Vol. 72/No. 35      September 8, 2008

The pact, imposed by a government arbitrator after a three-year judicial process, came into effect August 15.

According to Local 486 president Guy Chénier, the three-year contract covers improvements in wages and vacations and establishes a grievance procedure. Wages will rise from the current minimum of Can$8.50 an hour to a minimum of Can$11.54 (Can$1=US 95 cents). Previously workers were paid minimum wage and increases of 30 cents an hour were granted “randomly.” Their wages will reach Can$15.94 by 2010.

The union was recognized by the Quebec Labor Board in June 2005, but after delaying tactics in court by Wal-Mart the dispute was referred to binding arbitration.

The other 250 store workers at the facility are not in the union. Another Wal-Mart store in Gatineau is unionized but without a contract.

The UFCW is also expecting a decision soon on a first contract for 200 store workers at a Wal-Mart store in St-Hyacinthe, southeast of Montreal.

In 2005, Wal-Mart closed its Jonquière store northwest of Quebec City days before an arbitrator was to impose a contract there.

On August 7, the federal Supreme Court agreed to hear the union’s case, which charges Wal-Mart violated Quebec Labor laws as well as the workers’ “right to freedom of association” under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

During the arbitration hearings Wal-Mart officials argued that they couldn’t change their “business model” and that if the wage structure was changed they would have to close the automotive department.

There are 77,000 Wal-Mart workers in Canada.

—John Steele

Municipal workers in Scotland
strike for higher wages
EDINBURGH, Scotland—Municipal workers conducted a 24-hour strike in Scotland August 20 to protest a 2.5 percent wage offer over three years. The strike action by more than 150,000 workers, members of trade unions Unison, Unite, and Britain’s General Union saw the closure of schools, leisure centers, libraries, museums, day-care centers, and crematoriums across the country. Refuse collection, street cleaning, and ferry services were also affected.

The walkout followed a 48-hour strike in July by municipal workers throughout the United Kingdom protesting a 2 percent limit on pay raises for public sector workers. The limit was imposed by the Labour Party government in Westminster (see article in the Militant, July 28, 2008).

Speaking to some 500 people who attended a strike rally in Glasgow’s George Square in the pouring rain, Carol Ball of Unison said “2.5 percent is a pay cut.” Official figures put inflation at 4.4 percent.

Kath McLeod, a care worker in Rutherglen, Glasgow, told the Militant she had been “picketing since 6:00 a.m. in nonstop rain. They say we put up inflation but we have to cover our costs.”

Davy Kerr, a driver for Social Services in North Lanarkshire, said that all the drivers at his depot were out on strike. “Our main concern is the three-year deal. Who knows what inflation will be in 2010. We want a one-year deal that matches inflation.”

The day following the walkout the employers’ umbrella group, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, invited the unions to reopen pay negotiations.

—Pamela Holmes  
 
 
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