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Wal-Mart's credibility suffers a further severe blow as over 200 renowned university professors in the United States and Canada come out with strong criticism against the retail giant's ruthless employer performance. In a declaration published in Montreal today, the professors denounce Wal-Mart's contemptuous attitude towards its workers who want to improve their employment conditions.

The Bentonville-based multinational intends to close its store in De Jonquière, Quebec, in a few weeks time. This is clearly being done in order to discourage workers in other Wal-Mart stores in North America from joining UNI Commerce affiliate UFCW and asking for collective agreements. 

A few days ago, the Canadian trade union movement asked for a meeting between Prime Minister Paul Martin and ILO director general Juan Somavia, to reinstate the badly eroded respect for fundamental workers' rights in the country. This was spurred by government neglect of its duty to uphold international labour norms and by Wal-Mart's open disregard for the human rights and dignity of its Canadian workers.

The university professors, who include many famous names from the top of the global academic world, denounce Wal-Mart's arrogant treatment of its workers in De Jonquière in announcing that the store will be closed, soon after they joined their trade union. The professors underline that workers do have the right to join  a trade union, and condemn Wal-Mart's practice not to allow its workers to exercise this right.

The signatories to the strong support statement for Wal-Mart's workers call on the US retail giant to recognise the trade union representatives who have been freely elected by its workers, and to cooperate with them in good faith.

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Full text and signatories as of 29 March:

We, the undersigned, are very concerned about Wal-Mart's decision to close its store in Jonquière, Quebec in the wake of its employees' opting for unionization and collective bargaining. The right to unionize and bargain collectively is not only a statutory right in Canada, but also a fundamental human right. Wal-Mart has a well documented policy of discouraging its employees from exercising this fundamental right and in frustrating its object when employees choose, nevertheless, to exercise it. We believe that respect for human rights is fundamental to good corporate citizenship. In order to conform to international human rights standards, Wal-Mart must cease its active opposition to unionization and instead recognize and deal fairly with leaders freely chosen by its employees with a view towards working out, in good faith, mutually acceptable solutions to issues raised.

Roy J. Adams, Professor Emeritus, McMaster University, Ontario

Noam Chomsky, Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston

Elaine Bernard, Professor, Harvard University

Richard Hyman, Professor, London School of Economics

Richard Hurd, Professor, Cornell University

David Montgomery, Emeritus Professor, Yale University

Risa Lieberwitz, Associate Professor, Cornell University

Philip Alston, Professor, New York University and past-chair, UN

Owen Darbishire, Oxford University, UK

Willy Brown, Professor, Cambridge University, UK

Andrew Jackson, Professor, Carleton University, Ottawa

Cynthia Nance, Associate Professor, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Arthur Hochner, Associate Professor, Temple University, Pennsylvania

Ray Markey, Professor, University of Woolongong, Australia

Larry Haiven, Professor, St. Mary’s University, Nova Scotia

James A. Gross, Professor, Cornell University, New York

Ruth Milkman, Professor, University of California at Los Angeles

Paul Clark, Professor, Penn State University

Stewart Sweeney, University of South Australia

Lawrence Root, Professor, University of Michigan

Susan Stabile, St. John’s University, New York

Ann Martin, Senior Extension Associate, Cornell University

Paul Adler, Professor, University of Southern California

Sumner Rosen, Professor Emeritus, Columbia University, New York

Richard Marens, Assistant Professor, California State University

Clyde Summers, Emeritus Professor, University of Pennsylvania

Stephen Hughes, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Harley Shaiken, Professor, University of California at Berkeley

Jeffrey Pfeffer, Professor, Stanford University, California

Sarah Stookey, Doctoral Candidate, University of Massachusetts

Richard N. Block, Professor, Michigan State University

Greg D. Squires, Professor, George Washington University, Washington, DC

Thomas E. Terrill, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of South

Carolina

Julius Getman, Professor, University of Texas

Nancy DiTomaso, Professor, Rutgers University, New Jersey

Jack Fiorito, Professor, Florida State University

Steven Deutsch, Emeritus Professor, University of Oregon

Corliss Olson, University of Wisconsin

Ann Frost, Associate Professor, University of Western Ontario

Bob Hebdon, Associate Professor, McGill University, Quebec

Manfred W. Weiss, Professor, University of Frankfurt, Germany

Joe Wallace, Professor, University of Limerick, Ireland

Jeanne S. McPherson, University of South Alabama

Elizabeth Wilson, University of Manchester

Eileen Appelbaum, Rutgers University, New Jersey

Roland Zullo, University of Michigan

Art Shostak, Emeritus Professor, Drexel University, Pennsylvania

Hoyt Wheeler, Professor, University of South Carolina

Melvin Rothbaum, Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois

Berndt Keller, University of Constance, Constance, Germany

Brian Towers, Professor, Nottingham and Strathclyde Universities, UK

Adrienne Eaton, Professor, Rutgers University, New Jersey

Michael Fichter, Professor, Free University of Berlin, Germany

James G. Scoville, Professor, University of Minnesota

Diane Swanson, Professor, Kansas State University

Basu Sharma, Professor, University of New Brunswick

Kurt Wetzel, Professor, University of Saskatchewan

Yonatan Reshef, Professor, University of Alberta

Gregor Murray, Professor, Universite de Montreal, Quebec

Gilles Trudeau, Professor, Universite de Montreal, Quebec

Guylaine Vallee, Professor, Universite de Montreal, Quebec

Michel Hebert, Lecturer, Universite du Québec en Outaouais

Don Wells, Professor, McMaster University, Ontario

Harish Jain, Professor, McMaster University, Ontario

Jack Quarter, Professor, University of Toronto

David Cingranelli, Professor, Binghamton University, New York

Hugh Hindman, Professor, Appalachian State University, North Carolina

Reuben Roth, Assistant Professor, Laurentian University, Ontario

Renaud Paquet, University of Quebec in Ottawa

Gerald Rosenblum, Emeritus Professor, McMaster University, Ontario

Gary Warner, Professor, McMaster University, Ontario

Angela Miles, Professor, University of Toronto

Patrice Jalette, Professor, University of Montreal

Steven E. Abraham, Professor, State University of New York, Oswego

Elizabeth Gedge, Dept of Philosophy, McMaster University, Ontario

William Canak, Professor, Middle Tennesee State University

Sam Lanfranco, Professor, York University, Ontario

Gerald Hunt, Associate Professor, Ryerson University, Ontario

Howard Stanger, Associate Professor, Canisius College

Immanuel Ness, Professor, City University of New York

Bruce Nissen,  Professor, Florida International University

Ellen Dannin, Professor, Wayne State University, Michigan

Silvana Pozzebon, Associate Professor, HEC Montreal, Quebec

Donald Woodside, McMaster University, Ontario

Nancy Jackson, Associate Professor, University of Toronto

James Penney, Assistant Professor, Trent University, Ontario

David Jacobs, Professor, Hood College, Maryland

Marilyn Adams, Professor, Mohawk College, Ontario

Karen McCrank, University of Toronto, Ontario

Raza Mire, William Patterson University, New Jersey

Haideh Moghissi, York University, Ontario

Atif Kubursi, Professor, McMaster University, Ontario

John C. Robertson, Professor Emeritus, McMaster Univeristy, Ontario

Laurie N. DiPadova-Stocks, Associate Professor, Park University

Sylvie Morel, Professor, University of Laval

James Atleson, Distinguished Teaching Professor, University of Buffalo

Richard McIntyre, Professor, University of Rhode Island

Frank Reid, Professor, University of Toronto

Louis Chauvin, Lecturer, McGill University

Beth Lyon, Assistant Professor, Villanova University, Philadelphia

Catherine MacDonald, Nova Scotia

Thomas Kochan, Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston

Jan Johnstone, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Toronto

Peter Archibald, McMaster University

Karen Szala-Meneok, Hamilton, Ontario

Constance deRoche, Professor, University College of Cape Breton

Pradeep Kumar, Professor, Queen’s University, Ontario

Daniel Golodner, Wayne State University, Michigan

John Revitte, Profesor, Michigan State University

Dorothy Sue Cobble, Professor, Rutgers University, New Jersey

Alex Johnstone, University of Western Ontario.

Pat Doherty, University of Ontario

Neill DeClerq, University of Wisconsin

George Gonos, Associate Professor, State University of New York,

Potsdam, NY

Roxana Ng, University of Toronto, Ontario

Judy Silver, University of Toronto, Ontario

John Kervin, Professor, University of Toronto

Ran Chermesh, Ben-Gurion University, Israel

Michael Gent, Professor, Canisius College, Buffalo, NY

Cheryl Maranto, Associate Professor, Marquette University

Raymond Wiest, Professor, University of Manitoba

Michelle Kaminski, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University

Commission on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Kiran Mirchandani, University of Toronto

Reynald Bourque, Professor, University of Montreal

Raymond Hogler, Professor, Colorado State University

Daniel Geagan, Professor, McMaster University

Celia Haig-Brown, Professor, York University, Ontario

Lance Compa, Professor, Cornell University, New York

George Tsogas, Senior Lecturer, Cass Business School, London, England

Jon Rogers, London, England

Charles McCollester, Professor, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Niki Gately, Hamilton, Ontario

David Walsh, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

Guy Bellemare, professor, Université du Québec en Outaouais

Louise Briand, Université du Québec en Outaouais

Julie Dwyer-Young, Burlington, Ontario

Peter Samuel, Senior Lecturer, University of Wales, UK

Louis Favreau, professeur, Université du Québec en Outaouais

Romaine Malenfant, professeure, Université du Québec en Outaouais

Normand Lapante, professeur, Université du Québec en Outaouais

Denis Bourque, professeur, Université du Québec en Outaouais

Guy Chiasson, professeur, Université du Québec en Outaouais

Paul Leduc Browne, professeur, Université du Québec en Outaouais

Michel Grant, Professor, University of Quebec at Montreal

Meris K. Brookland, University of New Brunswick

Ann Marie Powers, Professor, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS

John Taylor, Burlington, Ontario

John Godard, Professor, University of Manitoba

Jacques-Andre Lequin, University of Quebec at Ottawa

Rebecca Gumbrell, Birkbeck College, UK

George Strauss, University of California at Berkely

Suzanne Bouclin, University of Ottawa

Karl Klare, Professor, Northeastern University, Boston

David Goodings, Professor Emeritus, McMaster, Ontario

Charles T. Schmidt Jr, Professor, University of Rhode Island

Robert Alpern, Co-Chair, Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic

Community, Healdsburg, California

Goetz Wolff, Lecturer, UCLA. Los Angeles, California

Frances Beer, York University, Toronto, Ontario

Steve Frenkel, Australian Graduate School of Management, Sydney,

Australia

Luis Bueno, Professor, Metropolitan Autonomous University, Mexico

Thomas Greven, Professor, Free University of Berlin, Germany

Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor, University of California at Santa

Barbara

Joseph B. Rose, Professor, McMaster University

Judith Haiven, St. Mary’s University, Nova Scotia

Marjorie Griffin Cohen, Professor, Simon Fraser University, British

Columbia

Rod Hill, Professor, University of New Brunswick

Greg Albo, York University, Toronto

Marc Lavoie, University of Ottawa

Maxwell Cameron, University of British Columbia

Maria Carmen Galang, Associate Professor, University of Victoria,

British Columbia

Mel Watkins, Adjunct Research Professor, Carleton University, Ottawa

Wendy Russell, Assistant Professor, Huron University College, London,

Ontario

Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi, Lecturer, University of the West Indies, Jamaica

Linda Kirnan, New York, NY

Joan McDonald, Haliburton, Ontario

Jesse Vorst, University of Manitoba, Canada

George Clark, Professor Emeritus, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario

Tessa Hebb, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

John Cornwall, Professor Emeritus, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada

Wendy Cornwall, Professor Emeritus, Mount St. Vincent University,

Halifax, Canada

Pierre Verge, Professor Emeritus, Laval University, Quebec

Bodo Zeuner, Professor, Free University of Berlin, Germany

David Peetz, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia

David Antill, University of Leicester, UK

Jean-Guy Loranger, Honorary Professor, University of Montreal

Thomas Offit, Assistant Professor, Baylor University

Isik Zeytinoglu, Professor, McMaster Univeristy, Hamilton, Ontario

Robert Chernomas, Professor, University of Manitoba, Canada

Sandy Smith-Nonini, Assistant Professor, Elon University, North Carolina

Jan Kainer, Associate Professor, York University, Toronto, Canada

Ellie Perkins, Associate Professor, York University, Ontario

Rosemary Warskett, Associate Professor, Carleton University, Ontario

David Doorey, Adjunct Professor, Queen’s University and University of

Toronto, Ontario

Greg Saltzman, Professor Albion College and Research Scientist,

University of Michigan

Carolyn Jones, Birkbeck University, UK

John Hendy QC, Visiting Professor, King’s College, London, UK

Robert T. O’Brien, Temple University, Philadelphia

Paul McDowell, Santa Barbara City College, California