Doug Mork

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789 has withdrawn charges of labor law violations by Wal-Mart against employees at its store in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood. The union, which is currently engaged in an organizing campaign at Wal-Mart outlets throughout the Twin Cities, accused the world’s largest retailer last month of illegally threatening to terminate workers who supported unionizing.

Wal-Mart is threatening to fire pro-union workers at its store in the Midway neighborhood of St. Paul, according to a complaint filed today with the National Labor Relations Board. The charges, filed by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789, allege that starting on June 11 corporate representatives began telling employees that they could easily acquire a list of union backers and that those people would lose their jobs.

Wal-Mart is the most notoriously anti-union corporation in the world. After a five-year hiatus, the United Food and Commercial Workers union is once again seeking to organize the company’s 1.4 million U.S. workers. Yesterday they held a rally at the Wal-Mart store in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood.

After years of eschewing labor-organizing drives at the world’s largest company, the United Food and Commercial Workers has vowed that capitulation to Wal-Mart is over. The union has started organizing campaigns in 17 states, including Minnesota, targeting more than 100 stores. The impetus for the organizing drive: the new administration in the White House and the possibility of passing the Employee Free Choice Act.