Efforts to unionize North Miami Beach Wal-Mart move forward
Workers at a North Miami Beach Wal-Mart Supercenter are hoping to make their store one of the first in the United States to unionize.
So far, workers say they have gathered signed, pro-union cards from 150 of the store’s 476 employees. Under federal labor law, that’s just about enough for union supporters to demand a vote of all rank-and-file workers at the store.
If a majority of workers voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers union, Wal-Mart would have to negotiate a contract setting pay, work rules, complaint procedures, health insurance and other benefits for the workers.
At least, that’s the theory. In reality, workers may have a long road ahead of them.
For one thing, they will need to collect signed cards from a lot more than the 30 percent minimum required by law. That’s because Wal-Mart could ask federal labor officials to throw out some of the cards for various reasons.
Even if the National Labor Relations Board orders an election, companies will typically try to delay it for as long as possible. Meanwhile, the company can order workers to attend anti-union meetings and watch anti-union videos on company time, while the unions will have to try and find workers during breaks and off hours.
Eugene Hart Sr., a union supporter at the North Miami Beach store, said he thinks some of his co-workers may withdraw their support due to company pressure, but others will sign up to replace them.
“We had the whole store,” Hart said. “They got ‘em scared.”
Pro-union workers say the company is harassing them, demanding to know the views of individual employees and pressuring them to identify union supporters. Wal-Mart says it doesn’t engage in such practices, any of which would violate federal labor law. And so far, the union has filed no formal complaints with the National Labor Relations Board.
But union supporter Cheryl Guzman says management has targeted her.
“They call me into the office every other day,” said Guzman, a 15-year Wal-Mart employee. She said managers accused her of spreading rumors and soliciting co-workers to sign cards during work time, which she denies.
Wal-Mart has been found to violate the National Labor Relations Act in the past, but justice took years in coming to the affected workers.
In a 2008 case, the NLRB found that Wal-Mart illegally fired an Arizona employee because of his support for unionization and ordered him reinstated with back pay. The board also ordered the company to post notices in the workplace informing employees that they have a legal right to support the union if they so desire.
The case pertained to events in 2000-2002.
In 2007, the board ordered Wal-Mart to take back disciplinary action imposed on a worker charged with distributing union materials on work time. The incidents took place in 2000.
If the local union wins an election, management will likely contest the result. And while the law would require management to negotiate with the union after a successful election, companies have sometimes succeeded in dragging out talks for years.
“With an employer like Wal-Mart, it’s almost axiomatic: that will automatically happen,” said Bruce Nissen, a labor sociologist at Florida International University who has written extensively about unions.
The UFCW says the North Miami Beach store is one of about 100 Wal-Mart stores it is working to organize in 15 states. Nissen said he has heard other stores have received as much as 90 percent support from workers.
But Wal-Mart, which is the world’s largest retailer, said its workers don’t want to unionize.
“Recently, we have noticed that the UFCW has been working harder in its attempts to get Wal-Mart associates to sign union cards, but we don’t think our associates have any reason to be more interested than before,” company spokeswoman Daphne Moore said. “Looking at all we offer, many of our associates just don’t seem to feel that union membership would be a better deal.”
Moore said the company has an “open-door policy” enabling workers to bring their concerns to managers.
“Clearly, some associates at our North Miami Beach store have some concerns, and we are committed to continuing to work with them to ensure their concerns are addressed,” she said.
Moore also pointed to workers like Diane Ruggiero, an office worker at the Miami Gardens store who says she loves working for the company. Ruggiero said her father was a trucker and member of the Teamsters union, but she said Wal-Mart is different.
“I’m not anti-union,” said Ruggiero, a former assistant manager who has been with the company for 16 years. “I don’t believe it would work for Wal-Mart. We have an open-door, we don’t need someone to speak for us. You don’t always hear the reply you want to hear, but you’re heard.”
The North Miami Beach case comes at a time when organized labor is lobbying Congress to pass major changes to national labor law through a bill called the Employee Free Choice Act. The act would:
- Eliminate a current rule that allows companies to demand an election even if more than half of workers sign pro-union cards.
- Increase penalties for companies who violate rules against harassing or dismissing workers because of their union sympathies.
- Require companies to submit to binding arbitration if they can’t reach an agreement with the union on wages and benefits after 90 days.
Business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are strongly opposed to the law. They say it would encourage unions to harass workers into signing cards, introduce unwanted government intrusion into the workplace and lead to jobs being eliminated.
Business groups scored a major victory last month when U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., announced he won’t support the act for the moment. Specter, who is widely seen as a political centrist, said changes are needed to fix the National Labor Relations Act, but the middle of a recession would be a bad time to debate the unions’ proposal.
He suggested other possible changes to the labor law, aimed at reducing delays, increasing penalties for strong-arm tactics on either side and eliminating “captive audience” speeches by employers unless the union is given equal time to respond.
In the meantime, the North Miami Beach workers continue their campaign. They invited reporters to watch them deliver petitions to Wal-Mart managers at the store on Wednesday.
“If we vote and we get it, they can’t do nothing but go along with it,” Guzman said. “That’s my hope and prayer.”
About a dozen workers held hands and prayed in a circle outside the store before delivering the petitions.
“Don’t let us come here today in vain, Lord God,” said Helen Robinson, a Wal-Mart door greeter who led the prayer.
Robinson wasn’t the least bit intimidated by management.
“They’re a bunch of pharaohs,” she declared.
