Posted on 02/11/2005 1:58:23 PM PST by quidnunc
The chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. yesterday defended the retailer's decision to close a Canadian store after its employees voted to form a union, saying demands from negotiators would have forced an already unprofitable store to hire 30 more people and abide by inefficient work rules.
"You can't take a store that is a struggling store anyway and add a bunch of people and a bunch of work rules that cause you to even be in worse shape," H. Lee Scott Jr. said.
In his first interview since Wal-Mart announced it would close the store in Jonquiere, Quebec, Scott said Wal-Mart saw no upside to the higher labor costs and refused to cede ground to the union for the sake of being "altruistic."
"It doesn't work that way," he said.
Wal-Mart's decision has infuriated the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which was negotiating a contract for the Quebec store's 190 employees. If it had succeeded, the store would have become the only Wal-Mart store in North America with a union contract.
"Wal-Mart is trying to send a message to the rest of their employees that if they join a union the same thing could happen to them," said Michael J. Fraser, the union's national director in Canada. Fraser said the union plans to file unfair labor practice charges against the chain with the Quebec Labor Relations Commission.
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(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Did they ever join? What happened?
I recently spoke to a person who has a sister in the post office. She was getting 16 weeks of paid vacation this year.
I work 51 weeks a year, and the buck stops at my desk.
I need unions as much as I need food poisoning.
So where do you go to buy your sweat-shop stuff?
Even in the higher-priced stores most of the stuff is made in China - you're just paying more for it - cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Unfair labor practices? What's that? Do they mean that if an employer does not wish to accede to all labor's demands, they are forced to do so by some liberal laws in Canuckland? Whatta place to live!
Check out the most recent trade balance with China and you will see how much $$$ is sent there all the time. Much of it comes from W-M and similar companies. The latest ploy of the Chinese banks is to buy Euros and undermine the US dollar, although I don't understand their logic in the matter. I know I'm one of few Freepers that believe this to be true, but everyone should read "the China Threat" by Bill Gertz, a credible source. Scary stuff!
>Yep. Union violence will happen. It will also head south, to the USA.
Violence has not been confined to unions, business has instigated its share.
>People that feel they need to organize to get anything are unmotivated, irresponsible slackers. I've never been in a union.
I've never been a member of a union either, but I've certainly appreciated the 40 hour work week and overtime pay.
It's all relative. You're better off than I am, but I'm better off than some one in Bosnia.
Wow. Sad, eh?
Unfortunately, there isn't much made in the USA any more.
Sounds like they heeded a wake-up call. Good for them, at least they learned. I've had bosses in the past who not only didn't understand why they failed, they failed to realize that they failed. IOW, clueless.
These ridiculous laws such as 8 hour-day, 40 hour week, etc., should be repealed. If people want to work 12 hour days for some scrooge type employer, let them choose to do so.
On what evidence?
As far as the whole China vs. Made in the USA debate goes, if unions here become more reasonable then the businesses will start to come home. In a free market society companies have a right to choose a more cost-effective way to make their products if they want to stay competitive. And I do like Wal-Mart's prices.
There are ways around that. Companies will pick off employees one by one if they hear of union talk. They usually do it by suddenly enforcing little known or previously uneforced workplace rules until they have enough infractions to get rid of the employee.
I'd say that succeeded at just that.
I have no problem with unions and collective negotiation. I grew up in a union family and those wages provided a good livelihood....but they were wages that came from the profitability of the company and not from the union bosses.
The downside of unions is demands for practices that are counter-productive to good business management.
The upside of unions is when the company has a great team of workers that is an important part of the company's strength. When they bargain reasonably with the interests of the company at heart, then they are a force that actually helps advance the company. When you get instead idiotic rules about who can replace a lightbulb or why a malingerer cannot be fired, then they injure a company.
I dont' know why that isn't obvious.
I've always believed that the long-term best interests of many companies would actually be some kind of profit-sharing employees (based on personal productivity) rather than wage receiving employees.
Are you sure she didn't say six weeks?
I checked both the OPM and U.S. Postal Service webpages. At 15 years' service, the leave accrual rate goes to eight hours per pay period, or 26 days a year. (Very generous.) Add 13 sick days.
I suppose one could add the 10 federal holidays, but we're still well short of 16 weeks. I don't know what the carryover maximum is. The Post Office may allow large carryovers, which (as you know) people tend to fold into their retirement planning.
It's a very generous leave system any way you slice it, but I don't know how this person could get to 16 weeks in regular annual leave. Unless she works for the French or German postal services, which is a different thing.
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