Union Loses Vote at Canadian Wal-Mart

[struggle4progress]

<snip> Wal-Mart said employees in the union's proposed bargaining unit at a store in Windsor, Ontario, voted 167 to 59 on Tuesday against joining the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, or UFCW, representing a 74% vote against certification.

The UFCW said it asked the Ontario Labor Relations Board to consider another vote, accusing Wal-Mart of intimidating workers in an effort to manipulate the outcome.

"A month ago, Wal-Mart posted a notice on the Windsor lunchroom bulletin board announcing they would be closing a store in Jonquiere that recently unionized. And throughout this week, department managers were taking employees one by one out to the parking lot to sign anti-union petitions," the union said in a prepared statement. <snip>

In early February, after a Canadian Wal-Mart store unionized in Jonquiere, Quebec, the company closed the store, claiming the union negotiators were making unreasonable demands that threatened the store's business. Shortly after the closing, Wal-Mart Canada was ordered by the Quebec Labor Relations Commission to stop intimidating workers who want to form a union. <snip>

http://www.thestreet.com/_googlen/markets/natworden/10212443.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA

[Zhade]

1. Fucking Wal-Mart.

NT!

[Lindacooks]

2. I have never, and I will NEVER set food in one of those stores.

Sam's Club either.

EVER.

[Solon]

3. Plus imagine the mess when someone else steps in IT!!!!!!

:)

[Lindacooks]

5. LOL! That's what I get for typing too fast.

Never set foot in those stores.

EVER!!

Never ever set fooT in those stores.

[Lindacooks]

6. Plus, I'm a food writer, so when I type 'foo', 'd' automatically follows.

:)

[Kolesar]

7. you hid your profile so we cannot follow your cooking webpage link

My pc crashed and I lost the bookmark I had for it.

[LiberallyInclined]

12. i USED to feel that way...

but i made my first foray into one of the dens of iniquities the other day with a friend- he wanted to pick up some blank cd-labels, and they sell memorex refills of 120 labels for $9(WOW!)-
what struck me was just how crowded the store was- and almost all of the people shopping there looked to be the exact kind of blue-collar people whose lives are probably the most negatively affected by the walmarting of america. they were shopping against their own long-term self-interests.
immediate gratification trumps again.
so- if all these people are so eager to bring about the economic demise of their country, why should i continue with my personal, and ultimately meaningless boycott?

if you can't beat'em- join'em.

besides- i burn A LOT of DVD's, and 9 bucks for 120 label blanks is a pretty good deal!

[Robert Oak]

13. hmmm...these are the same people voting for Bush ...

because "he seems like a good guy"...

ya gonna vote Repuke too because you can't beat em?


You can find super cheapo stuff on line...

I've found a lot of stuff being sold on ebay way way way below
what Wal-mart charges and it's been proven that often
Walmart is more expensive than other stores.

For example, HEPA vacuum cleaner filters, sponges at Fred Meyer
soap bulk from the health food store and on and on.

Wal-mart does a "price leader" which is usually some China made complete
piece of shit, like a microwave or DVD player and they sell it for nothing but in general the prices are the same as other places.

[LiberallyInclined]

14. you can find some cheaper stuff online...

but then you have to pay for shipping, and you have very little redress if the merchandise is shoddy.

I'm not saying that i'll be doing ALL of my shopping at walmart- only that it will be considered for some purchases...
for example- I would NEVER buy clothes at walmart- single stitching and shoddy workmanship have no place in my wardrobe.

[Robert Oak]

20. i included shipping in that assessment

use froogle.google.com plus ebay and then add the price plus
the shipping. It's cheaper, believe me.

[LiberallyInclined]

29. no, it's not.

but then it depends on what you're looking for.
the other plus for going to the store as opposed to shopping online-
I can have it NOW.

[Lindacooks]

19. Isn't there a Costco in your area?

Much better store, they treat their employees well, and the stores don't have that layer of dirty grunge that every Wal Mart seems to have. Plus, check eBay for cheap refill labels. I've found 300 for $10.00:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=44931&item=5172383222&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

[LiberallyInclined]

30. don't you mean $19.00?

shipping isn't free, you know.

and neither is shopping at costco, from what i understand.

[Lindacooks]

33. Geez, all I'm saying is to do a little comparison shopping

before you shop at the devil's store, Wal Mart.

[LiberallyInclined]

36. i always compare prices...

but walmart has never been a consideration for me.
now it will be.

[Lindacooks]

39. Fine, act like a 2 year old.

Sheesh, grow up, will you?

[LiberallyInclined]

40. you call walmart "the Devil's store"...

and yet i'm the one acting "like a 2 year old" who needs to "grow up"? :silly:
whatever.
:eyes:

[BreweryYardRat]

34. Going to disagree with you in part, there.

Sam's Club actually serves a legitimate purpose.

Wal-mart, however, is shit. I had to pick up some slacks for a cousin's wedding reception in South Carolina this past summer, and Wal-mart was the only game in town. The scariest people I've ever seen in my life shopped there.

[Solon]

4. Employee intimidation anyone? n/t

[Moderator]

8. kick to combine

[ananda]

9. A Wal-Mart closes in Canada!

Wow! Go Canada!

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/10/business/worldbusiness/10walmart.html?hp

For Labor, a Wal-Mart Closing in Canada Is a Call to Arms

JONQUIÈRE, Quebec - Shoppers in this Quebec mill town are about to pay more for ice-fishing gear, snowmobile covers and cheese curds for poutine: the local Wal-Mart is closing this spring.

But Wal-Mart's announcement in February that it could no longer do business here because of skimpy store revenue and escalating union demands is having a much broader impact across Canada and even south of the border. The closing - the first of a Wal-Mart in Canada - is a strategic retreat for the retailer in its war with organized labor.

Since August 2004, when this store became the only unionized Wal-Mart in North America, Jonquière has become a rallying cry for retail union organizers who want to stop an erosion of membership in the grocery industry in both Canada and the United States.

At least three other Wal-Mart outlets in Quebec have received bomb threats since the Jonquière closing announcement, forcing evacuations and losses in sales. Bernard Landry, the leader of the separatist Parti Québécois and a former premier of the province, has announced that he is boycotting the chain. A Quebec television broadcaster compared Wal-Mart to Nazism, but later apologized.

[pie]

10. Do you truly find walmart to be cheaper?

I do not. They sell a lot of cheap shit I would never buy -
and on all the things i buy on a regular basis, I can get the same price, more or less - sometimes a bit more sometimes a bit less, at a real store with informed employees.
From computers to cat food, walmart ain't the place.

[Spinoza]

15. The "cheap shit"

you would never buy is exactly what most average Americans (and probably Canadians) HAVE to buy because they cannot afford the more "expensive shit". How the hell do you think Wal-Mart, from one single store, became the largest retailer in the world? Noone forced anyone to purchase there. People LIKE what Wal-Mart offers. Above all, they like (and many feel they need) Wal-Mart's prices. If you think it's "cheap shit", you probably have a significantly higher annual income then the average American.

[Lindacooks]

21. There are many other places you can go, and many of those

stores have a price matching policy - just ask.

Plus I've usually found that eBay is much cheaper than ANY store. Yes, you have to pay shipping, but almost never do you pay sales tax.

[Spinoza]

22. Then why

from Sam Walton's single store did Wal-Mart become the largest retailer in the world with millions of customers? Who keep coming back.

[sonicx]

23. What does sales have to do with quality?

I guess that means Britney Spears is the best singer in the world.

[Spinoza]

25. Most people

don't care about "quality" when they buy a toothpaste. They assume they are all about the same. They just look for the cheapest price. And they usually find it at Wal-Mart. The same is true for thousands of other common every day items that Wal-Mart uses as loss leaders to pull people into their stores. From soap to bleach to shaving cream to lipstick to bed-sheets to shampoo, to staplers, its usually cheaper at Wal-Mart than anywhere else. Everyone who lives near a Wal-Mart and has checked it out knows that.

[Bridget Burke]

27. You mention "loss leaders"....

These are the really cheap items that "lure" customers into stores where most other items are not cheap at all.

Surely, your beloved WalMart would not engage in such an unethical practice.

[Spinoza]

37. The use of "loss leaders" is a common practice

among tens of thousands of retailers from the largest to the smallest. Why does my 87 year old mother, who loves to shop at Wal-Mart because of the price savings, and the (her words) "nice people" have to pay higher prices for her toothpaste because YOU disapprove of loss leaders?

[Lindacooks]

28. Just because people go there doesn't make it a good store.

They treat their employees horribly, pay crap wages, drive mom and pop businesses out of business, and donate millions to Repukes. Why would you want to shop there when there are other options?

[struggle4progress]

32. How they did it was with carefully chosen "loss-leaders" that ...

... really ARE cheap, to convince people that their prices are cheaper in general. BUT they DO make up for the low prices on those few "loss-leaders" with higher prices on other stuff.

[expatriot]

11. Fightng Wal-Mart is second only to fighting Bush, perhaps equal... nt

[Toucano]

16. Labor Day demonstration.

What would Wal-Mart do if hundreds of "shoppers" showed up at each store on Labor day sporting UNION YES! shirts or hats?

Would they kick shoppers out? Do they have a dress code for their customers?

It might be kind of neat if Michael Moore of someone could organize something like this.

[mac56]

17. Whenever I'm forced to go to Wal-Mart

I always wear one of my Teamsters shirts.

Make 'em squirm.

[Toucano]

18. Have they ever said anything to you?

I'd love to see that squirm multiplied by X!

[PROGRESSIVE1]

24. I boycott Wal-Mart!

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

26. Everyday Low Morals

The fact is that we taxpayers are giving Wal-Mart huge tax subsidies by making up the difference between what they pay their Associates and what the Associates actually need to survive. One California congressman (I forget which one), conducted a study that showed a typical Wal-Mart SuperCenter costs taxpayers a half million dollars every year that it's in operation. And that doesn't count the property tax subsidies and the infrastructure improvement that the company squeezed out of the local government. And that doesn't count the jobs lost as Wal-Mart squeezes small businesses out of existence.

They're just fuckin' evil. Stay away from them.

[FtWayneBlue]

31. I agree

I have recently taken a stand on this, and am currently boycotting Wally world, too. Besides the reasons stated above, as if that wasn't enough, a larger and larger percentage of what they sell there is now made in China. What we used to call Red China, not Taiwan. The stuff is of poor quality, it is true. But also it is made by prison labor for slave wages that go to building up China's military. These are the people who machine-gunned down the peaceful student protesters in Tienanmen Square. WalMart used to advertise "Made in America" when Sam Walton was alive. How things have changed.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

35. I don't normally boycott...

I made this point with one of my classes a couple of years back regarding soft drinks. Scratch hard enough and tap water is all you get to drink because every last one of them is "dirty" in some corporate respect or another. If you demand moral purity, you're going to be sitting in a darkened cave most of your life.

But I make an exception with Wal-Mart. Their crimes against society are so heinous that I simply can't even grit my teeth and go in there. I don't care what they're selling or even if they're giving it away, I simply refuse to shop there.

[skippythwndrdog]

38. If they don't want a union, that's fine.

I was a member of UFCW at one point, as a bagger in a grocery store in Louisville. I hated the union, as I worked only about ten hours a week after school, and the union took about 20% of my minimum wage check.

I don't blame people for choosing not to unionize, esp. part time workers.