British Columbia Federation of Labour

Vancouver, BC

While Canadian parliamentarians from the NDP, Bloc and Liberals have expressed their outrage at Wal-Mart's anti-union tactics, Conservative MP Dick Harris was quick to jump to the defence of the multi-billion dollar corporation, ignoring the interest of workers, said B.C. Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair.

"While Wal-Mart made record profits of over $10 billion last year, they are using some of the worst anti-union tactics in North America," said Sinclair, citing Wal-Mart's recent closure of a store in Jonquierre, Quebec after workers there decided to form a union.

"Dick Harris was elected to serve citizens' interests not corporate interests. If he and the Conservatives were doing their job they would be calling on Wal-Mart to comply with provincial labour laws," Sinclair stated.

"Instead of standing up and reading from Wal-Mart's public relations material," added Sinclair, "maybe Harris should stand up and talk about what Canadian workers contribute to our country." Canadian unionized workers contribute $174 billion in wages, $39 billion in income taxes, over $230 million in contributions to the United Way and have built pension plans that have invested over $300 billion in Canada.

Recently, Wal-Mart was fined $500,000 after pleading guilty to 25 charges of failing to properly notify the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario of job injuries to workers. Yesterday, in the House of Commons, Harris referred to Wal-Mart by saying, "I say well done, Wal-Mart. As a corporate citizen, Wal-Mart sets a fine example. I say way to go, Wal-Mart."

With this kind of behaviour from their MP, I know the people of Cariboo-Prince George won't be saying 'way to go', it'll be 'out you go' for Dick Harris," concluded Sinclair.

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