Thirty-one employees of Wal-Mart's Xinjiekou store in Nanjing elected their first trade union committee, and a 22-year-old mid-level management employee named Wu Yinzheng, who has a university education background, was elected chairman.

Wu vowed in the election that the committee would safeguard the legal rights and interests of employees according to the laws of the country, and try to maintain a smooth relationship between employees and employers.

Within the committee, a financial department and women's federation were also formed during the Saturday election.

According to Chen Siming, chairman of the Nanjing Federation of Trade Unions, he and fellow workers had tried to talk operators of Wal-Mart Nanjing branch into setting up a trade union ever since its establishment in 2004, but got no reply from management.

So Chen tried direct contact with Wal-Mart employees, which finally led to the formation of the new trade union.

"Some foreign enterprises seem to think that trade unions will go against employers' profits. It is absolutely wrong. A trade union is only an organization to protect the rights of the employees and update their skills. It will only benefit the enterprises, not harm them," Chen told China Daily.

But employees who signed their names for the trade union were reported to have suffered pressure from Wal-Mart operators.

A worker who declined to reveal his name was quoted by local newspaper Yangtze Evening Post saying that the Wal-Mart management in Nanjing even threatened not to renew contracts if workers joined the union.

But Chen Siming said that the municipal union would back the legal rights of its union members and fight against job discrimination.

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