Wal-Mart Workers Vote 17-1 Against Union

from The Wall Street Journal

Workers at a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. tire department in Colorado on Friday voted 17-to-1 against union representation. A spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers said the group will ask the National Labor Relations Board to throw out the result. The union claims workers had been subjected to intimidation before the vote and Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, added employees to the unit to dilute the strength of the union supporters. In addition, the union says the Bentonville, Ark., retailer unfairly disallowed a union representative to observe the election. A pro-union worker who was scheduled to observe suffered a seizure prior to the vote. Wal-Mart rejected the union's request to have one of its representatives serve as a substitute. A Wal-Mart spokeswoman said the union was offered an opportunity to provide another worker to observe but couldn't find one. She said any workers added to the operation were a response to business needs and not part of an antiunion effort. The spokeswoman said the company doesn't tolerate harassment or discrimination.