Wal-Mart Canada is pleased at the outcome of a ruling by a Court of Queen's Bench justice that will affect a hearing by the Labour Relations Board on a request to unionize the workers at the Weyburn store.

The hearing on an application from the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) to organize the workers at the Weyburn store had been under a stay of proceedings while the parties awaited a decision from the justice, and will now resume on Aug. 21, said Greg Leake, spokesman for Saskatchewan Labour.

One of the parts of the ruling, issued by Justice George Baynton, gives Wal-Mart permission to come back after the Weyburn hearing to challenge the constitutionality of a Saskatchewan labour law that prevents employers from any communications with their workers when a union drive is underway. Wal-Mart's contention that this law is unconstitutional was dismissed "without prejudice to Wal-Mart", with leave given for the company to revisit the law later.

"As the law stands right now in Saskatchewan, during a union drive we can't communicate with employees about the union drive at all. We can't even answer very basic questions from our employees," said Andrew Pelletier, spokesman for Wal-Mart Canada, adding the company will wait and see what happens from the Weyburn hearing before deciding if they will in fact challenge the law.

"We think the court decision appears to be an important first step in helping ensure Canadian workers are free to make informed decisions about the consequences of joining a union, including getting facts on union dues, strike action and seniority rights," said Pelletier.

Of immediate importance to the hearing, Justice Baynton quashed an order by the Labour Relations Board for Wal-Mart to produce certain documents about its operations.

Pelletier said the company felt the request was irrelevant to the hearing, and the justice agreed with them, saying the board was on a "fishing expedition" with its order, and that the board seemed to be working in favour of the union when it's supposed to be impartial.

Leake said the board still has a right to ask for documents, but the board has to review the justice's decision to determine its impact on the hearing.

"We won't know until the parties get back together what the impact will be on the remainder of the hearings," he said.

Meanwhile, there are still a number of issues to be worked out at the hearing, said Pelletier, including the size of the bargaining unit.

While the hearing was suspended awaiting the justice's decision, there were reports of comments by the head of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, Larry Hubich, saying that Wal-Mart should pack up and leave Canada if the company doesn't like the labour laws here.

"I was flabbergasted by his comments," said Pelletier, adding that if Wal-Mart left it would put some 65,000 Canadians out of work, including 3,000 in Saskatchewan.

As to concerns that the Weyburn store would be closed if the union's application is successful, Pelletier replied, "If we were to close the store, it would not be for union reasons, it would be for economic reasons."

He added it would depend on such factors as the revenues at the store compared to its expenses, and would not be due to the unionization of its workers.

To date, no Wal-Mart store in North America has been unionized, with two Canadian stores voting against unionization in the last few months.