Canadian Supreme Court Rules Wal-Mart Must Hand Over Anti-Union Materials to Labor Board
April 8, 2005
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled yesterday that Wal-Mart Canada must hand over anti-union corporate documents, including one entitled, “Wal-Mart: A Manager’s Tool Box to Remaining Union-Free,” to the Saskatchewan Labor Relations Board (SLRB) or face criminal sanctions.
"This is very significant," said Paul Meinema, president of UFCW Local 1400. "The highest court in the land has said to Wal-Mart, 'You have to obey the rules of our province and our country’.”
Wal-Mart petitioned the Supreme Court after a Saskatchewan Appeal Court ruling in November 2004 said the SLRB was within its rights when it ordered Wal-Mart to deliver company materials that outline its anti-union strategies. That order originally was issued during SLRB hearings in June 2004 on an application by the UFCW Canada to represent employees at a Wal-Mart store in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. The order required Wal-Mart to deliver internal anti-union strategy materials to the SLRB as evidence for it to determine if the retail company had breached Saskatchewan labor laws during the union organizing campaign.
“Wal-Mart has demonstrated it will do anything to deny its workers their constitutional right to join a union,” said Michael J. Fraser, national director of UFCW Canada, “including a Supreme Court appeal that basically argued the labor laws that cover other companies shouldn’t apply to them. Wal-Mart’s attempt to rewrite our labor laws to suit them is an affront to all Canadians, especially by a company found guilty numerous times for unfair labor practices in Canada.”
Wal-Mart announced it is shutting down its Jonquiere, Quebec store where workers unionized in August. Wal-Mart employees at that location had been in negotiations with the company for several months, attempting to reach a fair agreement on wages and benefits. But the company pulled the plug on the store when the workers appealed to the Quebec Labor Ministry to initiate a process that would establish a fair and impartial wage and benefit settlement.
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