Wal-Mart May Win Democrats Unions Need on Card-Check (Update3)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aFbNOai_1QQk&refer=us

By Holly Rosenkrantz

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas defied her state’s largest private employer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., in 2007 by voting to make it easier for workers to join unions. This year, she may spurn organized labor.

Lincoln and fellow Democrats Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana have expressed doubts about the so-called card-check legislation, threatening party unity that supporters need to overcome Republican opposition.

Labor has made the measure its top legislative goal after spending $100 million to help Democrats strengthen control of Congress and win the White House last year. The legislation, backed by President Barack Obama, is testing some Democrats’ loyalty to labor and the administration.

“Right now, my number one priority is strengthening our state’s economy and putting 90,000 jobless Arkansans back to work,” Lincoln said in a statement.

Wal-Mart,Starbucks Corp., Home Depot Inc. and Burger King Holdings Inc. are among companies that oppose the bill, as does billionaire investor Warren Buffett, an Obama supporter and adviser.

Deborah Weinswig, a Citigroup Inc. analyst in New York, today downgraded Wal-Mart to hold from buy, saying the retailer would be the primary target of union organizing efforts if the card-check measure passes. That would increase labor costs and may limit expansion, she said.

FULL story at link.

[LSparkle]

1. Unionization is NOT going to drive Wal-Mart out of business ...

Some smaller businesses (especially if run by rightwingers) could
potentially choose to close rather than deal with organized workers,
but Wal-Mart isn't going anywhere ... And considering how they're
breeding like rabbits, maybe "limiting expansion" wouldn't be such
a bad thing for the behemoth ...