Wal-mart to close unionised store
Quebec store to shut after talks break down
Wal-Mart is to close a store in Canada where workers have won the right to trade union recognition.
The world’s biggest retailer said its store in Jonquiere, Quebec would close in May. The store became the first unionised Wal-Mart store in North America last year when the employees were recognised as a bargaining unit by Quebec’s labour officials.
A second Quebec Wal-mart store has since also been granted union status, but negotations between Wal-Mart management and union officials have not reached agreement on a contract at either store. At Jonquiere, the United Food & Commercial Workers Canada requested that the local labour board appoint a mediator last week, saying negotiations were at an impasse.
Wal-Mart spokesman Andrew Pelletier told the Associated Press news agency: “We were hoping it wouldn’t come to this. Despite nine days of meetings over three months, we’ve been unable to reach an agreement with the union that in our view will allow the store to operate efficiently and profitably.”
He added that the store has already been earmarked for potential closure. “It has struggled from the beginning. The situation has continued to deteriorate since the union. The store environment became very fractured because there were some people who were part of the union and some who were not.”
Michael Fraser, national director of UFCW Canada, said: “Wal-Mart has fired these workers not because the store was losing money but because the workers exercised their right to join a union. Once again, Wal-Mart has decided it is above the law and that the only rules that count are their rules.”
