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LEAD-IN BY HOST FRED SCHIFF: Corporate criminals are in the news since last year’s Enron meltdown. Now, local chapters of the AFL-CIO and Teamsters are accusing Wal-Mart of denying workers the right to organize by using union-busting techniques. With more on the story, here’s Jennifer Martinez: STORY: No matter where people work in Texas, employees will find it difficult to form a union. Texas is one of 22 other states in the country that is considered a right to work state. Associate Professor of management at the University of Houston college of business, Steve Warner explains: "A right to work state just means that you can not have a clause in a contract that says any newly-hired employee must join the union. The normal state, the non-right-to-work state can have that clause, they can negotiate that. But in a right to work-state, you can't have that, it's illegal." Even if employees decide to forge ahead and start a union in their workplace, there are several steps that must be taken in order to finalize the decision. Harris County AFL-CIO sectertary treasurer, Richard Shaw: "To get a union, One you have to sign a card saying 'I want this Union to reprsent me.' Number two, to get to the election stage, you've got to have 30 percent of the workforce in that company, has to sign that card. So imagine, you may have spent six months colecting cards, you file for that election and the company has another 30-45 days to target the employees. And when you file those cards, the company has to see them. And then what will they start doing? They'll start the whole anti-union harrasment campaign." Union organizers have long charged that Wal-mart is one of the most notorious companies when it comes to putting roadblocks in front of their employee’s efforts to form a union. Wal-Mart is the world’s largest retailer, largest private employer, and just recently became the world’s largest corporation. It’s anti-union activities have earned it more than 30 complaints to the National Labor Relations Board in 14 states. The company’s tactics union busting efforts effect a significant number of workers. Shaw explains how it works: "Typically, what Wal-Mart does is they hire or employ what we call Union Busters, Union-Busting lawyers. And whenever some employee speaks favorably of a union or if there's some evidence of a drive, they send in these Union-busting lawyers. They then get with the supervision in the store and they insctruct them in ways to suppress the union, basically. Ways to recognize early on if they hear someone talking about the union to corner them alone and pressure them in an attempt to dissuade them from the union." Unable to unionize for better working conditions, Wal-Mart employees, or "associates" as they are called by the company, are often left without a living wage or benefits. For this reason, Shaw argues the company is not a "good citizen." "Wal-Mart workers, those who are part time and those who can't afford to buy the insurance, have no insurance. So where do they go for health insurance? In Houston, they go to the Harris County Hospital District. So when you pay taxes, you pay for them to be cared for in a public facility. And so Wal-Mart relies on basically the tax payers to provide health care for their employees. That's not a good corporate citizen. A good corporate citizen makes sure their jobs have living wages with benifits." Wal-mart employees face financial instability with an average income of $11,000 a year. There are no retirement benefits for employees, and health care comes at such a high price that only 38 percent of employees use the company’s health care plan. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union argues these conditions are especially hard on women, who make up approximately 70 percent of Wal-Mart’s workforce. At a Houston area Wal-Mart, one employee commented on the issue to this KPFT reporter before being told by a manager to return to work: "Some have told us not to talk about it. I think it's cool, I think it's good because I used to work at another job, and they had a union and it did work, it did work for the protection of employees. In February 2000, workers at a Jacksonville, Texas Wal-Mart made labor history when meat cutters there voted to join the United Food Commercial Workers Union, making them the first Wal-Mart employees to gain representation. Two weeks later, the store eliminated the department’s meat cutting staff and switched to case-ready, or pre-cut beef. Now, more unions are getting involved in the fight to support unionizing efforts at Wal-Marts as the corporation continues to grow -- opening up a new store every other day -- all the time pushing lower wages and fewer benefits. Next week, the AFL-CIO will attempt to inform Wal-Mart shoppers of the conditions the store’s employees endure by participating in the National Day of Action Against Wal-Mart. Members of several union locals will pass out information to customers at an area Wal-Mart informing them of the conditions these employees endure. Jennifer Martinez, KPFT News, Houston E-mail Jennifer Martinez at news@kpft.org . This story was broadcast on November 15, 2002.