NET-workers

Interesting article today in the Korea Times about attempts by workers in Korean Wal-Marts to form a union with Union Network International (UNI) . I had not really heard of the UNI before, so I checked out their website, which states:

After just two years of negotiations a new trade union International was born on January 1 2000.UNI - Union Network International - is the skills and services International for the 21st century with 15.5 million members.UNI was created in response to the huge changes going on in the global economy and because of the impact of technology on increasingly overlapping industries.It brings together about 900 unions, the world’s largest grouping of individual trade unions.

Great mission - I don't know how much success they've had, but I'll definitely keep my eyes open for what they are up to. In any case, the Korea Times story echoes the same concerns that U.S. unions bring up against Wal-Mart (low wages, low benefits, no unions) and say that Wal-Mart is using the same model in Korea. The UNI has an interesting take on how Wal-Mart's practices are especially dangerous in a country like Korea:

"On one side, they are like hedge funds. They try to make fast money (in South Korea) and go away," said Jan Furstenborg, director of UNI’s commerce sector. ``I want to say that Wal-Mart is a modern-day imperialist."

I think this is an important criticism to keep in mind. Of course, Wal-Mart's spokespeople say the workers aren't interested in forming a union and imply that the UNI is a U.S.-led operation (suggesting that the union might really be the imperialistic force, which I doubt.)