- Union certification has been granted to employees working at a Wal-Mart store in Quebec, the second Wal-Mart in the province that has been so certified. A majority of the store’s employees reportedly signed union cards saying that the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) is their collective bargaining agent.
Wal-Mart currently is negotiating with the UFCW for a contract covering workers at its store in Jonquiere, Quebec, though it has raised the possibility that it might close the store, saying that it has long been unprofitable.
Wal-Mart has charged that the certification vote at the second store was “undemocratic,” and has said that it is considering a court appeal.
- PlanetRetail.net reports that Wal-Mart’s Asda Group in the UK has decided to expand its SmartPrice value line into the produce category, bundling products together in such a way that the prices are perceived as less expensive and also so that customers are able to easily acquire products that meet nutritional guidelines.
- The Los Angeles Times reports this morning that three California Wal-Mart hourly workers are suing the company for failing to pay them for all the time they worked.
The suit is seeking class action status, and says that there could be as many as 200,000 potential class members. The suit specifically charges that Wal-Mart "deleted thousands of hours of time worked from employees' payroll records.” The company is said to have erased overtime hours and penalized employees who forgot to punch in after their meal breaks by denying them pay for the remainder of those days, according to court documents.
Wal-Mart has not commented on the suit.
