Walmart Pressuring Employees to Vote Republican

Walmart is apparently pressuring its employess to vote for Republicans in November.  The company has held meetings with employees where it tell them that a Democratic win in November could harm their jobs.  They say Democrats will pass union legislation that will force employees to join unions, costing them expensive union dues and possibly forcing them to strike against their will.

Though Walmart claims that it is not telling employees to vote for Democrats, that is exactly what it is doing:

The Wal-Mart human-resources managers who run the meetings don’t specifically tell attendees how to vote in November’s election, but make it clear that voting for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama would be tantamount to inviting unions in, according to Wal-Mart employees who attended gatherings in Maryland, Missouri and other states.

“The meeting leader said, ‘I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won’t have a vote on whether you want a union,’” said a Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri. “I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote,” she said.

Walmart is actively misinforming its employees about unions, and is trying to scare them into voting for Republicans:

According to about a dozen Wal-Mart employees who attended such meetings in seven states, Wal-Mart executives claim that employees at unionized stores would have to pay hefty union dues while getting nothing in return, and may have to go on strike without compensation. Also, unionization could mean fewer jobs as labor costs rise.

Walmart has been a longtime enemy of organized labor.  It once closed a store in Canada when the employees there voted to unionize.  The company will do anything to prevent unionization.