Wal-Mart Holds Meetings With Management on Employee Free Choice Act

I got an e-mail about a diary on Dailykos and I wanted to share:

The largest retailer in the world is playing the fear card. WAL*MART is holding meetings with its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they'll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies -- including Wal-Mart.

Of all companies to be whining about money. WAL*MART the so-called American company with 600 factories in CHINA and zero in America, they have the audacity to be pushing this line on their underpaid front-line employees.

While Lee Scott and the Waltons live in huge mansions and travel with bodyguards, paid for by the labor of their employees, these folks have the audacity to "fear" their employees into voting AGAINST their own pocketbook.

This is the same company that encourages its underpaid workers to seek out gov't assistance.

This company is as tolitarian as any country could be. If you are a manager or supervisor at WAL*MART, you are expected to "goose-step".

Let's see if the MSM picks this up.

"SPREAD THE WORD !!!

So, I decided that after reading this, I'd head over to the ultra-right wing Wall Street Journal and check out the rest of the story. I particularly enjoyed this quote:

"The meeting leader said, 'I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won't have a vote on whether you want a union,'" said a Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri. "I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote," she said.

Wal-Mart then denied that they're doing this, but the WSJ goes on to point out that Wal-Mart is not alone, they are in great company with Cintas:

Other companies and groups are also making a case against the legislation to workers. Laundry company Cintas Corp., which has been fighting a multiyear organizing campaign by Unite Here, relaunched a Web site July 14 called CintasVotes. The site instructs visitors to take action by telling members of Congress to oppose the legislation.

"We feel it's important that our employee partners fully understand the implications that the Employee Free Choice Act could have on their work environment and benefits," said Heather Trainer, a Cintas spokeswoman.

Business-backed organizations are also running ads aimed at building opposition to the bill, including the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, which counts several hundred industry associations as members. Another group, the Employee Freedom Action Committee, is run by former tobacco lobbyist Rick Berman. The groups, which aren't affiliated with each other, say they have a total of $50 million in funding. Neither will disclose which companies or individuals have provided funding.

Berman is afraid of the Employee Free Choice Act and is going to run a PR campaign to ensure that Obama loses (I doubt he cares who wins...wonder if he's donated to McCain yet) so that the Employee Free Choice Act and the ability of workers to organize through majority rule, a very democratic concept, much more so then the current way we have to do things.

So, I wonder if Cintas and Wal-Mart will be successful in telling their employees how to vote in the general election. If the woman from Missouri is any indication, I'm guessing the answer might just be "no".


Small note, WSJ, UNITE-HERE is not spelled Unite Here. It means

UNITE (formerly the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees) and HERE (Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union) merged on July 8, 2004 forming UNITE HERE. The union represents more than 450,000 active members and more than 400,000 retirees throughout North America.

but hey, WSJ, way to minimize their work.