Wal-Mart staff ordered to search store after bomb threat: report

[NorthernSun]

ST-JEAN-SUR-RICHELIEU, QUE. — Managers at a local Wal-Mart forced employees to search the store after it received a bomb threat, Radio-Canada reported Monday.

Some 40 nervous employees searched the store for an hour last Thursday, said Mailie Fournier, a former employee of the store. They were accompanied by six police officers.

Several employees, whose jobs don't include security, found the experience traumatic, said Mr. Fournier.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060711.wwalmart0711/BNStory/National/?cid=al_gam_nletter_newsUp

[Selatius]

1. What incredible incompetence on apart of the store managers

Absolutely incredible and stunning and inhuman.

[DainBramaged]

4. Would you have experted a humanitarian response from them?

Wal-Mart managers, about the same level as dog shit scraped off your shoe. All in the name of the elusive bonus.

[Broken_Hero]

6. wasn't

Hanks hardware, all ready going outta business before walmart got there?

[DainBramaged]

14. NO (big laughs) but Annie's Duds was

[Broken_Hero]

26. Okay(small laugh)...:) n/t

[Selatius]

9. I would've told them to go fuck themselves if they wanted me to do that

I come to work to do ordinary things, but unless finding bombs is in my goddamn employment contract, I'm not going to do anything of that sort. I'm as worried as any person about where my paychecks come from, but it's not worth potentially losing my life over. Money is not everything.

[MrPrax]

19. I would too...

But then again neither of us would be so demoralized and broken to even consider employment with such a firm so it's kinda hallow...blaming these workers for not doing what millions of other workers don't do in the area of health and safety (that is speaking out) is really not fair...

If you notice, this happened in Quebec Canada and NO DOUBT the very large union movement and then some will answer for these workers in short time. Wal-Marts actions are illegal and they are going to get whacked in short order...

[Selatius]

28. Wal-Marts are still not unionized in Canada

Management is actively opposed to workers who agitate for unionization. It's company policy. Agitators for unions are often fired before they get that far, and they use intimidation tactics to keep workers divided from each other and weak.

With respect to blaming workers, I never did blame them. I simply told what I would have done if I were working for such a shoddy employer, and I've worked for several of the kind in the past. Of course, everybody is only willing to challenge authority to varying degrees. We all have our lines in the sand, but they're not all in the same place. I guess my line is rather far left.

Of course, I can't help but think of that psychology study where people are told to turn up the voltage on a subject because an authority figure says so, and many of them obeyed.

[MrPrax]

30. I'll be polite...

Second Quebec Wal-Mart organized by UFCW Canada

July 12, 2006

A victory for retail employees and workers everywhere - NUPGE president James Clancy

St-Hyacinthe - The United Food and Commercial Workers Union-Canada has been certified as the bargaining agent for approximately 200 employees at a Wal-Mart store in Saint-Hyacinthe, the second Quebec outlet to be organized within recent months.

The certification order was issued this week by the Quebec Labour Relations Commission after a majority of employees at the store, about 60 kilometres east of Montreal, signed union cards.

Wal-Mart is the largest private sector employer in the world with 1.4 million workers globally. It is almost exclusively a non-union corporation and is universally known for its atrocious record on labour rights. Wal-Mart entered Canada in 1994 and now has about 230 Canadian outlets with more than 60,000 Canadian employees.

"This is great news for the workers at this particular Wal-Mart store, and it's also an important victory in protecting and promoting the rights of all workers in Canada," says James Clancy, president of the 337,000-member National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE).

NUPGE

...and in Saskatchewan they are about to fall to the union:

'Board is biased' against Wal-Mart, court hears

July 12, 2006

Wal-Mart Canada's union battles have shifted to Saskatchewan, where the retailer is taking aim at the province's labour board, alleging bias could prevent the company from getting a fair hearing.

Wal-Mart lawyer John Beckman argued last week before a Saskatchewan Queen's Bench judge that some labour board members should be replaced.

He cited an affidavit from the board's former vice-chairman, Walter Matkowski, who alleges his contract with the board was not renewed because he had made rulings against unions and was not well-liked by organized labour in the province.

Mr. Matkowski, who has filed a wrongful-dismissal lawsuit against the government, also alleges his superiors forced board members to read the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour's newsletter, which featured articles critical of both Wal-Mart and the board.
National Post

oh boohoo...wal-mart found a union person on a provincial labour board...LOL

I helped on a picket campaign at one in Regina, SK BTW ;-)

In BC: they had a setback at the Cranbrook
store. (dated: July 5, 2006)

But we will prevail!!

This is actually a big frontburner issue for organized labour...the attitude is bascially 'pay decent wages or get the fuck out' which is a good position because Wal-Mart has enough public heat given their destructive tendencies in any community.

So how many unionized Wal-Marts are there in the US currently?

on edit--added dates to show it is a current struggle with current reporting in Canada

[KamaAina]

31. In fact, Sprawl-Mart closed a store in Quebec

where the workers were using the U-word. And they didn't even open another one 100 yards away, outside city limits, like they usually do.

[pepperbear]

2. Please let there be a HUGE lawsuit!!!!!!!!!! Oh, no they di'nt! n/t

[cboy4]

3. "Afterwards, confused WalMart executives stated that police bomb squad

members would not be paid for their work, because they should just be happy they have a job." :sarcasm: <-----if that was actually needed

[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. this shows exactly how much WallyMart values their employees

NOT. AT. ALL

Bastids!! :mad:

[China_cat]

15. I wouldn't be surprised to find

that the managers locked the employees in to make sure they didn't leave before finding that 'bomb'.

[bluestateguy]

7. 4 years and counting, that I have not set foot in a Wal-Mart

This story only strengthens my resolve.

[pennylane100]

18. I never shop there but I always use their bathrooms

when travelling. It makes me feel good knowing that I may have added a dime to their overhead.

[unda cova brutha]

29. me too. And I make sure my aim is always off.

[physioex]

8. Sheeww....

Talk about cheap. I can understand Wal Mart putting the safety of the customers 1st and requiring employees to evacuvate customers. But geeshhh.......

[Behind the Aegis]

10. They would have seen the back of my head...

...as I walked out the door!

[mark11727]

16. Or THIS...!

[lindisfarne]

11. Wal-Mart said it simply wanted to help police conduct the search.

Wal-Mart said it simply wanted to help police conduct the search.

According to police, the store didn't violate any laws and only had an obligation to evacuate the store if a suspicious object was found.

============================
"only if a suspicious object was found" ... and blew up an employee or 2?

As if Wal-Mart employees would help the police -- if there was anything to be found, they could possibly contaminate evidence which could help track it to the person who put it there.

[SensibleAmerican]

12. In Quebec? .... Expect a major lawsuit ...

n/t

[Sherman A1]

13. Here is another little problem for Wally World

From Progressive Grocer - Arizona General Attorney Accuses Wal-Mart of Pricing Violations

JULY 10, 2006 -- BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. was hit with a consumer-fraud lawsuit in Arizona late last week, as the state's attorney general Terry Goddard accused the retailer of consistently failing to list accurate prices on its shelves.

More at http://www.progressivegrocer.com/progressivegrocer/headlines/index.jsp

[enlightenment]

17. Umm -- why did the police allow the employees in the store?

Don't they have the authority to keep 'civilians' away in situations like that? Just how much control does Walmart have in Canada?

[Sadie5]

20. Wal-Mart=cheap Chinese junk

eom

[Solon]

27. I have a feeling that the police weren't there yet...

In this, the Wal-Mart Managers should be thrown in jail for reckless endangerment of all the Employees, in addition to being arrested for hindering a police investigation.

[krispos42]

21. The manager only should have stayed

It makes a certain amount of sense for the manager, you know, the guy with all the keys and computer access, to stay and help the cops so the police can ask questions about specific items and get access to restricted areas.

The other store employees I suppose could have volunteered to help, using their detailed knowledge of the store areas to look for unusual objects.

But there's a huge difference between volunteering and conscription, ya know? If that Wal-Mart manager is so hot to look for bombs, I hear the US Army is looking for people to serve in Iraq...

[prole_for_peace]

22. did the managers help look for the bomb too?

or did they high tail it outside with the customers?

[RebelOne]

23. That is an outrage. All the employees should

have been sent out of the store and only the police should have searched.

[lumberjack_jeff]

24. Smart business move...

walmart buys dead peasants insurance on their employees. Because of that, a WalMart employee is worth more to the company dead than alive.

If someone's gonna get blown up, WalMart would prefer it be one of their employees.

edited to add:
Assholes.

[FSogol]

25. Hey, its not Friday yet. Why cry "wolf" on Thursday? n/t