This is good news for employees at one Wal-Mart store in Saskatchewan, Canada. After nearly five years of legal wrangling and stall tactics by Wal-Mart, employees of this store have successfully unionized. It looks like even more could follow.
From the UFCW Canada site:
A Wal-Mart store in Weyburn, Saskatchewan has been granted union certification by the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board (SLRB) after years of Wal-Mart legal wrangling and delays, including two Wal-Mart applications to the Supreme Court of Canada to overturn the process.
As you might imagine, Wal-Mart fought tooth and nail against the unionizing of its employees, and fought continuously against it through a variety of legal challenges and stall tactics.
After all, it was way back in April of 2004 that a majority of employees at this store chose to join the union. During this time, Wal-Mart made two separate appeals to the Canadian Supreme Court to stop the workers from joining the UFCW.
However, both times, the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear the case, and finally on December 4th of this year, the Labor Relations Board of Saskatchewan ruled in favor of allowing the unionization to go forward. As the President of UFCW Canada wrote:
The time has come for Wal-Mart to end the stalling tactics and start respecting worker rights and Canadian laws. They are not above it.
Two more Wal-Mart stores in Saskatchewan have applications before the same board seeking unionization.
It looks like, at least in Canada, Wal-Mart might be losing the war to keep its employees from collective bargaining.
Will workers in the American stores have any success? If they succeeded, it would surely be an even harder road than the nearly five-year road traveled by these Canadian workers.
Congrats to them for winning their long battle.