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Lede: The United Food and Commercial Workers have won a union contract at a Quebec Wal-Mart. Doug Cunningham has more.

By Doug Cunningham

It took hard organizing work and years of legal battles, but a Quebec government arbitrator has ruled that Wal-Mart must honor an organized labor agreement with the workers at a St. Hyacinthe, Quebec Wal-Mart. It’s the only Wal-Mart in North America to have a union. The UFCW says the agreement gives workers a legally binding grievance process, a wage structure free of favoritism and seniority rights. Previous union wins in Canada at Wal-Mart were brief, because Wal-Mart closed both a small tire store and a full-sized Wal-Mart in Quebec after workers successfully joined the UFCW. Wal-Mart stores in China have state-sanctioned unions representing workers there. In the United States the UFCW has waged a campaign for many years, but has so far not successfully organized any U.S. Wal-Mart stores.Wal-Mart Canada has not said whether it will close this now-union store. They have only said they’ll have to see, and added that Wal-Mart’s objective is to run a viable store.