Walmart Agrees to Hire Union Construction Workers, But Don't Let That Fool You

The worker uprising in Wisconsin has been significant for a number of reasons, one being that it has turned the nation's attention to unions and the labor movement for the first time in a very long while.

It seems appropriate, then, to bring up an important aspect of Walmart's business practices: the company's union-busting ways.

In early February, it was reported that Walmart had agreed to partner with an "unlikely ally" in its bid to gain access to New York City: the company signed a five-year plan with the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York stating that Walmart would use union workers for all construction, renovation and demolition work at its potential NYC stores.

Of course, Walmart's concession is great news for the city's unionized construction workers, who have been hit hard by a prolonged period of halted building projects in the city. But does the agreement mean that Walmart has turned a corner and finally come around on workers' rights?

In a word, no.

Walmart agreed to the construction union deal because, in the words of the Wall Street Journal, "only the construction unions, which are eager for work, have been sympathetic to Wal-Mart’s Big Apple ambitions; most others have been fighting to keep the company out of the city."

By wooing the construction unions, the company may have seen an opportunity to divide -- and thereby weaken -- the city's labor community.

I want to believe that Walmart is capable of change, I really do. But evidence of the company being deeply anti-worker is simply overwhelming. Here's Carol Pier, a senior labor rights and trade researcher at Human Rights Watch and the author of a 2007 report on Walmart for HRW:

"Wal-Mart's anti-union playbook -- the "Manager's Toolbox" -- is sophisticated and disturbingly effective. Following this bible for thwarting unions, at the first sign of workers trying to organize, store managers call the Union Hotline at company headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. Wal-Mart usually responds quickly by sending out its Labor Relations Team to crush the union drive. Team members hold anti-union meetings with workers at which they recount a parade of horribles that go hand in hand with union formation, such as the possibility of lower wages, benefit loss, and sky-high dues."

"They show anti-union videos depicting unions as outdated and their representatives as aggressive, harassing, and unsavory. Some of the videos, like the training video excerpted on our website, would be almost comical if they didn't have the pernicious effect of chilling workers' attempts to organize."

For another thing, Walmart made a similar union agreement in Chicago, which it has not lived up to. So what makes us think the company will keep its promises in the Big Apple?

Tell Mayor Bloomberg you think he should side with his city's unions and workers, not with Walmart.

Photo credit: rochelle hartman