Case Study
BENTONVILLE, Ark. — In corporate America, there is nothing like Wal-Mart. In just 40 years, it has become the nation's biggest company and the world's largest retailer. In the United States alone, it owns 3,300 stores and employs more than one million workers.
And not one of them is a union member. In fact, unions have made only one successful effort at organizing at a Wal-Mart in the United States — in a butcher's department in a Texas store. Two weeks later the company disbanded that department.
The Texas drive and growing but scattered support from workers as well as 10 judgments in its favor from the National Labor Relations Board are all organized labor has to show for a four-year effort to organize Wal-Mart workers.
But labor is escalating its efforts, and in an all-out assault on the discount retailer that has grown to nearly 100 stores in 20 states, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union has hired disaffected managers as organizers and created a radio show and Web site that lambaste Wal-Mart's working conditions. The union tells Wal-Mart workers that it can increase their wages, which average less than $9 an hour and $18,000 a year, and improve their health coverage and lower their premiums by getting Wal-Mart to contribute more.
For labor, it is an enduring embarrassment not to have a presence at a company that is widely viewed as the epitome of American business success. Many labor leaders see this organizing effort as a test case of whether unions can succeed in the 21st century.
Wal-Mart officials, like many companies, have strategies to keep out unions as a way of holding down costs. But labor leaders assert that Wal-Mart often crosses the line and violates federal laws protecting workers' rights to unionize.
Over the last four years, the National Labor Relations Board has filed more than 40 complaints against Wal-Mart, accusing managers in more than two dozen stores of illegal practices, including improperly firing union
And not one of them is a union member. In fact, unions have made only one successful effort at organizing at a Wal-Mart in the United States — in a butcher's department in a Texas store. Two weeks later the company disbanded that department.
The Texas drive and growing but scattered support from workers as well as 10 judgments in its favor from the National Labor Relations Board are all organized labor has to show for a four-year effort to organize Wal-Mart workers.
But labor is escalating its efforts, and in an all-out assault on the discount retailer that has grown to nearly 100 stores in 20 states, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union has hired disaffected managers as organizers and created a radio show and Web site that lambaste Wal-Mart's working conditions. The union tells Wal-Mart workers that it can increase their wages, which average less than $9 an hour and $18,000 a year, and improve their health coverage and lower their premiums by getting Wal-Mart to contribute more.
For labor, it is an enduring embarrassment not to have a presence at a company that is widely viewed as the epitome of American business success. Many labor leaders see this organizing effort as a test case of whether unions can succeed in the 21st century.
Wal-Mart officials, like many companies, have strategies to keep out unions as a way of holding down costs. But labor leaders assert that Wal-Mart often crosses the line and violates federal laws protecting workers' rights to unionize.
Over the last four years, the National Labor Relations Board has filed more than 40 complaints against Wal-Mart, accusing managers in more than two dozen stores of illegal practices, including improperly firing union