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Wal-Mart: Store Closures Are Not 'Retaliatory'

Wal-Mart: Store Closures Are Not 'Retaliatory'

Wal-Mart has denied closing stores to retaliate against workers calling for better pay and benefits.

Union bosses have called on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to force the company to reinstate employees at five stores in Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and California.

Wal-Mart said it was temporarily closing the outlets to fix plumbing problems, and denied it had anything to do with workers' demands.

It said it would reopen the stores, which employed about 2,200 people, as quickly as possible.

"We don't believe there is any basis for an injunction," Wal-Mart said in a statement.

In its complaint to the NLRB, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) said Wal-Mart closed its store in Pico Rivera, California, because it has been a centre of worker activism.

It claims Wal-Mart shut down the other four stores as a cover for the move.

The UFCW is seeking an injunction to have the employees reinstated or transferred to other stores without loss of pay.

About 200 Wal-Mart workers and supporters rallied outside the Pico Rivera store on Monday, some carrying signs saying "Hey Wal-Mart the plumbing excuse stinks".

A representative for the local Democratic congresswoman, Linda Sanchez, read a statement expressing concern about its "abrupt closing".

Appeals to the NLRB are first investigated by a regional director.

If a claim is determined to have merit, the NLRB may seek an injunction with a federal court while the case moves to an NLRB administrative judge.

The process can take several months, meaning employees may need to seek work elsewhere before the case is decided.

"Soon, I won't know where I'll get my next paycheck," said Venanzi Luna, 36, a deli manager and member of OUR Walmart, the UFCW-backed worker group behind recent protests.

Wal-Mart said it is offering workers 60 days' pay and opportunities to transfer to other stores.

Karen Boroff, a professor of management at Seton Hall University, said Wal-Mart may have extensive documentation for plumbing work, which could be used to counter the union's claims.

Wal-Mart will need to show the problem is significant at all five stores.

"It can't be trivial," she added. "If they can show that, then you have a real fact pattern in its favour."

Wal-Mart said each of the five stores had more than 100 plumbing problems over the last two years, the most among its 5,000-plus stores in the US.

The company recently increased its minimum hourly wage to more than $9 an hour, as part of a $1bn investment in better pay and benefits for employees.