ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 13, 1997 TAG: 9702130043
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
Wal-Mart faces its 1st unionized store
TORONTO - Wal-Mart Stores, the world's biggest retailer, has lost a labor dispute in Ontario and must deal with a union for the first time at any of its 2,736 stores.
A provincial labor board has ruled that Wal-Mart subtly threatened to close its Windsor branch if workers voted to unionize. The workers rejected unionization 151-43 last May, but the board said the outcome was ``meaningless'' because of deliberate efforts to threaten job security.
Saying a second vote would be equally meaningless, the Ontario Labor Relations Board ordered immediate certification of the United Steelworkers as representing workers at the Windsor store.
``Our immediate response is surprise and profound disappointment,'' Ed Gould, Wal-Mart Canada spokesman, said Wednesday. ``We sincerely believe that the vote by our associates was a true expression of their will.''
Wal-Mart, which refers to its employees as ``associates,'' has defeated every unionization attempt since it was founded in Arkansas by Sam Walton in 1962. It has relied heavily on stock incentives to motivate its relatively low-paid employees.
Gould said the company was strongly considering an appeal, but the ruling takes immediate effect.
Marie Kelly, a lawyer for the union, said Wal-Mart managers had left the impression that the store might close by refusing to answer questions about what would happen if the workers voted for certification.
-Associated Press
ITT spurns Hilton's hostile buyout bid
NEW YORK - ITT Corp. has rejected rival Hilton Hotel Corp.'s $6.5 billion hostile takeover bid in a widely expected move that could kick off a protracted battle for the hotel and casino owner.
ITT stock on Wednesday rose further above the $55 a share Hilton offered on the news, suggesting Wall Street expects a higher bid to emerge.
Hilton wants to buy ITT to combine its Hilton hotels with ITT's Sheraton chain and create an even larger casino operator. ITT says the Hilton bid is too low and says combining Sheraton and Hilton would pose operating problems. A combination of ITT, which also owns Caesars World, and Hilton would assemble the world's largest hotel-casino operator.
``The situation remains hostile but fluid,'' said Harold Vogel, an entertainment and gaming analyst at Cowen & Co., a brokerage firm. ``We think that the next step is ITT moves to pare its assets down to the core and raise cash and maybe buy back shares.''
-Associated Press
LENGTH: Medium: 54 linesby CNB