More than 50 percent of the 170 workers at the Wal-Mart store in Jonquière, Quebec, signed to be represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). The Quebec Labour Relations Board, which certified the union, has scheduled a hearing for August 20 to decide on the makeup of the bargaining unit.

Wal-Mart, with 1.3 million employees worldwide and $265 billion in sales, has fought to keep its workers from unionizing since it was founded in 1962.

The Quebec Federation of Labour (FTQ) held a press conference the next day to celebrate the victory and voice support for other campaigns that are underway to organize Wal-Mart workers in Quebec and the rest of Canada. FTQ secretary-general René Roy “saluted the courage of the Jonquière workers who had to organize two times before winning this big union victory.” A first attempt to organize the store was lost when the union fell just four percentage points short of the votes needed to win. Roy also said he hoped that the QLRB would act rapidly to certify the UFCW at the Wal-Mart in Brossard on Montreal’s south shore, where UFCW Local 501 applied for certification on July 22.

There are three other UFCW applications pending at Wal-Mart stores in Canada, two in Saskatchewan and one in British Columbia.

On August 6, workers at the Wal-Mart store in Thompson, Manitoba, lost a vote to be represented by UFCW Local 832 with 67 against and 44 in favor. This was the second loss for the union at that store.

The UFCW won certification at a Wal-Mart in Windsor, Ontario, in 1997 but the union was decertified before the ratification of a first contract.

In May 2003 the British Columbia Labour Relations Board found Wal-Mart guilty of unfair labor practices at its store in Quesnel, British Columbia. The UFCW had filed the complaint against the company because of its “blatant attempts to interfere with employees’ right to join a union.”

The drive to bring the union into Wal-Mart stores in Canada complements a similar effort by the UFCW in the United States. Low wages, benefits, and abusive treatment on the job are some of the key issues pushing workers to organize. In February 2000, when meat cutters at a Wal-Mart store in Jacksonville, Texas, voted to be represented by the UFCW, the company refused to recognize the union, and instead moved to distribute packaged meats and changed the job functions of the meat cutters.

In October 2003 more than 250 workers faced deportation after they were arrested by immigration cops in coordinated pre-dawn raids at 60 Wal-Mart stores in 21 U.S. states. The raids were aimed at further intimidating workers in the midst of these ongoing union-organizing efforts.

Wal-Mart hailed a July 27 ruling by a Saskatchewan court that quashed a subpoena by the province’s labor board that would have forced the company to turn over a number of internal documents, including one titled: “Wal-Mart: A Manager’s Toolbox to Remaining Union Free.” The UFCW is challenging the decision.  
 
 
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