Comments on: Can Wal-Mart be Unionized?

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 16:21:15 +0000

“Costco, pays their employees a fair wage, decent benefits and is still competitive. They have a different philosophy on labor relations. ”

Yes. In effect, Costco management is the workers’ union. It works this way in the Army, too. And it works well in general. Costco stock prices are doing pretty well, maybe better than Wal-Marts’ IIRC.

By: Jim Jones

Jim Jones — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 00:08:59 +0000

I personally support the idea of unionising at Wal-Mart. More to the point, I disagree with the tactics that Wal-Mart management takes in preventing unions forming which has been alleged to be illegal and has pending court cases over their behaviour. If labor practices of Wal-Mart are bad enought to merit needing a union then by all means the workers should be allowed to organize one.
My opinion on unions is that they should be used when necessary and disband when they no longer serve a useful purpose. SOme companies don’t have unions because there really isn’t a need for one. Contrast Costco with Sam’s Club (a Wal-Mart spin-off to compete with Costco) in terms of labor practices. Costco, pays their employees a fair wage, decent benefits and is still competitive. They have a different philosophy on labor relations. Their employees (direct) don’t need a union since they aren’t getting the shaft. Maybe Wal-Mart could adopt this model and prevent unions by simply being a better corporate citizen and adopt a different philosophy.

By: SilverSeraphim

SilverSeraphim — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 23:16:24 +0000

Yeah, but what happens when they start shutting down stores in such a way that they start leaving gaps in their area of service? Most Wal-Marts seem to be built so that they overlap neighborhoods they can sell to. I can tick off three stores within a 20 minute radius of where I am right now. I don’t think they’re going to do anything that might potentially lose them their consumer base.

By: djw

djw — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 14:32:58 +0000

IIRC, the butchers managed to unionize at a Walmart in the US several years ago. After initial opposition and various attempts at dirty tricks, management recognized the union and negotiated a contract. A few months later, they announced they were phasing out the butcher’s shop in that particular Walmart. I wouldn’t be surprised if they shut down entire stores to stop the contagon of unionization, at least in the US.