Unionizing vote scheduled today Sides file charges with labour board
DANA FLAVELLE
BUSINESS REPORTER
The fight to unionize the Wal-Mart store in Windsor has turned ugly as the store's more than 200 employees vote today on whether to become the giant U.S. retailer's third unionized outlet in North America.
Both sides filed charges of unfair labour practices with the Ontario Labour Relations Board yesterday containing a raft of allegations.
The United Food and Commercial Workers union says Wal-Mart is conducting a union-busting campaign similar to one that produced the failure of a former union at the store nearly a decade ago.
Wal-Mart, for its part, has accused the union of using force and intimidation to recruit the workforce.
Windsor is the latest battleground in the union's North American attempt to penetrate the world's largest retailer.
The fight is being closely watched by unions and employers because of Wal-mart's enormous size and influence over the economic landscape.
Last month, Wal-Mart announced it would close a store in Jonquiere, Que., amid bargaining toward a first contract, saying the store had become unprofitable.
The Windsor store is, however, a little different from the others because it was previously unionized, by the United Steelworkers of America. And although the union was later decertified, some of the same employees still work at the store and, the food workers union says, have provided the union with new ammunition.
For example, the union says in its complaint to the labour board that two anti-union Windsor Wal-Mart employees, who have since switched sides, say a mysterious figure who supported the two workers' efforts to get rid of the union last time has since reappeared.
"Some of the employees are still working at the store, and they have given evidence that the man who was the secret operative between them and Wal-Mart a decade ago has recently resurfaced and is behind a new campaign to make sure today's vote at the Windsor store fails," Michael Fraser, national director of UFCW Canada, said yesterday.
Wal-Mart said it is reviewing the union's complaint and will vigorously defend itself.
The union, in its labour board filing, also takes issue with the government of former Ontario premier Mike Harris, which subsequently brought in tougher labour laws.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart yesterday accused the food and commercial workers union of intimidating workers and, in one case, physically assaulting a store employee during an altercation over the weekend.
"It was an unfortunate incident, and we don't condone it in any way," union spokesperson Mike Forman said yesterday. The union organizer has since filed counter-charges against the store manager involved, Forman added.
A company spokesperson said "it seems to us that the union filed this complaint to deflect attention from the fact that a UFCW organizer beat up a Wal-Mart associate."
The results of today's vote aren't expected to be known for some time.