Wal-Mart to close unionized store in Quebec

[Bakunin]

Wal-Mart to close unionized store in Quebec

Canadian Press

MONTREAL — Denying it wants to bust the union, Wal-Mart announced Wednesday it will close a Quebec store whose employees were involved in negotiations to become the first ever to establish a union contract from the world's biggest retailer.

Wal-Mart Canada spokesman Andrew Pelletier said that anyone who assumes the decision was made as an attempt to bust the union "doesn't understand what went on over the past few months. "This store could easily have closed months ago and we didn't do that. We made a determination we were going to bargain in good faith."

The store, which will close in May, is located in Saguenay, about 250 kilometres north of Quebec City. Nearly 200 employees received union accreditation last summer, making it the chain's only unionized outlet at the time.

Pelletier said the company and the United Food & Commercial Workers Canada union had been trying since last October to reach a collective agreement that would allow the store to continue operating. Last week, the union asked Quebec labour officials to appoint a mediator, saying negotiations had reached an impasse.

"Last week, the union ended the collective-bargaining phase of the process and applied for first-contract arbitration," Pelletier said.

"In doing that, they basically acknowledged that the two sides were not going to reach an agreement. First-contract arbitration, within the context of Quebec, means a contract would ultimately be imposed on to the store."

Pelletier said the union's demands on scheduling and employee status would have required the hiring of at least 30 new people and resulted in extra work hours.

"Some of the union's demands failed to appreciate the fragile condition of the Jonquiere (Saguenay) store. The store is already well-staffed and has been struggling economically.

"It's a business decision, it's an economic-viability issue ultimately, but it's been exacerbated through added pressures."

The union representing the workers refused comment and said it would discuss the matter at a news conference Friday.

But Jean-Marc Crevier, a Quebec Federation of Labour spokesman in the region, called the announcement a "very big blow."

"I'm trying to think of what the employees are going through," Crevier said. "I've got goosebumps just thinking of it. It's sad."

Claudia Tremblay, a cashier at the store, said many employees burst into tears when managers told them about the news Wednesday morning.

"Many people cried, including myself," Tremblay, 29, said in an interview.

"I'm a mother of two children and I'm separated from my husband. It's very difficult."

Tremblay said she abstained from the unionization vote, adding she was upset that her non-committal stance won't save her job.

Employees at another Wal-Mart store in St-Hyacinthe, east of Montreal, have also been accredited recently.

Wal-Mart operates two other non-unionized stores in the Saguenay-Lac St-Jean region.

The union efforts at both stores are part of a larger chess game labour organizers are waging with Wal-Mart at stores across Canada. The campaign, financed by UFCW money from both Canada and the United States, is also geared to capture the attention of workers in Wal-Mart's home country.

The closest a U.S. union has ever come to winning a battle with Wal-Mart was in 2000, at a store in Jacksonville, Texas. In that store, 11 workers - all members of the store's meatpacking department - voted to join and be represented by the UFCW.

That effort failed when Wal-Mart eliminated the job of meatcutter companywide, and moved away from in-store meatcutting to stocking only pre-wrapped meat.

Recently, some workers in the tire department of a Wal-Mart store in Colorado have sought union representation, and the U.S. National Labor Relations Board has said it intends to schedule a vote.

Wal-Mart's world headquarters are based in Arkansas. Its Canadian division, whose head office is in Mississauga, Ont., operates 256 stores and six Sam's Clubs across Canada with more than 70,000 employees.

im not an union fan but...

Wal-mart fascist strategy to maximize their profit is quite lame...

[Guest eureka]

It will likely turn out to be a good thing for Saguenay as other stores pick up the slack.

In the meantime, WalMart should be made to open thir books to inspection and to prove that the decision was economic.

[I Miss Trudeau]

It will likely turn out to be a good thing for Saguenay as other stores pick up the slack.

In the meantime, WalMart should be made to open thir books to inspection and to prove that the decision was economic.

Agreed and a-greed.

[August1991]

In the meantime, WalMart should be made to open thir books to inspection and to prove that the decision was economic.

Do you mean that WalMart should be forced to operate a store it chooses not to? Would that not be like forcing you to work at a job you choose not to?

It will likely turn out to be a good thing for Saguenay as other stores pick up the slack.

It is the other capitalists that are pleased by this turn of events. With less competition, prices will be higher, profits larger and society will be poorer.

I am surprised that the union did not simply accept terms. With only two stores organized, now is not the time to play hard ball with management.

[I Miss Trudeau]

Do you mean that WalMart should be forced to operate a store it chooses not to?

No, but Walmart should be forced to compensate those whose employment has been terminated for daring to seek representation by organized labor.

Would that not be like forcing you to work at a job you choose not to?

No, but if I intentionall cause financial hardship upon someone for stiving for something that they are legally entitled to for the purpose of discouraging the movement, I should be made to compensate that person.

It is the other capitalists that are pleased by this turn of events.  With less competition, prices will be higher, profits larger and society will be poorer.

You're kidding, right? The economic devastation caused by Walmart is well documented.

I am surprised that the union did not simply accept terms. With only two stores organized, now is not the time to play hard ball with management.

I am in 100% agreement with you here. I am also 100% opposed to this being the state of affairs for worker's rights.

[Guest eureka]

Since the closing is a Union busting act (Walmart never needs to close a store since its profitability is assured by lowering its costs, including labour, to whatever is necessary), then the closing is illegal. Walmart needs to be investigated for this and that means opening its books.

Since it is documented that wherever there is a Walmart, Municipal taxes paid are lower than were paid by the businesses it replaced, then Saguenay will be better off in time without Walmart. The citizens will also no longer have to subsidize Walmart through higher taxes to offset the Walmart subsidy. You may recall that in the discussion on Walmart, I posted the extent of the lower taxation

How much lower are Walmart prices really? This subsidy added to a low wage culture does not really give lower prices. It also adds to costs for welfare as numbers of Walmart employees also require assistance to supplement their inadequate incomes.

The cost difference in Walmart vid a vis others is spread out over its competitors (in their higher taxes) and the public. Most of the difference, and this is not so great as people think it is, goes back to Sam and a few other large American investors.

[August1991]

Since it is documented that wherever there is a Walmart, Municipal taxes paid are lower than were paid by the businesses it replaced, then Saguenay will be better off in time without Walmart.

By your logic, WalMart's closing is a good thing for the region. So what's all the fuss about? If anything, people of the region should be paying WalMart to leave!

[Shakeyhands]

I would donate a few dollars to that end.

What they did is illegal. They will be investigated. They will be fined. Paying the fine will still be cheaper than having to pay union wages.

I think its great news however for that community in the long run, now if we could just get them to try to unionize all over this great land.

[Danielle_Topic]

Illegal or not, this is power politics. Those with the money will rule.

What needs to be done is an intervention at the government level. The workers of Wal Mart have no say in the matter. They are disposible, and easily replacable. We have Canadian citizens all across the country looking for jobs, unionized or not.

If we want something done it has to be mandated by the government. Wal Mart is not going to listen to 200 crying employees.

[August1991]

I think its great news however for that community in the long run, now if we could just get them to try to unionize all over this great land.

If we want something done it has to be mandated by the government. Wal Mart is not going to listen to 200 crying employees.

Are you suggesting that the federal government pass a law making it illegal for WalMart to operate in Canada?

Or how about a law forcing WalMart to hire only unionized workers?

Or why not cut to the real point and pass a law forcing WalMart to pay all employees a minimum wage of, let's say, $15/hour?

Whaddya think?

[I Miss Trudeau]

Are you suggesting that the federal government pass a law making it illegal for WalMart to operate in Canada?

I only wish that was an option. Unfortunatly, I'll have to settle for Walmart operating according to the existing laws of Canada. Sadly, that doesn't seem very likely either.

[August1991]

Are you suggesting that the federal government pass a law making it illegal for WalMart to operate in Canada?

I only wish that was an option. Unfortunatly, I'll have to settle for Walmart operating according to the existing laws of Canada. Sadly, that doesn't seem very likely either.

Why stop at WalMart? Why not go after Burger King and McDonald's too? And why do we let Dunkin' Donuts in to compete with Tim Horton's anyway?

[I Miss Trudeau]

Are you suggesting that the federal government pass a law making it illegal for WalMart to operate in Canada?

I only wish that was an option. Unfortunatly, I'll have to settle for Walmart operating according to the existing laws of Canada. Sadly, that doesn't seem very likely either.

Why stop at WalMart? Why not go after Burger King and McDonald's too? And why do we let Dunkin' Donuts in to compete with Tim Horton's anyway?

Why not indeed. Some distant day on some distant planet, some alien intelligence will figure out that the economy exists to serve the people, and not the other way around.

[SirSpanky]

There is no competition with timmy's. I swear they put heroin in their coffee its so addicting.

[willy]

timmy's was bought by an american company many years ago. They are part of the Wendy's org.

We will have to outlaw that evil multinational corporation as well.

Trudeau, Wallmart does serve the people that is why so many of use buy thing there. If they didn't serve they would go out of business.

[I Miss Trudeau]

Trudeau, Wallmart does serve the people that is why so many of use buy thing there. If they didn't serve they would go out of business.

I liken it to a prisoners dilemna. Everyone acting in their own best interest results in no one's best interest.

[willy]

Your man Trudeau spelled it out best.

Individual rights over the collective right. Now we call it the charter of rights.

Serious, Walmart should meet the labour codes or be punished. But thier are limits and governments should not be able to force a business to maintain operations.

If a company would rather shut down than operate that is their choice.

[PocketRocket]

It's a tough call. On the one hand, the business of ANY retail business (or any business at all, for that matter) is to make money. Maximize profits. That is their reason for being. The bigger the corporation, the more impersonal this motivation becomes.

On the other hand, we have the worker, who naturally wants to maximize his/her paycheck.

The problem is with the type of business. A retail outlet is an entity which can easily be added or removed to a community. This is unlike a production based company, or a resource-based company.

A mine can hardly pack up and move elsewhere. The ore is in the ground at specific locations. Can't force it to turn up where it ain't.

It's not very easy to move a major production facility like GM or Ford, and even if you could, the auto-workers union is so well entrenched that the car companies cannot shake them off no matter where they would choose to locate in North America.

As someone who in the past owned and operated a small business, I can appreciate both sides. At most, I employed 6 people at once. It was a specialized business. For a while I made a bundle, but as the market for my services gradually declined, I sometimes had trouble making the payroll, and eventually, one by one, had to let my people go. Luckily, all but one of them understood my situation, and knew that I was really trying to keep things rolling, and keep them employed. To my shame, and dismay, I failed. Water under the bridge now, and I still maintain a close friendship with the guys who worked for me. Except for the one.

The question ultimately becomes how much can the company afford to pay it's employees and still make a profit. When the profits stop, the company closes, plain and simple.

Me?? I'd rather have a job where I make a bit less money than have no job at all. Welfare ain't for me, I'd rather earn my keep.

And I have little use for unions in their present form. They have changed from something designed to protect the worker, to a political process wherein whoever promises the biggest pie gets voted into the position as top-dog.

When I see someone straight out of high-school, with no specialized training, taking home close to $1k/week, while the company he is working for is struggling to meet the union-scale payrolls, it tells me that the union isn't thinking long-term job security.

Unions have a purpose, but in recent times many of them have become circus acts, and have lost sight of their original reason for being.

[Guest eureka]

Pocket, the average pay of all employees of WalMart in the US is $7.50 an hour. WalMart is the largest mover in the shipment of jobs and production of supplies offshore.

WalMart survives and thrives on cheap goods, and shoddy goods, and low wages. It is a throwback in its methods to a century ago and a business ethos that the West outgrew.

Here, it puts other concerns out of business: it does not pay its fair share of taxes: and its employees contribute less to the overall tax take than the businesses WalMart has pirated. The employees pay less because they earn less. They do not earn less because of competitive difficulties: they earn less becaus WalMart has established a near monolopy in cheapness and can dictate terms.

You should look back over the discussion on WalMart where I think there was interesting information about it.

[PocketRocket]

EUREKA: I was speaking in general terms. I did indeed read this whole thread in detail before commenting.

I am no fan of Wal-Mart. There is one in my town, but I do not patronize it except as last resort.

I have, however, gone into Wal-Mart, looked at prices of specific items, and then gone to locally owned businesses to buy the same items. But, I use the Wal-Mart price to haggle.

Example, I used to build models. One I wanted was at Wal-Mart at about $18.00. A local hobby shop had the same model at $24.00. I offered to pay $21.00 at the local store saying that I'd rather suport local business, if they were willing to meet me halfway.

They gave it to me.

I paid $3.00 more than at WallyWorld, but got the satisfaction of knowing I was supporting a locally-owned business, who still made some profit on the item.

If more people were willing to do this kind of thing, Wally wouldn't have the strangle hold it has established.

I don't think I've spent $100 in Wal Mart in the past 10 years.

As for the pay at WallyWorld, you're right. It sucks.

But if someone is unsatisfied with their lot, they can continue to put out resumes and seek better employment elsewhere.

There will always be SOME crappy jobs out there. Believe me, I've worked a few. But you grin and bear it and continue looking until you find something better.

[Bakunin]

http://extraits.choiradiox.net/05-02-10-TV...-Mart-Nazis.wmv

[Bakunin]

Alertes à la bombe dans 4 Wal-Mart

Quatre magasins de la chaîne Wal-Mart, situés en Ontario et en Outaouais, ont été la cible d'alertes à la bombe, selon RDI. Tous les clients et employés des deux magasins de Gatineau ont été évacués et un imposant périmètre de sécurité a été mis en place après que des appels aient été logés à 11h et 11h15.

[Bryan]

The fault in this situation falls squarely on the UFCW. They have a proven track record of making promises that they simply cannot deliver to their members in order to get them to sign up.

A place like Walmart has only one place in the market: price. Nobody shops at Walmart because they have quality mechandise, they go there because it's cheap. In order to do this, they have to keep all costs to a minimum, including wages. If costs go up, so do prices, and there goes their reason for even existing.

People who apply to work at Walmart know that they don't pay well. Why are they surprised that this back-door attempt to force higher wages blew up in their faces?

[daniel]

People who apply to work at Walmart know that they don't pay well. Why are they surprised that this back-door attempt to force higher wages blew up in their faces?

Somebody else in another discussion forum blasted me for stating that Walmart products were crap. Regardless, people shop there because of the low prices. That's agreed.

As for the workers' meagre existance, perhaps they were optimistic that there was a glimmer hope for them after all. Can't really blame them for trying improving their own lives.

[jccc]

Good for Walmart!!! Big blow to the unions!! Betcha the unions don't like it when they get strong armed back!!LOL. Need to work on the auto unions & "especially" the Civil service unions (& the NHLPA) next!!

You can question Walmarts greed, but are these unions non-profit orgs just working for the benefit of the working people ?? I don't know if Walmart has organized crime ties either, maybe somebody could fill me in ??

Now lets look at the Quebec town & Walmart store in question. First of all, the losers.

#1... the employees....students who need the money & work experience...seniors, who many of which may have just taken the job for something to keep theselves busy

with....& all the other employees without jobs who are probably in the pogey line now

Loser #2...the consumer who likes shopping @ Walmart (which there seems to be quite a few). I am one. I do not shop often because I hate shopping. With Walmart, I can get pretty much everything I need, one stop.....not running from store to store, all over town & paying outrageous prices BECAUSE SOME OTHER UNIONIZED EMPLOYEE NEEDS $30+/HOUR+BENIFITS+PENSION+20 SICK DAYS+6 WEEKS PAID VACATION TO PUT A SCREW IN THE PRODUCT I AM BUYING!!!

Loser #3...US AGAIN..the taxpayer who is going to have to help support these former employees & their families til they get back on their feet.

AND THE WINNER IS.........WALMART!!!!!

Finally, a corporation that has said no to the union stranglehold!! Of course they are not totally victorious....they did have to close one of their stores in Somewhere Quebec....the unions can have the laugh there....I am sure that store closing has hurt Walmart immensely!!!

I applaud those employees who vote NO to unionization, to the others...you played with fire & got burned!!!

Jim