Wal-Mart employee Larry Allen, left, shakes hands with Sam’s Club employee Sandy Williams at a Sam’s Club in Las Vegas. Each is trying to unionize their stores. (Genaro Molina / LAT)
About 250 people from local unions and religious groups demonstrate outside a Wal-Mart in Panorama City last year. Union members want Wal-Mart to raise wages and provide benefits. (Ann Johansson / For the Times)
Rick Middleton, the head of a Southern California Teamsters local, is involved in the fight against Wal-Mart. (Lori Shepler / LAT)
About five hundred grocery strikers and supporters had gathered for a rally in front of a Vons at a strip mall in Oxnard in October, 2003. At one point, protesters marched over to an adjacent Wal-Mart. One of the reasons grocery employers seek concessions is because of fears of future competition from non-union Wal-Mart Supercenters. (Bob Carey / LAT)
