On Thanksgiving and Black Friday, unions are expected to picket the nation’s largest retailer in Atlanta and across the country. They claim it will be the single largest demonstration against the big-box retailers in history, and will signify a new era of workers standing up against the evil empire that is corporate America.
At least, that’s what labor unions want you to believe.
The reality is that these “strikes” are Potemkin village protests, made up of few or no actual Wal-Mart employees and organized by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union to smear the nation’s biggest retailer and, ultimately, unionize it.
They’re using a front group named “OUR Walmart” as their tool. It’s not a union, though; it’s technically a “worker center.” Worker centers look like, spend and protest like unions. But since they don’t technically negotiate with company management on workers’ behalf, worker centers don’t have to register as unions under federal labor law. They are typically registered as nonprofit organizations.
By avoiding federal labor laws such as the National Labor Relations Act, worker centers can engage in perpetual warfare against a target. Unions, conversely, are limited to picketing for representation for just 30 days.
The loophole in labor law that OUR Walmart and other worker centers are exploiting is central to their existence. Without it, they would be forced to fish or cut bait: After 30 days, they’d either have to call for an election or call off protests.
As recent history shows, these and other worker centers have failed miserably at drumming up support from actual employees.
Take last year’s Black Friday protests. At most, only 100 Wal-Mart associates joined the “nationwide” pickets. The rest of the protesters were union-funded community groups and paid picketers. That’s not exactly a mass movement, let alone an employee-led strike.
It appears that OUR Walmart’s support is waning. This summer, only 50 employees joined union leaders in another so-called nationwide protest.
This week’s protests are unlikely to be any different. A UFCW organizer recently disclosed that their goal is for 500 Wal-Mart associates to participate in the “strike” nationwide. It’s as clear a sign as any that Wal-Mart’s employees aren’t buying what unions and their worker center front groups are selling.
Sadly, this lack of employee interest won’t stop these front groups from singing their sad holiday song. Until federal labor laws are amended to cover this labor law loophole, these bogus Black Friday “strikes” may become an annual part of Atlanta’s holiday season.
Richard Berman is executive director of the Center for Union Facts.
