard W. Hurd of Cornell both suggest, in Bloomberg News’s coverage of the announcement, that the retailer probably agreed to allow unions under pressure from the Chinese government. "Part of getting along with the government in China is accepting government-sponsored unions,” says Hurd. Wal-Mart’s own statement strikes a similar note, pitching the move as a way “to further strengthen its ties to China and our associates.”

Back home, Wal-Mart has cast unions as “desperate and divisive,” not to mention bad for the bottom line. But Chinese unions are “different from unions elsewhere,” company spokesman Jonathan Dong told Bloomberg. “The goal of China's unions is to build a harmonious society.”

Posted by Cameron Scott on 08/10/06 at 6:09 PM | E-mail | Print | Digg | de.licio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Yahoo! MyWeb | StumbleUpon | Netscape | Google |



Comments

I thought the purpose of unions everywhere is to promote a more equitable, thus harmonious, society everywhere. The gross iniquities of the Wal-mart business plan is creating disharmony here in America. Unions employ strength in solidarity. How can Wal-Mart claim to support harmony when their whole game is about marginalizing people for maximum exploitation? Maybe our own government could learn a lesson from the Chinese and support those who do the heavy lifting in society. The American capitalist juggernaut has been greased with the blood of its workers since the gilded age. Some battles were won against exploitation but Wal-Mart has heralded the return of bootstrap capitalism. Wal-Mart: low wages, low morals, always.

Posted by: Tom on 08/11/06 at 1:52 PM

I would not set a foot in a Wal-Mart store. No big American company comes into my country and shows total disrespect for Canadian law by punishing Quebec workers for union activity.

Wal-Mart you can build it, but I won't come.

Posted by: Alex on 08/11/06 at 9:10 PM

Walmart is a poor corporate citizen. They have encouraged good manufacturing jobs to the other side of the ocean just so they can get their low, low price. This will forever be Walmarts legacy.
A poor one at that.

Posted by: Sherry on 08/12/06 at 5:05 AM

Why bash walmart,If you dont like how they do business dont shop there I dont like chevys so i dont buy them who cares

Posted by: steve on 08/13/06 at 5:46 PM

I would never shop at any Walmart. This company is bad for our country.

Posted by: Jim M on 08/14/06 at 2:29 AM

One thing is not certain is the actual benefits the Chinese Union of Walmart will have - will it be less demanding than the US Unions, and will the benefits really be US type benefits? I cannot imagine the benefits to be anywhere close to what the US Unions demand, because I cannot imagine Walmart doing anything that will hurt their bottom line.

Posted by: ronolis on 08/16/06 at 7:46 PM

People need to speak out about Walmart. This is fundamentally important when trying to end the hideous corporations that plague our societies world wide. How else can we educate those who mindlessly support these corporations?

Posted by: terry on 09/04/06 at 7:15 AM

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This article has been made possible by the Foundation for National Progress, the Investigative Fund of Mother Jones, and gifts from generous readers like you.

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