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Successor rights under attack as Target gears up to compete with Wal-Mart
December 1, 2011 - 11:31am
[Reminder to self: Never post in post #1.]
[Reminder to self: Avoid self-contradictory reminders.]
[Reminder to self: Keep reminders to yourself.]
When A sells (or gives or leases etc.) a unionized business to B, all jurisdictions in Canada provide for "successor rights" - i.e., the workers continue to be unionized with the same union, same collective agreement, etc. - indeed, they can't simply be replaced by new employees just because of the sale.
With its purchase of Zellers' stores and gearing up to compete with Wal-Mart, it looks as if the Target chain is taking a run at this principle, by pretending that its temporary shutdown and makeover of Zellers' stores will in effect turn them into new enterprises:
Target digs in heels as labour union applies to keep unionized status
I can't imagine how Target could succeed - but if they ever do (or if laws are changed to make it possible), it could represent one of biggest challenges to the union movement yet.
Wow. By the way, I recall we had thread about unionizing WalMart in Canada - any good news to report?
You want good news? You'll have to read a different thread. Here's the news:
Quebec Wal-Mart workers leave union: More than 150 Gatineau employees had first collective agreement for just more than a year
That leaves the store in Weyburn, SK as the only one still standing and unionized. But Wal-Mart's patented tactics (massive turnover and selective hiring after unionization - plus a whole kit of other stuff), and the inability (or unwillingness) of the union movement to mount a sustained battle in this sector, will no doubt chase the union out of there soon as well.
Aug 22, 2012:
Target Canada Protest: Zellers Workers, Unions Demonstrate Against Mass Layoffs
Oct 13, 2012:
Union Workers Protest Target Canada's Layoffs of Zellers Workers
Sad to report that Target Canada has 255,000 "likes" on the side of my Facebook feed. We're officially now a really stupid country.
The employees at the Zellers here have already been told, the Target way or the highway, along with no preferential hiring to staff the new franchise slated to open in the first quarter of the new year, in the same premises, and no recognition of seniority. Some people have been working there most of their adult lives. I haven't heard so much as a peep from a Union spokesperson.
Ask TARGET for FAIRNESS
1,500 Zellers workers ratify new union contract and ask Target for fairness
Over 1,500 Zellers employees who are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers have ratified a three-year union contract. Four of the Zellers stores covered by the collective agreement will be converting to Target.
dp - babble is really slow today, and I get this message everytime I post:
Page Unavailable
The page you requested is temporarily unavailable.
We're redirecting you to the homepage in 5 seconds.
When I click "refresh" it results in a double posting.
Where are you located? This link gives some union activity on the right side of the page.
I'm guessing - because I don't know for sure - that maybe the struggle is national rather than local?
Labour Council here in Toronto has been speaking out about this for several months now.
This is likely to be the case, which might help to explain why the people I know, longstanding employees who are affected by this acquisition, know as much I do about the wider goings-on. But its not the first time that I've encountered at the local level, with hotel and restaurant workers as well, the perception of a communication gap between the UFCW upper echelon and its membership.
Meanwhile, Amy Goodman: From Wal-Mart to Chipotle: Workers fight for justice
"...This week, Wal-Mart workers launched the first strike against the giant retailer in its 50-year history, with protests and picket lines at 28 stores across 12 states. Many of these nonunion workers are facing retaliation from their employer, despite the protections that exist on paper through the National Labor Relations Board. The strikers are operating under the banner of OUR Walmart: Organization United for Respect at Wal-Mart, started with support from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union."
on CBC: WalMart is trying to pre-empt Target by opening 37 new WalMart Super Centres - at a cost of $450million - across Canada next year. Geez, is there really that much of an audience for WalCrap?
You havent been in a walmart have you boom boom? Two new ones have opened up near me in the last year and they are already crowded day and night. And thats not including the 2 or 3 already in the area.
Must be - otherwise neither WalMart or Target would be interested in the Canadian market.
There isn't a WalMart near me but when I visit family there's one nearby and, as Bacchus says, it's always busy. Doesn't matter what time of day the place is always full.
No WalCrap within 450 km of me. However, folks here order online from WalCrap in Sept-Iles when the cargo ship is running from Sept-Iles. Today is the last cargo trip - no more cargo from Sept-Iles until mid-April.
I heard on the radio today that this time next year there will be 37 more Wal-Mart superstores in Canada.
only 37?
Wells theres already something like 200 whereas Target will only have 130 by the end of 2013
Well theres already something like 200 whereas Target will only have 130 by the end of 2013
Walmart, Canadian Tire, Loblaws, Sobeys, Metro, The Bay, Sears, etc are all quaking in their boots over this. All of them will lose some slices of the pie to Target
Who cares? People in Canada are committed to buying the cheapest products they can, with all that implies, from any corporation. Willful blindness is a national affliction.
The Zeller's decision about successor rights was a correct decision according to BC Labour laws. Target basically purchased the options to leaseholds from Zeller's and then selected from those options which sites to enter into negotiations with the landlords to open Target stores. The union site was only one of many selected. I hope many of those workers get hired by Target and they reorganize the site but that is the law as it stands.
Our nearest big city is Sept-Iles which I think has a population well under 30,000. The motels are at one end of the city, close by the shopping centre with WalCrap. Canadian Tired is at the other end of the city - you really need a vehicle to get around. Anyway, with WalCrap just across the street from the motel where I stay, I've gone in there a couple of times to buy things not available elsewhere within walking distance of my motel. Canadian Tired is an expensive taxi ride. There's a BMR (hardware and lumber) store near the motel, but their hardware selection is only about 1/100 of what Canadian Tired sells.
WalCrap in Sept-Iles is such a sad place. The greeters at the entrance are elderly and look as if they'd rather be anywhere else. Everyone looks rushed. The men's department doesn't even have a changing room so you can't try anything on in private.
I avoid WalCrap as much as possible. Fortunately, in Sept-Iles, it's at one end of the mall, so it's easy to avoid. I go to Sept-Iles once a year, although not last year, so it's been two years since I've been anywhere near WalCrap.
I think it's a spastic grasp at market share that won't work in the long term. Starbucks tried the same thing and then they had to cut back.
I glanced at a news report/commentary of this yesterday on TV - I think it was CBC or CTV, and the caption at the bottom read "The high cost of low prices" - which is a sly but direct reference to the damning documentary on Wal-Mart entitled "The High Cost of Low Price" (oh, and hey, it's on Youtube). Sly because most people wouldn't get the reference.