An administrative law judge with the National Labor Relations Board ruled in favor of Wal-Mart in two different cases last week related to election objections and unfair labor practice charges filed against the company by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW).
First, Judge Keltner Locke ruled in favor of Wal-Mart by reconfirming previous election results in which associates voted against UFCW representation in Palestine, Texas. The ALJ determined that Wal-Mart associates in Palestine did indeed have access to a fair election process and that their rights were not violated during the campaign that led up to their vote against the Union.
After losing the election in May 2000, the UFCW had filed 16 objections to the election, charging that the violation of workers rights made a fair election impossible. The Union also filed more than a dozen unfair labor practice allegations against Wal-Mart. Judge Locke ruled against the Union on all of its charges and objections, finding that Wal-Mart had not violated the law in any way.
Second, Judge Locke found that Wal-Mart’s obligation to recognize the UFCW as the representative of a small unit of Meat associates in the Jacksonville, Texas store ended in July 2000. Wal-Mart’s switch to a high quality case- ready meat program eliminated on-site meat cutting, which made it inappropriate to recognize a separate unit of Meat associates. Therefore, Judge Locke found that Wal-Mart has no obligation to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with the UFCW.
Judge Locke did conclude that Wal-Mart should have bargained with the UFCW in 2000 about the effects of the implementation of the case-ready program in Jacksonville on unit associates, and only on that topic, even though every meat department associate was guaranteed a job and no reduction in pay. If Judge Locke’s ruling is adopted by the NLRB, Wal-Mart would be required to bargain with the UFCW only on that limited topic. Wal-Mart has consistently contended that the Union should never have been certified in Jacksonville because the election result was improperly influenced by Union misconduct and because the bargaining unit requested was improperly narrow. This portion of the ruling will be appealed.
“We are pleased with most of the ALJ’s ruling,” said Terry Srsen, vice president for Labor Relations at Wal-Mart. “The union has been especially vocal over the last three years about Jacksonville and Palestine. It is gratifying to us to see our positions upheld.”
