Labour rules out Wal-Mart boycott

Mon, 14 Feb 2005
CBC News
TORONTO - Organized labour in Quebec has announced a series of moves to fight Wal-Mart's closure of its first unionized store in the province, but those moves, for now at least, stop short of a boycott.

FROM Feb. 9, 2005: Wal-Mart to close unionized Quebec store

The Quebec Federation of Labour (FTQ) said a boycott could backfire, pointing out that several unionization drives are underway at other Wal-Marts in Canada. FTQ president Henri Masse said Wal-Mart might accuse his group of working against its own people.
Instead, the labour movement will focus its Wal-Mart strategy on the Quebec government and will fight the closure through labour tribunals.
The union representing the 200 Wal-Mart employees to lose their jobs at the Jonquière store said it would file unfair labour practice charges against the retailer.
UFCW Canada national director Michael Fraser said Wal-Mart's decision to shut the store in Jonquière was meant as a warning to other Wal-Mart employees thinking of unionizing.
"Wal-Mart, which now controls the working lives of 70,000 Canadians, made a business decision that the cost of disposing 200 men and women in Jonquière was a good long term investment in creating fear in the rest of their employees across Canada and the United States," Fraser said.
Fraser said the UFCW would file a charge that the chain engaged in bad-faith bargaining.
Fraser also said it will ask the Quebec Labour Relations Commission to force Wal-Mart to prove that the store in Jonquière was losing money, as the chain has claimed.
"We know that in spite of the company's statements, Wal-Mart's decision to wreck the lives of 200 workers, their families and their community was not about profits," Fraser said.
"The store was making money and would have continued to make money like other unionized retail chains in Quebec," he said.
Quebec Premier Jean Charest says his government won't intervene unless Wal-Mart breaks the law.
"We expect businesses and citizens who operate in Quebec no matter what sector they're in or what they're involved in to respect our laws and we expect that from Wal-Mart," he said.
Workers at another Wal-Mart store, in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, won union certification in January but do not have a collective agreement.