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Relationship Between Walmart And Labor Unions

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Walmart and Labor Unions Columbia College Holly Williams Labor Relations Mrs. Kruse June 2017 Walmart and Labor Unions Walmart opened its first store in 1962, in Rogers, Arkansas. The company went public in 1970, and the proceeds financed a steady expansion of the business. There are three types of Walmart stores, the traditional Walmart, Sam’s Club, and The Walmart Supercenters. Since the beginning Walmart has not allowed unions into its company. Walmart is the largest retail chain and is known for being nonunion. Over the years Walmart has gotten around bringing in the union, by either closing departments, or even going as far to close stores that voted to become unionized. Walmart will continue to stay nonunion if they can …show more content…

When this happened Sam Walton, hired the lawyer John Tate to stop the issue. Again, they went up against employees in 1978 trying to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Arkansas. Walmart stalled the vote for four years, while Sam Walton met with workers, ultimately causing the Teamsters to lose 215 to 67 (Boundway 2012). In 1992 Sam Walton said in his autobiography “I have always believed strongly that we don’t need unions at Wal-Mart. Theoretically I understand the argument that unions try to make, that the associates need someone to represent them and so on. But historically, as unions have developed in this country, they have mostly just been divisive.” (Boundway 2012). Walmart has faced many lawsuits over labor issues, and has paid out billions of dollars in fines. But Walmart still remains union …show more content…

OUR Walmart has paired with UFCW. OUR Walmart, a campaign of strategic wildcat walkouts and press stunts to pressure Wal-Mart and its employees into unionizing (Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart)). Although OUR Walmart’s specified goal is to protest supposed unfair labor practices, the group’s union ties indicate that its real goal is likely to unionize Wal-Mart all associates. Protesters affiliated with OUR Walmart have also demonstrated at the homes of Walmart officials during the corporation’s annual meeting and even went as far to make empty threats promising huge actions to disturb the general shareholders’ meeting. In response Walmart filed for restraining orders against the UFCW and OUR Walmart in Florida and Arkansas state courts. In Arkansas, the restraining order was granted, and is still pending before a Florida state court. Also in addition, Walmart has suspected that OUR Walmart’s disturbances of in store operations should be subjected to trespassing before courts in Texas and California; temporary restraining orders have been granted in these states against UFCW and OUR Walmart (Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart)). . Walmart will continue to fight the UFCW and any other union that tries to come in. The current CEO Doug McMillon, is

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This is most likely because they choose to mistreat and exploit their employees for higher profit gain. Based on quotes from former and current Wal-Mart employees and Olsson’s own words, a union is definitely necessary for Wal-Mart. From reading this essay, I see just how obvious the mistreatment is; constantly overworked employees are struggling to keep themselves afloat as their superiors are pressuring them to work more with no pay. This has been illegal for well over 50 years and unionization was deemed lawful in the 1840s. This being said, I feel that Olsson’s claim of underrepresentation is completely

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I also found out that about 5,000 lawsuits are filed against Wal-Mart each year or 17 suits per working day.. Walmart is most commonly suited for workers exploitation. In foreign countries employees rights are violated often in order to stop this the International Labor Rights Fund filed a class-action lawsuit against Wal-Mart for violating workers’ rights, arguing that Wal-Mart denied minimum wage, required overtime, and punished union activity. In the article called The Good, The bad, and Walmart written by Timothy Jordan said that workers argued that In some cases they were beaten by

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initiated in January 2016, its second phase to raise one million of their associate’s wages to ten dollars an hour. Many union leaders believe it is nothing more than a show. "It's easier to find a unicorn than a Walmart worker who has gotten a meaningful raise, or hasn't had their hours cut," United Food & Commercial Workers Union spokeswoman Jessica Levin said via email” (Wattle, 2016). Walmart’s “investment” in its associates salaries did come at a price. 10,000 employees were laid off or transferred to other stores when the company decide to close over 150 stores of its stores.

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So handling this conflict appropriately outside of the courtroom will go a long way in saving their good name in the eye of the public, unions, and government. Wal-Mart has gone on to enter into arbitration with 69 of the 135 employees to reconcile the conflict at hand. They are confident that they will be able to come to terms with each and every employee. They chose to do the arbitration separately as each employee deserves different compensation as the consideration of their title, time in service, and tenure all play a role in determining this. Not one settlement on compensation would be appropriate for

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