Union wins contract with Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart finally ran out of delays and stalls. Following provincial labor law, a mediator awarded workers a first union contract April 10 in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, east of Montreal. The store workers are organized by the Food and Commercial Workers.

This is the first time any Wal-Mart employees in North America have gotten a union contract.

According to the union, the contract gives the workers “a legally binding grievance process, a wage structure ‘free from favoritism’ and seniority rights.”

The National Union of Public and General Employees, the Canadian union cooperating with the Food and Commercial Workers to organize Wal-Mart, announced last year that Wal-Mart employees in Gatineau, Quebec, have also petitioned for union recognition. Gatineau is across the Ottawa River from Canada’s capital.