Unionizing Wal-Mart

15 Replies to “Unionizing Wal-Mart”

1. In the CBC online coverage it also mentioned stores in BC and SK striving for union coverage. Does that really surprise anyone in Canada? The 3 most left-leaning provinces, 2 of whom have NDP (or have had long-term NDP) governments. Why do people do this (vote NDP) to themselves? In related news: 20 per cent of Sask. youth pondering Alberta move: poll. Link is here (sorry, but I don’t know how to insert hyperlinks here): http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=ab_home&articleID=1840964

2. FREE MARKET TRIUMPH

   Making the call that it can not be bullied, Wal-Mart has decided to shut down its first unionized outlet in North America. This is a victory of free markets over stifling and outdated labor legislation (think of pre-Thatcher Britain) which…

3. The NDP voters seem to believe that there is only a limited amount of wealth in the world, and that they have to wrestle away their fair share from “the rich”. What they don’t understand is that it is the attempt to control, allocate and regulate resources (such as jobs) which actually causes things to become artificially scarce.
   Unionizing the Wal-Mart in Jonquiere caused the Wal-Mart to close, and now there is a shortage of cheap goods in the region. Even if the store had remained open, it would have had to raise prices, and thus caused hardship to all the non-Wal-Mart employees in the region. To suppose that Wal-Mart headquarters would somehow “eat” the extra costs and take a hit to its profits is absurd, but that is what the socialist mind expects to happen. They also expect the pension funds which they invest in private companies to have a high rate of return, based on – what else – profits!
   I’ll bet that the union organizers who chased Wal-Mart out of Jonquiere got pretty nice salaries, paid for by other unions and maybe even by the Quebec government.
   Thanks to the magic of Equalization, every attempt by socialists to improve Quebec’s economy that fails is rewarded with even more money from Ontario and Alberta. The money is given directly to the provincial government with no strings attached, and is then “invested” in even more destructive meddlesome programs. There is no incentive for the government knobs to actually fix the economy – if they did, the successful private enterprises would then no longer need a vast bureaucracy to hold their hands. Instead, there is a strong incentive to wreck the economy, because this is rewarded with more money, more power, and even more urgency for the government to “do something”.

4. I read somewhere today that a single mom in the Quebec store abstained from voting and now feels it’s not fair that Wal-Mart is closing . It�s the usual victimization position of those that make the wrong choices or won�t choose at all.
   It seems to be a bit like the position of these same types that won�t support the US Missile Defence system. Then if Kim Jong-Il misses and hits Vancouver instead of Seattle these same people will have a few seconds to do interviews on the CBC saying it�s not fair.

5. Justzumgai, would you mind e-mailing me at spamtrap@digiteyesed.com? (That’s the address I use for public posting as spambots pick it up.) I’d like to ask you a question in private. 🙂

6. I thought the same thing about the single mom. Do nothing, then complain about the results.
   Funny how some people seem to think permanently losing one’s job is preferable to being non-union.

7. But unions do so much good. Look at the steel and auto industries.

8. But it was good while it lasted (or at least so sayeth the union members of long ago before the company was forced to shut down plants – and of course Kennedy didn’t help things any in the case of steel).
   This was from about 20 years ago so I wouldn;t really argue it or anything but I recall some Japanese big bucks bigwig (government or auto company, I forget) talking about the US car companies saying something like “you can’t expect people making $6 an hour to buy cars made by people making $25 an hour. It’s unrealistic”.
   Or maybe he said “unlearistic”.
   Another good quote came out of a US auto co exec, I think Chrysler. At a meeting with employees and spouses, one woman complained her husband was making $2 less than people at the other car companies. The response was something like “that’s because the union bosses there are demanding $8 an hour worth of side benefits for your husband. Your husband’s union boss is demanding $10 an hour. Your husband is costing us the same as the other people are costing other companies and that’s the bottom line”.
   I don;t remember the exact numbers, it’s just something along those lines – the idea is the same tho.

9. To the extent that as individuals we’re all essentially small business people marketing our labour and knowledge – i don’t understand what the role of unions is anymore .. other then to hold employers at ransom every once in awhile with a strike.
   But in the long run that fails. Evidenced by the market values of Ford , GM etc are essentially � what they were 5 years ago . These companies are slowly dieing. Yet our governments continue to subsidize them directly and indirectly with health care , unemployment insurance etc.
   Instead of subsidizing the dinosaurs our governments should be cutting corporate taxes and capital taxes to allow new managements and industries to thrive. Thus hopefully compete against the emerging giants of China and India.

10. Has the Saguenay got out of the early ’60’s yet? That area is the heart and soul of the Bloc,so should this come as a suprise?

11. For giggles, have a look at the balance sheets of the major North American car co’s.
    Given all their pensions and benefits commitments they are are essentially pension plans, with a small sideline in cars. ( And that’s not a huge rhetorical exaggeration.)

12. Howie
    That area is still trying to reconcile their prejudices with Ontario Hydro helping them after the ice storm. It’s like an undiscovered culture on a Pacific Island . maybe it’s because it only gets its info from Radio Canada – whoops -sorry
    … :>)

13. Yes – North Battleford (where I’ve been told that the number one employer is Social Services…) has been flirting with unionization. At the moment there are ongoing court battles.
    I mentioned it early last year in a post. North Battleford used to have a Safeway too… the union decided to throw a strike. Safeway decided to lock the doors.
    You’d think they’d learn.

14. It seems to me that this would be a great opportunity for someone, anyone, to step up to the plate and buy the empty Wal-Mart store to test #1) whether that store in that location could be profitable with a unionized staff or #2) whether customers would be willing to pay the (3%, 5%, 10%?) extra it would take to be able to buy their jumbo boxes of Tide detergent or plastic shoes from a unionized shop.
    I have my own guesses as to the result, but I would like to see the experiment run.

15. Wal-Mart does a LOT of research before they open a store – their whole way of business is low margin, high volume. Mess with the margin and it just doesn’t work. I can’t imagine anybody being foolish enough to give re-opening the store a shot. It’d be fun to watch tho, especially as some sort of employee-owned, socialist experiment (“Hey, we can double our wages if we charge $10 for candy bars!”).