Groups targeting Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have broadened their efforts by putting public pressure on the retailer rather than trying to organize individual stores in hopes of rallying support to unionize the retailer.
Labor experts say this strategy of using the Internet, the media and a grass-roots campaign has helped unions frame their debate and win some initial skirmishes in the court of public opinion.
This new push comes after the United Food and Commercial Workers union has failed to organize a single Wal-Mart store and highlights the need for labor to try new tactics, such as media campaigns aimed at winning the public's hearts and minds.
Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said Wal-Mart represents the unions' "Holy Grail" -- the pivotal company to organize -- because of the retailer's influence on labor practices throughout the world.
Shaiken and others said targeting Wal-Mart's reputation might lead to changes, but they caution that no one really knows what will work against a company that so far has managed to keep unions at bay. The key, they say, is employing a range of tactics, which unions are starting to do.
"What they have been able to do so far is impressive, and they have actually created a broader public atmosphere that Wal-Mart has responded to," Shaiken said. "The new tactics have been successful, but it is going to be a long march, not a sprint."
THE BIG DOGS
The two unions with the biggest stake in the United States -- the UFCW and the Service Employees International Union -- have bankrolled Web sites attacking Wal-Mart, which they hope will galvanize communities against the retailer.
Echoing a host of critics, the unions accuse the company of mistreating workers and depressing pay across the industry. They say Wal-Mart pays poverty-level wages that force employees to rely on public assistance to support their families.
But Wal-Mart disputes the charges, saying unions are unwanted and unnecessary for its 1.2 million U.S. workers, whom it calls "associates." The company says it is unfairly stigmatized because it is such a large employer.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Christi Gallagher said the retailer provides low-prices for consumers, opportunities for its employees, and money for charities as well as for economic development in local communities.
But the UFCW is trying to convince Americans that Wal-Mart's low prices come with a steep cost to the average consumer. The "Wake up Wal-Mart.com" campaign -- led by a veteran of Howard Dean's presidential bid -- started last April and has started to gain steam.
The SEIU-funded group "Wal-Mart Watch" also kicked off its campaign in April with full-page ads in major newspapers that focused on what it called low-level wages the retailer pays to its workers.
Chris Kofinis, a spokesman for the UFCW campaign, said the shift from traditional organizing to a grass-roots public campaign was necessary because of Wal-Mart's ability to block union efforts.
In April, for example, the company closed a store in Quebec, Canada, after its workers voted to join the UFCW. In 2000, it eliminated all U.S. meatpacking positions after meatpackers in Texas voted to unionize.
The UFCW is using Internet site (http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/) to recruit volunteers to lobby lawmakers, canvass at public events and recruit new members.
"A lot of the facts of the company were lost to the American people," Kofinis said. "A key part of the strategy was to raise awareness and the negative impact on workers and their families."
THREE FRONTS
The union's strategy shift also follows a schism in the U.S. labor movement after three unions -- including the UFCW and SEIU -- last month formally split from the umbrella American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations.
"People recognize unions are fragmented these days," Wal-Mart's Gallagher said. "Union leadership has figured out if they declare a war on Wal-Mart they can pull groups together."
But representatives from both groups and labor experts said the changing landscape would have little effect since all unions see Wal-Mart a critical issue.
"It is a David-and-Goliath battle," said Tracy Sefl, a spokeswoman for the SEIU's Wal-Mart Watch. "One way to look at it is, Wal-Mart is so big you need all the Davids you can get."
Dan Cornfield, a labor expert at Vanderbilt University, agreed that organizing Wal-Mart remains a tough task and that success would require a united front.
He also said the retailer's ability to convince workers they do not need unions has forced labor to organize outside the traditional election system and look to new tactics such as media campaigns that appeal to the public rather than to individual employees.
"The unions have developed these tactics before they thought of organizing Wal-Mart," Cornfield said. "But if there was ever a case of a unionization campaign that would require the full repertoire of labors' organization tactics, this is the case."
