Wal-Mart Stores Inc has sued a major grocery workers union and others who have protested at its Florida stores, the latest salvo in its legal fight to stop “disruptive” rallies in and around its stores by groups seeking better pay and working conditions.<\/p>\n
Wal-Mart does not have union-represented workers in its U.S. stores. Nevertheless, it has long faced opposition from various labor groups including the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), and from a small but vocal group of current and former employees backed by the union and known as OUR Walmart.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit filed on Friday in Orange County, Florida state court seeks “to help protect our customers and associates from further disruptive tactics associated with their continued, illegal trespassing,” Walmart spokesman Dan Fogleman said.<\/p>\n
Defendants, however, charged that the world’s biggest retailer is trying to muzzle its critics.<\/p>\n
“This is another attempt on Wal-Mart’s behalf of … silencing their employees and also the communities that support them,” Denise Diaz, executive director of Central Florida Jobs With Justice Corp and a defendant named in the suit, said before reviewing the documents.<\/p>\n
“Rather than creating good jobs with steady hours and affordable healthcare, Walmart’s pattern is to focus its energies on infringing on our freedom of speech,” the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart), also a defendant, said in a statement. <\/p>\n