A collective agreement at Walmart

An article from Radio-Canada

More than five years after starting the union accreditation process, employees of the Walmart store in the Plateau, in the Hull sector of Ville de Gatineau, have obtained a collective agreement.

As in the case of the Saint-Hyacinthe branch in April 2009, an arbitrator appointed by the Ministry of Labor on Wednesday imposed a first employment contract on more than 150 employees who are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union (TUAC).

Current store employees will be entitled to a salary increase of 30 ¢ of the time this year and 30 ¢ next year.

The work contract, dated 26 last august, is for three years and is retroactive to December 2008, date of union accreditation. So there is only a little over a year left for this first collective agreement.

UFCW spokesperson, Mathieu Allard, indicated that the employment contract provides a framework for the next negotiation and that union members have at least obtained mechanisms : the grievance procedure; the establishment and recognition of seniority; distribution of working hours, overtime, holidays, salary increases and increases as well as fringe benefits.

The case of Jonquière

Remember that the Walmart store in the Jonquière sector, in Saguenay, had closed in April 2005, after becoming the first branch in the province to have unionized employees.

The case made it all the way to the Supreme Court. In a shared judgment – six judges against three – the 27 November 2009, highest court ended long legal saga by ruling that Walmart had the right to close its branch, when its employees were about to unionize.

In his opinion, closing a store is reason enough to lay off employees, and the company has no legal obligation to explain why it is making this decision.

Other closures

In October 2008, Walmart had closed the mechanical workshop at its Gatineau branch, after an arbitrator had imposed a collective agreement there too.

In 2009, Saskatchewan Labor Relations Board Denies Walmart's Request for Reconsideration Regarding Unionization of Its Weyburn Store.

Business is going well in Gatineau

Union spokesperson Mathieu Allard does not believe in the closure of the Plateau branch, since business is going well.

The Director of Corporate Affairs in Quebec for Walmart Canada, Alex Roberton, responded by email to the imposition of the collective agreement :

« The partners did not have a chance to vote to confirm their choice of whether or not to join a union and on the content of the contract. We have negotiated in good faith. We will be monitoring the situation closely and we will take things one step at a time at the Hull store.. »

— Alex Roberton, Walmart Canada