Wal-mart, the world's biggest retailer, is facing pressure in China to establish trade unions for thousands of employees.

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), claims the retail giant had ignored repeated efforts by its staff to talk to the company about setting up trade unions.

"We have contacted Wal-mart several times since its branch store opened in Beijing in July, but no progress has been made in establishing trade unions," said Feng Lijun, local ACFTU official.

According to ACFTU officials, they were told by Wal-mart, whichhas not set up trade unions in any of its branches in China, that Wal-mart had established effective channels to resolve labor disputes and there were no trade unions in its United States stores either.

As opposed to most western countries, Chinese workers, including employees of foreign-funded enterprises, usually join trade unions affiliated to their companies. Only a small number of staff of foreign-funded enterprises can join trade unions affiliated to the Foreign Enterprises Service Corporation (FESCO),said Wang Ying, ACFTU official.

According to ACFTU statistics, most foreign-funded supermarkets in Beijing have not established trade unions, which means hundreds of their employees can not become members of the ACFTU.

Feng said it was very hard for individual workers to protect their legal rights without support, especially in foreign companies.

"The best way to protect workers rights is to sign group contracts with employers through trade unions, which can protect workers' rights involving wage negotiation, vacations, and discharge regulations."

According to Chinese laws, all workers have the right to join a trade union, but companies are only required to allow the establishment of a union if more then three workers request it.

Some foreign-funded companies explained that they did not receive workers' requests to have trade unions to join, so they did not think it necessary to establish trade unions.

Although many employees of foreign-funded enterprises wish to join a trade union, they did not want to express their hopes in public, mainly because of concerns over the safety of their jobs, said ACFTU officials.

In Beijing, only 2000 of Beijing's 5000 foreign enterprises have established trade unions. Most foreign enterprises with trade unions are joint ventures, whose trade unions were transferred from the former Chinese factories.

China has revised labor laws to protect workers' rights and punish companies that prevent workers from joining their trade union. "However, we are still facing difficulties in establishing branches of ACFTU in foreign-funded companies like Wal-mart due to their reluctance to be cooperative," said Wang Ying.

The ACFTU was established in 1925 and boasts over 131 million members across the country.

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2003)