GATINEAU, Quebec — A handful of workers in the automotive department of a Wal-Mart Canada store have become the only North American employees of the giant retailer to be covered by a union contract.þþThe contract was imposed by a Quebec government arbitrator on Thursday but not announced until Friday. The three-year agreement provided eight employees with an improved wage scale, annual raises and a grievance process for settling disputes.þþThe number of workers covered by the contract is small; there are about 250 employees in other parts of the Gatineau store and 77,000 Wal-Mart workers in Canada. But the United Food and Commercial Workers union hailed the decision as an important step in its prolonged effort to unionize Wal-Mart’s employees.þþ“It’s exactly what we were asking for,” the union’s director for Quebec, Louis Bolduc, said of the ruling. “It’s a good decision, and we hope Wal-Mart will respect it. But they’re so arrogant you don’t know what they will do.”þþThe union has focused on Wal-Mart stores in Quebec where labor laws and general public opinion tend to favor organized labor. But in 2005, shortly after the union successfully organized employees at a Wal-Mart store in Jonquière, Quebec, Wal-Mart shut the outlet.þþAt the time, the company said the store had been closed because it was unprofitable, not because the organizing drive was successful. The union, however, has continued to challenge the closing as a violation of Quebec’s labor laws and the former employees’ right to freedom of association. Last week, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed to hear an appeal from the union.þþDuring hearings, Paul Ratslaf, the vice president for human resources at Wal-Mart Canada, told the government-appointed arbitrator, Alain Corriveau, that if changes to the store’s wage structure were imposed, the retailer would be forced to close the automotive department “with regret.”þþOn Friday, a Wal-Mart Canada spokesman, Andrew Pelletier, said the company needed to review the ruling before making any decisions.þþ“We’re taking the situation in Gatineau one step at a time,” Mr. Pelletier said from Montreal. “We are disappointed that at first glance the agreement will have a significant impact on our business model.” He added that during the review, “our priority is to continue to run an efficient operation.”þþIn particular, Mr. Pelletier said, Wal-Mart objects to the arbitrator’s decision to treat the automotive workers differently from the rest of the staff.þþThe arbitrator found that the workers, who perform light mechanical duties like changing tires, oil and batteries, are largely separate from the rest of the store.þþUnlike Jonquière, where the economy is less than robust, Gatineau is across the river from Ottawa, the national capital, and is home to several large federal government agencies with stable, relatively high-paying employment.þþMr. Bolduc said the union believes that the terms of the contract will assist its efforts to sign up the remaining workers in the Gatineau store as well as those at other Wal-Marts in the province.þþAccording to the union, starting salaries for the workers covered by the contract will rise to 11.54 Canadian dollars an hour from 8.50 Canadian dollars. The maximum hourly rate goes to 15.17 Canadian dollars, an increase of 2 Canadian dollars. Mr. Bolduc estimates that most employees will reach the maximum wage rate in about a third the current time.þþThe union has been certified as the bargaining agent for workers at two other Wal-Mart stores in Quebec, including all of the employees at a second store in Gatineau.þþA Wal-Mart store in Windsor, Ontario, was briefly covered by a union contract during the late 1990s but employees there voted the union out before its provisions took effect.þþ
Source: NY Times
