Thursday, December 05, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Judge rejects most Wal-Mart claims

An administrative law judge in San Francisco dismissed or ruled against most of the 43 allegations against Wal-Mart involving union organizing activities in Las Vegas.

The more serious allegations that Wal-Mart had fired employees for their union sympathies were among those ruled invalid, said Bill Wertz, spokesman for Wal-Mart in Bentonville, Ark.

"This was actually a fairly typical result," he said. "It's typical for the union to make these allegations and for the serious ones to be thrown out."

But a union organizer said the eight charges that were upheld prove that the retail giant violated the National Labor Relations Act.

"This is not a game where one side wins by having more charges dismissed," Bill Meyer, strategic coordinator for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 711, said Wednesday.

"All you have to do is lose one charge and you're convicted of violating the labor act. In no way can this be construed as anything but a great victory for the (workers)."

The union launched an organizing campaign in early 2001 targeting employees at several Las Vegas Sam's Club stores, a division of Wal-Mart, including those on Spring Mountain Road, Serene Avenue and Pecos Road.

Judge James Rose, in his decision issued Friday for the National Labor Relations Board, ruled "the evidence fails to support the allegation" that Wal-Mart refused to consider Mary Lou Wagoner for a transfer because of her union sympathy.

With respect to Jason Russin, who claimed to have been fired for supporting the union, the judge found that Wal-Mart was justified in firing him after his fourth unexcused absence.

In another charge involving Sandra Mena, who alleged she was fired because she was pro-union, the judge ruled that she had been dismissed for cause, adding "active support for a union does (not) immunize an employee from discipline or discharge for failing to do her job in the manner required."

Meyer said the union disagreed with the judge and will be filing an appeal on some of the dismissals, though it's up to the National Labor Relations Board to prosecute.

Likewise, Wertz said Wal-Mart is considering an appeal of some or all of the allegations upheld by the judge, including that management threw away union pens and denied a prounion associate from having a witness during an interview that might have led to disciplinary action.

"We disputed whether the circumstances called for a witness to be present," Wertz said. "We sent this associate home after the argument over the witness. We felt the circumstances and her mood warranted sending her home."

In general, the decision shows that the NLRB will stand by the rights of workers who want to exercise their right to organize a union, Meyer said.

"On almost every instance of serious misconduct, the judge ruled in the associates' favor," he said. "For the most part, the judge ruled in favor of Wal-Mart only on minor technical violations that associates decided against testifying at the trial about because they didn't feel the violations were that serious."