The Foxconn Trade Union has opened in Shenzhen. Foxconn ran into trouble in 2006 when a British tabloid ran an article showing that the company, which is an OEM for Apple's iPod products, did not treat its staff fairly and had them working in sub-par conditions.
Different from the trade unions of other companies, Foxconn's trade union was formed under a resolution of the government, and not established by the company itself. A representative from Shenzhen Municipal Trade Unions says that they had held consultations with Foxconn many times on setting up a trade union in the company, but their efforts were fruitless for various reasons and finally they had to send a labor committee to the company to form a trade union.
The All China Federation of Trade Unions has spoken highly of Shenzhen Municipal Trade Union's actions in forcing the trade union to open. Guo Wencai, a director from ACFTU, says that any company that runs a business in China should abide by the Chinese laws and set up trade unions to protect the due interest of their employees.
Statistics from ACFTU show that as of September 30, 2006, 61000 foreign invested companies in China, including those from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, had set up trade unions, and those trade unions had developed a total of 11.791 million members.
As the largest Taiwanese company in Shenzhen, Foxconn has more than 200,000 workers in Shenzhen alone.
