The Canadian Press reported today that Wal-Mart employees in the Quebec city of Saguenay have been accredited to form a union. The Quebec Labour Relations Board accredited a union to represent the workers in Saguenay, which is north of Quebec City. “The union represents the large majority of the store’s employees,” Marie-Josee Lemieux, president of the union local with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) told the National Post. “We hope that Wal-Mart will accept this decision and negotiate a labour contract with the union.” On Aug. 20 the QLRB will hold a session to rule on the job descriptions of those who can be covered by the union. Wal-Mart had objected to the range of employees covered by the union, which includes all salaried workers except a variety of managers: the store manager, assistant managers, department managers, office workers, auto shop employees, the night manager, customer service manager, human resources manager, security officers and others excluded by Canadian law. Wal-Mart is already fighting another union certification decision in Weyburn, Saskatchewan “We are reviewing the decision,” a spokesman for Wal-Mart Canada told the Associated Press. “There was no vote held in the store. This appeared to be an automatic certification, and employees were not given the opportunity to vote on the issue on unionization in a democratically held election, which is of enormous concern.”
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