By Mzwandile Poncana | Mississauga.com
When Rodolfo Pilozo began working at Walmart in 1995, he had just emigrated from Ecuador, and the pay was enough to live comfortably.
Nearly 30 years later, Pilozo, still working for the company, finds his wages inadequate. Now, he and his wife are both juggling part-time jobs to make ends meet.
“With one paycheque for a family of four, we cannot survive,” Pilozo said.
Due to bills and rising costs, the couple — who has two sons to support — are working long hours to stay afloat.
Pilozo is one of many workers at Walmart’s Mississauga distribution centre who have been campaigning for union representation under Unifor since December 2023.
Workers cite poor safety conditions, job insecurity, and unfair wages as existing issues that need to be addressed through unionization.
A union vote was held Sept. 10-12. On Sept. 13, Unifor announced that the majority of workers had voted in favour, making the Mississauga warehouse the first Walmart distribution centre in Canada to vote to unionize.
“I feel very happy to know that the vote was in our favour,” Pilozo said. “We made history and we’re very proud of our effort and commitment.”
Unifor director of organizing Justin Gniposky praised the workers’ resolve.
“It’s been a long and challenging fight, but I couldn’t be prouder of the courageous workers at Walmart. Their victory will serve as a beacon of hope for unorganized workers across the country,” he said.
The Ontario Labour Relations Board still needs to certify the vote before workers can elect a bargaining committee and begin negotiations for a collective agreement.
In an email, Walmart Canada stated it was reviewing the next steps in the process and commented on the vote.
“We’ve always believed that the best person to speak for our associates is the associate,” said Walmart spokesperson Sarah Kennedy. “Our culture is founded on transparency, honesty, and direct dialogue with our associates, without involving individuals outside of our organization who don’t know our culture or our business.”
For workers like Pilozo, one of the main objectives of unionization is to improve health and safety conditions at the workplace. Poliozo said he has had multiple neck and back injuries over the 30 years working there, adding it is partly due to the pressure to meet strict deadlines.
Even though Walmart provides demonstrations on how to properly lift equipment, there is a large expectation to meet its goals at a certain time — if you don’t, you’re written up and will likely be replaced, he said.
While Walmart has a return-to-work policy, Pilozo said it is not uncommon for workers to feel pressured to return before fully recovering. Injured workers are often assigned less physically demanding tasks, but that feeling of pressure to return remains.
“My experience is, when you’re healthy, the company loves you. They adore you. But the minute you get injured, that’s it: you’re just a number,” he said.
When asked whether or not workers are pressured to neglect their health to meet quotas and return to work before fully healthy, Walmart responded indirectly.
“Safety is a top priority at Walmart,” the company said in an email. “We have a robust health and safety program and act in compliance with applicable laws.”
Adam Donald King, an assistant professor in the labour studies department at the University of Manitoba, said there is general evidence to suggest union representation leads to safer workplaces.
He mentioned that though the law requires companies with more than 20 people in a workplace to have a health and safety committee, these committees are often ineffective when the company is not unionized.
“Workplace health and safety committees, while important, are largely venues for consultation,” said King. “Workers do not have meaningful power to force their employers to act through them. Having a union improves worker health and safety because it creates an independent organization able to exert greater collective power and voice in the workplace.”
One 2015 study published in the Review of Labour Economics and Industrial Relations analyzed workplace health in 10 European countries. It found nations with more unionized companies saw reductions in workplace-related injuries, both fatal and non-fatal.
Alrick Leslie, who has worked at the Mississauga warehouse for 28 years, said he feels discipline following workplace accidents can often be arbitrary and up to the discretion of individual managers.
For example, if a driver is involved in an accident, the response is usually to give them a verbal reprimand — warning them to be more attentive to their surroundings — instead of investigating all the factors that potentially caused the crash.
Leslie, who shed tears after hearing the vote results, said the workplace has become less democratic over the years, with fewer opportunities for workers to express concerns directly to management. He is eager to have his perspectives considered, he said.
When asked about allegations of an undemocratic workspace and arbitrary discipline measures, Walmart did not respond to specific allegations and once again referred back to their previous emailed statement about health and safety.
Like Pilozo, Leslie has been struggling with the rising cost of living. Despite his wife’s contributions, their finances are tight as they continue to support their 19-year-old son. Both workers said wages is a universal issue at the warehouse.
“Most of us believe we are underpaid for the work we do,” Pilozo said. “We deserve better to catch up with the high cost of living.”
When asked to respond to employees’ statements about unfair wages, Walmart said its pay was “market-attractive,” adding that employees also receive benefits such as a discount card and 24/7 TELUS Health Virtual Care.
King noted that unionized workplaces tend to offer higher wages due to collective bargaining. According to Statistics Canada, temporary workers with union coverage earn $9.37 per hour more than those without, while permanent workers earn $2.06 more.
Gniposky emphasized that they are not seeking a drastic wage increase, but predictable and regular wage increases ensured through the collective agreement.
“Considering that this company made billions off workers, we don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask for a regular wage increase,” he said. “It’s not a huge cost for them.”
Walmart Canada manages a chain of more than 400 stores countrywide and employs more than 100,000 associates. The warehouse in Mississauga employs just over 800 workers.
Due to Unifor’s track record of successful contracts and that Unifor — traditionally a manufacturing union — has moved into warehousing and logistics more recently, King expects to see more Canadian workers in that sector seeking union representation.
The first Amazon Warehouse to unionize in Canada was in Laval, Que., in May — though Amazon attempted unsuccessfully to challenge the unionization. King thinks it is very possible Walmart could pursue challenges following this vote in Mississauga.
Poliozo, in the mean time, remains hopeful.
“Overall, it has been a great experience working alongside the Unifor organizers. We have ultimate respect for them. We hope that the end results are in the workers’ favour,” said Poliozo.
