Wal-Mart appeals to labour board, court in dispute with union

MONTREAL (CP) - Wal-Mart Canada is challenging a pair of recent decisions by Quebec's labour board favourable to unions.

The U.S.-based retail giant has lodged appeals at both the Quebec Labour Relations Board and Quebec Superior Court, according to court documents obtained by The Canadian Press on Tuesday.

The board ruled last September the retailer failed to prove the closure of its store in Saguenay, Que., last spring was "genuine, true or definitive."

It rejected Wal-Mart's claim the decision was due to financial troubles at the outlet, opening the door to compensation for about 100 employees who lost their jobs.

The workers' union, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), had also argued the closure in late April was designed to intimidate workers.

Wal-Mart is also appealing another decision by the board denying its bid to get the names of employees at the outlet who were in favour of organizing.

The Saguenay store, 250 kilometres north of Quebec City, was one of Wal-Mart's first outlets to unionized. But the workers there never obtained a collective agreement.

In its first set of appeals, Wal-Mart is asking Superior Court to annul the labour board's decision that the store closure was a sham and reject the compensation claims.

The labour board had noted in its decision that Wal-Mart was still renting the building housing its Saguenay store several months past the closure, suggesting the corporation may have planned to re-start the operation.

But Wal-Mart said in its appeal the Saguenay store was "completely dismantled." It said it took down its signs, removed its equipment and boarded up the windows.

It is also claiming there is "no proof which demonstrates the closure was a plot" against the union.

In its second set of appeals, Wal-Mart argues it needs the names of the workers who agreed to join the union to question them for its own defence that it did not wage an anti-union campaign.

It is also claiming that a section of the province's Labour Code giving people the ability to join associations anonymously does not apply in this case and is contrary to Quebec's Charter of Rights.

The UFCW has maintained the closure of the Saguenay store stymied its campaign to organize workers at other Wal-Marts.