Wal-Mart signs deal to unionize China workers - By Kimberly Morrison, The Morning News, AR
Workers in other countries including Brazil and Argentina have also successfully organized, but the retailer doesn't have a great track record with cutting deals with unions.
Wal-Mart abandoned its Germany operations in 2006 amid speculation that the unionized workers there diminished the retailer's profits.
Butchers at a Wal-Mart store in Texas successfully organized a union in 2000 and Wal-Mart immediately announced plans to phase out meat-cutting operations. Wal-Mart also closed a store in Jonquiere, Quebec in 2005 just six months after workers unionized.
"In America their attitude has been that they would rather cut off their right arm than unionize," said David Nassar, director of union-funded Wal-Mart Watch. "We of course think it's great that workers in China have more of a say than they did before, but we are disappointed that Wal-Mart and (CEO) Lee Scott don't think that American workers deserve the same respect."