Surprisingly it was the governing Liberals who lead the attack with Ontario Liberal Mario Silva lambasting Wal Mart for closing the store after only nine days of bargaining. "It is imperative that workers be protected from this kind of flagrant corporate injustice", Silva told the House of Commons. "When workers choose to be members of a union they should not do so with the fear that their jobs will be lost in such a punitive manner. We should all stand up for these workers in Jonquiere and across Canada".
Opposition NDP and Bloc Quebecois MPs pressed the attack harder demanding that the government summons Wal Mart Canada's CEO to a meeting to impress upon the retailer that his obligations like any other corporation operating in Canada to respect provincial labour laws.
Former NDP leader Ed Broadbent called Wal Mart, "the most anti-democratic company in the world", and urged Industry Minister David Emmerson, a BC Member of Parliament, to include respect for human rights clauses in the Investment Canada Act, the federal foreign investment review law.
"I think its pretty clear that if what Broadbent called for was already in the Investment Canada Act, Wal Mart would have never made it across the border", says UFCW Local 1518 President, Brooke Sundin. "Wal Mart's total disregard for the laws and rights of Canadians right across the country is astounding. They just don't care!" ..............
http://www.ufcw1518.com /
What Wal Mart has failed to realize, and still doesn't, is that there is only one thing that is more important than money to an American politician and that is getting re-elected. When the electorate starts sending messages to the politicians on a given issue you can bet money will take a back seat, even if you are the second largest contributor to the Republican Party in the US. In Canada of course, election law prohibits corporations, and Unions for that matter, from contributing more than a $1000 to a campaign, so the corporate money lever in this country is very short indeed......................
the US, Wal Mart may have been successful in bullying Department of Labour bureaucrats into signing secret, "sweetheart", deals on child labour violations and sending Wal Mart employee complaints to their government back to the company without investigating the complaints, but the word with the short lifespan in government is "secret". Now Wal Mart is faced with the threat of Congressional and Senate committee hearings into its labour practices, and one state albeit a small one, Connecticut has filed a lawsuit to overturn the child labour deal...................
Here in Canada Wal Mart has slipped over the same edge and is sliding down what could turn out to be a long slippery slope. No one can remember the last time a provincial Premier chastised a company publicly for not abiding by labour laws, but that's what has happened to Wal Mart in Quebec. Now, we have seen the never-before-seen when Members of Parliament from three of the four political parties in the House of Commons rose to criticize Wal Mart in the House for announcing the closure of the Jonquiere store to avoid having its employees covered under a collective agreement. Add to that the fact that the strongest condemnation came from a member of the governing party, and that party is not known for its support of Unions and working people.
What Wal Mart has failed to realize is that its fight with governments has just begun and the worst is yet to come its way. Lawsuits from states, criticism from Premiers, Congressional and Senate committee hearings and public condemnation in the House of Commons only leads to one thing, legislation. ................
http://www.ufcw1518.com /
Expect legislation specifically targeting Walmart! Walmart will not close down that store in Quebec. Canadian workers aren't wimpified like Americans. When Canada provides the model expect things to turn around here in the US as well.
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