What does Wal-Mart do when workers try to exercise basic rights? Fire ’em! Not just in the U.S. but in Canada:

Wal-Mart Plans to Close Unionized Store in Quebec (Update3)
Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to close its first unionized store in North America and fire 190 workers after it failed to reach a contract with workers in Jonquiere, Quebec.

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, objected to some of the United Food & Commercial Workers’ demands, such as increasing staffing, because costs would rise, spokesman Andrew Pelletier said in an interview.

The Jonquiere store an another in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, were the first Wal-Mart stores to unionize in North America. Keeping expenses low has enabled Wal-Mart to trim prices and compete against rivals such as Target Corp., said investors including David Abella.

“Wal-Mart, like a lot of other companies with a non- unionized workforce, is scared to death of unions,” said Abella, an analyst at Rochdale Investment Management, whose $1.3 billion in assets include Wal-Mart shares. “Even if they could manage that store with the union, that could lead to a domino effect across Canada and the United States.”

Marie-Josee Lemieux and Louis Bolduc, spokespeople for the UFCW, didn’t immediately respond to voice mail messages seeking comment.

Shares of Wal-Mart declined 68 cents to $52.52 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have declined 8.4 percent in the past year.

The union is targeting Wal-Mart because it’s concerned that the company’s expansion into food retailing will put pressure on Canadian rivals to reduce wages. Workers at a third store, located in the Montreal suburb of Brossard, have applied to the labor board for certification.

The union last month said it was in the process of organizing about a dozen other Wal-Mart stores in Quebec and holding recruitment drives in at least 10 other stores in Canada.

Wal-Mart’s sales at U.S. stores open at least a year have slowed as shoppers curb spending because of higher energy and food prices. Same-store sales rose 2.5 percent in January and 3 percent in December, compared with gains at Minneapolis-based Target of 9.4 percent and 5.1 percent respectively.

Workers at the Jonquiere store received union certification in August after a majority signed membership cards. Quebec’s Labor Relations Commission last month granted employees at a store in St. Hyacinthe permission to open negotiations with Wal- Mart as part of the United Food & Commercial Workers.

The union demanded a minimum work week for full-time employees of 37 hours, higher than the 28 hours the store guarantees, Pelletier said.

“We are of the view that some of the union’s demands, particularly with regards to scheduling and employee status sought to fundamentally change the Jonquiere store’s business model,” Pelletier said. “That creates new financial pressure on the store, which has been struggling.”

A successful union drive among butchers at a Jacksonville, Texas, store in 2000 was scuttled when Wal-Mart switched to pre- packaged meat and re-assigned the workers to other departments.

Wal-Mart has 256 Wal-Marts and six Sam’s Clubs in Canada.

U.S. Campaign

The union has led efforts in U.S. cities including Chicago to oppose new stores or require the company to abide by conditions, such as paying a so-called “living wage.”

The union has said Wal-Mart pays less than competing supermarket chains and offers fewer health-care benefits.

Wal-Mart employees in California earn about 31 percent less than those who work at large retailers, according to a 2004 study by the University of California at Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education. Wal-Mart workers in the state receive about $9.70 an hour compared with $14.01 at retail firms with 1,000 or more employees, the report said.

Wal-Mart last month ran full-page advertisements in more than 100 newspapers to counter criticism that it pays workers less and offers fewer benefits than competitors.