Battleangel

Good news for those that toil under King Steve. Or not, considering that the ACFTU has a long history of being overtly pro-business and allowing faux branches to be set up locally.

China has directed a contract manufacturer of iPod music players to establish a union this year, Chinese media reported on Friday, after the company sued two Chinese journalists over a report accusing it of mistreating employees.

The government of the southern boomtown Shenzhen ordered the Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (Foxconn), the Shenzhen branch of Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry, to set up a union by the end of this year, the Beijing News said.

The General Workers’ Union of the city had been urging the company to establish a union since 2004, but the company has not done so, it said.

“Now the Shenzhen government has put Foxconn on the list of the city’s 30 enterprises that must establish workers’ unions within this year”, it quoted a senior government office as saying.