Trade Unions at Wal-Mart

As of September 16, 108 Wal-Mart stores in China had signed collective contracts after two months of negotiations between the All-China Federation of Trade Unions and the American retailer.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville, Arkansas, set up the first trade union in China in Fujian Province in 2006. Since then, many other Wal-Marts in China have established trade unions. On July 14, two stores in Shenyang City, capital of north China's Liaoning Province, signed the first collective contracts with Wal-Mart, allowing trade unions to protect the interests of their employees. The contracts also established a minimum starting wages and salary increase percentages.

New Plan on Corruption

The Central Military Commission (CMC), the nation's leading military organ and commander of its armed forces, recently issued a five-year plan (2008-12) to prevent and punish corruption in the army.

The plan sets forth overall anti-corruption policies and basic principles and goals. The CMC, together with the General Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), issued a decree requiring all military units to study the plan in an effort to spread it throughout the army.

Anti-corruption has long been a prime concern of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, which has made great efforts to strengthen the Party's governance capacity.

Fireworks Banned

The State Administration of Work Safety on September 23 declared that fireworks were forbidden from public entertainment venues.

The government has started inspecting entertainment venues, such as karaoke bars, nightclubs, hotels and shopping malls to ensure the safety of the buildings. Businesses with safety violations, including a lack of fire alarms and fire extinguishers or those constructed with highly flammable materials, will be closed down until they comply with local safety standards.

New Guidelines for Adoption

New policy guidelines on protecting the rights of illegally adopted children have been issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs to ensure they have the same rights as legally adopted ones, according to a report in China Daily.

The guidelines, issued jointly by five ministries and made public on September 22, allow people who have illegally adopted children to register them with local authorities with no fear of punishment.

Because illegally adopted children do not have some of the same legal rights as legally adopted ones, they encounter difficulties in applying for permanent residency in some cities and entering schools.

Ji Gang, Director of the China Center of Adoption Affairs, told China Daily that the country has more than 20,000 registered adoptions every year as well as many unregistered ones, mostly in less developed areas.

The new guidelines also state that those who find abandoned babies must hand them over to the police instead of secretly adopting them.

Olympic Volunteers Preferred

The experience of serving as an Olympic volunteer has given job hunters a leg up at a large job fair held in Beijing on September 21, according to a report in the China Youth Daily.

About 600 companies, including large companies such as China Life Insurance Co., and Yum! Brands Inc., participated in the fair and had more than 5,000 positions on offer.

The companies said they preferred applicants who worked as Olympic volunteers, because they had a better sense of service and team spirit.