Employers often remark, with varying degrees of intention, that
they would rather close up shop than manage a unionized
business. In yet another chapter of this ongoing saga, the Supreme Court
of Canada has ruled that it was not "business as
usual" for Wal-Mart to close its recently unionized store in
Jonquière, Québec. Wal-Mart will now likely be
ordered to pay damages to almost 200 employees for violating the
"statutory freeze".
Background
Just three years after Wal-Mart opened its store in
Jonquière in 2001, the United Food and Commercial Workers,
Local 503 ("UFCW") was certified to represent the
store's employees in collective bargaining. When
bargaining proved unsuccessful, the UFCW obtained an order that the
first collective agreement be settled by arbitration (labour
statutes in B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Newfoundland and
P.E.I. also provide for the possibility of first contract
arbitration).
