By Mzwandile Poncana | Mississauga.com
After a historic union vote at Walmart’s Mississauga warehouse in September, employees have found themselves excluded from wage increases granted to non-unionized workers.
Unifor, the union representing the workers, has filed complaints alleging the actions constitute unfair labour practices aimed at discouraging further unionization efforts.
Walmart has denied Unifor’s allegations in a written statement to Metroland Media.
“We are aware that Unifor has filed an unfair labour practice against Walmart. We strongly disagree with this claim … All actions that we have taken have been in good faith and in compliance with the law,” Walmart stated.
Unifor has alleged Walmart’s wage freeze is a retaliatory measure, violating the “statutory freeze” provision of the Canada Labour Code.
Under the code, the statutory freeze is outlined in both Section 24(4) and Section 50. It reads that, following a union’s certification, “the employer shall not alter the rates of wages” or other employment terms and conditions without the union’s consent until a new collective agreement is established.
It also stipulates that, during the period between a union’s application for certification and the board’s decision, employers are prohibited from altering employees’ wages or other employment terms and conditions without the board’s consent.
Two separate complaints have been filed — one with the Canada Industrial Relations Board on Dec. 3 and the other with the Ontario Labour Relations Board on Nov. 29.
“This is an anti-union tactic,” said Justin Gniposky, the director of organizing at Unifor.
“These kinds of tactics are about discouraging workers and convincing them that management is somehow on their side by offering a wage increase that they wouldn’t otherwise get if they join the union,” he said.
Walmart said it announced pay increases at different points this year, including in July and September. In the most recent wage increase, Walmart said “some associates were not eligible” for reasons such as “their compensation was already market-competitive” or because “changes in terms and conditions of their employment will be negotiated through a collective bargaining.”
However, Gniposky said that the increases were deliberately timed to undermine unionization efforts. It could cause unionized workers to wonder if they would’ve been in a better position if they had remained non-unionized.
“They could’ve given them a wage increase at any point. So why is it now … after two groups — one here in Ontario and one in British Columbia — have organized?” he said. “It’s not out of the goodness of their heart.”
Unifor began campaigning at the Walmart Mississauga facility in December 2023, four months prior to the July increase. When Walmart was asked why it did not implement wage increases in any of the years prior — including during the year of the pandemic — it did not directly answer in the written statement.
“We’ve been on a journey to invest in our associates’ long-term success and growth. We regularly review our compensation and total rewards offering and adjust as needed in particular areas of our business to ensure we are market-competitive or better,” Walmart stated.
“While we are pleased that workers are finally seeing compensation increases, we are confident they recognize these measures for what they are: reactive moves designed to undermine their efforts to organize and bargain collectively,” said Gniposky.
Rodolfo Pilozo — one of the recently unionized Walmart workers, who was a part of the union campaign — said he was not directly notified by Walmart about the wage increases. Through word of mouth, he heard non-unionized employees would receive increased wages, but he wouldn’t.
Pilozo believes Walmart is using wage freeze as a way to attempt to pit unionized workers and non-unionized workers against each other.
“It’s a divide and conquer strategy,” he said.
However, Pilozo said, the strategy is mostly not working and unionized workers are maintaining their resolve.
“I’m very optimistic because I know that everything is a process,” he said. “Especially for us since we are starting from the foundation and making history, being the first in the country to unionize.”
He said the alleged tactic is actually having the opposite effect, and making workers see the company more “clearly.”
“People that were not supportive of the union are starting to see what Walmart is really like.”
Adam Donald King, an assistant professor in the labour studies program at the University of Manitoba, said wage freezing is a strategy some companies have employed to resist unionization.
King pointed to a case involving Starbucks in Vancouver, where the company granted raises to non-unionized stores, after unionized store workers had applied for union certification but had not yet obtained a collective agreement. The United Steelworkers Local 2009 — the union representing Starbucks workers — filed an unfair labour practice complaint with the B.C. Labour Relations Board.
The parties reached a settlement through the board, wherein Starbucks agreed to pay the wage increases to employees at the three unionized stores.
“This tactic of raising the pay and improving the conditions of non-union workers in response to a union certification drive is extremely common. Employers do this all the time,” King said.
“It won’t surprise me in the slightest if the Canada Industrial Relations Board finds in Unifor’s favour,” King added.
King explained the tactics can be used as a “gotcha” against unionized workers to undermine their confidence and deter others from organizing.
“Employers are saying to those workers who have the audacity to organize and certify a union, ‘This is a form of punishment,’” King said. “They’ll give bonuses or pay increases to all those who didn’t defy management and join the campaign.”
King noted that even though this contravenes Canadian labour codes, the penalties companies face for violations are often not severe enough to deter employers from taking the risk.
“So the solution here is to make sure that the law is upheld, and to make sure that punishments for transgressions of the law are meaningful enough to discourage employers from engaging in these types of tactics,” he said.
In Unifor’s Dec. 3 complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, the union also accuses Walmart of distributing anti-union materials, holding captive audience meetings to spread “misleading information” and encouraging workers to revoke union membership.
Walmart did not say whether or not they deny this claim specifically, but in the statement to Metroland Media, they said they “strongly” disagree with Unifor’s unfair labour practice complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board.
Gniposky said some of the alleged anti-union materials published by Walmart has been written in a variety of languages to cater to those from immigrant backgrounds.
“So now all of a sudden, in anti-union materials only, they can communicate with them in their first language. But with regular materials, they’ll basically be like ‘well, we’re only required to communicate with you in English in this province,’” he said.
The complaints filed by Unifor are currently under review by the Ontario Labour Relations Board and the Canada Industrial Relations Board.
According to Gniposky, the boards will first acknowledge the complaints before setting timelines for submissions and hearings. The hearings will allow both Unifor and Walmart to present their cases, and the boards will ultimately decide whether Walmart’s actions constitute unfair labour practices.
Pilozo remains hopeful.
“We just have to follow the process, be patient, and eventually us workers will be in a better place,” said Pilozo
He added that Unifor has shown strong support throughout the process of union certification, and that through their collective efforts, people who were non-unionized in the past are expressing more of an active interest in joining the union.
