Wal-Mart Files Complaint Over Black Friday Strike Threat

by Christopher Freeburn | November 19, 2012 9:38 am

[1]With the prospect of a labor action threatening to mar its all-important Black Friday sales, Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT[2]) is taking action against the union[3] it says it behind employee walkouts at a number of its stores.

In a complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board on Thursday, the nation’s largest retailer accused the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union of using its OUR Wal-Mart group to pressure the company into collective bargaining by organizing work actions at a number of company facilities over the last few months, in violation of labor laws, CNN Money notes.

Wal-Mart officials indicated that they expect employees to show up for work as scheduled this week, or face possible unspecified disciplinary actions. OUR Wal-Mart claims that it will hold 1,000 events at Wal-Mart stores this week.

The tussle between the retailing giant and the UFCW comes after worker’s groups organized a series of walk outs at various Wal-Mart locations and promised a wave of strikes and protests at Wal-Mart stores in the days leading up to Black Friday[4], the traditional kickoff of the holiday shopping season.

Shares of Wal-Mart slipped fractionally in Monday morning trading.

Source URL: http://investorplace.com/2012/11/wal-mart-files-complaint-over-black-friday-strike-threat/
Short URL: http://investorplace.com/?p=262917

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