Exactly. Closing a couple stores, temporarily or permanently, would be less damaging to the stock price than allowing unions to gain a foothold. As for whether it is legal, probably not. But Walmart is constantly closing, opening and relocating stores. They could easily come up with an excuse to close a store that is plausible.
I am no financial expert so I have no idea at all if this makes any sense at all. Walmart raised some wages recently. (Cite: Walmart raises pay well above minimum wage)
Would closing these stores help recover some of that cost to them or does closing the store mean a loss of profits that wont be picked up at other Walmart stores.
Yes I understand the store that is closing makes more than it pays the employees but a quick google of my area and I see 6 Walmarts within 30 minutes drive of my house. If one Walmart closed it would just mean many of their customers would just drive a little further to get to the next Walmart. So its not like they loose all that income.
Given that some will choose not to drive further or rely on public transportation that would not easily get them to the next Walmart. How much loss to gain could we be looking at? Could closing a few stores help recover some/all of the cost to raise wages at the rest of the stores? Or am I way off here?
It is illegal under federal law to retaliate against unionization attempts. But enforcement is weak, hard to prove, takes a long time, and the penalties are petty, especially for the world’s largest retailer.