WAL-MART LOSES LABOR DISPUTE AT CANADA STORE.

Byline: David Crary Associated Press 

Wal-Mart Stores, the world's biggest retailer with outlets in Valencia, Palmdale and Lancaster, has lost a labor dispute in Ontario and must deal with a union for the first time at any of its 2,736 stores.

A provincial labor board ruled Tuesday that Wal-Mart subtly threatened to close its Windsor branch if workers voted to unionize. The workers rejected unionization by a 151-43 margin last May, but the board said the outcome was ``meaningless'' because of deliberate efforts to threaten job security.

Saying a second vote would be equally meaningless, the Ontario Labor Relations Board ordered immediate certification of the United Steelworkers as representing workers at the Windsor store.

``Our immediate response is surprise and profound disappointment,'' Ed Gould, spokesman for Wal-Mart Canada, said Wednesday. ``We sincerely believe that the vote by our associates was a true expression of their will.''

Wal-Mart, which refers to its employees as ``associates,'' has defeated every unionization attempt since it was founded in Arkansas by Sam Walton in 1962. It has relied heavily on stock incentives to motivate its relatively low-paid employees.

Gould said the company was strongly considering an appeal, but the ruling takes immediate effect. The union has 60 days to declare whether it wants to open contract negotiations.

``I can't believe we won,'' said Mary MacArthur, a Windsor store worker who helped lead the organizing drive.

Marie Kelly, a lawyer for the union, said Wal-Mart managers had left the impression that the store might close by refusing to answers questions about what would happen if the workers voted for certification.

Gould insisted Wal-Mart executives followed Ontario labor law and sought to communicate honestly with employees.

``When asked what would be the impact of having a union, our view was that we didn't know,'' he said. ``No Wal-Mart store has ever voted to have a union, including Windsor.''

Gould said Wal-Mart had no plans to close the Windsor store.

Kelly said the ruling should make it easier for employees at other Wal-mart stores in Canada to organize.

Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., long has espoused a philosophy that workers are part of the corporate family and sought to avert unionization by offering stock benefits.

It has fended off sporadic organizing efforts, and in 1994 paid $15,000 to settle a complaint by a store clerk in New Hampshire who said she was fired for trying to organize her co-workers.