MARQUETTE - The first major expansion of the first Wal-Mart in the Upper Peninsula is going union - mostly.

The vehemently anti-union retailer is in the process of expanding its store along US 41, which will just about double its size to 150,000 square feet. General Contractor Weis Builders of Minneapolis is overseeing the project, which will employ an estimated 100 Hardhats.

"When all is said and done, the store will be built about 90 percent union," said Michigan Building Trades Council U.P. Business Rep. Jack LaSalle. "I guess that's not bad for a Wal-Mart store, but we would like to have seen it 100 percent."

The project will add a 74,000-square-foot "superstore" grocery to its existing department store. Construction began in October and the move-in is expected this fall.

This store is one of 53 Wal-Mart locations in Michigan and among four in the U.P. Over the years, construction unions have had varying degrees of success in securing work on Wal-Mart stores.

AN EXTERIOR block wall at the Wal-Mart store in Marquette goes up with the work of Duane Carlson of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 6.