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Wal-Mart gets
backing for
Keeaumoku site
The Ala Moana Neighborhood
Wal-Mart union vote ruled legal By Tim Ruel
Board votes to support the store
despite union opposition
Star-BulletinThe Ala Moana Neighborhood Board has voted to support plans for a new Wal-Mart store in Honolulu's urban core, despite protests from more than 100 unionized grocery workers who oppose the proposed development.
While last night's vote should not directly affect plans for the store, the board will advise the city of its position, Chairman John Breinich said before the vote.
Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. earlier this year agreed to buy a vacant 8.5-acre parcel on Keeaumoku Street and said it would build either a Wal-Mart or a Sam's Club.
The property remains in due diligence. Wal-Mart hopes to have plans ready by mid-May, said spokesman Jon-Eric Greene.
The world's largest big-box retailer operates two Wal-Marts in Mililani and Waipahu, and a Sam's Club in Pearl City.
The announcement for another Wal-Mart on the former Keeaumoku "superblock" near Kapiolani Boulevard has drawn criticism from the Local 480 of the United Food & Commercial Workers Union, which represents about 2,200 retail food workers in Hawaii, including many at nearby Ala Moana Center.
Wal-Mart does not employ union members, and the food workers union has pushed nationally to organize Wal-Mart employees.
Last night was the second time in two months that union members have showed up before a meeting of the Ala Moana-Kakaako Neighborhood Board to protest the project.
Members waved signs outside the Makiki Christian Church on Pensacola Street between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., chanting "Wal-Mart? Not in my neighborhood."
Union President Pat Loo said another big-box retail store on Oahu would bring low-wage jobs, unfair competition for local small business, and more traffic problems.
"We're not against good competition," Loo said. "We're against unfair competition that can come in."
Wal-Mart district manager Jon Tow disputed the claims of low wages and unfair competition, and said Wal-Mart will consider the impact on traffic in its plans.
Tow said three-quarters of the Wal-Mart employees in Mililani work full time, averaging 38 hours a week, and that Wal-Mart conducts surveys twice a year to make sure that employees get more pay than those who work for competitors.
"These are good jobs, good benefit packages," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Cynthia Lin said last week.
The neighborhood board voted 5 to 1 in favor of Wal-Mart, with member Patrick McCain against and three members abstaining.
Wal-Mart union
By Susan Parrott
vote legal, Labor
Board says
Associated PressDALLAS -- The United Food and Commercial Workers has won a tentative victory in its fight to preserve the first successful union vote at a Wal-Mart store.
A hearing officer for the National Labor Relations Board has recommended dismissal of Wal-Mart's objections to a 7-3 vote in February by meat cutters at the Wal-Mart in Jacksonville, Texas, 100 miles southeast of Dallas.
Wal-Mart argued that union organizers used illegal tactics and acted improperly by providing "alcohol, cash and sexual titillation" to induce employees to vote for union representation.
Wal-Mart spokesperson Jessica Moser said yesterday that the company will file exceptions to the hearing officer's recommendation to the NLRB, which must certify the union representation.
"Many people would think if you take someone to a strip bar and buy them drinks and give them money, that might sway someone's vote," she said.
The hearing officer's recommendation was made Friday, but its findings were not released until late Monday.
Union officials said that the recommendation means Wal-Mart will have to negotiate with the Jacksonville butchers before moving forward with plans to eliminate the meat-cutting department.
Two weeks after the Jacksonville vote, Wal-Mart announced that it would eliminate butchers in Jacksonville and 179 other stores in six states and begin selling prepackaged meat. Wal-Mart said it would offer the butchers other jobs.
Wal-Mart said customers prefer prepackaged meat, but union officials said the timing of the announcement was suspicious.
Wal-Mart's appeal of the Jacksonville vote is "legalistic red tape," said John Rodriguez, president of UFCW Local 540.
"Wal-Mart fears a united work force . . . and the company would do or say anything to deceive and divide workers," Rodriguez said.
The company alleges that union organizer Brad Edwards took Jacksonville meat cutter Maurice Miller to an exotic dance club, where he offered Miller beer and dollar bills for tipping dancers.
But the NLRB hearing officer, Michael Cooperman, said in his recommendation that the action was not inappropriate because Miller is a regular customer at the topless club and he and Edwards were "winding down from the pre-election hearing." Cooperman said he also found nothing wrong with the union giving jackets to employees after the election. He said he saw no evidence that the union offered Wal-Mart's meat-cutters leadership positions, preferential pension benefits or jobs with other employers. Cooperman also said Wal-Mart did not prove that union organizers harassed and threatened the butchers.
