The Ridge at Fox Run

Wal-Mart is anti-union

Wal-Mart is anti-union

This article came from the March 4, 2000 issue of the Colorado Springs Gazette

Wal-Mart trims meat cutting in wake of butchers union vote

Closing
The 180 Wal-Mart meat-cutting departments that will close in May or June are in stores in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Kansas and Missouri.

By David Koenig
The Associated Press

DALLAS — Seven butchers who took on the nation s biggest retailer by joining a union are facing an uncertain future now that Wal-Mart has decided to replace meat-cutting departments at 180 stores with prepackaged meat.
Two weeks ago, the butchers at the Jacksonville, Texas, Wal-Mart voted 7-3 to join the United Food and Commercial Workers, the first successful union vote in the country at a Wal—Mart, a company well known for its opposition to organized labor. Union officials hoped the vote in the tiny Texas town southeast of Dallas would be a precursor to other successful elections, but now they face a legal fight to make the election stick.
Wal-Mart, with about 885,000 workers in 2,985 U.S. stores, is the nation s biggest private employer The company is so opposed to unionization of its workers that, during the past holiday season it barred Salvation Army charity workers from its stores after union organizers demanded that they be allowed in as well
The company said Friday it has been planning for months to replace the butchers in its supercenters with meat cut and wrapped by outside suppliers, said spokeswoman Jessica Moser, from Wal-Mart s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.
"Our decision to expand case-ready meat has nothing to do with what went on Jacksonville," Moser said. Prepackaged meat "has a better appearance and longer shelf life," and it is easier to track inventory. The displaced workers will be offered other jobs at their stores, Moser said.
The butchers aren t buying it.
"They just remodeled our store. They spent about $40,000 on a new wrapping machine. They just got new pans to hold the meat," said Maurice Miller. "If they d been thinking about this for months, why would they spend all that money?"
Miller, a 45-year-old meat cutter, was on the winning side of last month s election to Local 540 of the United Food and Commercial Workers. Local and national union officials said Wal-Mart s decision to abolish the meat-cutting departments was a direct response to the Jacksonville vote, along with a pending election at its store in Palestine, Texas, and organizing efforts at about 20 Wal-Marts around the country.
"This is just a ploy by Wal-Mart. It s an attempt to demoralize the workers," said John Rene Rodriguez, a Dallas-based business agent for the local.
Wal-Mart officials announced their plan to close meat-cutting operations during a hearing Monday before a unit of the National Labor Relations Board. Wal-Mart has argued to federal labor regulators — thus far unsuccessfully — that all 300 store employees in Jacksonville, and not just the meat cutters, should have been able to vote on joining a union. Now it insists union officials took improper actions to influence the Jacksonville vote. A labor board hearing is scheduled for March 28.
Union officials accused Wal-Mart on Friday of violating federal labor law. Greg Denier, a union spokesman in Washington, said Wal-Mart cannot legally eliminate meat-cutting operations in Jacksonville without first negotiating with the 10 employees and the union. He said the union will file an unfair—labor-practices complaint with the labor board and, if it loses there, take the retailer to court.
But a Washington lawyer who represents employers defended Wal-Mart s action.
"It s well-established that employers have prerogatives about basic business decisions," said Mark de Bernardo, a managing partner of Littler Mendelson, the country s largest employer-law firm. "Legally is this an option for Wal-Mart? Yes, recognizing that the timing is going to raise some eyebrows," de Bernardo said.