Wal-Marters of world: Unite!

Stop!
Drop!
Shut 'em down/Open up Shop!
Ohhh! Nooo!
That's the Ruff Riders Roll!
--DMX/Ruff Riders

There's been a bit of tussle going on Quebec between a union that sought to negotiate a contract with Wal-Mart. Apparently, Wal-Mart exercised its right to close its own store.

Fair enough.

One thing that Wal-Mart should remember, however, is that many of its stores depend on local approval by city council (some of those councils in the Vancouver area have rumoured to have been wined and dined by developers for Wal-Mart to ensure that approval). One of the key arguments about accepting Wal-Mart into a community, is that Wal-Mart creates jobs (true) and that it supports local competition (also true).

The problem with Wal-Mart, of course, is that it puts smaller established stores out of business. This is true, but if they cannot compete then they can't compete-I know the argument. (Although, I think if you are a small, established business that has been in one community for ages and been employing people since time began, your own tax dollars shouldn't be used to lure Wal-Mart to your community to put yourself out of business....And that, unfortunately, has become standard practice on Vancouver Island.)

The other problem is that Wal-Mart of course is perceived to be less dedicated to the communities it enters because it is US-based, and is usually not established in any Canadian community.

If Wal-Mart was looking to kill this perception, they did a helluva job. They used some flimsy excuse of not being able to negotiate with the union to make an example of a unionized store that caused Wal-Mart problems. While this may send a signal to organized labour, it also has the unintended consequence of sending consumers and decision makers a signal of how just how much Wal-Mart cares about the communities they serve.

I think Wal-Mart made a very poor public relations decision with this one.
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The other things that have come up, strangely, are the relative value of the Wal-Mart workers worth and the general excuse to beat up unions. I myself, am no stranger to this time honoured practice...

One thing we should probably remember about their workers is that for the most part, they are younger kids gaining experience so they can move on to higher jobs (ditto for recent immigrant workers), or they are middle aged people working part time to help chip in at home. It is rare that workers in fast food, or lower income service jobs are the main breadwinners at their own household, and typically any analysis that shows how a family of four cannot survive on the salary of the X Corp worker misses that point.

Bottom line is this: the workers are free to organize, and have all the rights and responsibilities that go along with that. Wal-Mart is free to set up or close down shop, and must bare the fallout from its decisions. Simple.