Organizing Wal-Mart: The Canadian Campaign

Roy J Adams

doi:10.25071/1705-1436.126

Authors

Roy J Adams

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25071/1705-1436.126

Abstract

The central focus of this article is the effort by Canadian unions to organize Wal-Mart. Organizing the world's largest corporation is considered to be critical because the company's business "template" calls for wages and benefits considerably inferior to those of unionized workers. To date, although a few bargaining units have been certified, Wal-Mart has managed to thwart all attempts to negotiate collective agreements. However, because the United Food and Commercial Workers have certified units in a few provinces with first contract arbitration, the achievement, eventually, of a collective agreement appears to be likely.

References

Adams, Roy J., “America’s ‘Union-Free’ Movement in Light of International Human Rights Standards,” forthcoming in Block, Richard, et al., Worker’s Rights in America, Kalamozoo, Michigan, WE Upjohn Institute.

Adams, Roy J., and Goetz Wolff, “Wal-Mart in North America,” International Union Rights, Vol. 12, No.2, 2005, pp 3-4.

Bentham, Karen “Employer Resistance to Union Certification, a Study of Eight Canadian Jurisdictions,” Relations Industrielles-Industrial Relations, Vol. 57, 1, 2002, pp 159-185. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/006714ar

Cox, Sarah, “Unions Take Aim at Wal-Mart,” Georgia Straight, September 2, 2004.

Featherstone, Liza, “Wal-Mart’s P.R. War” Salon.Com, August 2, 2005.

Fudge, Derek and John Brewin, Collective Bargaining in Canada: Human Right or Canadian Illusion? Ottawa and Toronto, UFCW/NUPGE, 2005.

Gilbert, Douglas G. and Brian W. Burkett, “Canada’s Labor and Employment Laws,” June 2001, http://www.shrm.org/nahrma/canada.asp.

Gondziola, Jason, “Wal-Mart’s Culture of Control,” Canadian Dimension, May/June 2005.

Greene, Robert, “Surrender at Supermarket,” LA Weekly, March 5-11, 2004. Online at http://www.laweekly.com/ink/04/15/news-greene.php.

Head, Simon, “Inside the Leviathan,” New York Review of Books, December 16, 2004.

Lichtenstein, Nelson, “Wal-Mart: A Template for Twenty-First Century Capitalism? New Labor Forum, Vol. 14, No. 1, Spring, 2005, pp 21-30. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1095760590901063

Martinello. Felice F. and Charlotte Yates, “Union and Employer Tactics in Ontario Organizing Campaigns,” in David Lewin and Bruce Kaufman, eds., Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations, Vol. 13, 157-190. New York, Elsevier, 2004. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-6186(04)13006-0

Marotte, Bertrand, “Wal-Mart Intimidates Unionists, board rules,” Globe and Mail 26 February 2005.

McCormack, Judith, “Shopping for a Remedy: The Wal-Mart Case,” Canadian Labour and Employment Law Journal, volume 5, 1998, pp 341-358.

OLRB, United Steelworkers of America v. Wal-Mart Canada Inc., 2000 CanLII 11964 (ON L.R.B.).

Perlmutter, Gary, “Against the Tide: CAW Organizing in Ontario from 1998-2003. Canadian Autoworkers Union, Toronto, CAW 2004.

Slinn, Sara, “The Impact of Mandatory Votes,” Our Times, Feb/March 2004.

Tucker, Eric, “Wal-Mart and the remaking of Ontario Labour Law,” International Union Rights, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2005, pp. 10-11.

Yates, Charlotte A.B., “Expanding Labour’s Horizons: Union Organizing and Strategic Change in Canada,” Just Labour, vol. 1, 2002, pp 31-40.

Yates, Charlotte A. B., “Staying the decline in union membership: Union organizing in Ontario, 1985-1999,” Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations, vol. 55, no. 4, Fall 2000. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/051352ar

Organizing Wal-Mart: The Canadian Campaign

Authors

DOI:

Abstract

References

Downloads

Published

Versions

How to Cite

Issue

Section

License