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February 09, 2005
Why People HATE Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart to Close Recently Unionized Stores in Canada
Following up on Sam's note: Some people wonder why labor folks hate Wal-Mart with such a passion, since there are so many other bad employers out there. But few are as systematic in their anti-labor policies as Wal-Mart.
When meat-cutters in Jacksonville, Texas voted to join a union in 2000, Wal-Mart shut down its whole meatpacking department rather than allow a union in its stores.
And today the company announced that it was shutting the Quebec Wal-Mart where workers decided to unionize a few months ago.
Even without a contract signed with the union, the company is claiming no deal is possible so they'd rather shut the store, pleading the impossibility of making a profit with any potential union contract. Since many retailers operate profitably in Canada with a union contract, it's a ridiculous argument by Wal-Mart. Their real fear is that the union might spread if workers in Quebec made more money, so they are punishing them as an example to other workers.
This is an evil company, a cancer on our economy.
Posted by Nathan at February 9, 2005 05:01 PM
