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Wal-Mart workers in Canada
don't give up on unionization drives - next store will vote on 1 April
Wal-Mart workers in Canada do not give up. A new unionisation vote will take place on 1 April in the Montreal suburb of Brossard, and the UFCW Local may ask for a new vote to be taken at the Windsor store in Ontario. - A month ago Wal-Mart posted a notice on the Windsor lunchroom bulletin board announcing they would be closing a store in Jonquière that recently unionized. And throughout this week department managers were taking employees one by one out to the parking lot to sign anti-union petitions, says Michael J. Fraser, national director of UFCW Canada. Unions close ranks to support Jonquière workers In Quebec, the entire trade union movement is now closing ranks to support the Wal-Mart workers in Jonquière. On the 6th of May, they will be put on the street by the Bentonville multinational, because they dared to vote for union representation through UFCW. - Our members who work for Wal-Mart in de Jonquière are an example of determination and courage for all union members in North America, says Marie-Josée Lemieux, president of UFCW Local 503. - The American giant's brutal closing of its Jonquière store will of course make them lose their jobs, but never their dignity and pride. We will always support these workers, she adds. Wal-Mart workers sign union cards all over Canada - Wal-Mart workers are still signing union cards in nearly every province,” says Brian Williamson, President of UFCW Local 1977. Williamson is also President of the UFCW Canadian Council and is in regular touch with UFCW local union leaders across the country. - The human need to feel that we are more than just cogs in someone else's money-making machine is a force of nature,” he adds. - It can be suppressed for a time – as Wal-Mart has done – but never completely defeated. History is on the side of democracy. - If Wal-Mart is sincere in its claim that its employees don't need a union, it should simply let them vote on the matter without store closure threats and other forms of intimidation. But we're not holding our breath, Brian Williamson says. There are active UFCW organising drives going on in more than 20 Canadian Wal-Mart stores.
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