Wal-Mart settles organizing case

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.twincities.com/business/ci_14060872

Retailer agrees to post worker rights
By Julie Forster
[e-mail]
Updated: 12/23/2009 10:09:16 PM CST

Wal-Mart and the union trying to organize workers in the discounter's Twin Cities area stores have reached a settlement over allegations the retailer violated federal labor laws.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789 filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board last summer accusing Wal-Mart of illegal antiunion activity at the Midway store on University Avenue in St. Paul and at a store in Hastings.

The union later withdrew the Midway charges after employees declined to testify. But at the Hastings store, the board found merit to allegations that a manager threatened to fire an employee if he continued to engage in union organizing. The same manager solicited grievances from an employee with the purpose of discouraging a union, also illegal, according to the NLRB.

The National Labor Relations Act protects employees' rights to engage in union organizing activity.

In agreeing to settle the matter, Wal-Mart did not admit wrongdoing. "We simply agree with the board that it makes sense to resolve the matter," said Daphne Moore, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart argued the employee was a supervisor and therefore was not protected by the union organizing law, said Marlin Osthus, director of the NLRB's regional office. The NLRB concluded the employee was not a supervisor and thereby protected in trying to form a union.

It's also against the law for employers to threaten workers' employment status based on union activity, and it's illegal for a supervisor or manager to interrogate or intimidate an employee about union support.

FULL story at link.