Nearly 70 pct foreign-funded companies in Shanghai set up trade unions

More than 8,000 foreign-funded companies in Shanghai -- 69.4 percent of the total -- have set up trade unions, according to a conference promoting trade union development in the city Friday.

The source said 1,852 trade unions have been founded in foreign-funded companies in Shanghai this year alone.

Mushrooming trade unions in the east China metropolis could be ascribed to government efforts since April, said an official with the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions.

The official said 358 companies that appear in the Fortune magazine top 500 have opened branches or offices in Shanghai, and 99 of them have set up trade unions.

Wal-Mart, which once refused to establish a trade union in its Chinese branches, founded its first trade union in Shanghai on Aug. 25.

Taking their lead from Wal-Mart, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald's, Roche, Pepsi and French bank BNP have all set up trade unions recently.

Source: Xinhua