Question

Is Wal-Mart Waging War on Its Workers? Walmart, the world's largest private employer, is also one of organized labor's largest unionization targets. The retailer maintains a global work force of 1.3 million employees, and it hires thousands of employees every month as it continues to open new Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) says that Wal-Mart's employees would benefit from collective bargaining, citing the retailer's low wages, inadequate benefits, huge profits, and anti-union attitudes. However, Wal-Mart's management says that its associates (the company's term for employees) are treated well and need no outside representation to communicate with the company. Its associates voted the company onto Fortune magazine's list of the Top 100 Companies to Work For" in at least four recent years. The clash between the UFCW and Wal-Mart management is fueling a bitter store-by-store, state-by-state battle over unionization. The UFCW uses pro-union literature, meetings, and media releases to fuel organizing campaigns among Wal-Mart employees in Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Nevada, and many other states. "Americans can't live on a Wal-Mart paycheck," states Greg Danier, the UFCW'S communications director. "Yet it's the dominant employer, and what they pay will be the future of working America." The union charges that Wal-Mart brainwashes its employees into believing that they can speak up without union help. The union also says that Wal-Mart uses surveillance, interrogation, intimidation, and termination to keep its stores union-free. Some current and former employees and managers are supporting the UFCW campaign by publicly discussing their experiences. Gretchen Adams, a former Wal-Mart co-manager, stresses that many employees complained about the unaffordably high premiums for health insurance available through the retailer's benefit plan. Linda Gruen was so upset about the quality and expense of the insurance that she left her job as a Sam's Club cashier to become a UFCW organizer Former store manager, Jon Lehman say that managers were to phone a special union hotline if they spotted organizing efforts in a store. After such a call, labor experts from Wal-Mart headquarters would come to the store and show employees anti-union training videos.

Answer 1

Answer 1. UFCW wants to unionize and represent Wal-Mart employees because in its opinion Wal-Mart employees would benefit from collective bargaining by showing that the Wal-Mart earns a Huge profits yet it follows a low-wage policy,inadequate benefits and anti-union attitude towards its employees.

The major obstacle faced by UFCW in their efforts are:-

1. Wal-Mart Brainwashes its employees by convincing them that they can speak for themselves and there is NO need of Union to interfere in company's labour related issues.
2. Wal-Mart uses surveilance, interrogation,intemidation, threats and termination to keep the Union out of the company's premises.
3. Wal-Mart calls for anti-union meetings, shows videos and in some cases calls for anti-union experts to control the employees.

Answer 2. Despite of having fairly acceptable benefit plans companies like Wal-Mart have to engage into strong anti-union activities because as per the management of the company theytreat their employees fairly good and thus they don't need any outsider representative to communicate or interfere in the company's matters.

Answer 3. In my opinion Wal-Mart employees would vote FOR Unionization because of the following Reasons:-

a. It will give them power of collective bargaining

b. They will not be unduly threatened or terminated from their jobs without any good reason.

c. Fair wage-Policy and adequate benefits will be taken care of by the union in case Wal-Mart gets negligent in such matters.

d. There may be some cases where the employee is unable to speak for himself due to threat or pressure of bosses, in such cases union will prove to be very helpful.