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Wal-Mart Tells Employees It Will Cut 11,200 Jobs -01.26.10 | New York Times
Wal-Mart Struggles to Expand in Chicago -01.22.10 | New York Times
At least 600,000 cribs recalled after child death -01.20.10 | Associated Press
Fact Sheets
The Employee Free Choice Act Legislation that will truly make a difference for Wal-Mart workers
Wage & Hour Issues Read how Wal-Mart continually fails to pay every worker for every hour worked
Health Care Wal-Mart's still insures barely over half its employees on the company plan
Always Low Wages Poverty-level wages make life extremely difficult for Wal-Mart's 1.4 million workers
The Environment How Wal-Mart's business model is detrimental for our planet
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Do you want the real story about who destroyed America’s REAL economy?
We wanted to recommend a new book that just hit the shelves. In Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism And The Economics Of Destruction, New America Foundation’s Barry C. Lynn takes an explosive look at how Wall Street financiers took advantage of the overthrow of our antimonopoly laws to consolidate unprecedented powers.
They use these powers in ways that destroy jobs, degrade safety, crush independent businesses, forestall innovation, harm our environment, and threaten the political foundations of our democratic republic.
Not surprisingly, Walmart is a major player in this disturbing story. Lynn discusses Walmart as one of the quintessential examples of the destructive monopoly, arguing that Walmart needs to change its ways not just for the benefit of workers or communities, but for the entire economy.
Here is what others are saying about Cornered:
Cornered has changed my view of what’s gone wrong with American capitalism. Brilliantly argued and meticulously reported, it confronts with the age-old enemy of both progressives and libertarian conservatives—the power of monopoly.
-Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed and Brightsided.
This book is essential to understanding how we got into our current mess.
-Michael Mandel, chief economist, BusinessWeek.
This is a truly groundbreaking and eye-opening work that everyone interested in understanding how the world really operates should read.
-Ha Joon Chang, winner Leontief Prize in economics, author Bad Samaritans.
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
Last week we told you about Walmart firing 300 workers from its headquarters staff as the company goes through a major restructuring. The 300 jobs were just the tip of the iceberg, with 10 Sam’s Club stores closing, a major layoff of 11,000 workers at Sam’s Club stores, and a new decentralized set up for the company that will shift many jobs away from the main office in Bentonville to regional offices.
When we told you about those 300 layoffs, we wondered if there might by more job losses on the way. As it turns out, there may be. The Northwest Arkansas Times reports that as the company starts creating regional offices and moving positions there, jobs in Bentonville will be eliminated. According to the article,
“some headquarters staff members will face a choice of relocating, looking for other jobs or retirement, according to several people familiar with the situation.
Wal-Mart declined to put a number on positions that could be moved out of Bentonville. Those decisions will be made case by case and it will take time to figure out what works for each area”
We’ll certainly be keeping an eye on this transition to see how it affects the company. We can only hope that Walmart does all it can to ensure that jobs aren’t eliminated unnecessarily, or workers aren’t pushed out of their jobs. Walmart has a reputation, after all, for pushing workers with seniority out to reduce the cost of salary and benefits overall. It’s one of the reasons Walmart has such a high turnover rate.
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
Did you catch “Undercover Boss” after the Super Bowl? It’s a new reality show on CBS where executives go undercover at their own companies and work entry level jobs to see what it’s like. In the first episode, Waste Management’s President and Chief Operating Officer Larry O’Donnell works several different jobs over a week and discovers how tough life can be for his employees. He also discovers how his policies have affected workers.
It’s nice to see a show that uncovers these kinds of problems in the American workplace. Of course, most of us already know how tough work can be, but most of us don’t have a reality show. That’s why American Rights At Work started Fix Our Jobs which is pushing for real, systematic reform in our workplace, not just feel good TV moments. They’re asking folks to sign a petition to congress: “America’s workers need a voice on the job so they can fight for fair pay, real benefits, reasonable hours, and better working conditions. We need to fix our labor laws now!”
They’re also asking for stories about your job, good or bad. We’re sure you all have some stories to share, so go check out the site. You can also watch a video they put together just to the right.
We also want to hear from Walmart workers. Tell us your stories from work. What would Mike Duke find if he came to work as a greeter at your store for a day or two? Would he make the cut as an overnight stocker?
Would Mike Duke ever take on this kind of undercover assignment? We don’t think so, but if he did, we’re sure he’d find some pretty disturbing stories, just like Larry O’Donnell did.
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
Back in September the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Friends of Wilderness Battlefield, and six nearby residents filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Orange County. They alleged that the country “supervisors failed to comply with the county’s comprehensive plan. The suit also claims the county’s zoning ordinance is invalid because it fails to comply with state laws requiring such ordinances to protect historic sites, and there were procedural defects in the approval process.”
Today, the court heard the first arguments of the case.
Here’s a quick excerpt from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s press release outlining their central arguments (it was emailed to me, so I don’t have a link):
“The County has an affirmative responsibility to protect those historic resources under Virginia law and under the County’s own Comprehensive Plan for development. Yet, the Board ignored the concerns, objections and offers of assistance from the Governor and the Speaker of the House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the National Park Service, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, 250 Civil War experts, and others.
The Battle of the Wilderness, where 26,000 men were killed or wounded in May of 1864, may not be as well known as Gettysburg or Antietam, but it marked a milestone in the Civil War. It was the first time generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant met in battle. The site of the proposed 140,000-square-foot Wal-Mart superstore, along with 100,000 square feet of additional big box commercial development, stands on unprotected land within the historic boundaries of this battlefield. It is also immediately adjacent to the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, which was established by Congress in 1927. In a split vote, the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted to approve a special use permit allowing the 240,000-square-foot project to proceed on August 25, 2009. This project poses a considerable risk of destruction and increased commercialization of a nationally significant and highly vulnerable historic site.”
We’ll certainly keep our eyes on the case. In the mean time, you can check out the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s website here and read more about the case here.
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
Walmart is certainly shaking things up recently. A week ago, Walmart laid off more than 11,000 of its Sam’s Club workers. Two weeks before that, Walmart closed down 10 Sam’s Club stores putting 1,500 jobs at risk. Since the Sam’s Club layoffs, Walmart has announced other substantial institutional changes like splitting its US operations in to regions and establishing a global online organization.
Then today, Walmart announced it would laying off another 300 employees from its Bentonville, Arkansas headquarters. Just about a year ago, Walmart laid off between 700 and 800 workers from headquarters.
Between the two layoffs, Walmart has let go around 9% of the 12,000 headquarters staff.
The positions being eliminated this time around were in the corporate affairs, finance, human resources, information systems and legal departments.
We’re always concerned to hear about layoffs, especially from a company that is doing so well right now, racking up billions of dollars in sales.
With a 10% cut in Sam’s club staff, and a nearly 10% cut in headquarter staff, are there more layoffs on the way?
You can read more about the layoffs, and the memo from Mike Duke from the Associated Press here.
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled two ‘Princess and the Frog’ charm necklaces today due to high levels of Cadmium, a dangerous heavy metal. The necklaces are sold exclusively at Walmart stores. It may sound like many other recall stories, but this is actually the first time the CPSC has recalled anything for containing Cadmium. The metal was spotlighted in a recent Associated Press investigation which discovered high levels of Cadmium in many pieces of children’s jewelry.
Cadmium, like lead and other heavy metals, is a known carcinogen and can cause stunted brain development in children.
The Associated Press found that Chinese factories had started using Cadmium in products after they stopped using lead due to scrutiny from the US government during the last product safety scare.
In our opinion, it is no coincidence that this first Cadmium recall happened at Walmart, either. First because the use of cadmium seems to be linked with Chinese factories, at least so far. More than 70% of Walmart’s goods come from China, making it likely that these toxic metal products could end up on Walmart’s shelves. Second, Walmart has a history of using its size and clout to push suppliers to produce at a lower cost, forcing them to cut corners to meet Walmart’s price demands and still make a profit. One of the areas that suppliers could cut corners is product safety.
We think it’s pretty irresponsible for Walmart to be selling cadmium laced children’s necklaces, or anything else with highly toxic chemicals, for that matter. That’s why we launched a campaign over the holiday shopping season demanding that Walmart remove dangerous products from its shelves. Obviously they haven’t listened.
You can read more about Walmart’s dangerous products and sign an open letter to Mike Duke demanding that he take responsibility for consumer protection here.
The official CPSC press release about the Disney ‘Princess and the Frog’ necklaces is here.
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
Walmart has a pretty spotty record when it comes to grassroots support groups. They can’t seem to resist the temptation to simply let PR firms make things up for them. There was the fake blog “Walmarting Across America” which, it was revealed, was actually organized by Walmart’s PR firm. The vehicle the “bloggers” used as well as their meals, expenses and gas, were all provided for them. There was the fake “community group” Working Families for Walmart, which was also run by a PR firm Walmart hired.
And now it seems that Walmart is doing the same thing in Chicago, where they’re struggling to get a foothold for their potential second store within city limits. Chicagoist, a prominent local blog, received some suspiciously pro-Walmart comments on their blog and decided to investigate. They found what seems to be theChicagoland Chamber of Commerce and Serafin & Associates are both working to push Walmart’s agenda in Chicago, and posing as a local community group.
The Chicagoland admitted to launching the site Our Community, Our Choice which proclaims, “Everyone else but Chatham and the South Side are making the decisions – It’s OUR CHOICE, NOT THEIRS.”
You should read the full article from Chicagoist, but the following section is particularly interesting:
Mike Mini told me that Wal-Mart is indeed a member of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, that they have “a representative on the Government Affairs Committee,” and that “our process is kind of open. Any member that expresses an interest can come to meetings and work on issues that are important to them.” Is the Chamber working on behalf of Wal-Mart in the city? “We’re working on behalf of policies that we feel further business and commerce in the city.” Because I got to Mr. Mini through Our Community, Our Choice, I asked what his involvement in the site was. “It’s part of our advocacy effort to gain support,” and that “we set that up as a way to communicate with people. We were expecting this to come up for a vote before the council sooner, but obviously it’s been stalled.” I asked him if he was familiar with Serafin and Associates. “Yes, we have worked with them in our strategy sessions. We’ve worked with [Thomas] Serafin and his team.” When I told him that our site had gotten comments from the email address that led me to him and asked if he knew that it was being used to comment on blogs, he said “no, not that I’m aware of.” Are you surprised that an IP address from Serafin was being used that way? “No, not in particular.” Why not? “I really can’t comment without looking into it further.”
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
It’s been a rough few weeks for Sam’s Club employees. First came the announcement that ten Sam’s Club stores would close and the 1,500 employees who worked there could lose their jobs. Then, yesterday, Walmart announced they would be laying off 11,200 workers. Most of those being laid off demonstrate products in the stores. Walmart’s spokesperson made it clear that this wasn’t about the economy, or the employees performance, rather, they were outsourcing the jobs to Shopper Events a company who’s only purpose is to demonstrate products in Walmart stores.
Walmart has suggested that the 10,000 employees they are firing can apply for a job with Shopper Events, who will be hiring roughly 10,000 employees to fill the gap left by the lay off. It sure sounds a lot like Walmart is asking 10,000 of their employees to reapply for their own jobs.
Here’s our official statement:
For Immediate Release: January 25, 2010
Walmart Sam’s Club Lowering Worker and Community Standards
Layoffs Raise Important Questions About Commitment to its Workforce
(Washington, DC) – The following is a statement from Wake Up Walmart:
Walmart launched another assault on living and working standards in communities across the country yesterday, by laying off more than ten thousand Sam’s Club employees. The company is outsourcing jobs, many of them part-time, to a company based in Arkansas.
Workers report that Walmart called them into mass meetings where they were offered boxes of tissues and told they were no longer needed by the nation’s largest private employer.
The mass layoffs raise serious questions such as whether or not older and more senior workers were targeted for lay off. Why hasn’t Walmart made a clearer path to employment with Shopper Events for these 11,000 associates – which they clearly have the power to do? And for workers hired by the outsourced company, what kind of jobs will Shoppers Events provide to the new applicants? Why is Walmart telling workers they must agree not to pursue age discrimination claims in order to qualify for severance pay?
Walmart and Sams Club workers seeking additional assistance and answers are encouraged to contact Walmart Workers for Change at 866-587-2299 or log on to http://www.walmartworkersforchange.org/.
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
How often have you thought, “hey, I’d really like to keep up with Walmart news, see what folks are doing to change Walmart, and help spread the word about Walmart’s negative impact on worker’s rights and communities”? Well you’re in luck because we’ve joined forces with Wake Up Walmart, and we’re on Facebook and Twitter, and we want to connect with you! So take a minute to click on these links and become a fan of WakeUpWalmart.com on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Once you’re connected with us, we’ll tell you all about what we’re doing, we’ll keep you up to date on the latest Walmart news, and, more importantly, you can let us know what you think!
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
After our national campaign over the holidays focusing on product safety, an Associated Press report about the use of Cadmium in Chinese made products, especially children’s jewelry, and a huge crib recall back in November comes news of a second crib recall.
The Associated Press reports that more than 600,000 cribs are being recalled today after an infant died because of faulty hardware. Twenty models of cribs are being recalled due to issues with drop-side hardware and with slats that can break. The cribs were manufactured in China and Vietnam and sold at Walmart as well as other retailers.
According to the AP, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the company producing the cribs,
“have received 31 reports of incidents involving drop-side cribs, including six incidents of children being trapped between the mattress and the drop side. The agency and company have also received 36 reports of broken slats, including two reports of trapped children.”
This second recall highlights a disturbing trend of dangerous products on Walmart’s shelves. Walmart has a history of using its size and clout to push suppliers to produce at a lower cost, forcing them to cut corners to meet Walmart’s price demands and still make a profit. One of the areas that suppliers could cut corners is product safety. Walmart has repeatedly carried products that have been identified as unsafe or dangerous by reputable consumer safety organizations and the CPSC. It is truly sad that it took a death to bring attention to these cribs.
You can read the full article here and the full CPSC press release here for more information.
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
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