Protests Backed by Union Get Wal-Mart’s Attention

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE and STEPHANIE CLIFFORD, NYT
Published: November 18, 2012

For years, Wal-Mart has fended off repeated efforts by unions and their supporters to organize its workers. Now, that battle is once again escalating.

In a rare move, Wal-Mart is trying to stop a union-backed group from staging a series of demonstrations against the company on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year.

Wal-Mart Stores, the nation’s largest employer and retailer, has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board — its first in a decade — seeking to prevent the group, known as OUR Walmart, from holding what the group says will be the biggest protests of this kind against the company at hundreds of stores.

Wal-Mart called the protests planned for this week a union-financed, union-orchestrated effort that did not represent how most employees felt. It said it expects small protests at just a few stores.

(More here.)