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The First Walmart Union Contract in North America

By
Kari Thompson

At a Walmart distribution center in Mississauga, Ontario, workers have made history by winning the first-ever union contract with the logistics giant in North America. Their fight has meant pay raises for the company’s workers across Canada.

An employee gathers online orders at a Walmart market fulfillment center in the back of a store in Grapevine, Texas, on October 10, 2023.

When 800 Ontario Walmart warehouse workers won a union two years ago, the company responded by raising wages for all its other logistic workers in Canada. Now the unionized workers have a contract, which prevents their being excluded from future pay bumps. (Dylan Hollingsworth / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Eight hundred workers at a Walmart distribution center in Mississauga, Ontario, succeeded where others have not: they are now working under a two-year contract with North America’s largest logistics giant.

The landmark collective bargaining agreement went into effect on July 1, nearly two years after workers won union representation, joining Unifor Local 252, motivated by low wages and unsafe working conditions.

As punishment two years ago, Walmart bumped the pay of every logistics worker in Canada — except those who unionized. This was an effective maneuver to halt further union drives.

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