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Workers in the tire and lube section of Loveland's Wal- Mart Supercenter have gotten the OK from the National Labor Relations Board to vote on whether they want to unionize. The retailer immediately said it would appeal the decision. Such an appeal would not necessarily postpone the vote, which is expected in late February, board assistant regional director Wayne Benson said. "Wal-Mart strongly disagrees with the decision," spokeswoman Christi Gallagher said. "With approximately 400 associates in the building, we feel that more than a handful of associates should be able to have a say on such an important matter." Nine of 17 workers in the store's Tire & Lube Express department petitioned to join United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 in November. In a December hearing, company officials argued that the department did not comprise an appropriate bargaining unit. But in a 46-page decision released Friday, National Labor Relations Board regional director B. Allan Benson said the department was separate enough from the rest of the store that its workers could independently seek union representation. He also determined that a department manager also could be included in the unit. "It's a great victory for the tire and lube center," said Dave Minshall, a spokesman for the union. Unions have thus far been unsuccessful in their efforts to represent Wal-Mart workers in the United States. A handful of tire and lube departments made advances, but those cases are still tied up in the appeals process. Meat cutters at a Wal-Mart in Jacksonville, Texas, won United Food and Commercial Workers representation in 2000. The company announced shortly thereafter that it would no longer use meat cutters and would sell only prepackaged meat in its stores. The company has said the decision was coincidental. Some Canadian Wal-Mart stores have successfully unionized, and the company also has agreed to allow branches of the official Communist Party- controlled union in its Chinese stores if employees requested it. "In terms of labor relations, this is going to be one to watch," said Jack Haskell, executive vice president and chief operating officer for labor consulting firm Adams Nash Haskell & Sheridan. "This is huge, not only for Wal-Mart but for the unions because it might finally represent a crack in the castle wall," he said. Once the company files an appeal, Haskell said it's possible the vote could go on but that the votes would be impounded - or left uncounted - until a decision is made on the appeal. While an appeal probably would drag out the process, Friday's decision is a "symbolic victory" for the union that could help advance its efforts in other stores as well, said Cindi Fukami, a management professor at the University of Denver's Daniels College of Business. Workers at the Loveland Wal-Mart have said in the past that company officials met with employees and showed them anti-union videos. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 has said it is also talking to Wal-Mart workers in Greeley and Laramie.