According to unions worldwide, the answer to this question is now nearly unanimous: partner, at least potentially. For decades the AFL-CIO and other international trade unions shunned the Chinese trade union, the ACFTU, because of its lack of independence from the Chinese government and Communist Party (to the extent that those two entities are distinguishable). For instance, in 2003, US and foreign unions voted China off the workers' group of the ILO--a seat which it had acquired just three years earlier.

But things have been changing. As the US-based labor think-tank, Global Labor Strategies, has documented in a recent report, US and foreign unions are now warming up to the ACFTU. SEIU President Andy Stern has seen engaging China's union as an essential piece of any strategy to combat corporations on a global scale. In 2007, after Change-to-Win split off from the AFL-CIO, a delegation of its top leaders traveled to China to meet with ACFTU officials. Then in December of last year, as GLS notes, the Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) - a global union umbrella organization comprised of 309 affiliated organizations in 156 countries of which the AFL-CIO is the largest affiliate - voted to begin a "critical dialogue" with the ACFTU.

Undoubtedly, one reason for this change of heart is the simple fact that "one in four workers in the global economy is Chinese." As multinational corporations continue to build-up their operations in China, those who seek to check their power must also increase their presence and influence in China.

While the global economy and China's role in it have certainly changed in the past decade though, it is less clear whether - or to what extent - China's union has. All can agree that the ACFTU has not yet evolved into the vibrant, independent union movement that its foreign counterparts dream of seeing. However, there have been some encouraging signs of change in recent years.

The most commonly cited example is the fact that the ACFTU was the first - and only - union to establish a union branch at the global retail giant Wal-Mart. (Read more about the unionization of Wal-Mart in China here). (On an interesting side note, check out this website's mapping of Wal-Mart's expansion in the US).

An article in the July 14 edition of the Legal Daily, an official government newspaper, reports another success in the ACFTU's effort to establish union branches at multinational Fortune 500 companies operating in China. A union branch with over 270 workers was established at what appears to be an affiliate of Wal-Mart--the Wal-Mart Global Procurement (Shanghai), LLC. In the article, the ACFTU reports that after its recent month-long campaign to organize workers at multinationals, there are now a total of 4100 such union branches in China, and the union hopes to increase this number to 10,000 by developing sub-branches in these unionized companies.

The ACFTU also notes a series of MNCs, including Federal Express and Sony, which are looking into establishing unions. One Shanghai union official quoted in the article, Xiao Kuntao, stated that in the past the MNCs could avert any pressure to establish a union by threatening to relocate to another place in China. But now, Xiao says, wherever the multinationals go the ACFTU will establish a union branch!

The article also describes more interaction between officials at the various levels of the ACFTU structure. For instance, the ACFTU is building an information database on various multinationals from the information that local officials are to be gathering and reporting. Higher-level officials are also increasingly visiting local officials and urging them to do more to establish unions at foreign companies. Thus, the ACFTU is portrayed as increasingly activate, sophisticated and dedicated to increasing its density. And many foreign trade unionists that have met with their Chinese counterparts have been impressed by the more progressive elements that seem to exist throughout the ACFTU bureaucracy.

Of course, the key question still remains what impact, if any, this will all have on the well-being of China's workers. Thus far, the number of concrete, substantial gains that have resulted from establishing union branches is limited--both for foreign and domestic companies.

Nonetheless, now is an exciting time for advancing the cause of workers in China. Two recent laws have raised labor standards and sought to make it easier for workers to file and win lawsuits, which has caused a dramatic increase in the number of lawsuits filed by aggrieved workers. The ACFTU has increased its organizing efforts and begun to organize new types of workers, such as migrants from the countryside. A new national law protects workers form discrimination in seeking employment. Sure enough, all of these measures can be criticized for not going far enough or being difficult to implement. Taken together, however, they may represent that the political climate is ripe for making some real gains for workers. Trade unions in the US and other countries ought to follow SEIU's lead and think about how to constructively engage the ACFTU and help to effectuate this change.