[Southsider2k12]

http://heraldargus.com/archives/ha/display.php?id=379991

MICHIGAN CITY -- Police in riot gear had to hold back nearly 200 union demonstrators at the site of a Wal-Mart being built along South Franklin Street. That was in 1989, just a couple weeks before Christmas.

Things are starkly different now, with the Wal-Mart Supercenter being erected by Larson-Danielson Construction Co. along CR-400N near U.S. 421.

This time local unions are involved in the process.

“We have a good relationship with the unions,” said project manager David Merkel of Larson-Danielson. “We partnered with unions to put a bid in on the store. All our workers and subcontractors are union.”

When the current Wal-Mart, 4301 S. Franklin St., was built in 1989-90, local unions complained that an out-of-state general contractor shut them out of the project and was paying construction workers very low wages.

That led to large-scale protests that ended up in court, with the general contractor asking for a restraining order to limit the number of pickets at the property’s edge.

Now union workers are thrilled to be building the store, which will mean construction jobs for at least 200 people.

Once organized labor learned the Bentonville, Ark., retailer was building a new store, they went to work.

“I made a hundred phone calls to Arkansas,” said Jim Stemmler, president of the La Porte-Pulaski County Building Trades. “I am completely happy it worked out the way it did.”

Stemmler also credits other union officials and the mayors of both Michigan City and La Porte for encouraging Wal-Mart to use local people to construct the Michigan City store and a planned Supercenter at the La Porte location.

Wal-Mart says its choice of contractors is simply a business decision.

“We look for the best contractor,” Wal-Mart spokesman Jason Wetzel told The La Porte County Herald-Argus. “In many instances that is a union contractor. We want the best company to build the store.”

Not every union is happy about the new Wal-Mart.

“The issue is what happens to the community after it gets built,” said Chris Kofinis, communications director for wakeupwalmart.com, which is funded by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

He criticizes the world’s largest retailer for its low pay, and claims 53 percent of its employees have no health coverage.

“Each year the average (Wal-Mart) worker earns $2,000 below the poverty line,” Kofinis said.

The average wage at a Wal-Mart is $10.37 per hour, according to its spokesman.

“Among retailers, we are at the top,” Wetzel said.

The 184,000-square-foot store in Michigan City is slated to open in late February or early March 2008. It will offer groceries and general merchandise, and will employ nearly 400 full- and part-time workers.

Work on transforming the LaPorte store into a Supercenter is expected to be finished by July 2008.

[Ang]

I told you guys what they did in Casper when the built our new (second) super center--
They hired a bunch of illegals and paid them $10/hour only to have INS come and deport them all.
I'm glad to see they're making better business decisions.

[Roger Kaputnik]

You highlight a major inducement to illegal immigration, viz., their hiring by big companies. Did Walmart or their builders get into any legal trouble for breaking the law?

[Ang]

I'm not sure what happened to them. I only know that they changed contractors in the middle of the job and it delayed their grand opening by about a month. I'm sure that they blamed the contractor they hired and squeaked around any legal trouble.

[Roger Kaputnik]

I was shocked by hearing a close relative (an in-law) maintain that unions have NOT improved working conditions and pay for the proletariat in the US. How could anyone think like that? Is that even considered thinking? The easy access to the labor of the illegal aliens is clearly supported by the corporate class.

[Ang]

I have mixed feelings about unions. I believe they are good in the sense that they protect the rights of the workers and help to secure adequate wages. However, sometimes there are workers who do not meet par and should be ousted but are able to keep their jobs through union protection.
I have experience as a union employee and "management." I enjoyed the rights and protections while working for a union, but saw unions as a pain in the arse while working in the office. Especially when it comes to "grievance happy" people. I'm not relating this experience to just the MCAS either. I've worked with several different unions over the course of my working career and I find that it's the same.

[Southsider2k12]

I was shocked by hearing a close relative (an in-law) maintain that unions have NOT improved working conditions and pay for the proletariat in the US. How could anyone think like that? Is that even considered thinking? The easy access to the labor of the illegal aliens is clearly supported by the corporate class.

Are they talking about historically or in the last little bit of time?

Also the labor unions with their waning powerbase, are a huge supporter of trying to bring in as much forgein labor as possible, as they are more likely to want to be in unions than US workers are. Many of the big organizers of the labor rallys were labor unions.

[Roger Kaputnik]

Aren't the labor unions against the immigration bill because of the ease of bringing in low-cost laborers?

[Southsider2k12]

Aren't the labor unions against the immigration bill because of the ease of bringing in low-cost laborers?

Logically you would think that, but they are looking more at their membership numbers and dwindling influence in the US, and thinking in terms of self-preservation instead. During the May Day rally in 2006 in Chicago, the main march organizers that I kept seeing were all leaders from area SEIU locals.

[Roger Kaputnik]

http://hrw.org/campaigns/walmart/index.htm