UFCW Is Close To Organizing First Wal-Mart In North America

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/4488

UFCW Is Close To Organizing First Wal-Mart In North America

By Doug Cunningham

The United Food and Commercial Workers union may be close to organizing a Wal-Mart store in Canada. Contract negotiations at the store in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec have resolved all issues except wages. The UFCW says the store is much closer to its first collective bargaining agreement, with the pay issue going to arbitration in November. Bob Linton is with UFCW Canada.

: "We're guardedly optimistic. Obviously the monetary issues are a significant part of that collective agreement. And if we can get that hopefully everything else will flow smoothly from there."

This would be the first collective bargaining agreement at a Wal-Mart store in North America.

AUDIO story: http://www.laborradio.org/files/lo/winsheadlines.ram

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. That's one of my old unions! YAY!

Go UFCW!!!!

[sass29429]

11. Not so fast bucko

I was in the Retail Clerks back in my younger days (before the merged into UFCW) and am a Teamster now. The UFCW had better get a better team in this fight than they had in the last strike out here in CA. They didn't give the members a good and accurate view of what they were voting on, and because ALL the members vote, some chains and members have sweetheart deals where they agree to go with whatever the final deal is without either striking or locking out, and the union telling the members that only one chain would strike led to the perception for most of the members that if they voted for a strike that most of them wouldn't get hurt. That wasn't the case, rather than somewhere around 10% striking it was around 40% locked out, and out ofr almost 6 months. And then they went for a contract that was much poorer that the one on the table they recommeded not to vote for.

And within a few weeks some of the Union stores were getting self-checkout scanning checkstands installed. Boy there's long term membership growth potential, NOT.

If they think they can quickly translate a court mandated unionization in one of the most liberal parts of Canada into a successful campaign in red state rural US, they are going to have another nasty surprise.(Along with the related losses in Maryland, Chicago and Rosemead)

[liberal N proud]

2. Wal-Mart will close the store first.

[Mojambo]

3. If I recall correctly that is what they tend to do. n/t

[LifeDuringWartime]

4. wouldn't be the first time

hasn't this already happened in the past year?

[liberal N proud]

5. yup!

[CatholicEdHead]

6. They probably will

[struggle4progress]

9. They can't close them all.

[Pugee]

7. To all the cities that have even gone to court to keep WM out...

all they have to do is unionize and Poof! WM is out of there!

[sass29429]

12. hmmm

Except that when cities and unions fight to keep WallyWorld out, Wal-Mart moves just over the line and takes the jobs and taxes next door, too. And those workers have to vote to unionize. Like it or not, wishful thinking or not.

The goal of the anti-Wal-Mart movement was to force the company to unionize or at least develop a wage and benefit package that moved them closer to the higher costs that the unionized supermarkets have, and then have more union jobs or at least make the union jobs less uncompetitive to the employers. Closing the store after it unionizes doesn't seem to be a very productive strategy for the workers that lose their jobs. Forcing or otherwise causing the stores to close or not open is killing the golden goose for the workers or potential workers to feed the classic dream of sticking it to the bosses. Who cares what happens to the workers, we stuck it to the bosses.

[pinto]

8. Kudos, UFCW. A collective agreement would be a great step

forward in the movement to goad this enormous employer into equitable wage and benefit standards.

[Akoto]

10. In other news, St. Hyacinthe Wal-mart closed for financial reasons.