Walmart Agrees to Let Workers Wear Union Insignia

RICHMOND, Calif.—In a settlement of several National Labor Relations Board complaints, Walmart has agreed that it will change its dress code to let workers wear union insignia and stop threatening union supporters. The deal with the union-backed worker group OUR Walmart was signed last month, while the company was appealing an NLRB ruling that it had illegally punished six workers in its Richmond, California store when they briefly stopped work in 2012 to protest union-busting intimidation. “Walmart broke the law when it punished its workers for exercising their federally protected right to peaceful protest,” Randy Parraz, director of Making Change at Walmart, a United Food & Commercial Workers-backed advocacy group, told Bloomberg News. Under the agreement, the company will post notices in the Richmond store and about 35 others in California that it has dropped the ban on union apparel—which an NLRB administrative law judge had ruled illegal—and that it will not threaten to close stores if workers join OUR Walmart. “Although Walmart maintains its belief that it acted lawfully, Walmart acknowledges the board found it violated the act and has agreed to take remedial action as stated in this agreement,’’ the settlement said. Read more