CHICAGO (Reuters) - The largest U.S. grocery union has filed a complaint against Wal-Mart Stores Inc., asking the National Labor Relations Board to investigate whether the retailer "bribed" employees to block union activities.
The United Food and Commercial Workers' complaint comes after The Wall Street Journal reported last week that former Wal-Mart Vice Chairman Tom Coughlin may have used undocumented expense payments to fund anti-union activities, including paying union staffers to tell him of pro-union workers in stores
The union said its complaint, filed on Tuesday, asks the NLRB to "aggressively investigate whether Wal-Mart bribed employees to suppress worker support for union representation."
Shares of Wal-Mart, which have fallen about 6 percent in the past month, edged up 0.35 percent to $48.80 after Prudential Equity Group raised its rating on the stock to "neutral weight" from "underweight."
"Wal-Mart's actions seemingly involved the criminal misappropriation of company funds to create an illegal anti-union slush fund," the union said in a statement.
The union wants the NLRB to subpoena any documents from Wal-Mart that might substantiate those charges.
A Wal-Mart spokeswoman said the union was filing wild charges in hopes that they would get attention.
"There's absolutely no evidence to support any of these charges," spokeswoman Mona Williams said. "The Wall Street Journal reported activity by one individual and it's a quantum leap for the UFCW to try to make this a broader issue.
"I think it's the equivalent of throwing a Hail Mary pass. They're simply going to file the wildest of charges and see if it gets any attention."
In a letter to the NLRB accompanying the complaint, the union said it suspected that Wal-Mart "spread bribes in stores whose workers were actively organizing but abruptly abandoned their activity" in 13 U.S. states.
Wal-Mart is the largest U.S. private employer with more than 1.2 million employees. The company has repeatedly said its policy of open communication with employees means there is no need for a union, but labor groups contend the retailer is vehemently anti-union.
Posted by UFCW 227 at April 13, 2005 03:20 PM