UNION DUES

Colorado Workers Take on Wal-Mart, Again

By Amy Brouillette, 6-24-05

A local college student is heading an effort by a small clan of disgruntled Wal-Mart workers to form a union at its store in Greeley, Colo., the Greeley Tribune reports. If successful, the 21-year-old Greeley student, who doubles as a clerk at Wal-Mart, along with a handful of other brave souls will have gone where few other Wal-Mart workers ever have. Going up against the largest retailer on the planet on this issue, a company whose least favorite word is “union,� has so far been losing battle: workers at only one Wal-Mart outlet in the nation (3,744 total) have so far successfully managed to organize (in 2000)—a month later, the company nixed that union representative’s position company wide, says the Rocky Mountain News.

In Colorado, a union effort failed this February after workers at a Wal-Mart-owned store in Loveland voted 17-1 against representation by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local No. 7. Organizers there complained voters were coerced and intimated by department store upperlings—a claim reviewed and later dismissed by the National Labor Relations Board, according to Wal-Mart press release.

That same local is behind the current push to unionize 300-plus workers at the Greeley facility. A handful of workers are demanding better pay and benefits, and are hoping to collect enough signatures (90) from co-workers to bring this issue to a vote. The store is fighting back, reportedly circulating anti-union propaganda it hopes will nip this pesky revolution in the bud. The goliath retailer employs 23,442 workers (excuse me, “associates�) at 41 supercenters, 14 discount stores and 15 Sam’s Clubs statewide at an average of $10.71 per hour.

For a company who purports to be pro-worker, Wal-Mart’s standard line on unions is clear: “we simply do not believe that unionization is right for Wal-Mart. We do not believe that third party representation would improve our relationship with our associates or add anything to our culture."

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