Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Walmart Leaving Quebec

I have to say I've read about this in a couple places and I'm just wondering, is Walmart trying to make a point to unions, or was the demands of the union really unreasonable? To be honest, I'm betting on the former.

Wal-Mart's decision triggered vicious rebukes from leftist Canadian politicians. David Christopherson, a Canadian Member of Parliament, even called Wal-Mart's decision to close the store "economic terrorism."

It is difficult to understand how workers are exercising their free choice by banding together to negotiate with their employer, but Wal-Mart is the corporate equivalent of Bin Laden because it is choosing not to stay in business under the union's terms.
Terrorism? Not likely. Fair dealing in good faith? Not likely.

Of course, is the union working in good faith?
The union has gone further than the petition, also filing a complaint with the Quebec Labor Relations Commission in an attempt to force Wal-Mart to return to the bargaining table and remain open. The store plans to close in May.
Apparently not. But that isn't really the purpose of a union in modern days.

QandO has a nice little piece that I have to mention because of the title Who is Galt-Mart.

2 comments:

Granted said...

On a guess this is 50/50. 50 being Wal Mart doesn't want ANY unionized shops 'cause then they'd all be unionized and it would no longer make the kind of money it's used to making. 50 being Wal Mart makes tons of money, but it makes it by negotiating on the margins. It's offering stuff cheap because it's selling lots of whatever widgit we're talking about and therfor doesn't need to make tons of money per widgit. If the employee demands are too high, the store will lose money.

All that said, how typical of a union. Demand more than is reasonable and then when the company just shuts down, they flip out. The NHL is going through it now (not that I give a hoot). Recent past was when the guy that owned that plant in NH that burned down who then payed his employees until the plant was rebuilt, out of his own pocket, was forced to shut down by the union (composed of the same employees this guy paid because he was cool, not because he had to) because they demanded more money than he could pay and stay in business. Unions have really outlived their usefulness at this point in history.

Nylarthotep said...

I just read somewhere (yeah, short memory) that Walmart's margin is about 3 cents of profit for every dollar. That would be pretty much defining razor thin. I can understand where they come from on keeping prices down. Otherwise they just turn into any other old kmart.

I think the mill you're talking about is in Malden Mills Mass. That owner was a straight up front guy. Too bad he got so screwed.

As for the NHL, I Like hockey, but having a bunch of millionares fighting about salary caps is just bizarre. I'm betting the overall profits for all teams isn't that great, thus the desire for capping. It also makes for a bit more equitable teams structures when everyone has to stick to similar pocket books. Well, I guess if I could get paid millions for playing a game, I'd want to ensure I could get as much money as I could.