China Drafts Law to Boost Unions and End Abuse is a very encouraging article I came across the other day. After years of abhorrent working conditions in the sweatshops that help enable our high standards of living in the West, the Chinese goverment seems to be finally moving beyond the lax regulations that have led to exponential capital growth at the expense of Chinese workers.

Naturally, some of the wealthiest corporations in the world are outraged at this move:

Some of the world’s big companies have expressed concern that the new rules would revive some aspects of socialism and borrow too heavily from labor laws in union-friendly countries like France and Germany.

“This is really two steps backward after three steps forward,” said Kenneth Tung, Asia-Pacific director of legal affairs at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Hong Kong and a legal adviser to the American Chamber of Commerce here.

All in all, not a particularly surprising response. The article did, however, contain one point that surprised me:

The proposed law is being debated after Wal-Mart Stores, the world’s biggest retailer, was forced to accept unions in its Chinese outlets.

Apparently unionization is already further ahead in China than it is here in North America, at least in the retail sector.