Unionized Canadian Walmart to Close!

Walmart announced they are going to close a store in Canada that has successfully unionized its employees. According to walmart they are closing the store because of the union's demands. I am not really shocked by that, especially considering I managed in the discount retail field for almost a decade. I know unions have helped some industries, particularly manufacturing, they also can reduce a company's ability to compete and make a profit. From what I have seen and read, unions often stifle competitiveness and innovation, and often add even more bureaucracy to a workplace. In the discount field especially, they extra money it would cost would seriously impact Walmart's profits and make it much harder for them to be the low price leader that they have based their existence on. I also have felt that if you run a company properly and treat your workers well, they should have no need for a union. Word has it that some unions in the US have also helped fund this, which makes it sound suspiciously like they are going after Walmart in Canada since they have had almost no luck against them here.

You can read the story here:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1270&ncid=1270&e=2&u=/ap/20050209/ap_on_bi_ge/wal_mart_canada