Wal-Mart actions in Quebec intimidate employees elsewhere

Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board refuses to dismiss unfair labour practice complaint citing Wal-Mart store closure in Jonquiere

Regina (11 Nov. 2008) - The Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board (SLRB) has ruled that Wal-Mart's actions outside the province can be taken into account in assessing whether it is engaging in unfair labour actions within the province.

In a new blow to the anti-union American retail giant, the board agreed to hear a complaint by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW Canada) accusing Wal-Mart of engaging in unfair labour practices as defined by Saskatchewan law.

Specifically, the board rejected Wal-Mart's argument that the union was "frivolous" in citing the closure of a Wal-Mart store in Jonquiere, Que., as an "intimidation" tactic affecting employees in Saskatchewan.

Geography and the law

Board chair James Seibel said the board was not required to determine whether Wal-Mart had acted illegally in Quebec to consider whether its actions "intimidated employees in Saskatchewan" from exercising their right under the province's Trade Union Act to "organize and be represented by a bargaining agent of their choosing."

"The fact that the actions of Wal-Mart upon which the allegations are based were committed outside the geographic confines of Saskatchewan does not mean that they cannot constitute (a) violation of the restriction on intimidation of its employees in the province," Seibel ruled.

"It is not tenable to say that an employer with its head office elsewhere cannot, by acts committed at or by that office, intimidate its employees in a different province....

"In the present case, the alleged unfair labour practice is not the Jonquiere closure per se, but, inter alia, the intimidation of the employees in Saskatchewan as a result – the closure in Quebec is merely the means by which intimidation was achieved. Accordingly, the act of closure is not the violation, but the act of intimidation is."

List of setbacks for Wal-Mart in Canada

Seibel noted in his decision means the complaint filed by the UFCW Canada can be heard in Saskatchewan. It is not a ruling on the merits of the UFCW complaint itself.

The ruling is the latest in a series of setbacks for Wal-Mart in Canada. The company recently shut down a second operation in Quebec – a tire and lube shop in Gatineau – after failing to stop a union contract from being imposed there. Meanwhile, a Supreme Court of Canada case arising from the Jonquiere closure is scheduled to be heard within months.

Wayne Hanley, president of UFCW Canada, hailed the Saskatchewan ruling.

“Wal-Mart can’t hide behind provincial borders. The company can’t pretend that when you shut a store right after the workers unionize that it doesn’t frighten other workers.... Wal-Mart continues to show across this country it has no respect for Canada’s labour laws, or the Charter rights that guarantee its workers the right to organize for collective bargaining," Hanley said.

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. NUPGE has signed a formal protocol with the UFCW supporting its campaign to organize Wal-Mart workers in Canada. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring that our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE