Wal-Mart tells workers that unions could make life harder for them if Democrats win in November

Wal-Mart, which has most of its stores in rural areas and small towns, and no unionized workplaces, is warning its employees "that if Democrats win power in November, they'll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies -- including Wal-Mart," The Wall Street Journal reports.

After interviewing employees from seven states who attended mandatory company meetings on the subject, Ann Zimmerman and Kris Maher report, "Wal-Mart executives claim that employees at unionized stores would have to pay hefty union dues while getting nothing in return, and may have to go on strike without compensation. Also, unionization could mean fewer jobs as labor costs rise."

Wal-Mart executives stay within the law by not specifically telling hourly-wage employees how to vote, "but make it clear that voting for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama would be tantamount to inviting unions in," the Journal reports. A Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri told the newspaper, "I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote."

The main issue is the proposed "card check" law, titled the Employee Free Choice Act, which would allow workplaces to be organized through a majority of employees' signatures on union cards rather than a secret-ballot election on representation. "It is far easier for unions to get workers to sign cards because the organizers can approach workers repeatedly, over a period of weeks or months, until the union garners enough support," the Journal notes.

Wal-Mart is telling employees that Congress would pass and Obama would sign such a law. Other opponents with undisclosed funding sources are running TV commercials against the idea and Democratic candudates who support it, saying it would subject employees to intimidation. Unions say it would protect workers from intimidation by employers. "Unions consider the Employee Free Choice Act as vital to the survival of the labor movement," Zimmerman and Maher report.

No Wal-Mart employees are represented by unions. When the United Food and Commercial Workers organized a small group of Wal-Mart butchers in Texas in 2000, "the company phased out butchers in all of its stores and began stocking prepackaged meat," the Journal notes. "When a store in Canada voted to unionize several years ago, the company closed the store, saying it had been unprofitable for years." (Read more)

UPDATE, Aug. 14: The reporters write in a follow-up that labor unions, citing the Journal story, are asking the Federal Election Commission is violating federal law by spending corporate funds on the meetings. (Read more)