Some 500 of the world?s largest international corporations, including Wal-Mart, MacDonald?s and KFC, are facing pressure to unionize their Chinese locations. The All China Federation of Trade Unions (the only union currently allowed to operate in the nation) appear to have finally garnered some support among Communist Party Leaders and are aggressively targeting large international companies, like Disney and Adidas which came to China to take advantage of cheap labor and often to avoid unionization in the States. Now, many of these same corporations are facing a September 30th deadline for unionization. All China Federation of Trade Unions expects 80% of these companies to be working with unions by the end of the month. Most seem to be conceding willingly, though several, including Microsoft, are resisting.
See "China pressures big companies to allow unions", David Barboza, The New York Times, September 10, 2008