4 Anita Chan - Walmart trade union.doc

Organizing Wal-Mart: The Chinese Trade Union ata Crossroads By Anita Chan Surprise, surprise, it is the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), the trade union notorious throughout the world for being “ useless ”, that has taken on Wal-Mart and eeded in setting up workplace union branches at twenty-two Wal-Mart supercenters in China within four weeks. This has attracted the attention of the Chinese media, all major US newspapers, and the China Labor Bulletin (CLB). CLB is the Hong Kong-based labor NGO headed by Han Dongfang, the worker who emerged for a few weeks during the 1989 Tiananmen Square movement asa labor leader of the Beijing Workers Autonomous Federation. I was invited by Japan Focus ment on the significance of the union ’s action and the CLB report. It is necessary to contextualize CLB ’s perspective. Along with many others, Han Dongfang was imprisoned and then was allowed to go to the States asa result of an intense international campaign. He ended up founding CLB in Hong Kong more than a decade ago, flying the flag of China ’s only autonomous trade union. In this capacity Han goes to Geneva every year to attend the International anization convention for labor. There and elsewhere, he dismisses the ACFTU as an arm of munist Party, and attacks it for its impotence, monopolistic position, and suppression of China ’s labor movement, calling on the international