Oct 11, 2006
The National Post and the Montreal Gazette are both reporting this morning that the Wal-Mart in St-Hyacinthe, Quebec, is looking more and more like it will be the second unionised store in the country, after Jonquiere. According to the article by Allison Lampert, the negotiations for a collective agreement have all been settled, except for salary issues. While this is obviously a major hurdle, the issue will be going to arbitration next month, meaning that whether Wal-Mart wants it or not, a decision will be forthcoming.
While echoes remain of the Jonquiere store closing, the Federation des Travailleurs de Quebec (FTQ) is optimistic. 'With St. Hyacinthe, all the non-monetary clauses have been agreed to. In Jonquiere, we never spoke about salary and we never got very far regarding non-monetary clauses,'' FTQ organiser Louis Bolduc told the Gazette.
While other issues also persist about Wal-Mart, particularly its impact on local businesses and suppliers overseas, the hope is that a unionised Wal-Mart will at least ensure that those who work at the big-box retailer can live off a decent wage. Union organisers in the rest of Canada are also hoping that a positive result in St-Hyacinthe could lead to a domino effect, resulting in unionisation successes in other provinces.
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Posted by cp
Sep 4, 2006
To mark the Labour Day holiday (and bring attention to the fact that this holiday isn't only about end-of-summer BBQs), the Des Moines Register has posted an editorial taking a look at the deeper issues beyond Wal-Mart. A reminder that we need to take on the big box giants, but that we also need to remember the complicity of elected officials in letting them off the hook. Read "Want Change? Target leaders, not Wal-Mart" on the paper's site, or download a PDF here.
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Wal-Town relies on the support of people like you! If you are interested in supporting our campaign, check out our donations page.
Posted by cp
Jul 30, 2006
Wal-Mart abruptly pulled up roots from Germany on July 28th, in a move that cost the retail giant about $1 billion (a little less than 10% of the company's annual profit). The move comes as Wal-Mart realises that not every country falls in love with its low-prices, low-quality combination. The company is struggling to expand overseas: it was forced to leave South Korea in May and Asda, its lone European presence, has struggled in the past several years.
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Wal-Town relies on the support of people like you! If you are interested in supporting our campaign, check out our donations page.
Posted by cp
Jul 5, 2006
The Norwegian government has recently announced its divestment from Wal-Mart due to the company's "serious and systematic" abuses of human and labour rights. Norway has since sold over $450 million in Wal-Mart stock, and we're pleased to know that we helped the Norwegians come to this conclusion.
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Wal-Town relies on the support of people like you! If you are interested in supporting our campaign, check out our donations page.
Posted by cp
Jan 20, 2006
After a spell with atrophy, then a hack attack that put our site down for over two weeks, we are back! Wal-Town.com will be updated regularly, especially our research section. So have a look around, and contact us if you find any bugs or if you'd like to help out with content on the site.
Some sections - notably downloads and research - are in dire need of content, as we reshape this website to reflect more Canadian content. We have removed much of the old information that was on the previoius version of Wal-Town.com because we felt that it was not relevant to Canadian issues. So, it is our goal to make this site the resource nexus for information on Wal-Mart in Canada, with some secondary information in an international section. Take a look around, and keep coming back as we will be adding loads of content!
- the Wal-Town Project team
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Wal-Town relies on the support of people like you! If you are interested in supporting our campaign, check out our donations page.
Posted by cp