After their trip, the US trade union bosses offered praise to ACFTU. James Hoffa, the leader of once powerful US Teamsters Union, defended the visit by saying “you can’t ignore a union with 170 million members even if it is sponsored by the Chinese government”.

Hoffa insisted that the ACFTU has begun to “help workers rather than simply control them. Recently, the ACFTU convinced McDonald’s to allow unions in their Chinese restaurants. Wal-Mart was also forced to allow unions into its stores in China — the first time the anti-union retailer did so anywhere in the world.”

The basic thesis of the Teamsters boss is simple: without Chinese allies like the ACFTU, there is no stopping American capital and Beijing’s Communists from shifting US jobs to China.

Hoffa summed up his visit by saying, “More than half of China’s exports are by foreign-based corporations or their subsidiaries. Organised labour (in America) needs to shine a spotlight on the role of US corporations in oppressing workers (in China).”

Even as he complained that the new law on workers’ rights was watered down to please the US MNCs, Hoffa is optimistic. “We left China with a commitment to continue our discussions with Chinese organisations on how to best promote the rights of workers here, there and everywhere in the world.”

Hoffa is simply rephrasing Marx’s Communist Manifesto: “Workers of the world, unite behind AFL-CIO and the Teamsters.”

The Pope’s flock

It is not just American trade unions that have tied their future to China. So has the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI is looking for a deal with Beijing that would allow the Church to renew its missionary activity there.

... contd.