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WAL-MART'S WAR ON WORKERS:
AMERICA'S BIGGEST CORPORATION TURNS INTO BIG BROTHER |
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Wal-Mart workers beware, big brother is watching. That’s how the number one corporation in America plans to intimidate its one million workers from standing up for their legal rights. Workers are fighting back. Worker charges in Denver, Colorado, Paris, Texas and Orlando, Florida have resulted in National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) complaints against the retail giant’s illegal surveillance and anti-union activity. Workers in Denver are organizing with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) and have suffered from Wal-Mart’s latest war on its workers. Wal-Mart will face trial on February 10, 2003 for illegal surveillance of union supporters. Workers charge that Wal-Mart managers: Told employees their union activities were being monitored; Asked employees to spy on co-workers on behalf of the company; Verbally harassed union supporters; and Interrogated workers about their union activities; Worker in Paris, Texas have suffered similar injustices and have fought back. The NLRB investigation on Wal-Mart’s actions resulted in a complaint charging that Wal-Mart managers carried out surveillance on its workers, restricted workers’ attire in an effort to retaliate against union supporters and also threatened and interrogated workers. In Orlando, Florida, Wal-Mart faces a NLRB trial on June 28, 2003 for illegal surveillance of workers, illegal threats and harassment of workers. The Board complaint cites Wal-Mart managers for refusing to allow a worker to have a witness in an investigatory interview. Further, managers threatened to fire workers who exercise their right to an employee witness, a right commonly known as Weingarten rights.
An Administrative Law Judge of the NLRB recently found Wal-Mart guilty of violating a worker’s Weingarten right in a case in Alaska. Wal-Mart demanded that an employee continue to participate in an interview about another co-worker and unlawfully fired him after he twice refused to participate without a witness. "Whether in a union or non-union context, it is, of course, patently unlawful for an employer to terminate an employee because he/she invokes his/her Weingarten rights," the judge said. He ordered the worker reinstated with full back pay and benefits, and ordered Wal-Mart to post a notice stating: "WE WILL NOT require that our employees, who have a reasonable belief that the matters to be discussed may result in their discipline, continue to participate in investigatory interviews after their request for the presence of their own witness has been denied by us. "WE WILL NOT discharge our employees because they request the presence of their own witness before participating in an investigatory interview which they reasonably believe may result in discipline against them." Wal-Mart agreed to a similar posting in College Station, Texas, to avoid a trial on a similar Weingarten complaint issued by the NLRB. These three new complaints brings the total number of Labor Board cases against Wal-Mart to 43 complaints in twenty-five states. Wal-Mart has been found guilty in 10 of those cases, settled 8 of them and the rest are pending. Today, workers in Ocala, Florida have withdrawn a petition with the NLRB for union representation following nearly three years of struggle for the right to have a free and fair election. Wal-Mart broke the law to suppress the Ocala meat market employees efforts to have a voice on the job. The recent NLRB complaints and the workers’ actions in Ocala prove that Wal-Mart spokesperson Mona Williams has been stretching the truth in recent statements about the company’s relationship with its workers. Williams and other Wal-Mart executives claim workers have chosen not to have union representation when clearly, workers have never been given that choice. Wal-Mart silences and intimidates its workers by breaking the law. Wal-Mart made it impossible for workers in Ocala and elsewhere to freely make a choice for a voice with the UFCW. The UFCW continues to support workers in Ocala and across the country in their efforts to exercise their federal right to representation at work. The recent National Day of Action to launch the People’s Campaign - Justice @ Wal-Mart resulted in thousands of Wal-Mart workers contacting the UFCW about getting a voice at Wal-Mart. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is North America’s largest organization of retail workers. With 1.4 million members in local stores and supermarkets across the United States, the UFCW is America’s Neighborhood Union. UFCW members work at such industry giants as Kroger, Safeway and Albertson’s. UFCW members produce the products that are the staples of America’s dinner table including Heinz, Kraft and Campbell’s. The UFCW is a voice for Working America. |
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| The 1.3 million member United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) is America's neighborhood union representing workers in neighborhood grocery stores across the country. UFCW puts dinner on the table for America's families with members working in meatpacking and food processing. |
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