Unionized Wal-Mart to Close

[justinsb]

NEW YORK -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Wednesday it will close a Canadian store whose workers are on the verge of becoming the first ever to win a union contract from the world's biggest retailer.

Wal-Mart said it was shuttering the store in Jonquiere, Quebec, in response to unreasonable demands from union negotiators, which would make it impossible for the store to sustain its business. The United Food & Commercial Workers Canada last week asked Quebec labor officials to appoint a mediator, saying that negotiations had reached an impasse.

"We were hoping it wouldn't come to this," said Andrew Pelletier, a spokesman for Wal-Mart Canada. "Despite nine days of meetings over three months, we've been unable to reach an agreement with the union that in our view will allow the store to operate efficiently and profitably."

http://tinyurl.com/4l62c

[SCDem]

1. Wonder what was sooooo unreasonable

more than slave wages.... decent benefits...

[HamiltonHabs32]

2. 1-(800)-328-0402 Call them...give them some love

[whistle]

3. So Wal-Mart thinks it can bust the union....

..."Despite nine days of meetings over three months, we've been unable to reach an agreement with the union that in our view will allow the store to operate efficiently and profitably."

Close one store, or drive the chain out of the country Canada? Seems that union workers and non-union labor across the country could unite and boycott all Wal-Marts. Show your neighbors south of you how unity really works.

[justinsb]

4. Bad Move

There still is a sizable union movement here...this is going to bite them in the a**

[FormerDittoHead]

5. correction...

..."Despite nine days of meetings over three months, we've been unable to reach an agreement with the union that in our view will allow the store to operate efficiently and profitably."

"AS profitably...."

[FloridaPat]

6. Aren't their China stores being unionized? I thought I had read

that recently.

[whistle]

8. China's union scale is what , $0.50 per hour? In Canada minimum

...wage is close to $10.00 per hour Canadian, correct?

[CanOfWhoopAss]

7. BuyBlue.org (nt)

Make them pay. Anybody but Walmart '05 and beyond.

[justinsb]

9. Already beyond that

http://www.motherearth.org/USboycott/index_en.php

[hermetic]

10. Drive 'em out.

It's your country and there is no reason why you should be forced to live the way the US says you should. I have never set foot in a Wal-mart and never will. If it were the only store in town, I would eat rocks rather than shop there. I was surprised to see how many Wals there are in Canada. Band together and just quit going there. There are other companies in the world who would be glad to have your business.

[Mother Jones]

11. We shouldn't need any MORE incentive to boycott Walmart

Their unfair labour practices in NA, predatory pricing, discrimination against women, child labour employment abroad, etc... should make it unattractive enough to boycott.

Capitalism at it's worst.

[Spazito]

12. CTV is reporting union organizations are going to call for...

a nation-wide boycott of Wallmarts today. I have been boycotting them for a year due to their treatment of employees and the fact they kill off local, small businesses and am very glad to see the union act on this. Shut them all down, it will benefit communities in the long term, imo.

[iverglas]

13. I live in a heavily unionized community

White collar, but unionized, with politicized and active unions.

I was at Wal-Mart just after Xmas -- about the third time in my life I'd been to one. Had to drive my best friend there ... one of those union members ... so she could spend her Xmas gift card money.

The place was crawling with people, of course, and I knew very well that a huge proportion of them belonged to unions that had just been engaged in a round of bargaining and strikes to get what they wanted. Which would be an annual wage of at least double, and in many cases considerably more, what any Wal-Mart worker makes, not to mention all the nice benefits they also get. Mental health days; imagine a Wal-Mart worker taking one of them.

Makes ya kinda puke, eh?

Nothing here
http://www.psac.com/home-e.shtml

... or here
http://www.cupe.ca/

... or here
http://www.cupw.ca/pages/index-e.php

Aha! (I was just randomly clicking around to major public sector unions whose members do pretty well for themselves.)
http://www.nupge.ca/news_2005/n10fe05d.htm
http://www.nupge.ca/news_2005/n10fe05b.htm

National Union’s support of UFCW Canada organizing campaign of Wal-Mart Workers

WHEREAS it is the desire of the National Union of Public and General Employees and United Food and Commercial Workers Canada to have a stronger working relationship and increased co-operation in organizing the unorganized;

WHEREAS the National Union and UFCW Canada are dedicated to protecting and promoting the economic and social well-being and the general welfare of their members as workers and citizens;

WHEREAS the National Union and UFCW Canada believe that organizing the unorganized is really the life-blood of the labour movement and in order for a union to be strong and dynamic, it must be growing in terms of membership;

WHEREAS Wal-Mart is the largest and almost exclusively non-union corporation and private sector employer in the world, employing 1.4 million workers worldwide and over 60,000 in Canada;

WHEREAS Wal-Mart is world renowned for its anti-union strategies and its continuous assault on the rights, wages and livelihoods of workers across Canada and around the world; and

WHEREAS the National Union and UFCW Canada recognize that organizing workers employed by Wal-Mart here in Canada and around the world is critical to the future health and growth of the labour movement and to increasing the economic well-being of workers, their families and their communities.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the National Union recognizes UFCW Canada as the leading union on the globe for its organizing efforts of Wal-Mart stores and applauds UFCW Canada for its commitment, determination and success at being the only union in North America to be certified to represent Wal-Mart workers;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Union supports UFCW Canada’s continuing efforts to achieve representation rights and other worker rights for workers employed at Wal-Mart and will promote a greater awareness amongst its members of the notorious anti-union strategies that Wal-Mart engages in; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the National Union and its Components will encourage its members to participate in community support and advocacy groups in those communities where UFCW Canada is actively organizing Wal-Mart workers.

Today's date ... but I'm not actually seeing the word "boycott" in there.

[Spazito]

14. From the CTV blurb on CTV newsnet, it sounded like...

the call for a boycott would come later today but it looks like the unions have backed off, too bad, imo.

Que. Fed. of Labour rules out Wal-Mart boycott

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1108146548249_103555748/?hub=Canada

[Patiod]

15. Full story in Globe & Mail says Canadians won't boycott

They're too addicted to low prices. Wish I hadn't put it in recycling at the airport.

Them "low prices" ain't so low.

[HamiltonHabs32]

16. NDP calls Wal Mart economic terrorists

NDP berates Wal-Mart

Says retailer practises 'economic terrorism'

By KATHLEEN HARRIS, Ottawa Bureau


The NDP wants the Liberal government to declare war on Wal-Mart. Accusing the world's biggest retailer of practising "economic terrorism," Hamilton MP David Christopherson called on Labour Minister Joe Fontana to protect Canadian workers.

Christopherson's demand comes on the heels of news the U.S.-based discount giant is closing a unionized store in Saguenay, about 250 km north of Quebec City, on May 6.

'PROTECT WORKERS'

"Wal-Mart has forced manufacturers to relocate overseas at the cost of thousands of Canadian jobs and now it has sent a message to its 70,000 Canadian workers: You don't have the right to organize, you don't have the right to collective bargaining and you don't have the right to decent wages or hours of work," Christopherson told the House of Commons.

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/Business/2005/02/12/928752-sun.html

[Spazito]

17. Thanks for the link!

The NDP is right on point. I think we citizens should start picketing all Wal-Marts, they are slime!