Thoughts 21 Dec 2006 08:19 am
Walmart in China
US retail giant Wal-Mart has set up a new branch of the Communist Party at its China headquarters after allowing unions to operate in its stores earlier this year.
Don’t get excited when you see the word “union,” there are not now, nor are there likely to be, any unions in Walmart stores in this country.
They’re just cooperating with the Chinese government, which is trying to expand it’s state-controlled unions and to expand the presence of the communist party.
Chinese law makes it compulsory for any company or institution with 25 or more staff to set up its own trade union if staff request one, of course these unions are state controlled, but it sounds good.
Walmart opened it’s first store in China in 1996 and now has something like 60 stores in 34 cities with 35,000 employees, with the intention of hiring 150,000 more, indicating massive planned expansion, which means that soon, in China, as it’s becoming here, every store will be Wal-Mart, and all you’ll be able to buy is crap.