Canadian Wal-Mart employees, unite!

Maggie says:
The latest Wal-Mart development should surprise no one involved in the constant battle against the mega-chain. Wal-Mart executives just announced they will shut down a store in Quebec, Canada. The problem with this particular store? Slow sales, too many boycotts, not enough local workers to exploit? Nope. The Quebec Wal-Mart had a store full of exploited workers already. The problem was that those pesky Canadian laborers decided they’d had enough – six months ago, they became North America’s first unionized Wal-Mart.

There’s reams of evidence as to Wal-Mart’s despicable record with labor. Most of us (or at least, M³ and probably most m-pyre visitors) could recite these in our sleep. But while Wal-Mart succeeded in shutting down the Quebec store, they may not be so successful in the future. One other Canadian Wal-Mart has union certification, and at least two other Canadian Wal-Marts have submitted proposals for union certification under Canada’s labor laws. Wal-Mart executives have already said that they do not plan on closing down the remaining unionized store, continuing the test case for organized labor within the labor movement’s most-hated chain of stores.

Those of us rooting for this store may be disappointed – the newly unionized employees have a tough road ahead. They follow this experience: In 2000, a Jacksonville, TX store was the closest organized labor came to beating Wal-Mart. Eleven meatpackers voted to be represented by the UFCW (the same union representing the Canadian cases here). Wal-Mart’s response shows the lengths they’ll go to win at any cost. In opposition to their eleven unionized meatcutters at a single store in Texas, Wal-Mart decided to completely eliminate the job of meatcutters throughout their 5,170 worldwide stores, laying off thousands of deli workers. Their legacy lives on: today, fresh deli meat can’t be found in any Wal-Mart store. They'd rather sell only pre-packaged meat than offer decent pay and benefits to the men and women who could slice it fresh.

Good luck, Canada. Your workers will need it.

PS: Take a close look at our Raging Grannies. They’re protesting Wal-Mart, too!