Union Knocks On Wal-Mart's Door in Quebec; Spokesman Says Strife- Torn Store Is Losing Money and Might Close

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JONQUIERE, Quebec - The signs topping sales racks wear the same yellow smiley face, but promise "Chute de Prix," instead of price rollbacks. The boxes of Tide lining the shelves in housewares come packed with a bonus CD, just for Canadian stores, inviting shoppers to experience "la passion du Hockey."

But except for a few tweaks, the low-slung gray and blue Wal- Mart store off Highway 70 could be almost any one of the retail Goliath's nearly 5,000 discount emporiums in the United States and eight other countries. And that's what worries executives at the Arkansas headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

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Union Knocks On Wal-Mart's Door in Quebec; Spokesman Says Strife- Torn Store Is Losing Money and Might Close

While still not a certainty, the 165 retirees, single moms, students and other hourly workers at this store 21/2 hours north of Quebec City could soon become the first anywhere to extract what the world's largest private employer insists its 1.5 million "associates" around the world neither want nor need - a union contract. A government agency has certified the workers as a union and told the two sides to negotiate.

"One person against Wal-Mart cannot change anything," said Gaetan P...

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