UFCW Canada

September 15, 2005 21:30 ET

WAL-MART IN CRANBROOK, B.C. GOES UNION:

B.C. Labour Board certifies Cranbrook Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Express as a union shop Attention: Assignment Editor, Business/Financial Editor, City Editor, News Editor, Government/Political Affairs Editor BURNABY, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - Sept. 15, 2005) -

The B.C. Labour Relations Board (BCLRB) has certified a union at a Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Express (TLE) in Cranbrook, British Columbia after a majority of the workers there voted to unionize with UFCW Canada Local 1518.

The Cranbrook workers are the latest Wal-Mart members of UFCW Canada (United Food and Commercial Workers Canada). Workers at three Wal-Mart locations in Québec are already certified as UFCW Canada bargaining units and first-contract talks with Wal-Mart are underway there.

The Wal-Mart in Cranbrook was certified after a majority of the shop's employees voted to unionize. Under B.C. labour laws, if a majority of the employees within a defined workplace vote to unionize, the Board can certify their workplace as a union shop and certify their union as their agent for collective bargaining.

It is the first time a majority of workers at a Wal-Mart location in Canada have voted to unionize and a sign that the tide is turning against Wal-Mart's union busting tactics according to UFCW Canada's national director Michael J. Fraser.

"Wal-Mart says that, given a chance to vote, their employees always reject the union. Those days are over," says Fraser.

"Along with the Wal-Mart units in Québec, the Cranbrook vote is proof that a growing number of Wal-Mart Canada workers aren't scared by Wal-Mart's bully tactics," says Fraser. "They realize nothing will change at Wal-Mart unless they have a union and a fair collective agreement."

Two additional B.C. Wal-Mart locations may also soon be certified. Applications for certification of two Wal-Mart TLE's in Surrey are pending a decision of the BCLRB. Wal-Mart is challenging those applications but UFCW Canada is confident the applications will succeed.

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/For further information: Also contact:

Andy Neufeld, UFCW Canada Local 1518
Tel: (604) 434-3101

Michael Forman, UFCW Communictions
(416) 675-1104 x249
/ IN: ECONOMY, JUSTICE, LABOUR, RETAIL