LITTLE ROCK — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and its chief labor-union critic, the United Food and Commercial Workers, have escalated their sparring on both sides of the border that separates the United States and Canada.
In the U.S., the union now is actively seeking to organize Wal-Mart workers at 115 stores in 21 states, up from about 100 stores in 17 states in April, aspart of its effort in support of proposed federal legislation that would make it easier for workers to form bargaining units. At least one Arkansas store, at 8801 Base Line Road in Little Rock, is part of that effort.
In Canada, Wal-Mart is asking a court to prohibit the union from using any symbols, images or words similar to those the company uses in its marketing, signs and advertising andto shut down a union Web site critical of the company that has operated since 2003. The company's move comes four months after an arbitrator imposed a contract for about 180 workers at a store in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, after four years of legal challenges.
Previously in Canada, Wal-Mart closed a store in Jonquiere, Quebec, as an arbitrator was preparing to impose a contract - a move that prompteda union lawsuit still pending before the Supreme Court of Canada. It also closed a tire and lube shop in Gatineau, Quebec, shortly after a contract was imposed.
Despite the union setbacks, the UFCW has had greater success organizing Wal-Mart stores in Quebec than in other provinces because of more favorable labor laws, said union spokesman Derek Johnstone. He said the union is activelyseeking to organize about 80 stores in the province.
The U.S. organizing activity is proceeding even as the debate over the proposed Employee Free Choice Act, pending in Congress, has been set aside while health-care policy dominates the national political agenda.
"Everything right now is taking a back seat to getting health-care reforms done,"said Meghan Scott, spokesman for UFCW-funded WakeUp-WalMart.com.
Wal-Mart and many other employers strongly oppose the bill that would allow workers to gain union representation without a secret-ballot election if more than half of the proposed bargaining unit sign union cards.
Scott said the union considers the "card-check" provision non-negotiable, although some versions would remove it while preserving other provisions aimed at protecting workers, such as binding arbitration if negotiations fail to result in a contract.
"We are still very optimistic about getting everything we want in this bill," Scott said.
Daphne Moore, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said the company has noticed that the union has been working harder to sign up potential members.
"We don't believe our associates have any reason to be more interested than before.
"Looking at all we offer, many of our associates just don't seem to feel that union membership would be a better deal," she said.
UNION PRESENCE SMALL
In Wal-Mart's other North American operations, only bakery and restaurant employees in Mexico are represented by a union.
Those workers belong to Mexico's largest union, a relationship established by Cifra, the company in which Wal-Mart bought a majority interest in 1997 as it expanded in Mexico.
Unions also represent workers in Wal-Mart stores in the United Kingdom, Brazil, Japan and China.
Wal-Mart employs more than 1.4 million people in the United States and more than 2 million worldwide.
The lawsuit Wal-Mart Canada Corp. filed in Quebec Superior Court claims that the UFCW's use of symbols, images, phrases and trademarks that are similar to Wal-Mart's, including people wearing blue vests similar to those of Wal-Mart Canada workers, are aimed at deception.
The company says the images are used in printed materials, on business cards and in member recruitment efforts and imply that Wal-Mart endorses those efforts.
"It is extremely prejudicial since it suggests that Wal-Mart Canada may be indulging in an underhanded form of union busting and is attempting tobar or to make it very difficult for other unions to seek certification," Wal-Mart says in the court filing.
Among Wal-Mart's complaints: that the union's use of the phrase "Get Respect, Live Better," is a play on Wal-Mart's advertising tag line, "Save Money, Live Better," and that new UFCW business cards include an image that the company calls a "spark" that is part of its store signs introduced more than a year ago.
Wal-Mart says that past union materials did not imply any relationship between the company and the union.
'STANDARD TRADEMARK ISSUE'
Johnstone, the Canadian union spokesman, said many of the things Wal-Mart seeks to halt in the court action, including use of the phrase "union for Wal-Mart workers," are communication tools the union has used since the Web site, walmartworkerscanada.ca, launched in 2003.
"Why all of a sudden they have chosen to raise a big stink, we can't answer," he said.
"We just see this as another example of Wal-Mart using our judicial system, albeit in a creative way, to keep our workers from trying to organize and start bargaining collectively."
Andrew Pelletier, a Wal-Mart Canada spokesman, called the company's case "a pretty standard trademark issue." He said the union had operated the Web site for more than five years without any action taken by Wal-Mart, but that recent changes on the site went toofar.
"Of course they are free to say what they want to say and promote what they want to promote but they should be using their identity and trademark, not ours," he said.
Pelletier said the union took some former members, who formed a dissident group, to court over use of the UFCW's trademarks and won the case.
Ariel Katz, an associate law professor at the University of Toronto, said he is skeptical that Wal-Mart will prevail.
"If you look at the Web site, it becomes pretty clear it is not from Wal-Mart. Quite the opposite is true," said Katz, who teaches courses on intellectual law, trademarks, copyrights and patents.
He said that, in one Canadian case, a court ruled that the union violated copyright law but rejected allegations of trademark violations for using materials showing the Michelin tire character stomping on workers.
"I don't think they have a very strong trademark case," he said.
Business, Pages 65, 72 on 08/23/2009