A National Labor Relations Board administrative judge ruled that Walmart violated the rights of six employees at two California stores when it disciplined them after they had participated in union-organized, anti-Walmart protests in 2012. The retailer said it plans to appeal the ruling to the full board.
The ruling released late Wednesday was a victory for the 1.3 million-member United Food and Commercial Workers, the union that organized the protests. UFCW, whose members work for Walmart competitors such as Kroger and Giant, has long sought to organize Walmart and its estimated 1.3 million workers.
The case primarily involved complaints relating to a Walmart store in Richmond, Calif. The judge found that Walmart had illegally disciplined six workers after they joined a Nov. 2, 2012 protest. The judge also found that a supervisor’s anti-union comments violated the law and that the company’s California stores used an overly restrictive dress code with the apparent intention of preventing the workers from wearing pro-union statements.
“Since the Nov. 2 work stoppage was protected by the [law],Walmart could not discipline associates for participating in the work stoppage without running afoul of [federal labor law],” said NLRB administrative law judge Geoffrey Carter.
The UFCW cheered the decision. “Walmart cannot continue its abuse of power any longer. Our families and our communities cannot thrive when companies like Walmart create an economy of low pay, erratic scheduling and illegal threats,” said Raymond Bravo, one of the six Richmond workers, in a statement posted on UFCW’s website.
Walmart issued a terse, one-sentence statement: “We do not agree with some of the administrative law judge’s recommended decisions and we do expect to file exceptions with the NLRB.”
The protests involved a group called OUR Walmart that presents itself as an organization of disgruntled Walmart associates seeking better pay and conditions. As Carter noted, the union provides “financial support [and] staffing support, such as UFCW employees who are assigned to work with OUR Walmart.”
The workers involved in the protest had been working with UFCW and OUR Walmart and coordinated the Nov. 2 event to coincide with the store’s grand re-opening after a remodeling. Walmart argued the disciplining was warranted because the event had disrupted store activities.
The judge rejected that argument, noting that disruption is the point of a worker protest and that the event wasn’t particularly disruptive. Only six employees engaged in the strike — the rest were community activists not affiliated with Walmart — which was peaceful and lasted for less than a hour while the store was open. “[T]he work stoppage had a minimal effect on Walmart’s operations,” the judge noted.
OUR Walmart has organized numerous protests at the retailer’s stores in recent years, with a particular focus on trying to disrupt the company during the Christmas shopping season. The events have typically featured few actual Walmart employees. Organizers could identify only one Walmart associate at a Walmart protest on the day in Washington after Thanksgiving, after previously saying 50 would attend. A Walmart official said between five and 10 employees appeared at the event and they were drawn to the 22 Walmarts in the D.C. area.
Press releases from the activist groups include the disclaimer: “UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Walmart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Walmart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Walmart publicly commit to adhere to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of its employees.”
The disclaimer serves to protect OUR Walmart from charges that it is engaged in illegal union organizing activities. Under labor law, groups cannot protest a company for more than 30 days without filing notice that they seek to organize its workers. After that, the protests must end. The disclaimer allows OUR Walmart to stage continual protests despite its connection to the UFCW.
