Unionising Wal-Mart
Doug at If there is Hope… tells of the difficulties in unionising retailers:
As someone who has had the experience of working in a unionized retail outlet, it is insanely difficult to take on the employer. The problems are extremely high turnover and a naive, malleable workforce composed primarily of teenagers and students. Furthermore, management at lower levels is commonly drawn from unwaveringly obedient full-time workers. More often than not, long-serving full-time workers have stronger bonds with this low-level management than it has with part-time workers and young full-timers. The final problem is the “supervisor” position which is essentially a rank and file worker that delegates tasks but has no official power to hire and fire. Like low-level management, supervisors are usually obedient workers who are co-opted and do the work of low-level management, including putting pressure on management over who to hire/fire/ discipline. Its a bit like a caste system within the workplace, one that can be easily defeated if the average worker is aware of the dynamic (my own boss made a huge mistake promoting me to supervisor, thinking I was a model employee).
I think, though, Wal-Mart is slowly digging its own grave. The public perception of the struggle for unionization can only be positive when huge corporations like these callously lay off 190 workers because they feel they are not making a profit – nobody is buying this.