INTERNATIONAL LABOUR

INSIDE WALMART:

The following series of documentaries has been brought to Molly's attention via the site of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). For more on Wal-Mart see Wake Up Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart Watch and Wal-Mart Workers Canada. Here's the video show....

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ABOUT THE SHOW:
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Five years ago CNBC's David Faber took an unprecedented look inside the world's largest retailer. Since then, much has changed. A brutal onslaught of lawsuits, intense criticism and a plummeting stock price have resulted in re-invention at the largest company in the world. Today there’s new leadership at the top, major store renovations and a new found focus on environmentally friendly policies.

So far, it looks like Walmart’s new image campaign is working. While many companies are cutting back or going bankrupt in the midst of recession, Walmart continues to grow -- outperforming its major competitors.

But are the changes Walmart has undergone substantial ones… or merely slick public relations ploys? And what challenges does the giant retailer face as it continues its aggressive expansion?

CNBC's Emmy Award winning anchor and reporter David Faber investigates The New Age of Walmart.
INSIDE WALMART

*** The World's Largest Retailer

Walmart is the nation’s largest employer with 1.4 million workers in the U.S. and up to 30-thousand new hires annually. But the company’s low-cost operating model may be threatened by proposed legislation that would make it easier for unions to organize. A store in Miami may possibly become the first unionized Walmart in the U.S.
One on One with CEO Mike Duke

*** Walmart’s Extreme Makeover

Walmart discovered it had a big problem: it was losing up to 8% of its customers as a result of negative publicity. The giant retailer undertook an extreme makeover of its public image and its stores.
Walmart’s full scale overhaul

*** Expansion Controversy

Walmart has more than 4,200 U.S. stores and continues to expand. Often, residents are bitterly divided over what a new Walmart will mean to their community. As powerful as Walmart is, community protests can still delay plans to open a new store for years or kill a project entirely.
A Town Divided – Ellenville, NY

*** Going Global in China

China’s robust economy, growing wealth and a marketplace of 1.2 billion people present a huge opportunity for companies looking to expand, and Walmart is taking notice. There are more than 250 Walmart stores in China, and that figure could one day surpass the number of stores in the U.S.
Take a tour with the new head of Walmart International, Doug McMillon
WEB EXTRAS:

***Scouting Expedition

Have you ever wondered how Walmart decides where to build a new store? CNBC joined one of the company teams that secretly traverse the country -- and the world -- looking for new places to plant the Walmart flag.
The search for the next Walmart

****Walmart’s CEO Mike Duke

59-year old Mike Duke is the fourth CEO in Walmart’s 47-year history and made his debut at the company’s 2009 annual meeting. Duke believes Walmart is the “largest family in the world." CEO Mike Duke takes David Faber inside Walmart

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Meanwhile, here's another item from the CBC about the final court decision about Wal-mart`s decision to close their store in Jonquière Québec because their employees decided to unionize. All that I can say is that the `compensation`should be as high as possible. In criminal law- which this should be - it`s called the 'deterrence effect' on sentencing.

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Wal-Mart loses Quebec Labour Board ruling:
CBC News
Former employees at a Wal-Mart store in Jonquière, Que., could be compensated for having lost their jobs after a decision to unionize.

The Quebec Labour Relations Board ruled Tuesday it was illegal for Wal-Mart to lay off 190 workers in April 2005, shortly after they sought union accreditation.

In his ruling, arbitrator Jean-Guy Ménard said the company had not justified its decision to dismiss its employees.

Ménard said Article 59 of Quebec's labour code protects the rights and working conditions of employees following their request for union accreditation.

United Food and Commercial Workers union local 503 president André Dumas welcomed the ruling.

"It shows [Wal-Mart] is ready to take whatever it needs to get the union out of one of its stores," Dumas said.

Though most of the former Wal-Mart employees have found new jobs, Dumas said it took some of them months to do so — one person still has not found work.
Wal-Mart disputes ruling
The company has already confirmed it will appeal the arbitrator's ruling.

"If Wal-Mart had just wanted to close the store … that store would have closed from the moment that it became certified by the union — but that's not what happened," said Andrew Pelletier, Wal-Mart Canada's vice-president of corporate affairs.

The employees received union accreditation in Aug. 2004, but Pelletier said the store only closed eight months later. (That`s actually fast for a managerial bureaucracy the size of Wal-mart-Molly )

Wal-Mart initiated multiple bargaining sessions after the accreditation, Pelletier said.
However, he said there was "no way" the already struggling store could meet the union's demands. ( Yeah, I'm sure- Molly )

CANADIAN LABOUR-BRITISH COLUMBIA:

FARM WORKERS VICTORY IN BC:

The following announcement is from the website of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). It seems that their campaign to organize migrant farmworkers in Canada is bearing fruit, at least in the province of BC. The following is, of course, an official union announcement, and, as such, it avoids any 'hard spots' about this victory. To my mind is a very good thing, but it will take a great amount of attention on the part of the union to avoid screwing it up, as they did here in Manitoba.

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Historic victory for migrant farm workers:
Contract sets new precedent for rights of workers
A breakthrough collective agreement was reached September 21 between UFCW Canada and Floralia Growers of Abbotsford, B.C.

The new UFCW Canada Local 1518 contract provides wage improvements, but is particularly noteworthy for the protections it establishes for the rights of seasonal migrant agriculture workers to return to Canada under the federal government’s Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP).

“We have had a lot interest from migrant farm workers in joining the union,” said Ivan Limpright, President of UFCW Canada Local 1518, “and this contract is a huge step forward in providing the kinds of basic protections and recall rights that migrant farm workers in Canada deserve.”

“These are among the most vulnerable workers in Canada, because too often when workers would dare complain, let alone join a union, the farm employers would make sure they didn’t call those workers back for the next season’s work, or just send them straight back to their home country,” said Limpright.

“This contract establishes a real measure of justice and dignity for the Floralia workers.”

The new contract establishes recall rights for migrant agriculture workers (one of the very important things that was neglected here in Manitoba-Molly ), and the union and employer have agreed to a process for recalling SAWP workers that will enhance workers’ opportunities to return year after year.

In addition, when the growing season slows down and a smaller workforce is needed, a process is now established whereby those volunteering to return home would be the first to go, and if necessary, other workers would then return to their home based on seniority.

“Previously, the workers would be ‘repatriated’, as the employers like to call it, and strictly at the employer’s whim,” said Limpright. “For example, we have had cases where there was a slowdown in the growing season and a worker volunteered to go home because his wife was pregnant or there was another family emergency, but the employer would refuse and send someone else home instead. Now, under this contract, the workers at least have some control over their own fates, and this is a huge and important breakthrough.”

The migrant agriculture workers at Floralia are from Mexico, and make up approximately 90 percent of the Floralia workforce.

In addition to recall rights, the crucial topic of overtime was also addressed in the new contract. It had been apparent that when workers developed an interest in joining UFCW, those workers were punished by having their overtime eliminated or minimized. (Another important point neglected in the efforts here in Manitoba- Molly )

The new contract has a process by which overtime will be balanced among all workers, and monitored so that it is not awarded by favouritism nor used as a form of punishment against workers interested in the union.

Other achievements in the contract include:
• contract language that will see workers paid for all hours worked from their start time forward. Previously, workers went unpaid for travel time between fields, which could be as much as 1.5 hours per day;

• The formation of a Health & Safety committee with worker representation;

• a procedure to address grievances;

• improvements for domestic agriculture workers as well - start rates for domestic workers went from the $8.00 minimum wage to $9.09 per hour, equivalent to what SAWP workers earn.

• Improvements to vacation language - a number of workers have been employed for two years of more, and under terms of the new contract, they will be entitled to 6 percent vacation pay with three years service, a substantial improvement for the workers.

• Wage increases set at SAWP rate-plus .10 cents, 10 cents, and 12 cents respectively in the final three years of the contract.

“I want to welcome our newest members,” said Limpright, “and we are delighted that at last these members have a voice and a say in their workplace. This is a big step forward, and should be a strong, positive signal to other farm workers, domestic and migrant alike, that joining the UFCW makes sense.”

"This a great victory for the workers at Floralia, who have exercised their Charter rights to join a union and bargain collectively," said UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley.

"The Charter is not stopped by provincial borders," said Hanley, "so it is shameful that Ontario and Alberta continue to trample the human rights of agricultural workers by blocking their access to unionize."

UFCW Canada in association with the Agriculture Workers Alliance operates a number of support centres across Canada for agriculture workers. UFCW Canada is also Canada's largest private-sector union with over 250,000 members across the country working in every sector of the food industry from field to table.

CANADIAN LABOUR/INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:

CAN STARBUCKS BE UNIONIZED?:

Since the recent certification of the Starbucks Union, a branch of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), as the official union for one Starbucks outlet in Québec City it appears that the coffee giant is not as invulnerable as was once thought. Previous attempts, on the part of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) in British Columbia failed back in the 1990s. As far as Molly can determine there is only one other unionized Starbucks in the world. This lone example is in Regina, Saskatchewan where the workers are represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union- Saskatchewan(RWDSU). This particular RWDSU has no connection with the RWDSU International with whom it split back in the 1970s. Since that time the RWDSU has gained a reputation as one of the most progressive and militant unions in North America. In the past they have used workplace occupations as part of their strike tactics.

Both the RWDSU and the IWW ,which has spearheaded recent drives to unionize Starbucks, are small unions. The RWDSU has the advantage of geographical concentration over the dispersed IWW, and it is more effective for that. The major unions and union federations won't touch Starbucks, or any related workplace such as fast food joints, unionization with a ten foot pole. In the days when the CAW attempted their drive in BC they were a much different union then they are today. Having split from the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) they were willing to take on every possible organizational effort in what was a quest to become a multiindustry alternative to the CLC. They are a much quieter beast today, and it would be hard to imagine them attempting organization in such places as Starbucks at the present time.

Which leads us to the most recent question in Molly's Polls; "Is It Possible to Unionize Places Such as Starbucks?". See our sister site to register your opinion. There are immense difficulties that any union that attempts to organize in places such as Starbucks have to overcome. This is even more so in fast food joints such as McDonalds. If there are only two unionized Starbucks in the world that is still 200% better than the zero McDonalds that are organized. Molly is agnostic about the prospects insofar as I think that such organization is possible , but only in certain locations where both the laws and the local culture are such as to facilitate such efforts.

Québec today has a long standing tradition of militant unionism far greater than almost anywhere else on the continent. In Saskatchewan unions such as the RWWDSU thrive in the lengthening shadows of what was once the most left wing community on the continent. Saskatchewan socialism has, today, been corrupted beyond all recognition, but the populist tradition still lingers. Should young workers there be privileged to have known their grandparents or grand uncles/grand aunts about 50% of them would have had a family member who was a convinced socialist, one not shy of stating their views. Presented with the option of unionization- with a radical rhetoric thrown in- the old "lefty genes" have a tendency to reactivate. Perhaps many parts of Newfoundland, Minnesota and Wisconsin are the same.

One thing that I do think is that such vague radicalism is insufficient for unionization to take a general hold outside of isolated branches of such enterprises as Starbucks. In order for the efforts to expand beyond isolated instances a community as well as a workplace mobilization has to occur. The example of a large proportion of the population of a city, even one so small as Québec City (or even Regina-much smaller), organizing a boycott of recalcitrant companies would bring the bosses to heel much faster than simple organization of workplaces, one by one, could do. Such a campaign would also reverberate worldwide and make unionization much easier in other locations.

Am I too pessimistic in my assessment that unionization in places such as Starbucks will proceed very slowly in the foreseeable future ? Time will tell. In the meantime visit Molly's Polls to express your own opinion. I hope to comment more on this matter over there.