Life is cheap at Wal-Mart: Company orders 40 employees to search for a bomb

St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. July 11, 2006 -  Why did Wal-Mart clear customers out of a Quebec store and then order 40 of its workers to stay in the store and search for a bomb? On July 5 workers at a Wal-Mart in St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Quebec were ordered by Wal-Mart to help police search for a bomb, even though police recommended to Wal-Mart that the store should be completely evacuated.

An investigation is underway and some of the workers continue to be traumatized from the forced search.

“This was a pretty sad message about how much value Wal-Mart puts on the lives of its workers", says Wayne Hanley, national director of UFCW Canada (United Food and Commercial Workers Canada).

“But no worker’s life is worthless. What made Wal-Mart think it had the right to endanger 40 people without their consent? Why did Wal-Mart usher out its customers but order its workers to stay put? What if a bomb really had been planted?”

“This is a very troubling story," says Hanley, “and makes you wonder what kind of information Wal-Mart gives its employees about the labour laws."

“In case Wal-Mart hasn’t told them, Wal-Mart workers should know they have the legal right to refuse dangerous work without fear of reprisal. If these workers had union representation they would have known they had the legal right to refuse. Did Wal-Mart tell that to the workers at St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu before they ordered them to search for bombs?"

UFCW Canada is one of Canada’s largest private-sector unions with over 240,000 members across the country. UFCW Canada has led the campaign to assist Wal-Mart workers in unionizing, with units now certified at some Wal-Mart locations in British Columbia and Quebec.

UFCW Canada is also launching a new project to help Wal-Mart workers and other employees learn what rights they have under the labour laws. For more information see www.walmartworkerscanada.com.

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Contact: Michael Forman, UFCW Canada Communications
416-675-1104 x 249
mailto:[email protected]
www.ufcw.ca