Thomas P.M. Barnett

ARTICLE: "China to Press More Firms to Unionize," by Mei Fong, Wall Street Journal, 13 October 2006, p. A4.

I love citing Mei Fong articles. I dream of Mei Barnett writing for the WSJ someday.

Title of piece should really read "foreign firms."

China's always had trade unions, but they are basically tools of the state and represent the workers' true interests nada.

But with so many foreign firms, they actually take on a more legitimate role. So when Beijing gets notoriously anti-union Wal-Mart to agree to such unionization inside China, it gets a bit more confident, seeing this as another venue within which to tame the effects of foreign companies inside China.

This is a good thing. Good for the government. Good for workers. Good for the global economy. It's a much more legit application of workers' rights in China (not a huge step, mind you, but in the right direction). Plus, it will drive up the price of Chinese labor. An American labor leader is quoted in the piece as saying as much.

I recently got an email from a reader on this subject, asking whether it would be a good thing for China if such unions got more powerful. This is a nice, confirming bit of current evidence of movement in that direction.