(The following article is from the September 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

In a historic breakthrough, nine employees at a store in Gatineau, Quebec, became the only Wal-Mart workers in North America with a union contract, after an arbitrator imposed a collective agreement on August 15. Effective immediately, the three-year contract provides average raises of about 25%, to $11.54/hour from the current $9.25, and improved vacation provisions. Wages are scheduled to rise again to $15.94 in 2010.

     The UFCW Canada Local 486 bargaining unit was certified in 2005, covering Tire and Lube Express workers but not the other 240 employees at its Maloney Boulevard store. The collective agreement was the result of binding arbitration, following almost three years of stalled negotiations with the company.

     "Wal-Mart should now act as a good Canadian corporate citizen," said UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley," and live up to the terms of the contract... We believe the arbitrator did a good job and that it is a fair contract, in line with similar workplaces in Quebec. It shows that even after three years, workers at Wal-Mart, like all Canadian workers, can exercise their Freedom of Association rights and get a decent collective agreement."

     Two more Wal-Mart collective agreements are expected in Québec before the end of the year, when binding arbitration is complete for bargaining units at a Wal-Mart in Saint-Hyacinthe.

     The president of local 486, Guy Chénier, said that while Wal-Mart might want to close the tire and lubrication outlet, it would be much harder because "we have a collective agreement in our hands."

     In 2005, Wal-Mart closed its Jonquière, Québec, store, days before an arbitrator was to impose a contract. The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear the union's case that Wal-Mart violated Québec's labour laws as well as Section 3 of the Charter of Rights when it closed the Jonquiere store, located three hours northwest of Québec City.

     Wal-Mart Watch director David Nassar issued a statement congratulating the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada and workers at the Gatineau tire and lube operation, saying it was "the first Wal-Mart location in North America with a collective agreement in place."

     While unions have campaigned for years to organize Wal-Mart stores in North America, employees have established unions at some of the massive retailer's outlets in China, taking advantage of that country's labour laws.

     Wal-Mart Quebec spokesperson Yanick Deschenes said little about the arbitrator's 43-page decision, other than to warn "At first glance, this will have a significant impact on our business model, which is to offer the best prices to our clientele."

     In his decision, arbitrator Alain Corriveau wrote: "The employer does not want to modify his business model. This is likely the reason why negotiations stalled and why the parties could not reach a deal at the end of the first labour agreement."

     Corriveau wrote that except for salaries, the automobile technicians at the Gatineau store had already agreed on most elements in the collective agreement. He also ruled the salary scale proposed by the union was "reasonable, realistic and fair."