Could Wal-Mart Revive the Labor Movement?

[Omaha Steve]

March 18, 2008

By DAVID MACARAY

"I may have lots of faults, but being wrong ain't one of them."

--Jimmy Hoffa

Referring to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. as a "successful business" is like calling the Pacific Ocean a "large body of water." Since its founding in 1962, Wal-Mart has come to be recognized as a marketing phenomenon, a retailing juggernaut, an icon, a household word around the globe.

Wal-Mart has 60 stores in Communist China. It sells more records, more groceries and more toys than any chain in the U.S. It's not only the largest private employer in the United States, Mexico and Canada, it's the largest private employer in the world, and the fourth largest employer of any kind, behind the Chinese Army, British National Health Service, and Indian Railways.

Tangentially, it's also become a symbolic thorn in the side of organized labor. Actually, it's more than a thorn; it's a metaphorical dagger in labor's heart.

Back when Wal-Mart had a "mere" 3,600 stores in the U.S. (there are 4,000 today), the AFL-CIO launched an aggressive organizing drive against the company, looking to crack its imperious, enamel-like shell. Yet, despite bringing all of its formidable resources to bear, the House of Labor could not convince the employees of a single store to join the union, further solidifying the giant retailer's worldwide reputation as being more or less "union proof."

In truth, the overall record, while calamitous, hasn't been a total goose egg. Over the years there have, in fact, been a handful of Canadian Wal-Mart stores that voted to join a union-no small accomplishment considering the opposition they faced. We can't count the "unionized" Wal-Mart stores in China, because Chinese unions are State-owned entities serving as little more than political tools.

Alas, the only Wal-Marters in the U.S. to have voted in favor of a union were a group of meat-cutters in Texas, who, in 2000, voted to join the UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers). The company responded by instantly shutting down its meat-cutting operation and going to pre-packaged meats at over 150 stores in Texas and the southwest (an indication of just how vehemently anti-union their management is).

FULL story at link.

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Might as well try & turn lead into gold. Just the employee turnover alone

would be enough to prevent a union foothold.