NEWS: Wal-Mart Dodges Unionization Once More

CULTURE: Wal-Mart Dodges Unionization Once More

Wal-Mart has once again avoided the deft, nimble tentacles of unionization when the tire shop at a Colorado store voted against unionization.

I’ve only been inside one Wal-Mart, and that was under dubious circumstances. Apparently, they don’t like it when you enter one of their superstores with a bowling ball chained to your ankle, especially when you’re looking for “cheap beer steins and Ding Dongs.” Any establishment that kicks people out under those circumstances needs to be part of a union.

It is indeed the Aeon Flux of union outmanuvering

I hate the whole "unions only cost people money" argument. It's b.s. The dues are more than compensated for by the great wage that I get. Just don't support walmart. That's what I do.

I once had a guy from a union give a speech in one of my classes in high school. Part of it went like this.

"Unions help people keep their jobs when it is unfair that they lose them...

For example when I was in my mid 30s working at a gas station a kid came up to the counter with alcohol, I asked him how old he was and he responded 16, thinking he was joking I sold him the alcohol. Find out he was 16 and working with ABC and lost my job.

Luckily for me the union helped me get it back."


Now that was when I thought to my self, "So that’s what unions do, help idiots have job security."

*shrug*

Unions have good ideas but I find them poorly executed, to me they seem a thing of the past, good for what they did but are no longer needed.

My thoughts on Wal-Mart. Fuck Wal-Mart.

Wal-mart is the prime example of coperate communism.

Simple enough, I can't stand Wal-mart. I hate it, I hate it.....i hate it.

Years ago, when employers were making people work 90 hours a week in horribly unsafe conditions for pennies on the hour, yes, I can see what the need for a union would be. Unfortunately today, they seem to be more about making money for themselves, and if the situation arrises that they have to help out, it's rather a half-assed attempt. I have a friend who was in a union. He was driving an ambulance when a car ran him off the road. The company brought in their own investigator and found he was doing 75 on Main Street in a big city... impossible for a new Ferrari to go that fast in that small a stretch of road in noon day traffic, let alone an ambulance. Anyway, he was fired, and his "union" has been "fighting" to get his job back along with back pay that he has missed... he's not holding his breath. Since he's moved on, EMTing for the town and teaching full time, but still, he's been dicked out of a good job and the people he pays to help, aren't.

first of all ill say im in a union in las vegas,that being said, it all deppends on the union,the one im in sucks,they only care about the money.i had somekind of insurance where if i ever got hurt off the job id get %40 of my pay,well when i whent snoboarding and tore a ligement in my hand i was out of work for two weeks.you know what the union gave??$140 check...i makde $800 a check,you do the math.then a week later my mom passed away and i was told the union doesnt requier my job to pay bereavment pay.but that my job would pay me for the time off anyways.i hate our union.but i have to be in it.here in las vegas if you dont belong to the nion you cant work in most casinos.period.they will tell you you have to join.i even moved to a smaller town to find a job in a casino,didnt have to join a union.but when one of the casino's in vegas wanted people to transfer from there other properties,i jumped on it to make more money,then i was told i had to join the union,so i did as i was told.then found out much later i didnt have to join since i already worked for the company.
fuck the union.

Only 13% of America's workforce is unionized mostly do to our manufacturing industry being transported overseas for the last forty years. I do not doubt some of the above "union horror stories," but I am willing to bet that most working class Americans would give their right hand to unionize the service sector industry which now dominates our economy. I believe this mainly because 9/10 of all union healthcare plans are far superior than non-union healthcare plans (I wouldn't give my plan up for nothing). You know what Walmart's idea of healthcare is? In California, they tell new employees if they want healthcare they should sign up for state medical assistance, basically putting them on the dole. Unions and the Left have failed in one major area: they have allowed the Right to convince Americans that they are not deserving of a fair wage nor the right to equal healthcare. Bush is now on his way to killing the greatest governmental achievement of the last 100 years, social security, and with it, America loses some of its promise.

You're right though,idais31, it does depend on the union. I wish I could agree that there was no more need for unions, but alas, there are still A LOT of companies out there that are fucking people pretty badly and unfortunately in a lot of these cases a union is all that these people can turn to. Besides that, I think the fervor with which companies like Walmart and others fight to keep unions out is testament enough that unions are still needed. As long as companies are treating their employees well, a union is no threat.

I second that.

Don't shop at Wal-Mart. seriously.

In reality, Wal-Mart is about as far from communism as possible... Now, if you had said corporate fascism, you'd have been much closer. Oh, and it would have been nice to spell corporate properly, too...

http://suicidegirls.com/media/members/5/53/151535/33172/333054.JPG

When was the last time you tried to unionize with them?

Maybe this is how to kill Wal*Mart.
Just keep forcing them to get rid of people, departments & stores as they unionize.

Unions protect the jobs of their members... by artificially closing their professions off from competition by lower-skilled workers. Ultimately, unions benefit their members at the expense of lost opportunity cost for even poorer workers who can't get into the union.

Is that a CSM vest? After all the time I spent slaving for them, there will always be a special place in my heart for the girls of the Wal.

And you can't forget the mafia! How would unions work without the mafia?

My feelings about Wal-Mart are very mixed. They treat everything that is connected to them like shit. But where else can I buy shoddy, cheap plastic crap at 3 AM?

wal mart will win. what good really is a union?

I agree with those of you of the opinion that it is better not to support giants like Wal-mart. Sam Walton, may he rest on a hot bed of coals, was one of the pioneers of benefit scrapping. In other words, keep your employees below the federal standard of full time hours and you don't have to pay your share of all those silly things like health and dental. Not to mention Wal-mart continues its war on small business by undercutting mom and pop drug stores till they go out of business, sort of like Home Depot. Vote with your dollar.

unions only cost people money is true for the most part for retail stores
a 16 year old don't need benefits he/ she needs money it's good for the lifers i guess.

the unions suck they don't fight for anything but to get your money and when the contracts up but besides that you are on your own.

[Edited on Feb 26, 2005 by fiendish]

Being a libertarian I hate unions. That being said I can understand their existence in certain industries. Retail, however, is not one of them. Retail requires little to no specialized skills and therefore little to no need for a union to represent retail employees. If you can't cut it in a retail job then you just can't cut it, end of story.

Being a libertarian, I am neutral on unions. People should be free to enter and form any kind of organization or relationship they choose, including a collective bargaining unit. People should also be free to exit any kind of organization or relationship that they have entered, which includes the right to fire anyone for any reason, including being part of a union.

I always hear the argument about stores like Home Depot and Wal-Mart edging out mom and pop stores. My response is: so what? What's so great about mom and pop stores? If mom and pop stores want to compete, all they have to do is put their brains to work and figure out how to offer something that the large chains stores don't. Could be a more pleasant shopping experience, could be more personal service, could be any number of subjective qualities - people will pay more if they feel they're getting more. In my own life and career, I look at competition as a good thing, as an opportunity to make myself better, to learn, to adapt, to offer what others can't or won't.

Having said all that, I do not shop at Wal-Mart and don't plan to start, mainly because the stores are ugly and unpleasant, and they really don't have anything I want that I can't get elsewhere. Vote with your dollar.