Wal-Mart is closing a store in a small city in northern Quebec after employees recently voted to unionize. The decision has the blue-collar town -- and the store's employees -- divided over who's to blame.
Workers at the Jonquiere Wal-Mart unionized the store in 2004, becoming the company's only union store in North America. Last week, Wal-Mart closed it. Officials say the location wasn't making money. Opinions in the French-Canadian city range from those who love Wal-Mart's low prices to those who can't stand its labor practices.
Jonquiere has a reputation as a strong labor town, with about two in five workers belonging to unions. But some worry that publicity from the store's closure will make it harder for the city to attract outside business.
The store's closure is one of a growing a number of attempts to unionize America's largest company. The battle to do so now moves to St. Hyacinthe, east of Montreal. That's where another group of Wal-Mart workers won union recognition in January.
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