The only unionized Wal-Mart store in North America now has a contract
I actually thought that unionized and Wal-Mart were two words that could never be put together but obviously I was wrong.
Saint-Hyacinthe boasts the only unionized Wal-Mart store in North America with a contract after a Quebec arbitrator imposed one yesterday.
Both Wal-Mart Canada Corp. and the United Food and Commercial Workers union are claiming victory after reading Alain Corriveau’s 46-page ruling.
This is significant because Wal-Mart actually closed down the last store that unionized.
It was Corriveau who last summer imposed a collective agreement on Wal-Mart for nine employees at the store’s Tire & Lube garage in Gatineau, calling for 33-per-cent wage hikes for entry-level auto workers.
Wal-Mart subsequently closed that garage and another unionized store in Jonquière before contracts were negotiated, blaming union demands for making those operations unprofitable.
The union is awaiting a Supreme Court of Canada ruling on the closing of the Jonquière store in 2005, four years after it opened.
And the struggle continues but at least there’s a small win.
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