Catherwood LibraryILR School

China's government-backed trade union, long considered a paper tiger, is growing real fangs ? delighting worker advocates but making foreign executives sweat. Dismissed for years as a Communist Party mouthpiece and organizer of holiday parties, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions has started playing hardball, pushing for tougher labor protections and launching an aggressive campaign to organize foreign companies that have benefited from the country's large, low-cost labor pool. The federation recently took on some of America's biggest fast-food franchises, accusing McDonald's Corp. and Yum Brands Inc., owner of KFC and Pizza Hut, of underpaying teenagers in their outlets in Guangdong province, where the union has been trying to set up branches.