‘Historic’: Canadian warehouse workers sign first-ever union deal with Walmart

Members of Unifor rally outside a Walmart in Canada on 10 September 2024. Photograph: Unifor CanadaView image in fullscreenMembers of Unifor rally outside a Walmart in Canada on 10 September 2024. Photograph: Unifor CanadaWalmart‘Historic’: Canadian warehouse workers sign first-ever union deal with WalmartUnion says collective agreement is just the start of a broader fight to unionize major employers across the country

Canadian warehouse workers have signed the first-ever collective agreement with Walmart, a breakthrough labour organizers are calling a “historic and powerful step”.

But the union says the deal with a corporation long hostile to organized labour is only an opening salvo in a broader fight to unionize major employers across the country.

In May, workers in Mississauga, Ontario, signed a contract with Walmart, the world’s largest employer, that includes a pay bump, guarantees over working conditions and a lump sum payout to settle allegations of unfair labour practices.

“These members were determined to have workplace democracy and they stuck with it,” said Lana Payne, president of Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union. “Their courage and determination, their decision to be part of a collective bargaining table with one of the biggest corporations in the world, is why they made labour history.”

Workers at the high-volume distribution warehouse – which serves one of the biggest markets for Walmart in Canada – first decided to unionize in 2024. It took two years before both sides agreed on a contract.

Payne said the victory came amid a deliberate strategy by the union to target parts of the business workers that could exert the most influence. While retail locations have unionized in the past, the powerful distribution centres that supply more than 100 brick and mortar stores and oversee online orders have proven elusive.

“We felt that we needed to put serious effort into targeting the entirety of the supply chain,” she said. “This victory will create momentum across the warehouse sector.”

In the case of the Mississauga effort, Walmart raised wages for other workers in the region but not the distribution centre that had unionized. As part of the newly signed collective agreement, Walmart will pay a lump sum to settle an unfair labour practice complaint. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

The dramatic transformation of the economy in recent years has raised the power of technology and e-commerce companies, reshaping the nature of how workers organize, said Payne.

“Our labour laws are not built to be able to contend with massive corporations who can fight unionization, and so they frustrate the system,” she said. “When you look at the situation we’re in, it’s not unlike what workers faced 70 years ago, when unions were really making kind of groundbreaking strides with auto workers or steelworkers or mining workers.”

Unifor has already opened a second front in its battle: an Amazon facility in British Columbia, a province where laws are friendlier to organized labour.