THERE’S FINALLY A chink in the armor of mighty Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer with more than two million employees and 7,870 stores worldwide. In July, eight employees in the tire and lube department at the Wal-Mart in Gatineau, Quebec, became the only group of workers in North America that is party to a labor contract with the company. Wal-Mart didn’t exactly agree to the deal — the Quebec Labor Relations Board imposed the contract after negotiations collapsed. The unit, part of the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada, had organized in 2005. The new contract calls for starting wages to increase from $8.40 to $10.89 an hour.
It remains to be seen how long the union’s success will last. Wal-Mart is notorious for taking extreme measures to keep unions out, including eliminating job positions and closing down stores.
