At a Small Shop in Colorado, Wal-Mart Beats a Union Once More
The Substance
February 26, 2005
At a Small Shop in Colorado, Wal-Mart Beats a Union Once More
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
LOVELAND, Colo., Feb. 25 - Joshua Noble, a 21-year-old who loves to snowboard, jolted Wal-Mart Stores last November when he got a majority of employees here at the Wal-Mart tire-and-lube shop where he worked to sign statements saying they wanted to vote on bringing in a labor union.
The unionization drive begun by Mr. Noble created a storm in this onetime ranching town at the foot of the Rockies - even the BBC covered it - and became a closely watched test of labor's efforts to unionize the world's largest retailer.
But on Friday the workers at the Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Express abandoned Mr. Noble, voting 17 to 1 against unionizing, another setback for organized labor at the very moment when its leaders are mapping a campaign to pressure the company to improve wages and benefits.
With Friday's vote, Wal-Mart can continue to say that not one of its 1.2 million American workers belongs to a union. Support for organizing dissipated here after the company repeatedly showed workers videos about what were portrayed as the shortcomings of unions, and transferred into the shop six new workers who, Mr. Noble said, had been screened by the company to ensure their antiunion sentiment.
Wal-Mart officials say the shop's work force simply concluded from all the information at hand that there was no need for representation by a third party.
Officials of the union involved, the United Food and Commercial Workers, counter by saying it lost because Wal-Mart struck fear in the workers with an intensive campaign. The union said it would challenge the outcome of the vote with the National Labor Relations Board, citing the lack of a union observer at the election and saying the six added workers had been brought in to dilute support for organizing.
Mr. Noble rounded up support for a union three months ago from 8 of his 16 co-workers - a majority, once he was included - who change tires, lubricate cars and install batteries, and who had complaints about wages, health insurance coverage and their treatment by managers.
The shop seemed fertile ground for organizing. Most of the workers were under 25. Some had a rebellious streak, some were college students, and some were single mothers struggling to make ends meet.
"We thought the only way they'd listen to us is to have a union," Mr. Noble said of management. "There's strength in numbers."
Wal-Mart responded to the organizing drive by flying in a group of labor experts from its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.
Wal-Mart's team, several workers said, hammered away at a variety of themes: that unions only want workers' dues, that they cannot guarantee better wages or benefits, that they want to put Wal-Mart out of business, that they foment walkouts in which the strikers can lose their jobs.
"It wasn't a fair fight," Mr. Noble said. "Every day they had two or three antiunion people from Bentonville in the garage full time, showing antiunion videos and telling people that unions are bad."
What angered him most, Mr. Noble said, was that after one union supporter was fired and two others moved away to attend college, Wal-Mart transferred in the six new workers, to undercut, he said, the union's chances of winning the vote.
Christi Gallagher, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said that the garage had merely been replacing the workers who had left, and adding a few for the sake of shop efficiency.
Of broader issues, Wal-Mart said Friday that results of the vote again showed its workers, whom it calls associates, to be satisfied and not eager for representation by the United Food and Commercial Workers.
"The U.F.C.W. has tried to organize our associates for years," said Terry Srsen, Wal-Mart's vice president for labor relations. "Many of our associates are former union members. They know better than anyone that the only guarantee a union can make is that it will cost the members money. And that is why they continue to reject the U.F.C.W."
The outcome here was just the latest turn in an intense battle between Wal-Mart and organized labor.
Two weeks ago, workers at a Tire & Lube Express in New Castle, Pa., voted 17 to 0 against unionizing. Fifteen months earlier, an administrative law judge ruled that Wal-Mart had illegally transferred pro-union workers out of that garage and added antiunion ones to skew the vote. Wal-Mart officials said the company had remedied those violations.
Wal-Mart decided this month to close a store in Quebec, one of its first to unionize in Canada. Wal-Mart said the store was barely profitable and not being closed in retaliation.
In 2000, meat cutters in Jacksonville, Tex., became the only Wal-Mart workers in the United States to vote to unionize. But soon afterward the company announced that it was replacing its meat-cutting operations in the South with prepackaged meat.
Friends often told Mr. Noble that he was crazy to take on the big corporation and that he should look for a job elsewhere. But Mr. Noble, who has epilepsy, said he was reluctant to leave Wal-Mart, out of fear that he would have trouble obtaining health insurance elsewhere.
(Because he had a seizure on Friday, Mr. Noble did not make it to the polls until just before the balloting ended. The United Food and Commercial Workers complained that it had not been allowed to have an election observer stand in for Mr. Noble, the union's designate.)
Dan Wright, a technician in the tire and lube shop, voted against the union, he said, because he felt he could go straight to management with problems.
"My grandfather said that during World War II, unions were helpful - they had their place," Mr. Wright said. "But I don't feel I need one. This company treats me well. It's fair to its people."
Alicia Sylvia, a single mother of 10-year-old twins, was a big union booster at the outset.
"Compared to other stores, we don't even make what cashiers make," said Ms. Sylvia, who earns just under $9 an hour writing up service orders as cars arrive at the garage and says she cannot afford Wal-Mart's health insurance. In Colorado, full-time unionized supermarket cashiers generally earn $15.66 an hour after two years.
"We should make more, since we work on vehicles and can get burned, and we have to stand out in the cold and heat," she said. "If you're working 10-hour days in the rain and getting your pants wet and freezing all day, it's not fun."
She acknowledged that the antiunion videos had helped turn her against unionizing.
"I really wish Wal-Mart would become better," she said. "But even if we get a union, it will be a long battle. Wal-Mart doesn't have to agree to anything. The message we got was, 'You're a small bunch of guys, and you can stand out there and strike, and we're going to replace you.' They'll never agree to a contract, out of pure stubbornness. I'm so confused."
Cody Fields, who earns $8.10 an hour after two years, said that he had originally backed the union "because we need a change" but that the videos had been effective. "It's just a bunch of brainwashing," Mr. Fields said, "but it kind of worked."
Joshua Noble, a 21-year-old who loves to snowboard, jolted Wal-Mart Stores last November when he got a majority of employees here at the Wal-Mart tire-and-lube shop where he worked to sign statements saying they wanted to vote on bringing in a labor union. On Friday the workers at the Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Express abandoned Mr. Noble, voting 17 to 1 against unionizing, another setback for organized labor at the very moment when its leaders are mapping a campaign to pressure the company to improve wages and benefits.
Wal-Mart officials say the shop's work force simply concluded from all the information at hand that there was no need for representation by a third party. Officials of the union involved, the United Food and Commercial Workers, counter by saying it lost because Wal-Mart struck fear in the workers with an intensive campaign.
Mr. Noble rounded up support for a union three months ago from 8 of his 16 co-workers - a majority, once he was included - who change tires, lubricate cars and install batteries, and who had complaints about wages, health insurance coverage and their treatment by managers. Wal-Mart responded to the organizing drive by flying in a group of labor experts from its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.
Wal-Mart's team, several workers said, hammered away at a variety of themes: that unions only want workers' dues, that they cannot guarantee better wages or benefits, that they want to put Wal-Mart out of business, that they foment walkouts in which the strikers can lose their jobs. What angered him most, Mr. Noble said, was that after one union supporter was fired and two others moved away to attend college, Wal-Mart transferred in the six new workers, to undercut, he said, the union's chances of winning the vote.
Two weeks ago, workers at a Tire & Lube Express in New Castle, Pa., voted 17 to 0 against unionizing. Fifteen months earlier, an administrative law judge ruled that Wal-Mart had illegally transferred pro-union workers out of that garage and added antiunion ones to skew the vote. Wal-Mart decided this month to close a store in Quebec, one of its first to unionize in Canada. Wal-Mart said the store was barely profitable and not being closed in retaliation. In 2000, meat cutters in Jacksonville, Tex., became the only Wal-Mart workers in the United States to vote to unionize. But soon afterward the company announced that it was replacing its meat-cutting operations in the South with prepackaged meat.
February 26, 2005
At a Small Shop in Colorado, Wal-Mart Beats a Union Once More
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
LOVELAND, Colo., Feb. 25 - Joshua Noble, a 21-year-old who loves to snowboard, jolted Wal-Mart Stores last November when he got a majority of employees here at the Wal-Mart tire-and-lube shop where he worked to sign statements saying they wanted to vote on bringing in a labor union.
The unionization drive begun by Mr. Noble created a storm in this onetime ranching town at the foot of the Rockies - even the BBC covered it - and became a closely watched test of labor's efforts to unionize the world's largest retailer.
But on Friday the workers at the Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Express abandoned Mr. Noble, voting 17 to 1 against unionizing, another setback for organized labor at the very moment when its leaders are mapping a campaign to pressure the company to improve wages and benefits.
With Friday's vote, Wal-Mart can continue to say that not one of its 1.2 million American workers belongs to a union. Support for organizing dissipated here after the company repeatedly showed workers videos about what were portrayed as the shortcomings of unions, and transferred into the shop six new workers who, Mr. Noble said, had been screened by the company to ensure their antiunion sentiment.
Wal-Mart officials say the shop's work force simply concluded from all the information at hand that there was no need for representation by a third party.
Officials of the union involved, the United Food and Commercial Workers, counter by saying it lost because Wal-Mart struck fear in the workers with an intensive campaign. The union said it would challenge the outcome of the vote with the National Labor Relations Board, citing the lack of a union observer at the election and saying the six added workers had been brought in to dilute support for organizing.
Mr. Noble rounded up support for a union three months ago from 8 of his 16 co-workers - a majority, once he was included - who change tires, lubricate cars and install batteries, and who had complaints about wages, health insurance coverage and their treatment by managers.
The shop seemed fertile ground for organizing. Most of the workers were under 25. Some had a rebellious streak, some were college students, and some were single mothers struggling to make ends meet.
"We thought the only way they'd listen to us is to have a union," Mr. Noble said of management. "There's strength in numbers."
Wal-Mart responded to the organizing drive by flying in a group of labor experts from its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.
Wal-Mart's team, several workers said, hammered away at a variety of themes: that unions only want workers' dues, that they cannot guarantee better wages or benefits, that they want to put Wal-Mart out of business, that they foment walkouts in which the strikers can lose their jobs.
"It wasn't a fair fight," Mr. Noble said. "Every day they had two or three antiunion people from Bentonville in the garage full time, showing antiunion videos and telling people that unions are bad."
What angered him most, Mr. Noble said, was that after one union supporter was fired and two others moved away to attend college, Wal-Mart transferred in the six new workers, to undercut, he said, the union's chances of winning the vote.
Christi Gallagher, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said that the garage had merely been replacing the workers who had left, and adding a few for the sake of shop efficiency.
Of broader issues, Wal-Mart said Friday that results of the vote again showed its workers, whom it calls associates, to be satisfied and not eager for representation by the United Food and Commercial Workers.
"The U.F.C.W. has tried to organize our associates for years," said Terry Srsen, Wal-Mart's vice president for labor relations. "Many of our associates are former union members. They know better than anyone that the only guarantee a union can make is that it will cost the members money. And that is why they continue to reject the U.F.C.W."
The outcome here was just the latest turn in an intense battle between Wal-Mart and organized labor.
Two weeks ago, workers at a Tire & Lube Express in New Castle, Pa., voted 17 to 0 against unionizing. Fifteen months earlier, an administrative law judge ruled that Wal-Mart had illegally transferred pro-union workers out of that garage and added antiunion ones to skew the vote. Wal-Mart officials said the company had remedied those violations.
Wal-Mart decided this month to close a store in Quebec, one of its first to unionize in Canada. Wal-Mart said the store was barely profitable and not being closed in retaliation.
In 2000, meat cutters in Jacksonville, Tex., became the only Wal-Mart workers in the United States to vote to unionize. But soon afterward the company announced that it was replacing its meat-cutting operations in the South with prepackaged meat.
Friends often told Mr. Noble that he was crazy to take on the big corporation and that he should look for a job elsewhere. But Mr. Noble, who has epilepsy, said he was reluctant to leave Wal-Mart, out of fear that he would have trouble obtaining health insurance elsewhere.
(Because he had a seizure on Friday, Mr. Noble did not make it to the polls until just before the balloting ended. The United Food and Commercial Workers complained that it had not been allowed to have an election observer stand in for Mr. Noble, the union's designate.)
Dan Wright, a technician in the tire and lube shop, voted against the union, he said, because he felt he could go straight to management with problems.
"My grandfather said that during World War II, unions were helpful - they had their place," Mr. Wright said. "But I don't feel I need one. This company treats me well. It's fair to its people."
Alicia Sylvia, a single mother of 10-year-old twins, was a big union booster at the outset.
"Compared to other stores, we don't even make what cashiers make," said Ms. Sylvia, who earns just under $9 an hour writing up service orders as cars arrive at the garage and says she cannot afford Wal-Mart's health insurance. In Colorado, full-time unionized supermarket cashiers generally earn $15.66 an hour after two years.
"We should make more, since we work on vehicles and can get burned, and we have to stand out in the cold and heat," she said. "If you're working 10-hour days in the rain and getting your pants wet and freezing all day, it's not fun."
She acknowledged that the antiunion videos had helped turn her against unionizing.
"I really wish Wal-Mart would become better," she said. "But even if we get a union, it will be a long battle. Wal-Mart doesn't have to agree to anything. The message we got was, 'You're a small bunch of guys, and you can stand out there and strike, and we're going to replace you.' They'll never agree to a contract, out of pure stubbornness. I'm so confused."
Cody Fields, who earns $8.10 an hour after two years, said that he had originally backed the union "because we need a change" but that the videos had been effective. "It's just a bunch of brainwashing," Mr. Fields said, "but it kind of worked."
posted by JimG at 12:13 PM
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