The creation of Wal-Mart's first Chinese union in the southeastern city of Quanzhou followed personal prompting from President Hu Jintao, state media reported, indicating efforts to unionize China's 150,000 foreign companies could intensify. In a written order to the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) in March, Hu told the union to "do a better job of building (Communist) Party organizations and trade unions in foreign-invested enterprises," the newspaper said, citing the group's records. The ACFTU responded by establishing an office to target the Quanzhou Wal-Mart store, where employees voted to form a union on July 29. Since then, employees at 16 other Wal-Marts in China also have formed unions, and the company has agreed to cooperate. Only 26% percent of China's foreign companies have unions, but the ACFTU is aiming to boost that to 70% by the end of next year.
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