Wal-Mart Likely to Close Tire and Lube Shop on the Verge of Unionizing in Canada

Fresh on the heels of anti-union propagandizing at the company comes news from Canada that Wal-Mart is on the verge of closing a Tire and Lube shop which is about to unionize. This isn’t the first time that Wal-Mart has closed a store rather than see it unionize: the company outsourced meatpacking when its butchers unionized, and shuttered a store in Jonquiere, Quebec after the employees there voted for a union. Despite the fact that experts expect all 206 of Wal-Mart’s stores in China to sign collective bargaining agreements in the next month, it seems the retailer is still dead set against allowing unions to form in its North America stores.

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Decision looms for Wal-Mart [Montreal Gazette]

Union leaders say they expect Wal-Mart Canada Corp. to shut down a garage it operates in Gatineau after workers are presented with their first collective agreement.

Guy Chénier, president of the union local representing garage workers, said Wal-Mart has already hinted it will close the shop. In 2005, Wal-Mart came under fire for closing a store in Jonquière after workers won union accreditation.

In Gatineau, across the river from Ottawa, Wal-Mart garage workers have been unionized since 2005, and are now waiting for their first collective agreement following binding arbitration that ended in June.

It’s not clear when the contract will be imposed, but the union says it expects it to be soon.

The contract will be a first in North America and is expected to have an impact on Wal-Mart unionization efforts across Canada.

“I have the impression that they will want to close the garage,” said Chénier, president of local 486 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada. “But if they do this, we will help the workers find other places right away.”

A Wal-Mart executive has already said the retailer might be forced to close the garage, depending on what’s in the agreement, said Louis Bolduc, a UFCW spokesperson in Quebec.

“We are eager to see how Wal-Mart behaves,” Bolduc said.

“We hope they will act like good corporate citizens.”

Yanik Deschênes, spokes-person for Wal-Mart in Quebec, said the retailer could only comment on the arbitrator’s decision when it’s announced.

“The arbitrator is now working on the file, so we cannot speculate on the outcome,” Deschênes said. “We respect the process and we want to wait for the decision.”

Arbitrator Alain Corriveau’s decision will have implications not only for the 10 garage employees in Gatineau, but potentially for Wal-Mart employees elsewhere in Canada and around the world.

Corriveau is also overseeing the arbitration process for Wal-Mart workers in St. Hyacinthe, who are waiting for their first collective agreement.

While Wal-Mart workers in China belong to a state union - as is required by law - the world’s largest retailer is opposed to its employees unionizing.

“If this happens in Quebec, this will be a big shot in the arm for Wal-Mart workers everywhere,” said Andy Neufeld, a spokesperson for UFCW local 1518 in British Columbia.

“If this had been a regular file, we would have had a collective agreement in 2005,” Chénier said. “A few years later, we wouldn’t even be talking about it any more.”

At stake are wages and benefits. On average, workers at the Wal-Mart garage in Gatineau earn $9.25 an hour.

Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, August 06, 2008

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