Wal-Mart: Union Bust

Recently, Wal-Mart has moved one step beyond what would seem reasonable. After a store in Canada was recognized as a union store, Wal-Mart closed it. It is criminal how much Wal-Mart can get away with in the U.S. compared to Canada. In the U.S., it has become common practice for Wal-Mart to aggressively intimidate workers with threats of retaliation prior to a union vote. In Canada, labor laws are stricter and unionization is easier so Wal-Mart has to resort to more ridiculous and blatant options to supress union activity. It would be interesting to see how much different the U.S. would be if Wal-Mart was unionized (and had been for some time). There is a stark contrast between the era when General Motors was the largest private employer in the U.S. and now when Wal-Mart is the largest private employer. General Motors was unionized and therefore workers could negotiate a living wage and it became easier for people to sustain themselves. The atmosphere was closer to the idea that "what is good for GM is good for America". In the Wal-Mart world it is false to make the same claim. In fact, it might be the truth that "what is good for Wal-Mart is bad for America". As the largest private employer in the U.S., whether Wal-Mart allows unions provides direction for many other companies. If one of the largest firms in the country can pay low wages and therefore be more profitable than other firms that are not anti-union, it provides a huge incentive for other firms to eliminate or discourage the formation of unions. The direction in which this incentive moves labor policy in the country is unambiguously negative.