Handshake With Sam
While Wal-Mart’s founder, Sam Walton, steered his company’s growth over its first thirty years, he never let anyone forget that with such tremendous success come certain moral responsibilities. He led by example, and he did business with a handshake.
Today’s Wal-Mart has lost Sam’s way. That’s why we’ve proposed a new contract with Wal-Mart’s current leadership—to help Wal-Mart take its place as a responsible business leader for the new century.
Lawyers Weigh in on Wal-Mart’s Political Intimidation
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt
While the FEC investigates Wal-Mart’s possibly-illegal attempts to influence the votes of its employees, writers at the Legal Times discuss what those mandatory meetings exposed. While obviously making clear how much Wal-Mart fears unionization - and how much its managers exaggerate the impact of Democrats and the Employee Free Choice Act - the meetings also exposed the national need for stronger laws against employee intimidation.
Chained to Office Politics [Legal Times]
Imagine you work for the largest company in town. You live from paycheck to paycheck like a large portion of lower- to middle-wage workers and can’t afford to be without a job for long. Your company has pretty high turnover, and it has a reputation for firing people it labels troublemakers, people who don’t fit into the corporate culture.
Now imagine that at a mandatory work meeting, your supervisor warns you that Congress is considering legislation that will make it easier for unions to come into your company. A union here would be a disaster, the supervisor warns, and would mean layoffs, or even worse, closing down entire locations. Unions are bad news. And just to top it off, if a Democrat gets into the White House, we can be sure that bill in Congress will become the law. So think about that, he says, when you’re in that voting booth.
This speech might make you a little nervous about what your supervisor thinks your political leanings are. You might be very careful about what you say to be sure it can’t be interpreted to support the Democrats, particularly if your company has the reputation of firing people who support unionizing. And since your employer is the biggest in town, you watch what you say no matter where you are. You can’t afford to have anything get back to the company.
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Wal-Mart Workers in the U.K. Stand Up Against Underhanded Tactics
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt
Wal-Mart has built a reputation cold-hearted censorship - whether it’s record albums or movies, the retailer has massive control over the content of the media it sells.
Now it seems like the practice has spread to newspapers: employees at Wal-Mart’s British stores were ordered to remove competitors’ fliers from the daily papers, and cover up certain papers when competitors ran front page ads. Unlike in the U.S., Wal-Mart is only the second largest retailer in the U.K., and has been fiercely battling other retailers for months. The employees eventually pushed back against the practice, refusing to comply with such underhanded tactics. If only everyone along the Wal-Mart supply chain had such gumption.
Asda staff expose mangers’ dirty tricks to sabotage Tesco adverts [Sunday Mail (U.K.)]
ASDA staff were ordered to take Tesco flyers out of newspapers and dump them in bins as supermarket price wars turned nasty.
But staff blew the whistle as they felt too ashamed to carry out the sneaky tactics. Red-faced Asda bosses yesterday admitted thousands of leaflets were binned at an Edinburgh store.
Workers there claimed bosses even turned down their request to put the promos in a recycling bin.
A member of staff at the capital’s Chesser store said: “One of the people in the cigarette kiosk had to take all the inserts out and bin them. He was really hacked off about it.
“The guy asked the manager if they could at least take the leaflets to the recycling bin but were told not to.”
When Tesco took out a full frontpage advert on a local paper, staff were told to cover the issue up.
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Friday Blog Round Up: People’s History Edition
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt
MEXICAN SUPREME COURT SLAMS WAL-MART’S LABOR PRACTICES
Mexico’s Supreme Court rules against Wal-Mart’s labor practices [AlterDestiny]
Mexico’s Supreme Court has been making some really interesting decisions lately. Last week they upheld Mexico City’s law to provide access to abortion. Yesterday, they ruled in favor of a Wal-Mart employee in Mexico who brought a case against the corporation for its practice of providing store coupons in place of a portion of one’s salary. (English story here, Spanish here). The court likened Wal-Mart’s practice to the old company stores that operated under the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz (1876-1910), that were subsequently outlawed with the 1917 constitution.
Walmart Slammed by Mexican Court [Politics and Hypocrisy]
Now to be fair, I am far from knowledgeable on the working conditions in Mexico. I do know that they must be bad enough to cause 1000’s of Mexicans to cross our borders yearly in search of a better life.
So knowing that, how bad must Walmart be in Mexico if their Supreme Court is criticizing their labor practices? I’ll give you a hint, an 1890’s dictator and store only salary vouchers are mentioned.
I wonder if they tell their employees how to vote down there as well?
After the jump, Wal-Mart’s new in-store TV network, the company’s outreach to mommy bloggers and why you should love the REALLY free market.
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Illegal? No. Unethical? You be the Judge
Posted by Luke West
In a story posted today from KXLY.com in Spokane, Washington, it seems that Wal-Mart has found a new market, in undercutting a local high-school. A Wal-Mart store in Cheney, Washington has begun selling shirts that bear the logo of the Cheney Blackhawks, the town’s high-school sports team. Wal-Mart does not pay the school royalties for using the logo, nor do they have permission from the school to sell the shirts and this is bad news according to the school’s Activities Director, Jim Missel who had this to say:
“They can buy their stuff at a larger quantity and be able to sell it at a cheaper price. It hurts us when this happens.”
Cheney High School uses revenues from their own apparel sales to fund school activities and athletic programs, and without that revenue, it becomes increasingly harder to finance such programs. Missel says he doesn’t want to start a war with Wal-Mart, but would likely appreciate some consideration for the situation. Wal-Mart told a journalist from KXLY that the company “tries to give customers what they want at a good price, while still being a good neighbor”.
The ironic thing is that by selling shirts with the Blackhawks logo on them, they are lessening the chance that Blackhawks athletic programs will even continue to exist. If anyone out there knows of this kind of thing happening in their town, feel free to tell us about it in the comments section.
Is Wal-Mart undercutting local athletic programs?
CHENEY - The start of the 2008 football season hits Thursday night, but if you’re looking to get into school spirit there’s at least one team on the West Plains that hopes you consider where you buy your gear from.
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What’s Good for the Middle Class is Good For Wal-Mart
Posted by Media Team
Last month, the Wall Street Journal exposed the fact that Wal-Mart was telling its employees to vote against the Democrats in November - fearful that a Democrat in the White House would pass legislation making it easier for workers to unionize. Today, an op-ed by Congressman Rahm Emanuel in the Wall Street Journal suggests that Wal-Mart’s potentially illegal activities may even be misguided. Emanuel suggests that Wal-Mart is ignoring the economic facts in advocating for Republicans, and has actually fared better under a Democratic administration.
The piece explains that the American middle class - Wal-Mart’s core demographic - has always done better under Democrat administrations. Supporting measures that bolster the working class - such as the Employee Free Choice Act, which the company warned against - would mean better living for Wal-Mart’s employees AND its shareholders. Such support might mean thinking outside the box for this notoriously Republican company, but Wal-Mart stands only to gain from such innovations.
Opinion: Wal-Mart Thrives When Democrats Are in Charge [Wall Street Journal]
Last month, reports surfaced indicating that Wal-Mart managers and department heads were holding meetings with associates and warning of dire consequences if Barack Obama is elected president.
Wal-Mart may have its political reasons to vote Republican, but if economics are the criteria, Wal-Mart should be rooting for a Democratic administration. Instead, the company whose television ads encourage you to save money and live better is ignoring the economic facts and backing Republican economic policies that have resulted in families losing money and living worse.
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Mexican Supreme Court Compares Wal-Mart’s Labor Practices to Dictatorship
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt
In the past, we’ve compared Wal-Mart to the Harry Potter villain Voldemort, as a way to highlight the retailer’s harsh treatment of employees and devastating impact on small towns. The Mexican Supreme Court has made an even more extreme condemnation: the court recently compared Wal-Mart’s labor practices to those of Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz, whose rule was known for brutal use of power and widespread corruption.
The comparison arose after a Wal-Mart employee complained to the court that Wal-Mart was essentially paying its workers in store credit, rather than actual money. Vouchers handed out to employees as part of their salary could only be used at Wal-Mart stores, the employee said. President Diaz used similar plans during his regime.
Labor problems have dogged Wal-Mart in Mexico since it began expanding in the country in the early 2000s. A worker strike at several Walmex stores in February ended suspiciously, leading many to wonder if the company hired false negotiators or intimidated employees. Prior to that incident, Wal-Mart workers rallied in Mexico City to demand better conditions and a union. The company has also been criticized for refusing to pay teenagers employed as baggers at its Mexico stores. In light of these problems, the Supreme Court’s comparison seems somewhat fitting.
Mexico’s Supreme Court slams Walmart’s labor practices [AFP]
Mexico’s Supreme Court compared the practices of US retail giant Walmart in Mexico to employer-worker relations during the dictatorship of former president Porfirio Diaz.
Diaz served as president and absolute ruler of Mexico from 1877-80 and from 1884-1911.
Mexico’s top court on Thursday backed a Walmart employee who had complained that vouchers handed out by the company as part of its salary payments could only be spent in the company’s stores.
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Wal-Mart’s New Health Plan: Medicaid
Posted by Research Team
In the most recent report from Policy Matters Ohio, Wal-Mart tops the list of Ohio employers with the most employees receiving government health care assistance. According to Wal-Mart, these rankings are “notoriously unreliable” and hard to verify. However, when you consider that Wal-Mart tops the list in every state where the information is available, they start to look reliable. Why do taxpayers have to pick up Wal-Mart’s health care tab?
With high deductibles and coverage limitations, Wal-Mart’s health care is inadequate.
The Wal-Mart average for full-time workers to qualify for benefits is six months, compared to the retail average of three months. Part time employees must wait a full year before receiving benefits. Since the majority of workers do not stay a year, the majority never get health care.
Wal-Mart workers often earn too little to afford health care.
To get a plan with a $700 deductible and $4000 out-of-pocket medical expenses still costs $7000 a year and the average Wal-Mart employee makes approximately 20,000 a year.
Ohio is not unique; Wal-Mart workers in other states must use public assistance programs to meet their health care needs.
In states that have released data on companies with employees receiving state-funded health care, Wal-Mart tops the list. Twenty-four states have tracked and reported the number of employees and dependants that the largest employers within their borders have enrolled in state-funded health care programs, and in those states, Wal-Mart is at the head of the line for public assistance. In all states that have released such data - Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin - Wal-Mart tops the list.
Click here to download “Wal-Mart’s New Health Plan: Medicaid”
Wal-Mart Tries Once Again in Southeast Asia
Posted by Research Team
An article today from Reuters brings news that Wal-Mart is looking to expand its presence in Southeast Asia. Wal-Mart has come to rely more and more on its international stores for sales growth, and expanding into Southeast Asia is only one part of the company’s international expansion plan. From Reuters via the International Herald Tribune:
Wal-Mart Stores, the world’s biggest retailer, is considering its first stores in Southeast Asia and expects to approach 10 percent growth in international sales to $100 billion this fiscal year despite a global economic slowdown.
This is not, however, Wal-Mart’s first venture in Southeast Asia. The company’s first effort in the region was a partnership with Indonesia’s powerful Lippo Group. In 1995, Wal-Mart and Lippo worked together to open stores in Jakarta. As the New York Times reported:
The 180,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter, planned for Lippo Village, a Jakarta mall owned by the Lippo Group, will be the first in Indonesia. Wal-Mart, which is based here, said it would provide expertise and management services for the store, which Lippo will own. By the time the store opens, Wal-Mart will have stores in Indonesia, Hong Kong and China, company officials said.
The partnership failed. Less than three years later, after opening two stores in Jakarta, Wal-Mart announced that it was abandoning the project. From BusinessWeek:
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. confirmed on Wednesday, Feb. 25, that it’s trying to end a franchise agreement with a unit of Indonesia’s powerful Lippo Group. The partners operate two stores in Jakarta under the Wal-Mart banner. About 13 U.S. expatriates, who supported the store operations, have left Indonesia, a Wal-Mart spokesman says.
Even before the Lippo debacle, Wal-Mart partnered with Thai company Charown Pokphand Group. That partnership was also a failure, and ended after less than a year. Will Wal-Mart’s most recent efforts to build in Southeast Asia prove different than its previous attempts?
Wal-Mart sees potential growth in Southeast Asia [Reuters via International Herald Tribune]