I know there are a couple of rfcers who will be interested in reading
this.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazett...6-7397a1f933ea

16 August 2008
Union wins contract at Wal-Mart in Gatineau

First in North America Company 'reviewing decision, implications'

JEAN-FRANCOIS BERTRAND, Canwest News Service; Ottawa Citizen

A Gatineau Wal-Mart became the first in North America with a union
contract in effect yesterday when a collective agreement was put into
place between the retailer and eight employees of an auto shop.
After a three-year process that ended with a ruling by an arbitrator,
workers of Local 486 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada
should see their wages rise to a minimum of $11.54 an hour from the
current $8.50 an hour.
The 50-page agreement represents 98 per cent of what the union asked
for, said union local president Guy Chenier. Workers who install
tires, change oil and fill propane tanks made gains on their salary
for statutory holidays worked, have more generous vacations and will
see their wages increase periodically.
The three-year agreement replaces a system where technicians were paid
minimum wage and where increases of 30 cents an hour were granted
"randomly" after a year or six months, Chenier said.
He said that while Wal-Mart might want to close the Gatineau location,
it would be difficult because "we have a collective agreement in our
hands." Only the eights employees at the Tire & Lube Express centre
are affected by the decision, while the 200 staff inside the store are
not unionized.
Wal-Mart Canada spokesman Andrew Pelletier said that the company is
"carefully reviewing the decision and its implications."
There is a new, larger Wal-Mart four kilometres to the west. When
asked if closing older Gatineau location was in the realm of
possibilities, Pelletier said he would not speculate and "we're still
looking at the decision."
In 2005, Wal-Mart shut down its Jonquière store, days before an
arbitrator was to impose a contract. The Supreme Court of Canada has
agreed to hear the union's case that Wal-Mart violated Quebec's labour
laws, as well as the Charter of Rights, when it closed the Jonquière
store.
The Gatineau Wal-Mart's unionization was recognized by Quebec's Labour
Board in June 2005, but a month later, the employer requested a
judicial review. In February 2006, Justice Diane Marcelin of Quebec's
Superior Court rejected Wal-Mart's request, and in July 2006, the
minister of labour referred the dispute to an arbitrator. Hearings
ended in early June.

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2008