Walmart and the Union

Bob Arne at Alway Low Prices posts that a Wal-Mart store in Quebec is closing because they could not come to an agreement with the union representing the workers.

Wal-Mart said it was shuttering the store in Jonquiere, Quebec, in response to unreasonable demands from union negotiators, that would make it impossible for the store to sustain its business. The United Food & Commercial Workers Canada last week asked Quebec labor officials to appoint a mediator, saying that negotiations had reached an impasse....

Some employees at the store said they believed the store was closing because of their agreement to join the union and several cried as they left the store.

Major losers in this battle will the consumers in Jonquiere. They will now have to shop at places offering less variety, higher prices, and/or greater travel distances. Sadly, the full nature of this loss will not likely be reported (if it is even mentioned) by the CBC (indeed, see here and here to see that CBC reported a great deal about the labour union's position and nothing about consumers).