The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Wal-Mart is mobilizing its store managers and warning them that a Democratic win in November likely will result in legislation that makes it easier for employees to unionize companies. Wal-Mart stresses the downside for workers if the stores become unionized, but the company insists it has not told employees how to vote in the upcoming election.
Wal-Mart managers who attended mandatory meetings say company executives claim employees would have to pay union dues, while receiving nothing in return, and could be forced to strike without pay. They also claim unionization would result in lost jobs because of rising labor costs.
“The meeting leader said, ‘I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won’t have a vote on whether you want a union,'” says a Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri. “I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote.”
Wal-Mart’s primary concern is with the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which companies say would allow unions to add millions of new members. “We believe EFCA is a bad bill and we have been on record as opposing it for some time,” Wal-Mart spokesperson David Tovar says.
To read the full Wall Street Journal story, click here.