Article content continued

“There have been 24 different groups of Wal-Mart workers across Canada since the company came here who have tried to join the UFCW. In every one of those cases, Wal-Mart has done whatever it can to try to convince them otherwise.

“It’s very difficult to create a positive relationship between a group of workers who want to exercise their rights as workers in Canada by joining the union, and try to develop a relationship with their employer within that context, when you have a company whose culture is so against that.”

In a five-to-two decision Friday, the country’s highest court said Wal-Mart modified working conditions at the Jonquiere store without a valid reason by shutting it down in 2005, putting 190 employees out of work. At the time, Wal-Mart Canada said it was closing the store because it was unprofitable.

Nine years on, as it is not possible to order the employees be re-hired, the court will send the case to an arbiter who will determine appropriate reparations, possibly with damages and interest.

Friday’s judgment stems from a UFCW complaint against Wal-Mart alleging the retailer modified working conditions by eliminating worker’s jobs, thereby contravening a section in Quebec’s Labour Code. An arbiter had ruled in favour of the union, but that decision was overturned by the Quebec Court of Appeal.

“Generally speaking, where Wal-Mart is in less urban areas of Canada there are certain communities that wanted to get those jobs where there weren’t jobs, and that would generate some goodwill,” said Bob Gibson, a retail analyst at Octagon Capital Corp. “If you have got that goodwill and worry you might lose that job otherwise, it is easy to keep a union out.”