Labor Laws and Unions free essay sample

Labor Laws and Unions Walmart is one of the biggest retail stores in the world. Walmart operates worldwide with current total count of its stores reaching 9. 667 stores worldwide (Walmart Corporate, 2011). Interestingly, Walmart is an organization that is currently non-unionized. This paper will provide brief background information on Walmart organization. Legal issues and obstacles that Walmart could encounter will also be identified. The writer will determine which federal, state, or local laws could be broken because of the legal issues and why. Finally, recommendations to minimize possible litigation will be provided. The second part of the paper will deal with scenario if Walmart joining a union. Effects of the union on Walmart will be discussed next on the paper. Organization’s benefits of joining a union will be analyzed. Process of unionization will be discussed. And ways on how a union bargains and its effects on Walmart will be considered. Walmart’s Background Walmart begins in 1962 along with other retail stores such as Kmart and Target. We will write a custom essay sample on Labor Laws and Unions or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Walmart has a humble beginning, with its owner Sam Walton put up 95 percent of their money to open the first Walmart stores in Rogers, Arkansas. Walmart finally goes public ten years later in 1972 which brings more capital to the organization. Walmart starts booming in the 1980s, where in the period of 10 years, sales grow from $ 1 billion in 1980s to $26 billion in 1989. In 21st century, Walmart is serving more than 176 million customers a year (Walmart Corporate, 2011). Throughout these years, Walmart as an organization never belong to a union despite many organizations suggested them to be unionized. Legal Issues and Obstacles Walmart could encounter numerous legal issues and obstacles because of their status as non-unionized. In recent years, Walmart has been the target of hundreds of lawsuits by employees in dozens of states (Cascio, 2010). These employees are claiming that Walmart violated wage and hour laws (Cascio, 2010). Walmart has this problem because of their low prices force them to pay for low wage labor. Employee can take advantage of this issue and create a legal issues and obstacles against Walmart. Legal issues against Walmart have been brought up in many different states. Many states has a minimum-wage requirement that has to be followed by all the businesses in the state. One example is the case Walmart Stores vs S. C. Savaglio, where a group of Walmart employees sued Walmart because Walmart allegedly had violated California’s meal period law (Cascio, 2010). Walmart lose $172 million dollars in the general and punitive damages. Not even a year after that, Walmart loses another lawsuit in the state of Pennsylvania for forcing employees to work off the clock (Cascio, 2010). The recommendation of the writer for Walmart is to get unionized so that Walmart can mitigate possible litigation. Walmart then can save a lot of money and time in fighting against lawsuits coming from their employees.