(Reuters circulated the following article on August 23.)
NEW YORK — Labor leaders plan to coordinate work stoppages at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. outside the United States, starting with a campaign to organize workers at its South Korean stores, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
The Union Network International, a federation of 900 unions in 150 countries meeting in Chicago this week, also said it would coordinate organizing efforts at four other global companies: DHL, an express-delivery unit of Germany’s Deutsche Post, Walt Disney Co., News Corp. and Swedish furniture retailer Ikea.
Philip Jennings, general secretary of UNI of Nyon, Switzerland, said efforts were underway to organize labor against Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, in Argentina, Brazil, Britain, South Korea, Mexico and Puerto Rico, the paper reported.
Stoppages were to be organized at Wal-Mart outlets in Germany, where some workers already belong to a union, to pressure action elsewhere, it said.
Wal-Mart employees in Germany, Brazil and Argentina are union members but only at locations where the company bought operations with a union already in place, the Journal said.
Union leaders intend to launch an organizing campaign in South Korea, where the company has 16 stores, by the end of the year, the report said.
With 1.6 million workers around the globe, Wal-Mart is one of the world’s largest employers. Union leaders worry that the company’s anti-union stance could spread to other multinational companies that face increasing competition over labor costs, the Journal said.