By STEVEN GREENHOUSE, The New York Times

LOVELAND, Colo., Feb. 25 - Joshua Noble, a 21-year-old who loves to snowboard, jolted Wal-Mart Stores last November when he got a majority of employees here at the Wal-Mart tire-and-lube shop where he worked to sign statements saying they wanted to vote on bringing in a labor union.

The unionization drive begun by Mr. Noble created a storm in this onetime ranching town at the foot of the Rockies - even the BBC covered it - and became a closely watched test of labor's efforts to unionize the world's largest retailer.

But on Friday the workers at the Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Express abandoned Mr. Noble, voting 17 to 1 against unionizing, another setback for organized labor at the very moment when its leaders are mapping a campaign to pressure the company to improve wages and benefits…

Wal-Mart officials say the shop's work force simply concluded from all the information at hand that there was no need for representation by a third party.

Officials of the union involved, the United Food and Commercial Workers, counter by saying it lost because Wal-Mart struck fear in the workers with an intensive campaign. The union said it would challenge the outcome of the vote with the National Labor Relations Board, citing the lack of a union observer at the election and saying the six added workers had been brought in to dilute support for organizing…

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