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 ...
"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.
Hey! I've got an idea! Have the UFCW union BUY the store from Walmart, and then run it themselves! Show Walmart how a profitable store should be run! Yeah, the union could certainly turn a profit in that store!
Mark
Oh -- well, if it's Canada, 16 weeks is pretty Spartan. I thought the Canadian/European standard was a six hour day with siesta, plus a comp day for every day you showed up to work.
No kidding! I was doing some work on computers at a military ammunition plant run by a corporation under contract for the government... Once I had diagnosed the computer, and decided that it needed a new network card, I was not allowed to install it! The network card had to be installed by one of the plant electricians, and he had to sign off on the paperwork!
Mark
Since the plant provides the regional Ford plant with Explorer body parts, they stepped in and told mgt. to settle or else...... They were not going to allow themselves to be shut down simply because we would not have been unable to supply them with parts.
I don't know what the new agreement with the union entails but it ain't good for our company considering the millions in losses we have experienced of the last couple years and no new work coming in...........
Competition in the stamping industry is tough as hell and Ford just made it tougher for us...............
As a side note, production workers at that plant are averaging over $60,000 per year with overtime, some making in excess of $80,000......... Not too bad for that part of the country
On what evidence?
The duck is in the cellar.
Next time - quote a little of the previous message, please?
As for someone else's suggestion, I second the motion. These unions are fat on forced membership dues and whatever kickbacks. Why not ask the question - why can't you (Canadian union) simply buy the store? Why can't you run said store at a profit? Why can't you? Should anyone attempt such answers, they might reveal much about the modern business of, unions.
I had a golfing friend who worked as a mailman for twenty years and retired. He had accumulated a lot of sick time, was given credit for all of it and paid for it. His retirement pay was excellent, better than mine and I did 36 years in a big company. Gummint pay is pretty good but their retirement pay is terrific. The new postal rates are due anytime now. Someone has to pay for their hard work.
How many decades ago was that accomplished by unions? They like to talk about how they got child labor laws, too. But that was nearly a century ago. I am talking about the here and now. The Democrat party used to stand for something good and honorable... a long, long time ago. Both organizations are putrid cesspools now.
$60K per year for feeding sheetmetal into a press?!? Holy cow! Why did I bother to get educated? You could train monkeys to do that kind of work.
I agree totally. In all the 40 years I have worked in many different jobs, I have seen very few places where the Employer wouldn't bend over backward to keep a productive, dependable employee. If they are not smart enough to do that then you might as well move on because they will not be in business long. Just my thoughts.
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