The Saskatchewan Labor Relations Board has just ruled that workers at a Wal-Mart store will be allowed to be represented by a union, specifically the United Food and Commercial Workers union. This comes after years of legal battles between Wal-Mart and the union.
And now the Mayor of Weyburn, where the store is located, is worried that the Wal-Mart store will close down. It's understandable. A lot of communities don't have a whole lot of options for shopping, and there's a decent chance the town offered Wal-Mart tax waivers or building incentives to move in. And of course Wal-Mart has a history of shutting down stores when their workers unionize. Wal-Mart would much rather shut down, abandoning a community and their employees, than negotiate and listen to input from their workers.
Wal-Mart has pledged to appeal the ruling of the Labor Relations Board on the grounds that new labor laws have come in to effect and that most of the workers who voted for a union are now gone. Of course, Wal-Mart was the one who dragged the whole process out for 4 years, so those reasons seem pretty bogus.
We're taking bets on the likelihood the store closes down. Leave your bet in the comments.
Here's the article from CBA:
Sask. mayor worried Wal-Mart will close unionized store The mayor of a southeastern Saskatchewan community is worried the area's biggest retailer could close, following a decision by the province’s labour board allowing employees to unionize.In a 71-page decision dated Dec. 4, the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board approved a request to certify the Wal-Mart in Weyburn. All employees, except pharmacy, office staff and department managers, are affected.
Wal-Mart was criticized after it closed a store shortly after employees unionized in Jonquière, Que., in 2005, a move the company continues to blame on poor performance by the store.
Now, concerns are being raised about the future of the outlet in Weyburn, a city with a population of about 9,400.
“We're very concerned about losing a major retailer in our community,” Weyburn Mayor Debra Button said. “We worked too hard to get the Wal-Mart here … If the decision by Wal-Mart is to close the store, we'll certainly be feeling that.”
Both Button and Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA Dustin Duncan said they have received phone calls from residents worried about the future of the store. Button said she has written the CEO of Wal-Mart Canada to ask about the company’s intentions.Wal-Mart Canada said it will appeal the ruling to unionize, pointing out that many of the employees who signed union cards no longer work at the Weyburn store.
“The fact that you’ve got a store now with 104 associates … and only 29 of them were even there at the time of the union’s application, really speaks to the fact that it would be a bit of a stretch to assume that there is widespread support for that store for this union,” said Andrew Pelletier, spokesman for Wal-Mart Canada.
Changes to Saskatchewan’s Trade Union Act this year made it a requirement that a secret ballot vote be held, open to all employees in the proposed bargaining unit, before a union can be certified.
Paul Meneima, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1400, said the decision to unionize the Weyburn store fits with the pre-2008 act, which allowed for union certifications when 50 per cent of employees, plus one, signed union cards.
Meneima stressed that the majority of employees wanted the union at the time of the application, but said workers have the right to seek decertification of the union if they wish. He said he expects Wal-Mart to delay negotiations of a collective agreement using the courts as long as possible.
The UFCW and Wal-Mart have been trying to negotiate a collective agreement in Ste-Hyacinthe, Que., Canada’s only other unionized Wal-Mart, for almost four years.
The decision to unionize the Weyburn Wal-Mart came after almost five years of legal wrangling. The UFCW applied for certification on April 14, 2004. During labour board hearings, some employees made claims that the union intimidated them into signing union cards. The board dismissed those claims, saying there was no evidence.
Anthony Bianco, a writer for Business Week and author of The Bully of Bentonville: How the High Cost of Everyday Low Prices is Hurting America, said the unionization of the Weyburn store has significance, not only for Canada, but also for North America.
“Wal-Mart has always offered stiff resistance to any attempts to organize,” said Bianco, pointing out that the UFCW “basically gave up trying to organize in the United States in 2003.”
Bianco said Wal-Mart is worried that by having a store with union members, it will “entice” other workers across North America to organize.
“There’s no doubt that Wal-Mart recognizes that, and that’s why they fight so hard to thwart the efforts of their employees to get a union,” said Meinema.
The UFCW is awaiting labour board decisions to unionize Wal-Mart stores in the Saskatchewan communities of North Battleford and Moose Jaw.
Posted by Taylor - December 11, 2008 01:41 PM - In The News
It is the history of Walmart stores to close any store that even threatens to unionize. I worked for them and they always stressed to the employees to be on the watchout for any person wanting to unionize the store. I had a fried that this happened to they said he stole from the store but as room mates I know he would never do such a thing. To make a long story short he was fired and went to work at a country club making more money. But he wanted to unoinize and that what happend to him. So I would say to the workers be prepared for the store closing Walmart has no HEART.
Posted by jackie zook - December 12, 2008 06:17 AM
I think it's likely they'll shut down. Ugh.
But I was thinking: from a strategic point of view, rather than focusing upon small (and hence "irrelevant" and "expendable") towns, try to unionize a WalMart in a major urban area so that the company doesn't dare shut down, for example, Philadelphia, where there are not one but two major WalMart outlets.
All it takes is one store to unionize; barring an application of the franchise concept to unions, the domino effect should take care of the rest.
Posted by Christopher Schwartz - December 12, 2008 12:27 PM
Wow, you've gotten a ton of responses from this post. Where'd they all go though?
Posted by Andrew - December 21, 2008 08:34 AM
NEVER SHOP AT YOUR STORES AGAIN,AFTER TURNING AWAY THE PERSON WHIO WAS GIVING OUT GIFT CARDS.
Posted by MARGE MENTECKI - December 23, 2008 09:19 PM
They will shut it down - Christopher is correct, the union needs a high profit store - but know Wal-Mart, they'd shut it down, and rebuild down the road :(
Posted by night_caper - December 30, 2008 04:26 PM
Mall-Wart is going to go down in flames. The U.S. has a Democratic administration and congress and our world is in a recession. I think Mall-Wart has seen it's best days and will slowly disintegrate world wide. The days of cheap commodities at the expense of overseas workers are coming to a close.
Posted by Benjamin - January 3, 2009 03:05 AM
I worked for Wal-Mart when I was in college and I remember them showing us a video how bad unions were. This was in '98
Posted by jen - January 22, 2009 10:15 AM
walmart will close any store that votes in the union. no matter how big or how large the stores profit is.thery know if they allow one store to have a union, most stores will follow. thats why they will close any store that votes in a union..
Posted by daisey - February 17, 2009 10:07 AM