NEW CASTLE

Wal-Mart tire workers want to join the union

The people who change the tires at a Wal-Mart store are trying to change something else -- whether a union is allowed to back them up.

Several employees in the Tire and Lube Express department at a Wal-Mart in Lawrence County have asked for representation by the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

The National Labor Relations Board first must rule on whether the mechanics can be considered a separate unit from the rest of the Wal-Mart employees. A decision is expected in late July.

"We do not feel that a small group of associates should be carved out," said Jessica Moser, a spokeswoman in Wal-Mart’s Bentonville, Ark., headquarters.

If the labor board rules against the workers, union organizers would have to sign up many more workers at the Wal-Mart in Union Township. Federal regulations call for 30 percent of employees to ask for a union election.

The Wal-Mart has 400 workers, meaning 90 would have to support the election if it applied to the entire store.

The tire section has its own front door, but Wal-Mart argued that it is part of the larger Wal-Mart "supercenter." The Wal-Mart store in Hempfield Township has a Tire and Lube Express.

Lou Maholic, an organizer for the union’s Local 880, said the workers in the tire department have concerns about safety and favoritism. Moser said Monday that Wal-Mart is working on those concerns.

In February, a vote allowed the union to bargain for meat department workers at a Wal-Mart in Jacksonville, Fla. Wal-Mart has filed several objections in the case.