Walmart Free NYC (WMFNYC)

Sweatshop, Warehouse, Walmart: A Worker Truth Tour comes to NYC

2011-03-30T10:26:00.000-04:00

Thursday, we're bringing together workers from multiple points in the Walmart supply chain to tell how the world's biggest retailer keeps workers in a cycle of low wages, no voice on the job, and dangerous working conditions. Speakers will include a Walmart associate, a warehouse worker, and a Bangladeshi garment worker. Join us! RSVP and more info on Facebook!

From Walmart Watch:

Walmart wants to open stores in New York City. The company is spending a lot of money to change the debate from the real issue, which is how it treats its associates and creates poverty-level jobs throughout its supply chain. As the world’s largest retailer, how Walmart impacts workers across the globe is a good preview of what kind of jobs it is going to try to bring to NYC.

Three workers representing different links in the Wal...mart supply chain will be appearing in New York on Thursday, March 31th as part of Sweatshop, Warehouse, Walmart: A Worker Truth Tour.

Robert Hines worked until very recently in a Chicago-area warehouse that supplies Walmart.

Cynthia Murray works in a Walmart store in Laurel, Maryland.

Aleya Akter is a young woman from Bangladesh who has worked in garment factories since she was nine years old, sewing the clothes sold in U.S. Walmart stores.

Kalpona Akter is a former garment worker and director of the Bangladesh Worker Solidarity Center who was imprisoned after a Walmart subcontractor brought falsified complaints against her.

These three workers would like to share with the community what it is like to work for Walmart, whether directly on the company’s payroll like Cynthia or indirectly for a shipper or supplier like Robert and Aleya.

For more information, visit sweatfree.org/walmarttour2011 or call 212.631.0886

Tour sponsors include Making Change at Walmart (a campaign of the United Food and Commercial Workers), Jobs with Justice, International Labor Rights Forum, United Students Against Sweatshops, and SweatFree Communities.

Walmart Buys its way into Africa

2011-01-21T11:54:00.002-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

"Despite the advent of democracy in 1994, South Africa remains one of the most inequitable societies in the world. The acquisition of 51% of Massmart by Walmart will cut out even more local ownership of one of the major retail players in the country."
-Tyotyo James, deputy-president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions. After Walmart's 51% bid on the major retailer Massmart was approved this week. "Walmart buys its way into Africa"

It's not just a domestic problem with Walmart, across the world they're notoriously known for exploitation of workers and destruction of small business. In South Africa they're getting a lot of resistance for buying out the retail chain Massmart and essentially monopolizing the South African retail market.

Now that the Massmart deal cleared all the regulatory hurdles, a massive boycott is being planned for all Walmart/Massmart affiliated stores. [Financial Mail]

WalmartNYC.com Promotes Report: NYC Store Would Lower Wages

2011-01-13T16:46:00.012-05:00

Here's something you don't see everyday, Walmart telling the truth.

The ingenious website www.walmartnyc.com which claims to promote real New Yorker opinions, is promoting a report from ABC News which covered NYC Public Advocate's Bill de Blasio's report that if a Walmart were to open in NYC retail wages would suffer. Here's a screen shot from WalmartNYC's newsroom:

via: www.walmartnyc.com

We love how the logo above reads, "Helping NYC Save Money and Live Better", while they source studies that argue they'll lower retail wages.

Link: http://www.walmartnyc.com/2011/01/13/report-nyc-walmart-jobs-would-lower-wages/

Thanks, Walmart!

Update: The New York Politicker picked up the story also here: http://www.observer.com/2011/politics/wal-mart-website-inadvertently-brags-store-would-lower-wages

Rally and New York City Council Hearing Postponed to Feb.3

2011-01-12T14:01:00.000-05:00

UPDATE: Due to the snow concerns, the New York City Council has rescheduled the hearing from Jan. 12th to February 3, 2011, same place, same time. RSVP and discuss the rally on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=190233140990413

Rally to Keep Job-Killing Wal-Mart Out of NYC

2011-01-10T15:14:00.001-05:00

RSVP on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=190233140990413

ABOUT WALMART FREE NYC

Walmart Free NYC is a coalition of workers, small business owners, community leaders, clergy and elected officials who are committed to increasing economic opportunities, preserving local businesses, and creating more jobs in communities across New York’s five boroughs.

WALMART IMPACT STUDIES

“The Impact of an Urban Wal-Mart Store on Area Businesses: An Evaluation of One Chicago Neighborhood’s Experience.” Davis, Julie, David Merriman, Lucia Samayoa, Brian Flanagan, Ron Baiman, and Joe Persky, December 2009. Center for Urban Research and Learning Loyola University Chicago.
Available online at http://luc.edu/curl/pdfs/Media/WalMartReport21010_01_11.pdf.

“The Effects of Walmart on Local Labor Markets.” David Neumark, Junfu Zhang, and Stephen Ciccarella. October 2005. Public Policy Institute of California.

Available online at: http://www.businessweek.com/pdfs/2005/david_neumark.pdf

“The Effect of Walmart on Businesses in Host Towns and Surrounding Towns in Iowa.” Kenneth Stone. Iowa State University. November 1988.
Available online at: http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/faculty/stone/Effect%20of%20Walmart%20-%201988%20paper%20scanned.pdf

Wal-Mart Tries Again for New York City Store

2010-12-17T10:33:00.000-05:00

Here are some recent stories on Wal-Marts attempt to invade NYC:

New York City Council Postpones Wal-Mart Hearing

Citing a committee room too small to accommodate growing interest in a hearing next week about the economic impact of Wal-Mart opening stores in New York, the New York City Council postponed the meeting until next year, when it will be held in a larger space.

See Also: Wal-Mart Tries Again for New York City Store

"We needed a bigger room," Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, said. "We heard from unions all across the city, small business leaders from across the city. It's a growing list of people."

Walmart Makes Another Push Into New York City

Walmart hasn't given up on New York yet and is looking at real estate throughout the city. Many other metropolitan areas have blocked the retailer, largely over fear that it will damage the prospects of small local stores and regional chains.

NY Daily News: Wal-Mart May Land in East New York; Community Braces for Big-Box Retailer

East New York is bracing for what could be the city's first Walmart, as the big box chain seriously eyes a site in the neighborhood. "Related basically threw the supermarkets under the bus and decided to put all its eggs in the Walmart basket," said a real estate source

Walmart News: Walmart Confirms Smaller Stores, After Chicago Win, Will Wal-Mart Look to New York?

2010-10-19T13:58:00.000-04:00

After Chicago Win, Will Wal-Mart Look to New York?
Wal-Mart won the right to open two more stores in Chicago this year, but does that man the world's largest retailer can eventually take Manhattan?

Wal-Mart Confirms Smaller Stores
The retailer confirmed that it will open medium- and smaller-sized stores beginning next year in urban areas and small towns.

Wal-Mart to End Employee Profit-Sharing in February
Wal-Mart plans to end profit-sharing contributions in February, replacing them by matching some of the dollars employees put in their 401(k) retirement plans to pare expenses. Meanwhile, they're expecting "positive" 4Q sales.

Union Opposes Wal-Mart Expansion
A Rep of UFCW Local 152 said the union will raise objections to the company's proposed 40,000-square foot addition plans to add a full grocery component, including produce, deli and bakery sections, and keep the store open 24 hours.

Massmart Meets Unions on Walmart Offer
Massmart executives have contacted labor unions regarding the offer by global retail giant Wal-Mart to purchase the local company for R30billion.

Wal-Mart To Boost Buying From Local Farms
Wal-Mart is planning to double the sales of fresh produce it sources from local farms in its U.S. stores by the end of 2015.

Daily Finance: 5 Fun Facts On Wal-Mart
The Top-line numbers don't convey just how massive Wal-Mart really is. To further understand this retail giant, here are some fun facts that help illustrate its heft...

Holiday Wish: Better Sales
Although the world's largest retailer has been losing sales to its competitors this year, they expect sales to improve in the critical holiday shopping season. "We expect positive sales results in the fourth quarter"- Mike Duke, Wal-Mart's CEO

New Baltimore Walmart Plans Anger Some

"We've looked at all the impacts of big box retailers around the country on urban communities, and we're not happy with what we learned,"- Betty Robinson of Baltimore

Groups Sue to Block Rohnert Park Wal- Mart Expansion

Sonoma County, CA-- The County Conservation Action argue that the council's decision effectively violated the land use policies outlined in the city's general plan, which calls for encouraging supermarkets to be "close to where people live".

Colonie Rejects Super Walmart Plan

Latham, NY-- The board voted unanimously against the proposed 184,000- square-foot store during a public meeting that stretched into the early morning hours of Sept. 15.

Wal-Mart to Split Merchandising Responsibilities Among 4 Executives

The decision, which may not be permanent, raises some uncertainty about how the world's largest retailer will shape its merchandising strategy.

Wal-Mart Remodeling Many Wholesale Clubs

The remodeling is to better compete with rivals such as Costco. The new look includes wider aisles and lower shelves to offer a more expansive view of the store.

Walmart to Become Supercenter in Whitehall

Whitehall, PA-- Officials approve plans to tear down Sam's Club to make way for 180,000-square-foot general merchandise and grocery store with drive-through pharmacy and garden center.

Wal-Mart Retailers Must Face Organic Milk Lawsuit

A federal appeals court reinstated a nationwide lawsuit accusing Wal-Mart Stores, Target and other major retailers of misleading consumers in the marketing of organic milk.

Wal-Mart Sets Sights on San Francisco
As a part of its new "urban strategy," the world's largest retailer is looking to open two dozen stores in the Bay Area

Wal-Mart's News: July

2010-07-20T10:21:00.000-04:00

Wal-Mart Moves In, In A Big Way

Chicago, IL--Wal-Mart Announced they want to open "dozens of new stores" in the next five years in various sizes ranging from 8,000 square feet to the typical 200,000 square feet Supercenter.

Wal-Mart Goes to Washington- Maybe

Just a few days after Wal-Mart Stores appears to have won over skeptics in the Windy City of Chicago, the retailer has its sights set on another untapped metropolitan area: Washington, D.C.

Wal-Mart Eyes Urban Expansion

Community groups claim victory, but retail giant won't pay "living wage" unions wanted.

Westridge Store to Reopen in Fall

Portola Valley, CA-- The Walmart Store at Westridge Shopping Center in Salinas will reopen in the fall when a renovation is completedm a company spokeswoman said.

Wal-Mart Grocery Deal Okayed by Farmers Branch City Council

Dallas, TX--The City Council voted unanimously to advance talks to sell a four-acre plot of land to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to develop a small grocery.

Walmart to Present Grants on Opening Day

Johnson City, TX-- Walmart said that it will present $16,500 in grants from the Walmart Foundation to eight area organizations during the grand opening of its second store in Broome County.

Walmart Hearing Set

Franklin, NC-- On Aug. 2, anyone with an opinion on the proposed Walmart Supercenter will have a chance to address the town board in a public hearing at 7:05pm at town hall.

Fairlawn Wary of Walmart Move

OHIO- According to site plans recently filed with the township, LRC Development Co. of Akron is proposing two large retail buildings on Rothrock Road in Copley.

Walmart Near Battlefield Back in Virginia Court
ORANGE, Va-- A trail date is expected to be set on a bid to block a Walmart Supercenter near an endangered Civil War battlefield in northern Virginia.

Another Billionaire Bailout for Wal-Mart Developer
Bridgeton, MO-- One of the richest people in America was given millions in public welfare to build an unnecessary Wal-Mart. This "bailout for Billionaires" was the work of the Bridgeton, Missouri City Council, where economic illiteracy trumps common sense.

Wal-Mart Fighting $7,000 Fine in Trampling Case
Wal-Mart Stores has spent a year and more than a million dollars in legal fees battling a $7,000 fine that federal safety officials assessed after shoppers trampled a Wal-Mart employee to death at a store on Long Island on the day after Thanksgiving in 2008.

Medical Marijuana User Sues Over Walmart Firing
DETROIT-- A man who uses medical marijuana to treat symptoms of an inoperable brain tumor and cancer claims in a lawsuit filed when he was wrongfully fired from a Walmart store in Michigan after testing positive for the drug.

Putting Screws to Suppliers Means Big Cash For Wal-Mart
Retail and consumer goods manufactures realize significant sales through Wal-Mart's retail channel giving Wal-Mart leverage to influence suppliers to sell at cheaper prices. With its power over suppliers and strong credit quality, can thus efficiently manage its working capital.

Sam's Club Will Offer Small Business Loans
NEW YORK-- Wal- Mart's Sam's Club chain is teaming up with a lender to offer loans of up to $25,000 to its small business members.

The Stats Behind Walmart

It's Called Capitalism
Walmart CEO Michael Duke's $35 million annual salary constitutes an hourly wage equal to the annual salary of the average Walmart employee. New Walmart employees are paid a gross salary of $13,650 a year. Thus, over a single lunch, Duke makes the yearly salary of one of his workers.

Walmart Contributing to Destruction of Indonesia's Rainforests
Major U.S. companies are contributing to the destruction of Indonesia's rainforest's by sourcing paper from Asia Pulp and Paper (AAP)

Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble Join Forces
To promote more family friendly shows, the "project" is a secret community of geniuses formed to solve some of the world's problems, and they must fight to keep a new technology from falling into evil hands.

WakeUpWalmart.com Launches “Hope for the Holidays” Campaign to Highlight Walmart’s Track Record of Poor Product Safety

2009-12-15T15:54:00.000-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 15, 2009

WakeUpWalmart.com Launches “Hope for the Holidays” Campaign to Highlight Walmart’s Track Record of Poor Product Safety

(Washington, DC) - The 490,000 members of WakeUpWalmart.com today launched a consumer education campaign to highlight Walmart’s track record of stocking dangerous and unsafe products. Activists and community leaders from across the country will come together to inform consumers about Walmart’s business model and how it encourages the production of dangerous products and puts profits above the safety of consumers. Supporters of WakeUpWalmart.com and the National Consumers League will also send Walmart CEO Mike Duke an open letter asking him to put consumer safety ahead of profit this holiday season.

Walmart has repeatedly carried products that have been identified as unsafe or dangerous by reputable consumer safety organizations. Right now, there are children’s holiday gifts offered for sale at stores and online with high levels of dangerous substances including lead, chlorine, arsenic, cadmium, and bromine according to HealthyStuff.org, a project of the Ecology Center and the Center for Environmental Health.

WakeUpWalmart.com and the National Consumers League are calling on Walmart to pull these dangerous products. These products include:

- Zhu Zhu Pets

- Mrs. Potato Head

- Walmart brand black and yellow frog wallet

- Disney Princesses pink belt

- iCarly pink belt

- 10 Squirtin' Sea Buddies

- A Touch & Feel Bedtime Book

- Chux! Fling Shots

- Our Good 5 Game Combo (Badminton, Volleyball, Shuttle Smash, Flying Disc, Jelly Ball)

- The Original Little Red Wagon - Model #32

- Small Bakugan Battle Brawlers Backpack

- The Original - Butterfly Watch

- Red Flame Watch

- Green Giraffe Print Bag

“As the world’s largest retailer, Walmart should be a leader in improving safety standards for the products it carries,” said Pat O’Neill, Executive Vice President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. “Unfortunately, right now Walmart is using its size to push suppliers to produce at a lower cost which could end up compromising product safety. Saving money and living better should not mean pushing suppliers to cut costs that may result in cutting corners. Our wish list for Walmart is that they ensure their products are safe, so families don’t have to worry. Walmart can certainly afford to take extra precautions to inform customers of potential safety concerns.”

In addition to educating consumers about Walmart’s unsafe business practices and dangerous products, WakeUpWalmart.com, the National Consumers League, and their supporters will sign an open letter to Mike Duke demanding that Walmart take responsibility for the products on its shelves. In it, consumers tell Duke that, “We know Walmart can afford to do right by America’s families and help make this holiday a safe one. As the nation’s largest retailer, Walmart has an obligation to pull products with toxic levels of chemicals from its shelves—and end the unsafe practice of pushing suppliers into cutting corners.”

For more information please visit http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/feature/holiday2009.

###

UFCW News Service
www.ufcw.org

UFCW Coalition Launches New Wal-Mart Campaign,

2009-09-02T11:11:00.002-04:00

“Nobody wants an economy where workers earn wages that can’t support a family. Nobody wants an economy where people who go to work everyday and work hard have to turn to public assistance for basic needs."

-UFCW International President Joe Hansen, announced a new national comprehensive American values-driven agenda to hold Walmart accountable to its workers, our communities and the planet.

The UFCW announced a campaign challenging Wal-Mart to change its corporate practices for the sake of the economy and the communities in which it operates.

"We want to see some real change," said Patrick J. O'Neill, international vice president of UFCW in today's Washington Post. You may watch the new advertisements here. Or Below

Week in Wal-Mart News

2009-08-27T10:40:00.000-04:00

Wal-Mart continues to test their Latino thread of stores, hoping it will spark more U.S. expansion.

It's official a Wal-Mart will be built on a Civil War battle field. But Preservationists say that the Wal-Mart Civil War battle is not over yet.

Wall Street Journal looks at Wal-Mart's international growth and sales compared to the U.S. Wal-Mart operates 3,615 stores internationally and 4,258 in the United States.

Wal-Mart also spent $2.6 million lobbying in the 2nd quarter.

Wal-Mart uses recession in attempt to come to NYC

2009-08-10T10:05:00.000-04:00

“Now, more than any other time in recent memory, New York City residents want and need better access to our stores so they are not forced to travel to New Jersey or Long Island to benefit from the savings Wal-Mart provides for working families,”... “Hopefully we will be able to bring a store to New York in the near future.” -a spokesman, Philip Serghini, in an e-mail message, in yesterdays Crain's.

Here is Wal-Mart once again using the recession as a frugal attempt to enter New York City.

Weekly Wal-Mart Round Up: July 20

2009-07-20T10:27:00.001-04:00

Image by Lone Primate via Flickr

In Boston, a Superior Court judge here who refused to allow Wal-Mart to settle a class-action lawsuit involving off-the-clock work and shortened breaks has scheduled the case to go to trial Oct. 5, according to published reports.

In a long five year battle, UFCW Local 1400 (Canada) is appealing a decision by Court of Queen's Bench Justice Peter Foley, who ruled last month that the certification of a Wal-Mart, in the town of Weyburn, was wrong.

Workers in foreign factories that supply Wal-Mart can't blame the company for their alleged sweatshop conditions, despite the retail giant's code of conduct that's supposed to hold its contractors to decent labor standards, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

Wal-Mart Stores here will discuss the development of a new index that measures the "social and environmental impact" of its products at a press conference today, reports said yesterday.

OSHA cites Wal-Mart $7,000 for Black Friday Death.

A federal judge has given final approval to a $17.5 million settlement of a discrimination lawsuit that accused Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of not hiring black truck drivers.

The UFCW is appealing the decision in Canada which overturned the unionization of a Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart, messes up sales tax in second state, makes another false claim in new Ad...

2009-06-23T10:27:00.001-04:00

A national Ad group has told Wal-Mart Stores yesterday that it should stop running TV ads claiming customers can save $700 a year by shopping its stores. This is not the first time Wal-Mart has been told to stop making claims like these in advertisements.

Wal-Mart has also named a new diversity officer.

Wal-Mart is also having yet another 'sales tax mishap', overcharging customers, this time in Missouri. If you remember this was previously an issue in Connecticut.

Lee Scott, the former chief executive officer of Wal-Mart Stores, called on attendees at the CIES World Food Business Summit here on Friday to join the Global Social Compliance Program to help ensure that suppliers are adhering to local wage and environmental regulations.

Why Wal-Mart needs the Employee Free Choice Act.

Wal-Mart Watch Launches an NYC Watch Program

2009-06-05T10:55:00.002-04:00

Our friends at Wal-Mart Watch have launched a site specifically designed to keep Wal-Mart out of New York City! Take a look for yourselves!

New York is the largest city in the United States. It's home to 8.3 million people – 27,147 persons per square mile – and zero Wal-Mart stores.

Much to the chagrin of Wal-Mart and its former CEO Lee Scott, Wal-Mart has had no luck in New York City. Masters of rural and suburban growth, Wal-Mart has never been able to circumvent the city's strong labor presence, activist population, and restrictive zoning laws. In 2004, Wal-Mart tried to open its first store in Rego Park, Queens and the move was met with opposition from a coalition of politicians, union organizers and community members. [New York Magazine, 8/8/05] Similarly, residents denied Wal-Mart when it attempted to open a store in Staten Island in 2005. [New York Times, 8/22/05]

big ups to everyone at Wal-Mart Watch!

Wal-Mart close to unionizing in Miami, Florida

2009-04-29T13:14:00.002-04:00

Image by anonymonk via Flickr

Breaking news from Miami,
Miami may have the first Wal-Mart to unionize in the United States.

Walmart Workers for Change, a new campaign claiming to represent thousands of the Bentonville, Ark.-based mega-retailer’s 1.3 million associates across the United States, the campaign has employees in over 100 stores in 15 states who have signed union representation cards, alleging a lack of respect from the company, in addition to low wages and inadequate benefits as reasons to become unionized.

Check their new video here.

Chicago's Wal-Mart super-center is now back on the table.

Exon Mobil overtakes Wal-Mart Stores to top the Fortune 500.

UFCW steps up organizing efforts at Wal-Mart.

More Wal-Mart's around the country are showing signs of organizing.

Questionable donations by Wal-Mart, Employee Free Choice...

2009-03-10T10:11:00.002-04:00

Image by AlaskaTeacher via Flickr

Wal-Mart was downgraded from 'buy' to 'hold' by Citi, why? Fear of the Employee Free Choice Act. [Reuters]

Wal-Mart's Sam's Club has a new CEO.

Questionable donations in Chicago have spurred rumors and raised eyebrows regarding a development and Wal-Mart.

Supermarket News: "Wal-Mart denies interest in reported Manhattan sites"

2009-03-06T10:46:00.003-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Despite Supermarket News reporting this morning that Wal-Mart has declined interest in the Circut City and Virgin Megastore sites, Wal-Mart did acknowledge their continued interest in the "Jewel" of retail, New York City.

Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union President Stuart Applebaum called the move opportunistic:
"We don't need Wal-Mart to take a advantage of an economic crisis to sneak into New York and drive down standards and wages," he said.

He's right, the last thing this city needs is for Wal-Mart to continue to take advantage of the recission. Reports have surfaced in the past few weeks of their strategy to take advantage of the recession in order to "sneak" into cities, they've done so in Chicago and now California.

NYC Rumors

Gothamist: "Reverend Billy to send Wal-Mart back to lake of hellfire"

Sign the letter to the new Wal-Mart CEO

2009-02-03T09:33:00.000-05:00

Today, Wal-Mart has a new CEO. Mike Duke has the historic opportunity to turn the page, and finally start doing things the right way at Wal-Mart. Sign our open letter of support to Wal-Mart workers, outlining what their new boss can do – starting today – to let them live better, too. We’ll be posting the letter on our website, and sending it to every employee that we talk with -- and we'll make sure to send Mike Duke a signed copy as well.

Follow this link to sign the letter: http://action.walmartwatch.com/page/s/mikeduke

Bruce Springsteen: "It was a mistake." (Doing business with Wal-Mart)

2009-02-02T10:43:00.002-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

In the New York Times Sunday Bruce Springsteen expressed his regret on having his new album for sale exclusively at Wal-Mart.

“given its labor history, it was something that if we’d thought about it a little longer, we’d have done something different.” He added, “It was a mistake...."

You can read the entire piece here.

Wal-Mart Daily News...Bruce Springsteen regrets business with Wal-Mart

2009-02-02T09:39:00.003-05:00

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Bruce Springsteen regrets the deal he made with Wal-Mart....

Bruce Springsteen calls his exclusive Wal-Mart deal a "mistake"...“given its labor history, it was something that if we’d thought about it a little longer, we’d have done something different.”

Netflix, the Web's No. 1 video rental service, and Wal-Mart are being accused in a class-action lawsuit of unfairly setting prices for their rental services.

More violence at Wal-Mart.

A woman was found dead at Wal-Mart in Albany.

The value of his Wal-Mart holdings went up $30.9 million to $202.6 million.

2009-01-23T10:50:00.002-05:00

Image via WikipediaLee Scott scores again, even in a 'recession', a CNN Money Blog analyzes how bad CEO's did in the market, then they look at Lee Scott...

Wal-Mart continues world domination, acquiring over 58% of a Chilean supermarket.

Weekly Wal-Mart News, Tax loopholes close, Lee Scott for Universal Healthcare and a new private label line.

2009-01-13T10:05:00.001-05:00

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeYesterday Lee Scott addressed the National Retail Federation in New York City, urging cooperation to solve the nations health care crisis.

Lee Scott, the outgoing chief executive officer of Wal-Mart Stores, asked business leaders to embrace such initiatives as universal health care, renewable energy and immigration reform during a presentation to attendees at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show here yesterday.

He [Lee Scott], also sees a new consumer mindset.

Local retailers throughout China are teaming up to battle Wal-Mart.

The recession finally hits Wal-Mart.

The first Wal-Mart neighborhood market opened in Virginia...They also opened one in Florida today.

Wal-Mart also continues to violate Connecticut state tax laws, even after promising to comply.

The Animal Defence League of Canada is celebrating a "major victory" after Wal-Mart Canada agreed to pull a type of Chinese-made slippers that contained real rabbit fur from its shelves.

Another Wal-Mart Tax loophole may come to an end, this time in West Virginia.

The UFCW is gearing up for their Wal-Mart battle in Canada.

More info on Wal-Mart's new private label line "the Wal-Mart Great Value line"

And if that's not enough Wal-Mart news, they're also on the verge of setting up shop in Russia.

Wal-Mart still not good for NYC

2008-12-24T11:07:00.002-05:00

A study released yesterday by the non-profit Fiscal Policy Institute shows that retail is the industry sector that employs the biggest chunk of the 1.3 million low-wage workers in this city -- that is, workers earning less than $13 per hour. Nearly half of these 176,000 low-wage retail workers earn less than $10 an hour, and the majority lack health insurance. 

This re-affirms our belief that Wal-Mart's business ethics and practices are not good for our city. There is more to life than cheap underwear.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Headlines...

2008-12-19T09:49:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia
Wal-Mart refused to allow a Salvation Army Volunteer to ring his holiday bell inside the store in the midst of a blizzard.

Wal-Mart may try to open a second Chicago store...

An Arab- and Muslim-American man filed a $12 million lawsuit Thursday against a Wal-Mart store that caters to his community -- saying employees discriminated against him and fired him because of his background.

About 150 workers at a Wal-Mart store here became the ninth group of Canadian Wal-Mart employees to be granted union certification, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union said Thursday.
Read more of this story

3 Years Later, another Wal-Mart unionized in Canada

2008-12-18T12:20:00.002-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

After three-and-a-half years of legal wrangling, over 150 Wal-Mart workers in Hull, Que., have become the latest Canadian “associates” to join the union.

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Ufcw-Canada-931602.html

Attention: Assignment Editor, Business/Financial Editor, City Editor, News Editor, Government/Political Affairs Editor

HULL, QUE., NEWS RELEASE--(Marketwire - Dec. 18, 2008) -

Over 150 Wal-Mart workers in Hull, Que., have become the ninth group of Canadian "associates" to join the country's largest private-sector union after a Dec. 17 decision by the Quebec Labour Board awarded bargaining rights for the Hull location to the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada (UFCW Canada).

"After nine times, the message coming from Wal-Mart workers in Canada to Wal-Mart executives in Bentonville, Arkansas, couldn't be louder or clearer: Canadian Wal-Mart workers want to be union members," says UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley.

"Hopefully, this decision will help Wal-Mart to understand that Canada is a place where labour rights are human rights, and where people take their rights very seriously. Hopefully, Wal-Mart won't squander another chance to prove its critics wrong, and it will take this opportunity to show the world that it believes in human rights by sitting down with these Hull workers to negotiate a contract in good faith," said Hanley, making reference to Wal-Mart's past practice of closing stores or departments shortly after becoming unionized.

The Dec. 17 decision affects the Hull main store, and comes three-and-a-half years after the union originally made an application for certification. The store's adjoining Tire & Lube Express was certified as a separate bargaining unit in 2005. The labour relations process for the main store was drawn-out by several legal challenges put forward by the company.

According to Louis Bolduc, executive assistant to the UFCW Canada National President, negotiations for the two Hull Wal-Mart units will commence as soon as possible, but bargaining dates have yet to be scheduled.

UFCW Canada is Canada's largest private-sector union with over 250,000 members coast to coast.

/For further information: Guy Chenier, President UFCW Canada Local 486 (819) 777 – 8822 /

IN: ECONOMY, JUSTICE, LABOUR, RETAIL

For more information, please contact

Derek Johnstone, UFCW Canada National Communications Dept., UFCW CANADA
Primary Phone: 416-675-1104 ext. 222
Secondary Phone: 416-720-8858

It's only Tuesday...

2008-12-09T11:53:00.001-05:00

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeAnd here is what Wal-Mart has accomplished this week:

NYSUT and the state Labor-Religion Coalition are sounding the alarm over a recent report that links a popular school-uniform clothing line sold at Wal-Mart to a Bangladeshi factory that forces its workers to labor in extreme sweatshop conditions.

Wal-Mart has also finally come clean and fessed up to charging illegal taxes in Connecticut.

It keeps getting better for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., they were ordered to pay up to $54.25 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged the discount giant cut workers' break time and allowed employees to work off the clock in Minnesota.

Moscow News picked up the death on Black Friday story.

The Seattle Times writes the audio accounts leading up to Damour's death.

Yet the shoppers don't stop, Wal-Mart, adding to its counter-trend achievements this year by posting the highest earnings among retailers, $13.7 billion. The profit is more than earnings projections for the next three companies' combined,

The Building Blocks Project

2008-12-02T14:32:00.000-05:00

Every family needs access to healthy, affordable food; and every worker has the right to organize, earn a living wage, and have quality health insurance and benefits. That is why the Building Blocks Project brings together so many different people—workers, healthcare professionals, hunger and nutrition advocates, food access experts, elected leaders, community activists and faith-based leaders—to ensure that all communities are built on a solid foundation of three Building Blocks: Good Food, Good Jobs, and Good Health.

Be part of the conversation and join the movement! Learn more about the Building Blocks Project, find the facts about food justice, become involved in your community, and stand in solidarity with other workers and eaters so that we can all share in the American Dream. Please visit the Building Blocks Project’s new website (http://buildingblocksproject.org/), which we are happy to launch today

Wal-Mart sued for 'Mind Control'?

2008-11-14T09:58:00.002-05:00

A man in Canada is suing Wal-Mart, Microsoft, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for alleged mind control, satanism and witchcraft. The man claims he was "subject to invasive brain computer interface technology, research, experiments, field studies and surgery." He is seeking $2 billion in damages.

Read the entire story here.

Unfair labour practices case against Wal-Mart moving forward

2008-11-13T09:11:00.001-05:00

Unfair labour practices case against Wal-Mart moving forward

Leader-Post

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/story.html?id=43147640-9156-46ec-aae2-f13e31c2291f

REGINA -- An unfair labour practices case -- involving allegations that Wal-Mart Canada tried to intimidate workers in Saskatchewan by closing a store in Quebec -- can proceed, according to a ruling by the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board.

The board, in a decision released Oct. 24, dismissed a "preliminary application'' by Wal-Mart to quash the application by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which is seeking permission to represent Wal-Mart workers in Weyburn, North Battleford and Moose Jaw.

The UFCW argued that the threat of closure and the closure of a Wal-Mart store in Jonquirere, Que., after it was unionized was an unfair labour practice designed to intimidate workers, including Wal-Mart workers in Saskatchewan.

John Beckman, a lawyer who represents Wal-Mart, argued against the union application on several grounds, including one that the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board had no jurisdiction to make rulings on events which occurred in Quebec.

But the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board ruled that it "has the jurisdiction to inquire into, hear and determine the application'' made by the union.

"The fact that the actions of Wal-Mart upon which the allegations are based were committed outside of Saskatchewan does not mean that they cannot constitute violation of the restriction on intimidation of its employees in (Saskatchewan),'' the labour relations board ruled.

The ruling by the board is the latest one in a long-standing fight between the UFCW and Wal-Mart about the unionization of Wal-Mart workers in Saskatchewan and about related legal and labour relations issues.

Wal-Mart Closes Tire Center after workers vote to Unionize...

2008-10-17T11:21:00.000-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

Wal-Mart closes unionized Canada center [Associated Press]

Union-backed groups Wal-Mart Watch and WakeUpWalMart criticized the company for the closure. "The Gatineau workers have merely exercised their human rights under Canadian Law, something that is clearly unacceptable to Wal-Mart," Wal-Mart Watch director David Nasser said.

Wal-Mart Closes Quebec Tire Center After Labor Accord [Bloomberg News]
Wal-Mart Watch, a U.S. worker advocacy group, said the shop closing shows the retailer is willing to do anything to prevent workers from receiving better wages and benefits. "The closure in Canada clearly shows that Wal-Mart has no desire to change," it said in an e-mailed statement.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., known for its strong stance against workers unionizing, on Thursday closed a tire and lube center in Canada where workers had voted to organize.
A Wal-Mart spokesman said the five workers and one manager at the center were offered jobs at comparable Wal-Mart facilities or elsewhere in the store, which is located in Gatineau, Quebec and has more than 250 workers. The store itself will remain open.

Wal-Mart stories of the week

2008-10-10T09:37:00.000-04:00

Newsday covers the barred opening of the Riverhead Wal-Mart.

Another Wal-Mart supplier has been accused of sweatshop conditions, employees were forced into 19 hour work days while being paid sometimes less than $20.00 a month.

The Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have reached a settlement over alleged violations of the Clear Air Act, which prohibits the sale or distribution of nonessential products containing ozone-depleting substances.

Headlines...

2008-09-29T10:30:00.001-04:00

Greetings,

We haven't had a legitimate update in about a month, but here's what's been going on in Wal-Mart world....

Massachusetts has been deprived of $600M in unpaid fines by Wal-Mart.

They've pulled the plug on their DRM music system. Leaving all customers who tried to buy music legally confused...

They just announced today, they will close 20 stores and cut its work force by about 350 in Japan.

Somehow they're selling illegal wood, smuggled in from Russia, as toilet seats. Reported by the New Yorker.

Wal-Mart stores will now strictly focus on customer experiences.

They're also being sued for a variety of violations in NJ.

The Illinois Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued Wal-Mart in federal court on behalf of a Rockford woman who claims she was fired because she had epilepsy.

They were also paying employees in store vouchers as payment in Mexico

"Always Low Prices" isn't always a good thing for Wal-Mart, apparently. The discounter was warned by Puerto Rican authorities on Thursday that it was selling milk too cheaply on the island.

Thats just one month. wow.

Building Blocks Project

2008-08-14T13:18:00.004-04:00

Image via WikipediaWe're currently involved with developing a website to backbone a campaign geared towards taking action against the current Supermarket crisis throughout the five boroughs. The project is called the 'Building Blocks Project'. Here's a quick synopsis of Local 1500's project, if you would like to get involved just follow this link and sign up!

The lack of affordable and quality food available to consumers through traditional Supermarkets has reached crisis levels. Communities are affected both economically and with health related problems. Good jobs are being lost due to store closings, and we are failing to create new jobs through new supermarket development. Diabetes, obesity and heart related illnesses are at epidemic levels.

Through our Building Blocks Project, we intend to form a long-term coalition of labor unions, healthcare professionals, hunger and nutrition advocates, food access experts, elected leaders, community activists and faith-based leaders to ensure that all communities have the basic Building Blocks of good food, good jobs and good health. When a community is built upon this foundation, it produces positive results for all residents of New York State.

Wal-Mart Unions will remain only in China

2008-08-04T12:10:00.000-04:00

The first Wal-Mart trade union in China was formed after the company bowed to government demands for organized labor in its stores, The New York Times reported Friday.

Wal-Mart's reluctance to allow unions, particularly in the United States where they remain banned from stores, has been a point of controversy for many years. But the government-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions fought for the right to create branches in the company's 60 outlets.

Read the story here.

Wal-Mart inks a Union Deal???!?

2008-07-25T11:01:00.000-04:00

The following stories about China, Taiwan and Hong Kong appeared in the media today:

Wal-Mart, Chinese Unions Sign Agreements in Two Cities

Wal-Mart has signed union contracts in China?!

Here's more Bloomberg News: Wal-Mart inks two Union Deals.

Read it to believe it...

2008-07-22T17:14:00.000-04:00

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A southwest Missouri woman sued Wal-Mart, local health officials and Cox Health Systems, claiming they discriminated against her and her monkey named Richard.

Read it here.

Buying Shoe's at Wal-Mart

2008-06-23T09:36:00.000-04:00

Adidas Tells Judge Wal-Mart Sport Shoes Aren't Fit to Run In [Bloomberg News]
At least two Wal-Mart athletic shoe models are built with substandard materials and fell apart during simulated running tests,

Wal-Mart News of the day

2008-06-17T10:48:00.001-04:00

Awaiting a Big Blue Box and an Altered World [New York Times]
Monica Byrne, one of the owners of Tini, a bar on Van Brunt Street, also was generally supportive of the store’s presence. "If it was a Wal-Mart, I’d be protesting," she said. "This could be a really good thing."

City and Labor Leaders Reach Deal on Plan to Develop Willets Point [New York Times]
The city also agreed to look favorably upon developers who propose job-intensive businesses at Willets Point that would pay at least $10 an hour. At the same time, the city said it would discourage "suburban models of big-box stores," a reference to Home Depot and Wal-Mart.

Big retailers may follow Ikea to Red Hook [Daily News (N.Y.)]
Discount giant Wal-Mart tops the list of heavy hitters that have looked at development sites in the gritty-glam nabe, where a container port and a cruise-ship terminal co-exist with Civil War-era warehouse buildings, public housing projects and artists' studios.

Wal-Mart's stores in Hawaii will be part of a pilot solar project outfitting 22 Wal-Mart stores,

And the NY Sun interviews Obama's Economic Policy advisor.

Brooklyn Paper, dreaming of another Wal-Mart....again

2008-06-13T10:55:00.012-04:00

Today's Brooklyn Paper writes

With Fulton Mall changing, it is time for city officials to reconsider Wal-Mart’s attempt to bring its low prices and vast selection to Downtown Brooklyn

I'll start by asking, what kind of jobs would you like to bring to your community? A decent wage with affordable health care, a pension maybe? Some guaranteed raises and sick days? Would this be too much to ask for the company who has sat a top of the Fortune 500 list four out of the last five years? Or do we want to bring a surplus of jobs that aren't providing health care and a decent wage to our already economically struggling community? Has Wal-Mart somehow in a little over a year when they were kept out of the Fulton Mall, changed their ways? Are they providing their full-time employees with affordable health care? Are they treating women with the same respect as they used to? I missed that memo. I don't think we need to have another blog post regarding the struggles Wal-Mart employees continue to face. Just google search 'wal-mart worker' and check out what you get if you're unaware. I'd like to speak about the collateral damage a Wal-Mart would bring to a community like the Fulton Mall although. Nowhere in the Brooklyn Papers article is there a mention of the hundreds of shop owners throughout the Fulton Mall. What about the other businesses that call the Fulton Mall home? What would happen to them if Wal-Mart would open? We're all for having affordable quality food and goods, but at what cost?

So what will happen to the Fulton Mall if Wal-Mart comes? We pondered this last year and surveyed the stores within a one block radius of the potential Wal-Mart. We found that Wal-Mart carries all of the same items that every store on the carried. Now sure, pedestrian traffic would increase significantly with a Wal-Mart at the Fulton Street Mall, but who is going to shop at the Jeweler or Shoe store, or the Electronic store across the street when you can waltz right into Wal-Mart for all your shopping needs, probably at a lower price. How many businesses will be forced to close their doors? What price are you essentially paying for a Wal-Mart? What kind of collateral damage does Wal-Mart do to your community? Countless studies have been conducted on the impact Wal-Mart has on communities. What this city needs when we're facing an immense supermarket shortage while drug stores like CVS and Rite-Aid continue expand, is a company to provide quality jobs, quality goods at an affordable price. Wal-Mart should review the Food Policy principles created by Local 1500 (right). Which call for a "...citywide education program to promote the three basic tenets that are the building blocks of all communities: Good Food, Good Jobs & Good Health..." All of which correlate to one another. We need to build, and Wal-Mart would not serve well as a foundation.

Do you remember last February when Wal-Mart tried 'sneaking' into the Fulton Mall? Remember politicians, residents and community groups rallying at the steps of the proposed site at Albee Square? All of whom protested and demanded the developer not to allow another irresponsible employer into the neighborhood. We wrote on these problems last year, after the developer promised not to bring a Wal-Mart, it was then Lee Scott saying "I don't care if we're ever there [New York]"

Leticia James of the New York City Council, speaking against Wal-Mart at the Fulton Mall.

Wal-Mart population reaches 2 million

2008-05-16T09:53:00.003-04:00

Almost 2 years ago, Wal-Mart announced they planned on hiring over 150,000 more workers over the next five years, bringing their workforce to a stunning 2 million. This week they announced they have reached 2 million employees worldwide.

Tell the NYS Council on Food Policy about the food problems you're facing

2008-05-14T10:20:00.002-04:00

From The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500's Blog....

NYS Council on Food Policy Listening Session in Harlem

The New York State Council on Food Policy will be in HARLEM to LISTEN to YOU!

The NYS Council on Food Policy is holding a series of Listening Sessions around the state to gain perspective from community members on several food policy issue areas and to seek opportunities to maximize collaboration among stakeholders.

This is your chance to voice out your feelings on food!

"My grocery store just closed down!"

"My bodega only sells junk food!"

"Food prices are burning holes in my pockets!"

The Harlem Listening Session will be held from 5 to 7pm at

Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building

163 West 125th Street, New York

The Listening Sessions are open to the public and are an open microphone format. Anyone who wishes to participate will have five minutes to present their opinions and must also provide their comments in written format. Comments should focus on the key issue areas identified by the Council.

Key issue areas include:
1) Maximize participation in food and nutrition assistance programs;
2) Strengthen the connection between local food products and consumers;
3) Support efficient and profitable agricultural food production and food retail infrastructure; and
4) Increase consumer awareness and knowledge about healthy eating and improve access to safe and nutritious foods.

Please RSVP to John Mallen by calling 1.800.522.0456 ext. 212 or by sending an Email

-------------------------------------

WMT and Generic Drugs

2008-05-06T10:36:00.003-04:00

Yesterday Wal-Mart announced "that it is now offering more than 1,000 over-the-counter items for $4 or less and selling some 90-day generic prescriptions for $10." Today, Target followed the same road..."The Minneapolis-based discount retailer said the program includes and expanded assortment of $4 prescription drugs; a 90-day supply of these medications for $10; and over-the-counter medications for $4 or less."

Wal-Mart began this 'test program' in Tampa in 2006, which enticed almost a statewide flee for these $4 drugs. Target matched that offer immediately while K-Mart offered a $15 generic drug. The test program has seriously changed the generic drug industry.

Debbie Shank still doesnt have her money

2008-05-05T10:17:00.002-04:00

The Shank's are still waiting for their money from Wal-Mart

This week in Wal-Mart

2008-04-25T11:14:00.000-04:00

For nearly 30 years, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employed a video-production company here to capture footage of its top executives, sometimes in unguarded moments. Two years ago, the retailing giant stopped using the tiny company

Supermarket News reported that shareholders of Wal-Mart Stores have proposed that the company establish a human rights committee.

For the fifth time in six years, Wal-Mart tops the Fortune 500 list

2008-04-21T14:04:00.003-04:00

Despite the PR nightmares and mistreatment of workers Wal-Mart remains on top of the Fortune 500 list again for the fifth time in the last six years. From CNN.com

The retail giant reclaims the top spot on the Fortune 500, making it the largest company in the United States for the fifth time in six years. The company suffered a series of public relations gaffes last year, but has launched a crusade to spruce up its image. It now employs 1.9 million people worldwide and revenues are up 11% over last year, but profits grew less than 1%, amid a slowdown in same-store sales.

New York State's largest Grocery Union responds to Mayor Bloomberg's Wal-Mart endorsments

2008-04-15T10:30:00.003-04:00

In today's New York Sun, Mayor Bloomberg says of Wal-Mart; "Wal-Mart clearly shares our goals, and their commitment to public safety really is commendable," This morning, New York's largest Grocery Union was taken back by this comment and issued a response.

“With all due respect to the Mayor, I would ask him to take a close look at Wal-marts long, well documented history of being one this country’s most irresponsible employers. Wal-mart has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in wage and hour violations, encouraged workers to go on tax payer funded healthcare rather than provide accessible insurance, has allowed overseas child labor to produce their products, is a defendant in this Nation’s largest gender discrimination lawsuit and been responsible for the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs and lost local businesses. Their overall behavior has been anything but responsible,” stated Bruce W. Both, President of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500.

Read the entire Press Release at Local 1500's blog.

Wal-Mart does the right thing to the Shank Family

2008-04-14T16:43:00.002-04:00

Wal-Mart has finally done the right thing in the Shank case...Check out Wake Up Wal-Mart's article and page dedicated to the Shank case.

National Advertising Division tells Wal-Mart to stop spreading lies

2008-04-01T09:48:00.003-04:00

AdAge.com has a featured piece on their site today telling Wal-Mart to stop claiming consumers can save $2,500 annually by shopping there. More lies from the company that strives on helping the 'American Dream'

Wal-Mart should discontinue the implied advertising claim that consumers can save $2,500 annually by shopping there, the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus recommended in a statement today.

Check out the entire article here.

Selfishness of a Billion Dollar Company

2008-03-31T11:14:00.002-04:00

Please read this disheartening story that essentially sums up everything Wal-Mart Stores Inc. stands for; Selfishness, Corporate Greed and willingness to do anything for a buck.

A collision with a semi-trailer truck seven years ago left 52-year-old Deborah Shank permanently brain-damaged and in a wheelchair. Her husband, Jim, and three sons found a small source of solace: a $700,000 accident settlement from the trucking company involved. After legal fees and other expenses, the remaining $417,000 was put in a special trust. It was to be used for Mrs. Shank's care.

Instead, all of it is now slated to go to Mrs. Shank's former employer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Read the Entire story here.

Rocky Point vs. Wal-Mart

2008-03-27T11:12:00.005-04:00

As more and more communities are learning the true cost of a low price, their campaigns against the world's largest company continue to grow throughout the country. The latest in our area takes place in Suffolk County, Long Island. A proposal to bring a Wal-Mart to what was once a Drive In Movie theater has the community banding together to keep the corporate giant out of their town. The Suffolk Life Newspaper highlights the feud.

The Rocky Point Civic Association, headed by Drew Martin, found out about the potential Wal-Mart development only after a local resident saw bulldozers on the lot and asked the workers what they were for, according to Martin.
"We do not want a Wal-Mart here," he said. "Wal-Mart is like a big middle finger to us. They have such an unfair competitive advantage. They buy in such volume that no local retailer can compete with them. The economic impact on our downtown would be severe. It would be a recipe for disaster all the way around."

Read the entire story here. Support the Rocky Point community by heading to the Rocky Point Civic Association website. They're showing the High Cost of a Low Price tomorrow actually at a local VFW, if you're in the area come show your support!

Newsday also covered the story last week, we'll post more information on this site fight once we get it.

Consumers in dark over risks of New Light Bulbs

2008-03-24T10:01:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Joseph Farah from www.WorldNetDaily.com

ENVIRONETDAILY
Consumers in dark over
risks of new light bulbs
Push for energy-saving fluorescents
ignores mercury disposal hazards

WASHINGTON – Brandy Bridges heard the claims of government officials, environmentalists and retailers like Wal-Mart all pushing the idea of replacing incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving and money-saving compact fluorescent lamps.

So, last month, the Prospect, Maine, resident went out and bought two dozen CFLs and began installing them in her home. One broke. A month later, her daughter's bedroom remains sealed off with plastic like the site of a hazardous materials accident, while Bridges works on a way to pay off a $2,000 estimate by a company specializing in environmentally sound cleanups of the mercury inside the bulb.

With everyone from Al Gore to Wal-Mart to the Environmental Protection Agency promoting CFLs as the greatest thing since, well, the light bulb, consumers have been left in the dark about a problem they will all face eventually – how to get rid of the darn things when they burn out or, worse yet, break.

CFLs are all the rage. They are the spirally shaped, long-lasting bulbs everyone is being urged, cajoled and guilt-tripped into purchasing to replace Thomas Edison's incandescents, which are being compared to sports utility vehicles for their impracticality and energy inefficiency. However, there is no problem disposing of incandescents when their life is over. You can throw them in the trash can and they won't hurt the garbage collector. They won't leech deadly compounds into the air or water. They won't kill people working in the landfills.

The same cannot be said about the mercury-containing CFLs. They bear disposal warnings on the packaging. But with limited recycling prospects and the problems experienced by Brandy Bridges sure to be repeated millions of times, some think government, the green community and industry are putting the cart before the horse marketing the new technology so ferociously.

Consider her plight.

When the bulb she was installing in a ceiling fixture of her 7-year-old daughter's bedroom crashed to the floor and broke into the shag carpet, she wasn't sure what to do. Knowing about the danger of mercury, she called Home Depot, the retail outlet that sold her the bulbs.

According to the Ellison American, the store warned her not to vacuum the carpet and directed her to call the poison control hotline in Prospect, Maine. Poison control staffers suggested she call the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

The latter sent over a specialist to test the air in her house for mercury levels. While the rest of the house was clear, the area of the accident was contaminated above the level considered safe. The specialist warned Bridges not to clean up the bulb and mercury powder by herself – recommending a local environmental cleanup firm.

That company estimated the cleanup cost, conservatively, at $2,000. And, no, her homeowners insurance won't cover the damage.

Since she could not afford the cleanup, Bridges has been forced to seal off her daughter's bedroom with plastic to avoid any dust blowing around. Not even the family pets are permitted in to the bedroom. Her daughter is forced to sleep downstairs in an overcrowded household.

She has continued to call public officials for help – her two U.S. senators included. So far, no one is beating down Bridges' door to help – not even Al Gore, whose Academy Award-winning movie, "An Inconvenient Truth," urges everyone to change to CFLs to save the planet from global warming.

(Story continues below)

Monsey Wal-Mart....Victory for the Community!

2008-03-13T10:35:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to the residents of Monsey for defeating a corporate giant!!!

MONSEY, N.Y. — It was Friday afternoon when the developer who had been intent on building a 215,000-square-foot Wal-Mart in this hamlet sent word to the town offices in Ramapo. The fax was terse, but its message clear: “We will not continue to proceed with the development.”

Read the entire story here.

Wal-Mart Execs Favor Clinton In Giving [NW Arkansas Morning News]

2008-03-03T13:52:00.001-05:00

Wal-Mart Execs Favor Clinton In Giving [NW Arkansas Morning News]
Sen. Hillary Clinton is the favored recipient of campaign money from Wal-Mart executives, where she once served on the board of directors. Officers and directors of the retail giant have given more money to presidential candidates in this race than in the previous two election cycles combined, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

Wal-Mart becoming a Political Issue for Candidates

2008-01-29T14:12:00.000-05:00

Bill Clinton Defends Wife's Work on Wal-Mart Board [ABC News]
"While we don't have any insight into what Sen. Clinton advocated for while on the board of Wal-Mart, we do know that Wal-Mart has made no meaningful progress regarding the company's poor business practices, including gender discrimination, low wages, inadequate health care, overseas sourcing or environmental degradation," Nassar said.

WMT to enter Russia

2008-01-22T10:54:00.000-05:00

Wal-Mart seen to enter Russia within 2 Years.

Wal-Mart saves over $1 Million from an employee suggestion.

They (WMT) also announced it will cut close to 1,000 magazines they now offer.

Indian Farmers strike back

2008-01-03T09:31:00.000-05:00

Indian farmers are now uniting in solidarity to create a chain of stores that would compete with Wal-Mart's low costs. The country has continued to grow aware of the economic effects Wal-Mart will have on their country. But is it too late? Here's the Reuters story.

By Krittivas Mukherjee

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian farmers and traders, opposed to the entry of private retail giants such as Wal-Mart, are building a chain of superstores as part of efforts to sell their produce directly and stop prices being set by a few big players.

The effort is being backed by authorities in the western state of Maharashtra, which says infrastructure costs for the project could be subsidized.

WMT vs Healthcare, as the New York Times reports

2007-11-13T13:13:00.000-05:00

The Times' Michael Barbaro highlights the struggle Wal-Mart has had providing their employees with Health Care. Turns out the company has been listening to its critics here is an excerpt from the article

The giant, it turns out, was listening. All the criticism was hurting its reputation and its ability to expand. So now, after spending two years seeking advice from everyone from Bill Clinton to executives at Starbucks, Wal-Mart is overhauling its health plans.

The company, according to data available for the first time, is offering better coverage to a greater number of workers. Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer, provides insurance to 100,000 more workers than it did just three years ago — and it is now easier for many to sign up for health care at Wal-Mart than at its rival, Target, whose reputation glows in comparison.

Wal-Mart has hardly become a standard-bearer for corporate America: it still insures fewer than half its 1.4 million employees in the United States.

But the changes in its policies have accomplished what once seemed impossible. Many of its most ardent critics have put down their pitchforks. Andrew L. Stern, whose Service Employees International Union set up an advocacy group to attack Wal-Mart three years ago, now concedes that “there is clearly a focus on covering more people.”

Read the entire article here

Another Phony Site, Phony Organization, in order to get what they want

2007-11-07T16:27:00.001-05:00

Fake blogs, Fake websites, Fake Political support, and now tricking residents of Long Beach California into removing an ordinance that would block them from coming to their small town...

In a unanimous decision the Long Beach City Council has voted to remove a ballot measure that would ban "big-box" superstores that sell groceries such as Wal-Mart. The monumental ordinance was passed last year, but because of "financial reasons" has decided to remove the ordinance from a public vote on Feb. 5th The council decided to vote against this because it would have cost the city $500,000 to keep it on the ballot for public vote during the statewide presidential primary ballot. The opposition to the bill came from none other than Wal-Mart who funded a coalition called the Long Beach Consumers for Choice. Wal-Mart funded a petition to be signed by residents which cited the $500,000 fee to keep this ordinance on the ballot. The petition was signed by more than the 20,613 needed to take the ordinance off the ballot.

The council specifically stated that this was not a victory for Wal-Mart, and that it simply came down to managing the few funds they had, and could use the $500,000 for something else the city needs. The council did say that they do admire what the bill stands for, and that they want to do everything they can to keep local businesses alive. Though paying the price for this was obviously too much. Rick Eiden of Local 324 said of the council

"We've seen the destruction of small businessess and quality jobs in our community, and that far outweighs the $500,000 the city would be putting forward to say we're going to stand up to a big corporation."

324 has 3,000 members in Long Beach who would all be affected by the opening of a big box store.

"I cannot justify in these financial times, to spend $500,000 of our budget where we can use it in other places," said Councilman Val Lerch, who made the motion to repeal the law.

The city's $2.3 billion budget for the 2008 fiscal year that began Oct. 1 is estimated to be up to $10 million short of what is needed.

Even if the council had approved the ballot measure, the move likely would have been futile. Mayor Bob Foster announced Sunday that he would veto the measure if the council approved it.

Foster was quoted on Tuesday saying the council's vote wasn't a victory for Wal-Mart.

Money=Influence.

WMT Headlines, Tuesday 10/30/07

2007-10-30T11:33:00.000-04:00

Wal-Mart, the largest US retailer, is dipping its toes into online grocery sales, with the expansion of a home shipping service for products including Perrier water and free-trade coffee at Sam’s Club, its membership warehouse store. Read more of this story

The Eagles Sell Out...

In one of the most hypocritical business deals in recent memory, The Eagles will make Long Road Out Of Eden, their first studio album in almost 30 years, exclusively available at Wal-Mart stores throughout North America. Read more of this story here

WAL-MART...PLANS A NJ SUPERCENTER CLOSEST TO NYC

2007-10-23T10:41:00.001-04:00

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is planning to open its first supercenter, a store with a full supermarket, in North Jersey at the former APA Transport Corp. site in North Bergen, a company spokesman confirmed Monday. The news means North Jersey's regional supermarket chains -- Pathmark, ShopRite and A&P -- could have a food fight on their hands, as the nation's largest retailer tests the waters with one of its discount supermarkets. The store would be Wal-Mart's third supercenter in New Jersey, and the closest to New York City. Read more of this story...

Wal-Mart ends an era...

2007-09-04T09:53:00.000-04:00

Here is an excellent opinion written by Thomas Pellechia of the Start Gazette. The article may be found here

For some, Wal-Mart signals the end of an era
September 2, 2007
Post Comment
Thomas Pellechia

What is it about Wal-Mart that brings out such controversy?

What is it about so-called superstores or box stores that makes many people want to tear out their hair and the hearts of others?

There's a lot of talk in Bath about too much traffic, environmental disaster, a threat to small businesses and probably the collapse of civilization, too.

To say that massive stores offering low, low prices (often with low-quality products to match) threaten civilization may be overstating the case.

But consider this: Isn't it a civilized thing to be able to walk into a local shop, know the proprietor, talk to him or her and feel enriched after leaving the place?

Isn't it fabulous to spend a few minutes in the local hardware store figuring out with the proprietor what you need for your particular problem?

Didn't it used to be wonderful to smell the flowers in a florist's shop and to know and trust the local pharmacist?

Wasn't it fabulous to select your cut of meat at the butcher's counter and to converse with your tailor?

The shopping life used to be these things, but unless you live in a major -- and old -- city like New York, it is no longer that way.

Maybe the loss of communal living is why the Wal-Marts of the world stir such visceral enmity.

A Special Labor Day Treat: Wal Mart, The Musical

2007-09-04T08:55:00.000-04:00

A Special Labor Day Treat: Wal Mart, The Musical (Business Week)

Posted by: Michelle Conlin on August 30

Comes now the latest skewering of Wal-Mart…a musical called WalMartopia that was the audience coup de foudre at last summer’s International Fringe Theatre Festival. WalMartopia opens Off Broadway on—ahem—Labor Day in New York City’s Greenwich Village at the Minetta Lane Theater.

Judging from the music on the PR firm’s hold button, the tunes are Phantom’ish catchy. There is something in the dystopian theme song—rolling electronic organ riffs, dissonant chorus—that is reminiscent of Vincent Price on Michael Jackson’s Thriller album.

WalMartopia tells the story of one Vicki Latrell, a noble single mother who dares speak truth to power. After complaining about the sweatshop-like working conditions in her store (sound familiar?), she’s spun, Oz-like, into the future. This is a place Wal Mart has colonized. Think Urinetown meets Bentonville.

As a special, Labor Day wind-up, here’s the lyrics to aforementioned theme song:

We are one under Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart feeds us all
We were were born to consume
From the cradle to the tomb
Never may you fall

One nation under Wal-Mart
Wal Mart makes us free
And our minds are at rest
Mother Wal-Mart knows what’s best

WalMartopia!

Med-Mart has the pills to pop
When the nightmares just won’t stop

School-Mart teaches us to shop
How to stock and sweep and mop

News-Mart tells us what is real
What to think and how to feel

Smash our enemies all apart
at National Security-Mart

I AM WAL-MART!

WAL-MARTOPIA!

HAPPY LABOR DAY EVERYBODY!

Wal-Mart's changes to Wikipedia entries exposed

2007-08-20T08:35:00.000-04:00

A new tool has exposed a number of well-known corporations that deleted negative aspects of their Wikipedia entries--removing one of the main things that distinguishes Wikipedia from their own corporate websites, its balance. Wal-Mart has continually changed what their pay rate is listed on wiki to a much higher rate. Please check out the entire article here

Wal-Mart Cuts Profit outlook

2007-08-16T11:20:00.000-04:00

Slowing down...

NEW YORK (AP) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported a 49 percent increase in second-quarter profits, but the world's largest retailer cut its profit outlook amid weak economic conditions that are crimping consumer spending globally.The Bentonville, Ark.-based discounter reported a net income of $3.10 billion, or 76 cents per share, for the three months ended July 31. That compared with $2.08 billion, or 50 cents per share in the year-ago period.The quarter included three items that provided a net benefit of $171 million after tax, or 4 cents per share. Accruals for general liability and workers' compensation claims were reduced by $196 million after tax. The company also recognized $41 million in after tax gains from the sale of real estate. These benefits were offset by charges of $66 million after tax for legal and other contingencies.Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected 76 cents per share.Wal-Mart reported revenue of $93.01 billion, up from $85.43 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts had expected $92.68 billion in the quarter.The company said that for the full year, earnings per share from continuing operations is now estimated to be between $3.05 per share and $3.13 per share. The company's initial forecast was in the range of $3.15 per share and $3.23 per share.'Our underlying operating performance this quarter is not what we expect of ourselves, and not what our shareholders expect of us,' said Lee Scott, Wal-Mart president and chief executive officer. 'For the remainder of this year, our management team is focused on inventory improvements, delivering quality products at low prices, and store execution at the highest standards.'Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

New Jersey fights back

2007-08-10T11:15:00.001-04:00

ShopRite, Wal-Mart to face off again [Vineland (N.J.) Daily Journal]
Pat Bottino Sr. knows what it's like to take on Wal-Mart in the grocery business. Now, he has to do it again. Bottino's family owns a ShopRite in Washington Township, where two years ago Wal-Mart opened a Supercenter selling a full line of groceries. Next year, Wal-Mart plans to open a Supercenter in Vineland on West Landis Avenue near Delsea Drive.
Lawmaker questions the cost of Wal-Mart [Vineland (N.J.) Daily Journal]
State Assemblyman Nelson Albano welcomes commercial growth and new jobs in his legislative district. But he doesn't want a Wal-Mart Supercenter in his city. In 2004, when the company first proposed building a Supercenter on West Landis Avenue near Delsea Drive, Albano was among dozens of union employees who spoke out against the project at city meetings

Protest Wal-Mart’s Wholesale Entry

2007-08-10T11:04:00.000-04:00

Indians Protest Wal-Mart’s Wholesale Entry [New York Times]
Wal-Mart, in a struggle to expand its global reach, is trying to enter India through the back door, but many consumers here have taken notice.

Wal-Mart Top Stories

2007-08-06T09:56:00.000-04:00

A survey in Annapolis, Maryland shows citizens would rather have a public park than a Wal-Mart
Kathy Maznicki, a Wal-Mart worker from Connecticut is accusing Wal-Mart of more and more racism. Maznicki, 48, who is white says "Look at the managers - at least those at the Wal-Mart store here in Newington, They're all white. New Britain is not the only problem store" Maznicki who's job is now on the line says she doesn't care and that people need to know "the truth."
Family sues Wal-Mart over sex abuse of their son

Wal-Mart sued over accounting practices [Arkansas Democrat Gazette]

2007-08-01T10:55:00.000-04:00

Wal-Mart sued over accounting practices [Arkansas Democrat Gazette]
A California trampoline vendor is suing Wal-Mart Stores Inc., claiming the retail giant secretly withdrew more than $ 400, 000 from the supplier’s account as part of a fraudulent accounting practice, according to a complaint filed in federal court on Tuesday.

Wal-Mart Apparel Executive Resigns (WSJ)

2007-07-23T10:08:00.000-04:00

In light of Wal-Mart announcing plans to enter the Manhattan Fashion industry, apparel executive resigns citing extreme difficulty to turn Wal-Marts fashion image around....Getting out before its too late, Claire Watts knew Wal-Marts fashion push was destined to fail.

Wal-Mart Apparel Executive Resigns

By KRIS HUDSON
July 21, 2007; Page A3

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will base its women's clothing executives in Manhattan to stay on top of fashion trends, following the resignation of a top apparel executive at its Bentonville, Ark., headquarters.

The departure of Claire Watts, executive vice president of apparel merchandising, underscores the difficulties the retailer faces in turning around the unit and reigniting its sales growth overall. Her resignation leaves the division at least temporarily in the hands of chief merchandising officer John Fleming and a newly promoted executive.

Wal-Mart hasn't yet decided if it will recruit someone to replace Ms. Watts as executive vice president of apparel. It has named Dottie Mattison, formerly chief merchant at its Walmart.com unit, as senior vice president and general merchandising manager of women's apparel. Ms. Mattison will handle Wal-Mart's merchandising, design and product strategy for women's apparel from its offices in Manhattan.

Read the entire article here

WAL-MART WATCH PRESENTS "WALDEMART"

2007-07-19T14:01:00.000-04:00

Check out this great video our friends at Wal-Mart Watch put together

Wal-Mart to Lease Studio in Manhattan

2007-07-13T10:45:00.000-04:00

In yet another attempt by Wal-Mart to try and reach a younger demographic, the company announced yesterday they will lease a new Fashion Studio in New York in order to "expand our design team". We'll see who is wearing Wal-Mart fashion soon enough at the Oscars or the Grammy's.

Wal-Mart has agreed to a 12-year lease for the new studio, according to Alexander Chudnoff, executive director at Cushman & Wakefield, a real-estate broker for the deal. The agreement demonstrates a long-term commitment by Wal-Mart to attract more top-notch talent to pick and design its fashions. That effort has been hampered in part by the location of Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.

Where are our Jobs going? CNN Money explains

2007-07-06T11:13:00.000-04:00

Attention shoppers: No jobs here

Retail employment numbers keep coming up short, a sign of tighter cost control by retailers, and perhaps worse service.

"NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- If you want to see where the jobs aren't, go shopping."

In an unrelated article, Errol Lewis explores the now what question...Now that Big Box Stores have been kept out Unions and politicians owe an answer to communities on where to buy quality products for an affordable price... Keeping Big Box stores are just part of the solution.

Wal-Mart's labor pains

Groups are winning the fight to keep the big box
away, but now there's bigger battle to aid poor

By ERROL LOUIS
DAILY NEWS COLUMNIST

Thursday, March 29th 2007, 4:00 AM

New York City's labor movement is about to take a victory lap for persuading Wal-Mart, the retail giant, to give up its attempts to open a store in Manhattan.
An unexpected, exasperated statement by Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott to The New York Times this week - "I don't care if we are ever here. ... I don't think it's worth the effort" - appears to write the final chapter on years of searching in vain for a foothold.
Scott later said that the company still would like to set up shop somewhere in the outer boroughs. But that will be a tall order.
For years now, in every place the company looked for a home, labor unions, lobbyists and politicians have thrown up roadblocks, sometimes by passing zoning rules to exclude Wal-Mart's trademark megastores.
Now the unions and politicians that worked so hard to keep Wal-Mart out of Gotham have a moral obligation to help low-income New Yorkers find another way to get low-cost goods.
The opposition to Wal-Mart by organized labor has been understandable, even commendable. The company is notorious for using union-busting tactics: In 2000, after a majority of butchers in a Jacksonville, Tex., Wal-Mart voted to unionize, the company simply stopped carrying fresh meat and fired all the butchers.
That hardknuckled approach goes hand in hand with offering lousy pay and skimpy benefits to employees. Many full-time Wal-Mart workers live near the poverty line and rely on government benefits or a spouse's health benefits to get by.
So many women have complained about Wal-Mart's job-assignment and promotion practices that more than 2 million women - current and former employees - have banded together in the largest sex-discrimination lawsuit in U.S. history.
But opposing Wal-Mart's odious practices is only half the equation. The anti-Wal-Mart forces also need to face the fact that working families in our city, including union households, routinely pay significantly more for food, clothing and other necessities than do suburbanites who have access to Wal-Mart and other big-box stores.
It's a serious problem. For decades, inner-city neighborhoods across America have watched supermarkets and retail stores vanish, leaving an impoverished captive audience with few choices of what to eat or wear.
Study after study has confirmed what inner-city residents already know all too well: It's hard, and sometimes impossible, to find fresh, cheap produce in the ghetto. Some bodegas and small supermarkets carry organic and low-sodium foods, but not nearly enough.
Every serious discussion of the inner-city epidemic of chronic diseases like hypertension, obesity, diabetes and heart disease eventually bumps into the urgent need to make better and cheaper goods available.
Beyond the question of food isthe simple, vital matter of helping poor people save money. Afamily that pays less for everything from diapers and baby food to coats, shoes and dresses can easily end up saving $400 to $500 ayear - a significant amount for a household with $20,000 to $30,000 in income.
The unions and politicians who keep chasing Wal-Mart away should keep holding strategy meetings - this time, to work on ways to bring supermarkets, food co-ops, green markets and discount retailers to the city residents who need them most.
elouis@nydailynews.com

Walmartopia Musical Headed for Off-Broadway

2007-07-02T11:24:00.000-04:00

Walmartopia. Walmartopia The Musical!, which had its New York debut at the 2006 New York International Fringe Festival, is headed to the Minetta Lane Theatre for a commercial run. Check out the site http://www.walmartopia.com/ to learn more.

Wal-Mart goes back to basics....

2007-07-02T11:11:00.000-04:00

Wal-Mart says goodbye to supporting GLBT organizations after pressure from conservative Christian groups...Read the entire article

NEW YORK (FORTUNE) -- Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, has decided to curb its support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) organizations after conservative Christian groups threatened a boycott, and after some of its own employees expressed disapproval. Read the entire article here

Last year in an attempt to fix their conservative image, Wal-Mart began its relationship with Gay and Lesbian groups. The relationship was always a fine line Wal-Mart walked, their loyal southern conservative customers were offended by their decision to do business with GLBT organizations, hundreds of protests occurred at Wal-Marts throughout the south. Petitions were signed (check out this site which says "SAVE WAL-MART FROM THE RADICAL HOMO AGENDA") Here is yet another reason Wal-Mart will never be apart of New York City.

Wal-Mart and another lawsuit

2007-06-28T09:45:00.000-04:00

Wal-Mart is sued thousands and thousands of times a year, this past month Cynthia Haddad won a $2 Million lawsuit against Wal-Mart on discrimination. According to Business Week the suit couldn't come at a worse time for Wal-Mart...

Of course, even if Wal-Mart loses, $2 million is barely a blip on the radar for a company that took in more than $355 billion in revenues in its most recent fiscal year. Still, Haddad's victory comes at a difficult time for Wal-Mart, with the company struggling to defend its reputation on a number of fronts. Wal-Mart has come under fire for the wages and benefits that it provides workers and for its impact on small, local retailers. Investors have been unhappy with its stagnant stock (see BusinessWeek.com, 4/30/07, "Wal-Mart's Midlife Crisis"). And it's become a favorite target among the Democratic Presidential candidates, including Barack Obama and John Edwards (see BusinessWeek.com, 11/16/06, "Can Barack Wake Up Wal-Mart").

As we all know Wal-Mart is still currently involved in the largest gender discrimination suit in history, the company has always held male employees at a higher regard than females. Women employees who have been pregnant have been fired, and threatened by management. We expect more from the worlds largest employer. As Wal-Mart enters low-income areas and destroys all competition, stores close down and community members are forced to work at Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart knowingly takes advantage of all its employees whether it be pay, gender discrimination, hours, or simple mistreatment of workers, Wal-Mart takes every advantage they can to hold more power over its employees and the community it's in.

Cheap E Coli

2007-06-11T12:48:00.000-04:00

SPRINGDALE, Ark. -- Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. on Friday recalled more than 40,000 pounds of ground beef shipped to Wal-Mart stores in 12 states after samples showed signs of E. coli contamination.

No illnesses had been reported. Recalled products were sent to Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas, Tyson said. AP

Daily Wal-Mart headlines

2007-06-07T10:54:00.000-04:00

Wal-Mart to launch payments card
Wal-Mart and GE Money plan on releasing a prepaid Wal-Mart Money Card for the estimated 80 million Americans without a bank account.

FENDI AND WAL-MART SETTLE SUIT...
To sum it up, Wal-Mart was being sued for by Fendi for selling 'knock off's of their product...

Pink Diamonds, Discounted Boats and a Looming Lawsuit Plague Wal-Mart
ABC News reports on the trouble CEO Lee Scott has got himself in violating his own business ethical code.

US Rep Jerrold Nadler rips Wal-Mart over container security

2007-06-06T08:57:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Jerrold Nadler of New Yorks 8th congressional district (representing Manhattan and Brooklyn) held a press conference with local union representatives to inform the public how scanning containers on imports is a growing cause for concern. One in 25 of containers entering the United States in 2005 was bound for a Wal-Mart store, Wal-Mart continues to fight against scanning all of their cargo containers entering American ports, and for what? Their irresponsible actions have to stop. Here are a few quotes from Jerrold Nadler...

"Terrorists could hide a nuclear weapon inside a shipping container bound for New York at any time, and large importers such as Wal-Mart are partly to blame for opposing greater scanning checks."

“Wal-Mart, America’s largest importer, has actively worked to oppose the scanning of all cargo containers coming into our ports,”

Nadler is taking steps in the right direction, we all know about Wal-Marts irresponsibility as an employer, these precautions on imports should be taken seriously. Though Wal-Mart continues to act irresponsible, we are not surprised.

Read the article in Todays Metro.

Westchester awaits answers from Wal-Mart developers

2007-05-31T14:38:00.000-04:00

RAMAPO - Town officials are waiting for the developer of the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter to complete a draft environmental impact statement before referring the project to the Planning Board.

The Community Design Review Committee, an advisory group to the Planning Board, wants an additional review of the potential environmental fallout, but the developer has not yet filed the information with the town.

Richard Lipsky, spokesman for the Neighborhood Retail Alliance, yesterday said its traffic studies predict 3 million car trips annually to a Monsey Wal-Mart.

Lipsky, whose group has opposed Wal-Mart plans in New York City, said the store would adversely affect Spring Valley and Monsey merchants.

Read the entire article here

Wal-Mart dominates the news again

2007-05-30T11:25:00.000-04:00

New York Times: Is Wal-Mart Too Cheap for Its Own Good?

Low prices, it turns out, can be bad for business. A confidential report prepared for senior executives at Wal-Mart Stores concludes, in stark terms, that the chain’s traditional strengths — its reputation for discounts, its all-in-one shopping format and its enormous selection — “work against us” as it tries to move upscale.

Washington Post: Wal-Mart report questioned strengths: report

Wal-Mart is not seen as "a smart choice" in categories like electronics, apparel, home decor, pharmacy and grocery, where "saving money and time are not the be-all, end-all drivers," the report said.

New York Times: Ad Agency: Wal - Mart Lacking Respect

GSD&M had handled Wal-Mart's advertising for 19 years until the retailer hired a new group during the winter. For its 55-page document, ''Wal-Mart: Positioning Report,'' GSD&M conducted in-home interviews with 24 groups of consumers and 20 individuals nationwide and took some of them shopping.

Wal-Mart CEO broke ethics policy

2007-05-29T09:20:00.000-04:00

The Wal-Mart oligarchy is seen here yet again breaking an ethical policy, this time their own policy. It's amazing how Wal-Mart continues to break ethical codes with no consequences.

Wal-Mart chief executive Lee Scott violated the company's ethics policy and accepted trips and received discounts on yachts and jewelry from a vendor, according to documents filed by a marketing executive fired by Wal-Mart in December.

In her latest court filing aimed at the world's largest retailer, former marketing executive Julie Roehm also attacked other senior executives for accepting trips, concert tickets and other gifts from vendors.

Roehm is suing the company over her firing, and challenging Wal-Mart's charges that she accepted gifts from vendors and had an affair with a subordinate.

In the documents filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Detroit, Roehm contends that CEO Scott and his wife frequently used private airplanes provided by entrepreneur Irwin Jacobs to travel to their residences in Longboat Key, Fla., and Las Vegas. Through his relationship with Jacobs, Scott was able to purchase a large pink diamond for his wife at a preferential price, she claims.
Please read the entire article here

Bill to ban Big Box Banks

2007-05-14T09:21:00.000-04:00

Wal-Mart, who's position as the worlds largest retailer and employer didn't seem to be enough, was pushing hard last year to open their own bank. In March Wal-Mart withdrew its application but the fight is not over. On Thursday U.S. senators introduced bipartisan legislation that would block retailers such as Wal-Mart or Home Depot Inc. from operating a bank.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators introduced on Thursday bipartisan legislation that would block retailers such as Home Depot Inc. from operating a bank.

The bill, which is co-sponsored by Democrats Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Tim Johnson of South Dakota, and Republican Wayne Allard of Colorado, mirrors a version that is expected to win approval by the full House of Representatives.

The House is expected to consider it this month.

The lawmakers, who are members of the Senate Banking Committee, said panel Chairman Christopher Dodd has not yet expressed support for the bill.

However, such a ban is opposed by another member of the committee, Utah Republican Robert Bennett, whose state is home to many of the commercially owned banks known as industrial loan companies (ILC).

``He does not support this bill,'' a Bennett spokeswoman said.

Like the House version, the Senate bill would ban applications to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to start a new ILC or acquire existing ones.

It would also halt commercially owned ILCs established after October 1, 2003, from expanding into other states or being sold to another retailer. Commercial companies that created ILCs before that date will be allowed to keep them, but cannot sell them to another retailer.

The bill would also expand supervision authority for the FDIC and reduce duel supervision for some ILC holding companies, such as big investment banks, that are already regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The senators said the bill will not include an exemption to allow auto companies to establish an ILC to help sell their cars, trucks and motorcycles.

``I hope we don't get into exemptions,'' Allard told reporters at a news conference.

ILCs are state-chartered banks with access to federal deposit insurance. They can offer deposit accounts, mortgages, credit cards, loans and other services.

U.S. banks, especially smaller ones, have voiced concern about a surge in ILCs over the last two decades, saying they could be forced out of business if big retailers enter the industry. Target Corp. already owns an ILC.

In March, Wal-Mart withdrew its ILC application, but Home Depot is still seeking permission to buy an ILC.

The ILC industry has combined assets of more than $170 billion. The biggest ILC bank is Merrill Lynch Bank USA, which had about $67 billion in assets last year.

We'll keep everyone up to date on the latest news regarding this bill.

Photos from Tuesdays Rally

2007-05-09T09:47:00.000-04:00

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO CAME OUT YESTERDAY, ALL THE LOCAL UNIONS AND ACTIVISTS EVERYONE MADE IT CLEAR TO LEE SCOTT AND ANDY STERN WAL-MART CAN STOP THIS HEALTH CARE CRISIS NOW!

Wal-Mart, You can stop the crisis

2007-05-07T14:18:00.000-04:00

Here is a sample flyer we'll be distributing at tomorrows event.

MAY 8TH

2007-05-04T14:14:00.000-04:00

Come Welcome Lee Scott back to Manhattan with us!

Wal-Mart accused of 'climate of fear'

2007-05-01T11:43:00.000-04:00

Wal-Mart accused of 'climate of fear' WASHINGTON, April 30 (UPI) --

Wal-Mart violates the basic rights of its employees through exploitation of "weak" U.S. labor laws, Human Rights Watch says.

In a 210-page report Monday, the largest U.S. retailer was accused of creating "a climate of fear" through a "relentless anti-union drumbeat" at its stores.

"Wal-Mart workers have virtually no chance to organize because they're up against unfair U.S. labor laws and a giant company that will do just about anything to keep unions out," said Carol Pier, a Human Rights Watch senior researcher.

The report said its investigators found in most cases Wal-Mart begins to indoctrinate workers and managers to oppose unions from the moment they are hired.

All efforts to organize among the company's 1.3 million employees in the United States are immediately squashed, it charged.

The group urged Wal-Mart to stop its alleged anti-union activity and called on Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act to protect workers' rights.

Check out the article as the Washington Post reported. Wal-Mart claims its employees have rejected unionization because they have "every opportunity to express their ideas, comments and concerns." Which is couldn't be further than the truth...How about Wal-Mart closing down a store when a union is voted in? The truth is if Wal-Mart became union employees would be better off, communities would be better off and this never ending debate could be over.

Today's Wal-Mart Mishap

2007-05-01T09:32:00.000-04:00

(taken from http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=44905)

Wal-Mart Sued Over Ammunition Sale

A lawsuit in New Mexico alleges that Wal-Mart sold ammunition to an unstable man who fatally shot another man six hours later in Las Cruces.

Kenneth Rauch, 49, of Las Cruces has been accused of killing 27-year-old Eusebio Escobedo. From Mexico, Escobedo, his fiancee and her 3-year-old son had stopped at a Las Cruces gasoline station when a man fired a gun at the car twice, hitting Escobedo.

The lawsuit alleges Rauch was under the influence of alcohol and mentally disturbed when he bought shotgun shells at a Wal-Mart in Las Cruces.

A Wal-Mart spokesman says the company had not seen the complaint and couldn't comment.

Dirty Players

2007-04-12T10:08:00.000-04:00

We've all been reading about the extent Wal-Mart will go to get what they want, which includes mainly spying. Now the NYC Comptoller has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department to investigate whether Wal-Mart Stores Inc. illegally spied on some of its shareholders.

But wait there is more, Wal-Mart Watch has created a quiz to show everyone how much spying Wal-Mart actually does! It's a very eye opening and scary reality, take the quiz here.

We wonder what www.paidcritics.com would have said if they weren't exposed for what they really are. These constant scandals, fake blogs, and spying make us question what hides behind the yellow smile.
(To learn more about the fake blogs just read the post underneath this one for a quick laugh)

Farewell to our friends at Paidcritics.com

2007-04-02T10:42:00.000-04:00

Our friends at Paid Critics (we say friends as in, well we weren't friends at all they posted a bunch of lies about our orginzation and Wal-Mart in general) are closing up shop. Funny how Wal-Mart has to pay people to write fake blogs in order to promote themselves to the internet community. Wal-Marting across America is a classic example of how far Wal-Mart is really willing to go, but check out he business week article here.

Working Families for Wal-Mart -- a national advocacy group funded primarily by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to combat mounting criticism -- is suspending its site called paidcritics.com.

The suspension of paidcritics.com appears to be the latest in a series of stumbles for Working Families For Wal-Mart. Last October, Ron Galloway, a filmmaker whose work praised Wal-Mart, quit the group over the pay caps adopted in August. At the time, Sheridan said that Galloway had left over environmental policy differences. In August, civil rights leader Andrew Young stepped down as chairman of the steering committee after making remarks that were seen as racially offensive.

Is Wal-Mart really forgetting about Manhattan?

2007-03-29T10:16:00.000-04:00

After yesterdays breaking NYT article everyones initial response was excitment. Lee Scott cracked, he was pushed so far in the interview he had snapped and made comments such as “I don’t care if we are ever here.” But can we really believe him or is this just a simple public relations move. We've been running our campaigns against Wal-Mart throughout the five boroughs for years now and couldn't have been successful without the support and help from community members. Just 2 months ago Wal-Mart was attempting to enter the Fulton Mall in Brooklyn. We managed to get a signed letter from the developer saying "Wal-Mart will not be a tenant." New York City is the last major city in America Wal-Mart has not intruded, that is a remarkable feat but we have to realize that New York City is their pearl. It is where they want to be more than any other city in the world. So why is Lee Scott now saying he doesn't care if they open a store here or not? This has all of us thinking something is up his sleeve. He claims that we are snobbish elites in New York “You have people who are just better than us and don’t want a Wal-Mart in their community.” We ask Mr.Scott how many communites across the country have said the same thing to you? Hawaii, Massachusetts, Texas, Oregon, Illinois, North Carolina, Michigan, and Lancaster Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Milwaukie, St.Louis, Ohio, Riverhead Long Island, Arizona, Vermont, and we can keep going. We don't anticipate Wal-Mart to stop trying to come to any of the 5 boroughs and I myselft am not taking this quote as a victory because besides Wal-Mart we still have many irresponsible employers throughout this city that aren't paying a decent wage or providing quality products. We acknowledge that keeping Wal-Mart out is only half the solution to our problem, our next problem is now finding affordable quality goods for lower income communities. Errol Louis identifies these next problems we face in an outstanding editorial in todays Daily News. 1/2 of the battle is done, now we must solve the problem of finding responsible employers who provide good paying jobs along with quality affordable products.

Wal-Mart’s CEO on New York, “I don’t care if we are ever here.”

2007-03-28T09:12:00.000-04:00

Today we all claim victory in knowing our efforts continue to discourage Wal-Mart from bringing their low quality jobs to New York City. The New York Times has learned that Wal-Mart is getting so discouraged that they are writing New York City off...

March 28, 2007

Wal-Mart Chief Writes Off New York

By MICHAEL BARBARO and STEVEN GREENHOUSE

Wal-Mart to New York: fuhgeddaboudit.

Frustrated by a bruising, and so far unsuccessful battle to open its first discount store in the nation’s largest city, Wal-Mart’s chief executive said yesterday, “I don’t care if we are ever here.”

H. Lee Scott Jr., the chief executive of the nation’s largest retailer, said that trying to conduct business in New York was so expensive — and exasperating — that “I don’t think it’s worth the effort.”

Mr. Scott’s remarks, delivered at a meeting with editors and reporters of The New York Times, amounted to a surprising admission of defeat, given the company’s vigorous efforts to crack into urban markets and expand beyond its suburban base in much of the country. In recent years, Wal-Mart has encountered stout resistance to its plans to enter America’s bigger cities, which stand as its last domestic frontier.

Much of the opposition to Wal-Mart in cities like New York is led by unions. Organized labor, fearing that the retailer’s low prices and modest wages will undercut unionized stores, have built anti-Wal-Mart alliances with Democratic members of city councils.

Yesterday, labor leaders, upon learning of Wal-Mart’s apparent retreat from New York — or at the very least Manhattan — returned Mr. Scott’s sentiment.

“We don’t care if they’re never here,” said Ed Ott, executive director of the New York City Central Labor Council. “We don’t miss them. We have great supermarkets and great retail outlets in New York. We don’t need Wal-Mart.”

For Wal-Mart, New York City has long loomed as a tantalizing prize — the home of more than eight million consumers and attention-grabbing stores for just about every major retailer in the country.

But Wal-Mart, a cost-minded retailer known for its dowdy merchandise, and New York, a city of excesses known for cutting-edge style, have long had an uneasy relationship.

Wal-Mart executives have argued that low prices would be the universal language that bridged the gap. So far, they have not.

During the questioning, Mr. Scott repeatedly referred to New York, but after the meeting a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, Mona Williams, called to say that Mr. Scott was referring to only Manhattan, not the entire city.

Wal-Mart, which has nearly 4,000 stores in the United States, has sought to open stores in Rego Park, Queens, and in Staten Island, but both plans fell through in the face of intense union, community and political opposition.

Mr. Scott said yesterday that the opposition to Wal-Mart in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles and other cities had a common thread: “The glue is the unions.”

Despite setbacks in each of these cities, Wal-Mart has had success in urban areas. In Chicago, for example, Wal-Mart opened a store last year that attracted thousands of job applicants and has, Mr. Scott said, performed better than expected.

He said that Wal-Mart executives have lobbied for a store in New York, but he said he remains unconvinced. “It’s too hard to make money here,” he said.

Late yesterday, Ms. Williams sought to amend Mr. Scott’s remarks.

“Entering New York has been difficult, but not something we rule out,” she said in an interview. “Lee said he personally didn’t care if we built stores there or not. It might be more trouble than it’s worth, but that he would leave that up to the real estate group that makes these decisions.”

As he does in many public appearances, Mr. Scott was quick yesterday to talk up the chief potential benefit of a Wal-Mart in New York City, particularly for its many struggling residents with modest incomes: lower prices because of the chain’s vast purchasing power and highly efficient distribution system.

Surveys have repeatedly shown that Wal-Mart’s grocery prices are typically 10 to 30 percent lower than those of its competitors.

But labor leaders assert that while Wal-Mart’s prices are low, its wages and health benefits are often so skimpy that they leave many workers below the poverty line and pressure competitors to reduce pay and benefits.

“We don’t like how they do business,” Mr. Ott, the New York union official, said.

But as Mr. Scott sees it, there is another reason Wal-Mart has such a hard time making inroads into some of the nation’s biggest enclaves. Speaking about what he sees as snobbish elites in New York and across the country, Mr. Scott added, “You have people who are just better than us and don’t want a Wal-Mart in their community.”

Our work paying off...

2007-03-13T10:50:00.000-04:00

Analyst: Union campaigns hurt Wal-Mart

NEW YORK

A Banc of America Securities analyst on Friday said union campaigns against Wal-Mart are beginning to hurt the world's largest retailer's operations.

In a note to investors, Bank of America analyst David Strasser said Banc of America spoke to representatives from the Service Employees International Union and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union to discuss why Wal-Mart is a focus for unions.

The three groups sponsoring a campaign to force Wal-Mart to make changes including improving pay and benefits, include Change To Win, a group of seven unions including SEIU and UFCW, WakeUpWalMart.com, a project of the UFCW and Wal-Mart Watch, an independent non-profit.

The groups have said that Wal-Mart is "the proverbial 800-pound gorilla, and therefore they get the highest return on investment by focusing on Wal-Mart," Strasser wrote.

"This union fixation has cost Wal-Mart real estate sites in key locations, adversely impacted comp store sales to some degree, and has distracted management from focusing on its retail strategy," Strasser wrote. "Additionally, (Chief Executive) Lee Scott now spends a large amount of time improving Wal-Mart's image domestically and abroad, and Wal-Mart has been forced to focus advertising dollars on defending their brand.

"This is surprising considering the positive impact (Wal-Mart) has on its low income consumers and the broader U.S. economy."

Strasser, who rates Wal-Mart "Buy," added that the degree of impact was difficult to quantify. However, because having to fight the campaign has forced a change in advertising strategy to improve its corporate image, the campaign might be ultimately good for the company.

"We believe that Wal-Mart has an advertising budget that approximates $580 million, which is increasingly being allocated to brand image marketing to fight these attacks," Strasser wrote.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. shares fell 49 cents to $47.40 during afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Wal-Mart tapping phone calls...

2007-03-07T10:04:00.000-05:00

March 6, 2007

Wal-Mart Says Worker Taped Reporter’s Calls

By JULIE CRESWELL

Federal investigators are looking into the actions of a computer systems technician at Wal-Mart Stores who, over a period of several months, intercepted pager and text messages and also secretly taped telephone conversations between Wal-Mart employees and a reporter for The New York Times, the company said yesterday.

The United States attorney’s office for the Western District of Arkansas and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are assessing the actions of the employee and others inside Wal-Mart to determine whether federal and state laws were broken and whether they have jurisdiction in the matter, according to spokesmen for the investigators’ offices.

Wal-Mart said the technician was not authorized to monitor and tape the conversations between members of its media relations staff and Michael Barbaro, a retail reporter for The Times.

The company did not say what led the technician to make the recordings or why Mr. Barbaro’s conversations were the target.

Over the last year, Mr. Barbaro has written dozens of articles about Wal-Mart, including some that were based on internal company documents that were given to him by union-financed groups that were critical of Wal-Mart’s business practices.

Mona Williams, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, which is based in Bentonville, Ark., said the company fired the technician and a supervisor yesterday. A third manager in Wal-Mart’s information technology group was disciplined. Ms. Williams declined to identify the technician or his supervisors.

H. Lee Scott Jr., Wal-Mart’s chief executive, called the chief executive of The New York Times, Janet L. Robinson, early yesterday to explain the situation and apologize, Ms. Williams said.

Ms. Williams added that she contacted Mr. Barbaro and personally apologized to him, as well.

Wal-Mart said it began an internal investigation into the matter on Jan. 11 after executives were notified by an employee about the recordings. It then notified the United States attorney’s office two days later.

Over the course of a two-month internal investigation, Wal-Mart discovered that the technician had used a program that identified calls coming in from, or made to, Mr. Barbaro at The Times’s New York headquarters from last September to mid-January, Ms. Williams said. The inquiry involved an outside technology firm that scoured more than 100 computer drives and other devices, she said.

Members of the media relations group, including Ms. Williams, were unaware they were being taped, Ms. Williams said.

“No one knew he was recording these conversations,” Ms. Williams said in a conference call with reporters yesterday afternoon. “As a matter of fact, I’m not even sure he knew whose conversations he was recording. He simply programmed in the reporter’s phone number and captured those calls.”

It is unclear whether the technician was able to sort Mr. Barbaro’s calls from those other Times reporters might have made to Wal-Mart since all calls from the newspaper’s New York office register on caller ID screens as a series of numeral 1s.

The technician told investigators of some motives for his actions, Ms. Williams said, but she declined to say what they were because of the continuing investigations.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for The Times, Diane C. McNulty, said: “We are troubled by what appears to be inappropriate taping of our reporter’s conversations. At this point, we don’t know many of the key facts, such as what the purpose of this taping was and the extent, if any, to which the action was authorized.”

Mr. Barbaro declined to comment.

At first blush, it does not appear that the taping of the conversations was illegal.

Under federal and Arkansas state law, a telephone conversation can be recorded if one party has given consent. Wal-Mart said that under its policy, all employees give their consent to the monitoring and recording of their calls made through Wal-Mart systems and equipment.

Wal-Mart said, however, that calls were monitored only in cases of suspected criminal activity or fraud and only with written consent from the company’s legal department. No approval for the recordings was sought or given, the company said.

Ms. Williams added that in the course of the investigation only one person — a “senior-level lawyer” at Wal-Mart — listened to parts of the tapes between Mr. Barbaro and the media group.

The focus of any criminal investigation might be on the text messages and the pages transmitted near company headquarters by people who were not Wal-Mart employees; the technician made those interceptions using his own personal radio-frequency equipment.

“He captured all of the text messages that were within a range of his equipment,” Ms. Williams said. “Some of those messages had key words in them that he was watching for. Those were captured and put into a separate file or bucket from the others.” She declined to provide details of the messages or motives for those actions by the technician.

Federal and most state laws forbid the unauthorized interception of messages, said Rodney Smolla, dean of the University of Richmond Law School.

Wal-Mart to pay $1b for China retailer

2007-03-06T11:03:00.001-05:00

Wal-Mart to pay $1b for China retailer

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-02-27 15:38

HONG KONG/NEW YORK - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, will pay about US$1 billion to take over a Chinese chain, challenging Carrefour as the largest operator of super-centers in booming China.

Shoppers emerge from a Wal-Mart Supercenter branch in Beijing October 17, 2006. [Reuters]

The acquisition of Bounteous Co. Ltd. by Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, will be done in phases by 2010 and could trigger much-needed consolidation in China's ferociously competitive US$1 trillion retail market.

Under terms of the deal, Wal-Mart is buying 35 percent of Taiwan-based Bounteous, which operates 101 hypermarkets in 34 Chinese cities under the Trust-Mart brand, and will acquire ownership control of the chain by 2010 if conditions are met.

Terms were not disclosed, but a source familiar with the situation said Wal-Mart will pay a total of US$1 billion for all of Bounteous.

"It's all about tiering and market share -- Wal-Mart has a history of buying local operators, and this could make them No. 1 in China," said an analyst at a European investment bank in Hong Kong.

Wal-Mart already operates 73 stores in China and employs more than 37,000 people there.

France-based Carrefour, the world's No.2 retailer and the largest foreign operator in China, added 20 China stores last year to bring its total in the country to 90 by the year-end.

Other players include Germany's Metro AG, Britain's Tesco Plc. and local operators such as Wumart

Wal-Mart's China expansion follows exits last year from its operations in Germany and South Korea.

The company is also close to striking a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises to enter India, a fragmented retail market where foreign operators are restricted.

In a statement, Wal-Mart Vice Chairman Michael Duke called the China investment "an important step in bringing our additional scale to our China retail business."

Trust-Mart posted 2005 sales of about 13.2 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion) at its Chinese hypermarkets, according to the China Chain Store and Franchise Association, well above Wal-Mart's 9.9 billion yuan in its Chinese stores.

By comparison, Carrefour had 2005 sales of 17.4 billion yuan at its Chinese hypermarkets, while Metro recorded sales of 7.5 billion yuan, the data showed.

International expansion has grown more important for Wal-Mart as US sales growth slows. In its fiscal quarter ending January 31, total sales rose 10.9 percent to US$98.09 billion, but international sales rose 29.6 percent to US$22.73 billion. US sales at stores open at least one year rose 1.6 percent.

Trust-Mart stores employ more than 31,000 people, and will continue to operate under the Trust-Mart name, Wal-Mart said, with both companies continuing to open new stores.

Credit Suisse advised Wal-Mart on the transaction, and UBS advised Bounteous.

Wal-Mart dodging state taxes?

2007-03-02T10:41:00.000-05:00

By: Don Michak, Journal Inquirer

03/01/2007

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Wal-Mart Stores Inc., with 28 discount stores, four "supercenters," and three Sam's Club warehouses in Connecticut, for years has lowered its state taxes by essentially paying rent to itself and deducting that cost as a business expense, a company official confirmed Wednesday.

The controversial and complex strategy has saved the world's biggest retailer several hundred million dollars in taxes in 25 states, according to the Wall Street Journal, which last month reported that on average Wal-Mart paid only about half of the statutory state tax rates for the past decade.

The company spokesman, John Simley, said he didn't immediately know how much money the arrangement may have saved Wal-Mart in Connecticut, but said it had been used for just over 10 years and is currently employed in connection with all but two of the company's 35 properties here.

Wal-Mart paid $16.7 million in state and local taxes in Connecticut in fiscal 2006, he added.

Simley defended the company's use of a "captive" real estate investment trust, or REIT - a corporate entity controlled by individuals associated with the company that pays it rent - saying it is permitted under Connecticut law and that state Department of Revenue Services officials are aware of Wal-Mart's practice.

"It is allowed in Connecticut and I'm sure other companies use it," he said. "It's a lawful structure, and ... known to the Department of Revenue in Connecticut and has existed for probably a dozen years."

Department of Revenue Services spokeswoman Sarah E. Kaufman said Tuesday that she was prohibited from providing details about any Connecticut taxpayer and specifically declined to discuss Wal-Mart.

But Kaufman also insisted that the department was "ahead of the curve on the whole captive REITs issue," pointing to the 1997 passage of an amendment to a state law that she said closed the loophole still available in other states.

"This is something we noticed more with the banking industry," she said. "It is not allowed and it's a rare occurrence when someone does try to claim it on their return."

Businesses that had exploited the loophole would now find their deductions disallowed, according to Kaufman, who said the department has the discretion to determine the practice improper.

Kaufman added that the department is not now involved in any litigation or administrative proceeding challenging a corporate taxpayer that may have tried to deduct rent it paid to a captive REIT.

But Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Tuesday that he was launching an investigation of "whether Wal-Mart and other companies are exploiting a loophole in our law that may need to be closed legislatively, or whether the current law can be enforced against them to collect money that clearly should go to Connecticut taxpayers."

Blumenthal said his probe also would focus on whether existing law "should be enforced more aggressively and vigorously.

"We've done some research and there may be some questions about the current law that need to be clarified," he said.
Simley, the Wal-Mart spokesman, said the company doesn't use its REIT structure only to lower its state tax burden.

"We have so many landholdings that if we create a separate structure to administer them, we can do it far more efficiently," he said, adding that it frees the managers of individual stores to deal with other issues.

"One compelling issue is that the REIT is a discrete - and by that I mean separate - organization that can handle capital requirement issues without being tied to the stores," he continued. "If they need to raise capital or dispose of property it can be done much more effectively through that structure.

"That's not to ignore that fact that in many states there is a significant tax advantage," he added.

The Wall Street Journal did not cite Connecticut as one of the states in which Wal-Mart exploits the tax-law loophole which it said was plugged by the federal government years ago but which many states have been slower to close.

Under the arrangement described by the newspaper, a Wal-Mart subsidiary pays rent to a REIT that is entitled to a tax break if it pays out profits in dividends. The REIT is 99 percent owned by another Wal-Mart subsidiary, which gets the REIT's dividends tax-free. Wal-Mart then gets to deduct the rent from state taxes as a business expense, "even though the money has stayed within the company."

Brooklyn Paper Covers the Albee Rally

2007-02-23T09:53:00.000-05:00

Union haul: Labor leader says Wal-Mart has been stopped

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/30/7/30_07walmartprotest.html

By Christie Rizk

The Brooklyn Paper

Union leaders came to Albee Square last week fearing that the recent sale of the Gallery mall would trigger a new attempt by Wal-Mart to find a location in Brooklyn. But those same leaders and workers ended up cheering as Pat Purcell, an organizer of Wal-Mart Free NYC, told the faithful, “There will be no Wal-Mart in Albee Square!”

The square will soon be bustling with development activity as new owners Acadia Realty Trust and partner Paul Travis begin demolishing the retail building to build an office and residential tower instead.

But Purcell confirmed that the developers — who paid $125 million for the site — had promised that the behemoth of Bentonville would not be a part of the plan.

Wal-Mart has said in the past that it had eyed the site, formerly owned by Thor Equities, which bought it for a mere $25 million in 2001. Some retail experts have said that a large, big-box store like Wal-Mart — if done properly — could fill a gap in the borough’s under-served retail market.

But that wasn’t on the agenda last week at the protest-turned-party. One by one, union leaders and elected officials allied with their cause stepped up to the mic to congratulate themselves and promise to keep fighting the retail giant.

“We are not done fighting against Wal-Mart in the city of New York,” said Bruce Both, the president of Union Local 1500. “We will oppose them at every turn.”

But celebration wasn’t the only item on the agenda. Most speakers complained that the new tower does not, as yet, include any below-market-rate rentals or co-ops. And the recent development boom in Downtown Brooklyn — thanks to a 2004 upzoning passed by the city council — has left a lot of small business owners around the Fulton Mall scrambling to save their businesses.

“Our city was built on the blood and sweat of our people,” said Joy Chatel, a member of Families United for Racial and Economic Equality. “We can’t allow outsiders to come in and take that away from us.”

“WAL-MART” TAX LOOPHOLE

2007-02-15T10:44:00.000-05:00

As the world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. pays billions of dollars a year in rent for its stores. Luckily for Wal-Mart, in about 25 states it has been paying most of that rent to itself -- and then deducting that amount from its state taxes.

The strategy is complex, but the bottom line is simple: It has saved Wal-Mart from paying several hundred million dollars in taxes, according to court records and a person familiar with the matter. And Wal-Mart is far from alone.

The entire report by Jesse Drucker is available here we urge everyone to read this.

Below is the press release we recieved from Local 1500 and UNITE HERE outlining Governor Spitzers reaction to the Loophole and how he plans on eliminating it....

For Immediate Release:
February 2, 2007
UNIONS AND ADVOCATES URGE
LEGISLATURE TO JOIN SPITZER IN CLOSING “WAL-MART” TAX LOOPHOLE

New York, NY – Unions and advocates praised Governor Spitzer today for standing up to Wal-Mart and other companies that exploit a little-known tax loophole that lets them pay rent to themselves and then deduct that rent from their taxes. Governor Spitzer proposed closing that loophole in his Executive Budget released on Wednesday, saving the state $83 million per year.

“It’s ridiculous that a company can get away with paying rent to itself and deducting that rent from its taxes,” said Bruce Raynor, General President of UNITE HERE. “But if companies are going to find a way to avoid paying every penny they ought to pay, you can be sure that Wal-Mart will be one of them.”

According to a front-page Wall Street Journal article on Thursday, Wal-Mart has avoided
paying several hundred million dollars in taxes by using a complex scheme. The loophole was plugged by the Federal government many years ago, but many states have not followed suit. New York was one of those states, until now. Governor Eliot Spitzer’s Executive Budget would close the loophole, saving the state $83 million a year. “Hard-working New Yorkers pay their fair share of taxes,” said Paul Blank of Wake Up Wal-Mart. “It’s time that companies like Wal-Mart do the same.”

According to Thursday’s Wall Street Journal article, tax-saving schemes like these have led to an increased percentage of state taxes being paid by individuals. As companies find new ways to lower the amount of taxes they pay, states increasingly rely on individuals and working families to make up the difference. “We’re glad that Governor Spitzer has decided to stand up to businesses that manipulate the tax system to shirk their responsibility to pay what they ought to pay in taxes,” said
Bruce Both, President of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500. “We hope the Legislature will join him in standing up for individuals and small businesses, who can’t take advantage of these ridiculous gimmicks.”

Contacts:
Michael Rabinowitz, UNITE HERE, 646.342.3469
Patrick Purcell, UFCW Local 1500, 973.583.9651

Largest Lawsuit in History going forward

2007-02-12T10:02:00.000-05:00

Court says Wal-Mart must face bias trial

By David Kravets, Associated Press
February 6th, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest private employer, must face a class-action lawsuit alleging female employees were discriminated against in pay and promotions. The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a 2004 federal judge's decision to let the nation's largest class-action employment discrimination lawsuit go to trial.

The suit claims that as many as 1.5 million current and former female employees earned less than men and were bypassed for promotions. The lawsuit exposes the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailing powerhouse to the possibility of billions of dollars in damages. Wal-Mart claimed that the conventional rules of class actions should not apply in the case because its 3,400 stores, including Sam's Club warehouse outlets, operate like independent businesses, and that the company did not have a policy of discriminating against women.

But the court, in a 2-1 decision, disagreed. "Plaintiff's expert opinions, factual evidence, statistical evidence and anecdotal evidence present significant proof of a corporate policy of discrimination and support plaintiff's contention that female employees nationwide were subjected to a common pattern and practice of discrimination," the court wrote. U.S. District Judge Martin Jenkins, the San Francisco trial court judge who said the case could proceed, had ruled that lawyers for the women had enough anecdotal evidence to warrant a class-action trial.

Wal-Mart took the case to the San Francisco-based appeals court. Jenkins said if companywide gender discrimination is proven at trial, Wal-Mart could be forced to pay billions of dollars to women who earned less than their male counterparts, with no opportunity to dispute their individual circumstances. Jenkins said it was "impractical on its face" to have individual hearings for each plaintiff and had planned to use a statistical formula to compensate the women. Wal-Mart, in seeking dismissal of the case, called that an unprecedented denial of its rights. Wal-Mart said women who allege they were discriminated against can file lawsuits against individual stores. The women's lawyers said the idea was ridiculous, and would clog the federal judiciary. "Although size of this class action is large, mere size does not render a case unmanageable," Judge Harry Pregerson wrote for the majority, which upheld Jenkins' decision in its entirety.

Brad Seligman, one of the attorneys who represented the women suing Wal-Mart, said he suspected Wal-Mart would ask the appeals court to rehear the case with a panel of 15 judges. But he said the decision would hurt the company's reputation. "No amount of PR by Wal-Mart is going to allow it to deal with its legacy of discrimination," Seligman said. Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams said the company was not immediately prepared to comment.

Wal-Mart Kept out of Brooklyn

2007-02-09T10:01:00.000-05:00

Great job to everyone who came out yesterday for the event. The community really appreciates everyones hard work and efforts to bring good jobs and good developments to Brooklyn. Here are a few pictures from yesterdays event. Now we have a new fight, to insure responsible economic development at the Gallery.

Albee Square tenant speaking to NY1 on why tearing down the Gallery is not right for Brooklyn.

New York City Council Member Letitia James speaking on Wal-Marts mistreatment of women, and workers in general.

WMFNYC coordinator Ed Lynch speaking to the community on the effects of Wal-Mart.