Add one more chapter to Wal-Mart’s union odyssey in Canada. This week, the Labor Relations Board in Quebec granted union certification to 10 auto repair shop employees for a Wal-Mart store in St. Hyacinthe. The workers had requested the certification at the end of January. The St. Hyacinthe store is located about an hour east of Montreal. Now that the union has been certified, the United Food & Commercial Workers say that contract negotiations are slated to begin March 16th. The last time a union was certified in Canada at a store in Jonquiere, Wal-Mart closed the store, citing economic underperformance, not unionization, as the reason for closing. The UFCW has appealed that closing, which has not yet taken place. “We are constantly working to improve the working and living conditions of Wal-Mart employees,” the UFCW said, “and we will persevere.” In the same week as the St. Hyacinthe certification, Wal-Mart workers in another province voted against unionization. Workers in Windsor, Ontario, voted not to unionize.
For earlier stores on this subject, search Newsflash by “union.”
