History is made: St-Hyacinthe Wal-Mart gets collective agreement!

My understanding is that one of the Saskatchewan stores, in Weyburn, has been certified -- a few months ago, I believe.

In (soon to be announced) related news, the store will be closing (for economic reasons, of course).

This is fabulous news.  Unfortunately, I think it also means that it's time to start the death watch for this store. 

On the other hand, certifying WalMart stores across the country could get rid of these monsters, and return business to smaller stores, no?

I doubt it, Boom Boom.

Michelle, that store's been on a death watch for several years now.  I think the Jonquiere store closure brought so much negative press and attention that Wal-Mart is unlikely to do the same thing with St. Hyacinthe.  It wouldn't be in Wal-Mart's self-interest to do so, not at this point. 

It's funny, part of me wants the store to stay open and be forced to have a union on site and to save the jobs of the people there, but another part of me thinks, well, if it shuts down, then I guess that's one way to get rid of the big blue monster.

Anyhow, I guess I hope they stay open so that they are forced to have a unionized workforce, and so that other Walmart workers take heart and try to get their workplaces unionized too.

I haven't read the Quebec quasi-judicial (labour) board materials in much detail but it seems to me that if Wal-Mart is allowed to, say, close this store in the same spurious way that it did the one in Jonquiere, then Quebec labour law will have been made a mockery of. It's a direct confrontation, of course, between private property rights and human rights and one would expect the state to favour the former over the latter. But this is an "independent" branch of Government, right?

Anyway, I can't help but think that the consequences for Wal-Mart may be disastrous, in a business sense, if, at the end of the day, they try the same haughty approach again. Some possibilities: keep organizing and put them out of business in Canada; a boycott campaign; changes to labour law prohibiting such actions; an industry-wide agreement with Wal-Mart and all their competitors; and so on. The union and labour bodies must have put some thought into this as well, even if they're not saying anything right now.

I hope everyone remembers that the Jonquière closing is currently being appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada [10]. There are several intervenors, including the Canadian Civil Liberties Association [11].

Another victory - breaking news - remember that Jonquière was the first Wal-Mart to be unionized in North America:

Arbitrator rules Jonquière Wal-Mart illegally fired 190 workers in 2005

[My translation]:

Wal-Mart will seek judicial review, of course, but that's much more difficult than a normal appeal. If the ruling stands, Wal-Mart will have to compensate all the workers for their lost earnings (minus whatever they earned elsewhere in the interim).

The battle continues as reported earlier to have the closure itself declared unlawful.

What happens if it's declared unlawful?  Does that mean the Walmart has to open up again?  (Eek!)

yes Michelle - shop till you drop - to stim the economy with cheap goods made by cheap labour in China. Capitalism makes the world spin and go bubble and burst, bubble and burst.

Let me know when employees in a Wal-Mart store in China get a union.

So because this employer is brutally anti-worker, in Canada as all other countries, its Canadian workers should lie down and accept illegal union-busting?

How will that help -- here or anywhere else?

I never shop in Walmart. Never Will.

Me either, and that would still be the case if working there was the best job I could get.

I wonder what percentage of our population is aware of WalMart's anti-union and minimum wage practices. When I go to the nearest city, I always see the WalMart parking lot full of vehicles - hundreds of them.

Wal-Mart stores in China are unionized [21] - though this isn't by choice and the union isn't independent.

!!!!!

But -- from your Forbes article link: