The Wal-Mart Watch Blog

| Dec 29, 2009

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Chattanooga, TN. - The closest thing America has to domestic War Zones are the huge parking lots outside of Wal-Marts.

This No Man’s Land is a battlefield where every imaginable crime occurs, from purse-snatching to rape, to murder. Sometimes the victims and assailants are strangers. But sometimes Wal-Mart workers get into the act.

On December 22, 2009, the third person to die this year at the hands of Wal-Mart ‘loss prevention’ workers breathed his last in a Dunwoody, Georgia Wal-Mart parking lot. Marty Bridges was fleeing a Wal-Mart store when security staff wrestled him to the ground. By the time the Dunwoody police arrived on the scene, bystanders were giving Bridges CPR.

Five days later, an off duty police officer in Chattanooga, Tennessee wrestled to the ground an alleged shoplifter ironically named Joe Hill. The suspect, pushing a cart loaded with TVs and a computer, tried to shove his way past a Wal-Mart greeter out into the Wal-Mart parking lot. Wal-Mart security guards tried to physically restrain Hill inside the store, but he struggled his way out into No Man’s Land. One local newspaper described the parking lot incident as a “wild scene.”

The same day as the Chattanooga fracas, police in South Bend, Indiana were searching for suspects in a “shooting spree” that injured one man and damaged several homes. A 19 year old suspect was arrested the next day, and charged with shoplifting ammunition from a Wal-Mart store. The suspect reportedly asked Wal-Mart employees if he could check to make sure the ammunition was the correct caliber. When the clerk handed him the ammunition, the suspect fled the store.

A few days before Christmas, police in West Columbia, South Carolina were searching for a man they say robbed another person at knifepoint in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in that city.

Police in Amarillo, Texas were searching for two men they say tried to rob a man in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Security pictures show the suspects drove up to the man while he was loading his groceries and demanded his wallet.

On December 16th, three people were arrested in Kingsport, Tennessee after police say they dragged a Wal-Mart door greeter around the parking lot when he tried to stop them from stealing a television. The greeter attempted to stop a woman leaving with a large television set. As the woman jumped into the rear seat of the getaway car, the greeter, still holding onto the television, was dragged across the parking lot.

The day before the Kingsport incident, a man was assaulted and robbed outside a Wal-Mart store in Fairfield, California. The victim was getting out of his truck in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart when a woman sprayed him with pepper spray. Two men then hit him in the face and head with a pipe or gun and demanded money.

On December 18th, police in Moraine, Ohio were searching for a man who robbed a 62-year-old woman at gunpoint in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Police said the man pointed a gun at the woman and demanded that she turn over her purse.

On December 19th, police in Idaho Falls, Idaho found two men dead after a shooting at an Idaho Falls Wal-Mart parking lot. A math teacher at Idaho Falls High School shot and killed his wife’s lover in the Wal-Mart battle zone.

And finally, a week before Christmas, a Salvation Army donation kettle at a Wal-Mart store in Sherwood, Arkansas was robbed. A man picked up the entire kettle and fled the scene. A fitting climax to the holiday season at Wal-Mart.

What you can do: These Wal-Mart War Zone stories don’t just occur around the holidays. Wal-Mart parking lots have become the latest frontier for crime--- like the lawless Wild West. On some days, it seems like more people are robbed or injured in the Wal-Mart War Zone than in Karbala or Kandahar.

In the comment section of a newspaper in Chattanooga, Tennessee, one reader summed up the Wal-Mart parking lot incident in his city: “Who needs TV? Just pack up the kids and go to Wal-Mart for entertainment---action, drama, comedy and violence all balled up in one irresistible redneck nugget.”

The business media doesn’t like to write about the Wal-Mart War Zone. Reporters know this “wild scene” is not happening with such predictable frequency at Target, or Macy’s or Nordstrom’s. The crowds are at Wal-Mart---and so is the crime that goes with the crowds.

Everyday parking lot crime has become as much a part of Wal-Mart’s brand as everyday low prices. Wal-Mart will continue to deny that crime in their parking lots is an issue---but what the retailer’s shareholders must fear most is that shoppers will become fearful every time they leave a Wal-Mart alone.

Readers are urged to email Wal-Mart corporate headquarters at http://walmartstores.com/contactus/feedback.aspx with the following message: “Please provide more security protection for your customers and your workers, especially in your parking lots. There is an attitude of lawlessness that pervades your parking lots, and you never know what you’re going to encounter there. A more visible presence by store security would be a start---but you’ve got a major crime problem just outside your front door that is not being dealt with.”

| Dec 24, 2009

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As the Christmas shopping season mercifully ends, Wal-Mart was caught in the middle of an improbable holiday peep show of its own making. In a town called Lower Nazareth, no less.

The early residents of Lower Nazareth Township, an Eastern Pennsylvania farming community, were a highly religious group, and displayed their faith by naming their community after the biblical town of Nazareth. The town doesn’t often get in the national news---but their Wal-Mart superstore literally put them on camera.

According to LeHigh Valley Live, managers at Wal-Mart secretly installed a camera in their unisex bathroom. The hidden camera was discovered by seven “associates” at the Wal-Mart Tire and Lube Center in the store---and these employees have now sued both Wal-Mart and the four store managers who ordered the camera installed. Three of the plaintiffs still work at Wal-Mart supercenter # 2252. The lawsuit was filed in Northampton County, Pennsylvania Court. According to the lawsuit, the workers discovered an “off the shelf” camera hidden behind a box in the Tire and Lube Center bathroom.
They were not drawn to this scene by a brightly shining star in Nazareth, but by the crude way in which the camera was mounted on a shelf, behind a box with a peep hole drilled through it. The lawyer for the plaintiffs says he has a picture of the camera. “They literally discovered it” on March 31, 2008, the attorney said.

When confronted by the workers, the store’s manager initially denied that a camera had been placed in the bathroom. But when he was shown a photo of the camera, he revealed that it was placed there to prevent shoplifting. “Loss prevention in a bathroom?” the plaintiff’s lawyer asked the media. “This is absolutely outrageous. It’s just plain inappropriate. There’s got to be something done. To have these people believe they can do this is beyond all comprehension to me,” the lawyer told the Associated Press.

The lawsuit states that Wal-Mart broke state and federal wiretapping laws, and violated their workers’ and customers’ privacy rights. The filing also charges Wal-Mart with intimidating the workers, forcing them to work in unsafe conditions, wrongful termination of several employees who complained about the camera, and violating their civil rights.

According to the litigation, the videotaping in the bathroom went on for at least several days before it was discovered. The restroom where the camera was placed served employees as well as customers.
Apparently efforts were made with Wal-Mart to settle this case, but no agreement could be reached. In the process, however, Wal-Mart fired two of its workers for putting the camera in the bathroom. “They violated our policy,” a Wal-Mart spokesman told the Morning Call newspaper. “When store management learned of the camera, it was immediately removed.” Yet the lawsuit claims that it was store management that installed the camera in the first place.

Named in the lawsuit were Wal-Mart’s district manager, the store manager and two assistant managers.

It is not clear if Wal-Mart’s policy is not to place cameras in bathrooms---or simply not to be caught doing it. The company says it took swift action to fire the workers who came up with the idea to secretly film bathroom occupants without their knowledge. Yet the company acted slowly in responding to the threat of a lawsuit, since this incident took place roughly 21 months ago.

Rather than quietly settle this lawsuit, Wal-Mart now has its policy on bathroom privacy being discussed in the national media. Wal-Mart shareholders are no doubt blushing over the company’s indiscretion in not settling this case ‘off camera.’

This story from a township called Lower Nazareth is not the kind of Christmas tale Wal-Mart was wishing for this holiday season. The ‘off the shelf’ camera used in this incident most likely has been placed back on the shelf at Wal-Mart, and marked down from its everyday low price for immediate clearance--with the tape removed, of course.

| Dec 22, 2009

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Wal-Mart parking lots could be one of the most dangerous places in America. Not only are people abducted, raped, murdered and robbed in these huge parking areas---but Wal-Mart seems to be uniquely plagued by alleged shoplifters who die while in the hands of Wal-Mart ‘loss prevention’ workers.

Sprawl-Busters has reported on several such deaths—from America to China—in which suspected shoplifters died under provocative circumstances. These headlines do not seem to happen in the parking lot of Nordstrom’s or Macy’s---or even Target---unless the media is just missing them.

The latest death of a suspected Wal-Mart shoplifter happened in Dunwoody, Georgia this week, outside of Wal-Mart superstore # 2360. Police there are investigating the case of Marty Bridges, who has been identified as being 48 years old in one story, and 38 in another. What is known is that Bridges was fleeing a Wal-Mart store when security staff working for Wal-Mart grabbed him, and a fight broke out. By the time the Dunwoody police arrived on the scene, Bridges was on the ground, and bystanders were trying to give him CPR. The suspect was taken to nearby Northside hospital, where he was officially pronounced dead.

The Dunwoody police told the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper that the unspecified items Bridges was accused of stealing were less than $300 in value, and would have resulted in a misdemeanor charge. The Dunwoody police also told the media that in their opinion it did not appear as if undue force had been used on Bridges. “It was basically a big pile-up,” a police spokesman told the newspaper. “They had him pinned on the ground to keep him from running.”

None of the media reports of this incident indicate what items Bridges was allegedly stealing---but Wal-Mart employees were unable to recover the item, or items, according to the police. Either Bridges had nothing on him, or the merchandise stolen was dropped or not located. Instead of dealing with a charge of a misdemeanor in court, Bridges’ family will now be planning a funeral.

What you can do: An autopsy is being done on Marty Bridges to see how he died in that Wal-Mart parking lot. He apparently lost consciousness while trying to flee the store. According to one report, store officials had contacted the police saying that a man had been seen stuffing his shirt with store items. Yet as he lay dying in the parking lot, no items were found on his person.

Bridges was described as a “heavyset” man. Dunwoody police suggested to the Associated Press that Bridges might have been fleeing because of an outstanding warrant or some undisclosed charges against him. Although Wal-Mart tells its employees not to physically engage alleged shoplifters, the people who have died all had one thing in common: they were wrestling with Wal-Mart security guards when they died. Instead of letting the local police pursue the suspected shoplifters, Wal-Mart loss prevention workers attempt to apprehend the suspect, which raises the odds that a loss of life will occur, not just a loss of a few dollars in merchandise. The giant retailer does not seem to have in place any plan to change its procedures in light of several deaths on its property. The company usually issues a statement expressing its sadness over the loss of life---but the “wrestle-to-the-ground” method seems to still be the unofficial policy at Wal-Mart.

Readers are urged to call Wal-Mart superstore # 2360 at (770) 395-0199 and leave this message for the manager: “I hope that the death of Marty Bridges will result in your employees being instructed not to try to physically apprehend shoplifters. It is up to the Dunwoody police to apprehend people Wal-Mart accuses of shoplifting. Your current store policy has resulted in a death---regardless of where you assign blame---a man has died over a very small amount of Wal-Mart merchandise. Keep your hands off the customer, because when you physically restrain the public, you become judge, jury and executioner in just a matter of minutes.”

| Dec 18, 2009

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Walmart likes to talk about how much they respect our troops, and how much they are helping the military. It’s great PR, for sure. On it’s careers page, Walmart says, “In Walmart, you will find a company that not only values military experience in associates, but actively works to support our nation’s armed forces. Walmart has developed several programs to assist active duty members, veterans and their families.”

It sounds nice, but a recent investigation by Stars and Stripes found that Walmart is needlessly charging more to ship to APO (Army Post Office) addresses than domestic addresses. Put simply, Walmart is charging $10 where it should be charging $2 and pocketing the difference. Stars and Stripes found that other retailers charged the same or less to ship to APO addresses, but it seems that Walmart has decided to make a little money off the backs of the military families it claims to support.

This isn’t the first time Walmart has failed to live up to its rhetoric on supporting the military, either. Wal-Mart denied Olga Sanchez time off to see her son deploy to Iraq. The 24 year veteran was told her “commitment” was to Wal-Mart. Similarly, worker Susan Lyons was denied time off to see her daughter, who was scheduled to be on leave from the war. Wal-Mart told Susan that if her daughter’s deployment upset her so much, her daughter “should not have joined the military.”

We think Walmart should change this practice. There is no reason to over charge military families like this. For a company that talks about supporting the military, Walmart sure has a funny way of showing it.

| Dec 17, 2009

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Last week, we released a report about the Senate version of the health care reform bill. In it, we showed that the Senate Health Care Bill, as written, fails to hold Walmart responsible for the health care costs of its 1.4 million employees. The bill’s “Employer Responsibility” section actually creates incentives for employers to institute hiring, scheduling, and pay practices that hurt low income workers.

We showed how this “free rider” provision of the Senate Health Care bill would allow Walmart to duck their responsibility to provide health care coverage to workers. Now the Center for Economic and Policy Research has a report out about the “free rider” problem with the Senate bill that supports and strengthens our report.

According to its author the CEPR’s report shows that,

“the Senate health care bill creates an incentive for some employers to shift workers from full-time to part-time status in order to avoid responsibility for providing health care coverage to their employees. In addition, low-wage employers who provide coverage that is unaffordable for some of their employees will have an incentive to maximize the number of their employees who are eligible for Medicaid.”

You can read the full report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research here.

| Dec 16, 2009

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Check out this e-alert our allies over at WakeUpWalmart.com sent out. You are encouraged to go sign their open letter to Mike Duke:

This holiday season, join us in sending an open letter to Walmart CEO Mike Duke calling for safe products, responsible business practices, and accountability.

As a November 2009 China Labor Watch report found, Walmart uses 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.

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. These products include Mrs. Potato Head manufactured by Playskool, a Walmart brand black and yellow frog wallet, a Disney Princesses pink belt, and an iCarly pink belt manufactured by Viacom.

This holiday season, join us in sending an open letter to Walmart CEO Mike Duke calling for better business practices and safer products for a safer holiday for all.

Thanks for all you do,

The Team
WakeUpWalmart.com

| Dec 15, 2009

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According to the New York Times, Walmart gives employees “demerits” that can lead to termination if they call in sick!  We think the real demerits should go to Walmart for their bad sick days policy, which risks making the public sick and their employees sicker. We’ve teamed up with MomsRising.org to send Walmart a message. Let Walmart know that you don’t approve of their sick leave policy. Give Walmart a “Demerit Badge” today!

Here are some of the stories we’re hearing from folks about Walmart’s sick leave policy:

“I currently work for Walmart. Im a single mom raising a toddler and he got pneumonia. I had to miss a couple days because of that and followed all walmarts procedures and policies and still they tried to fire me...”

“My husband just got fired for missing sick days. He missed 5 1/2 days in 6 months. He missed two days in July with a doctor’s excuse, 1 day that he woke up with severe pain in his head and wen to the doctor (sinus infection), and 1 1/2 days with the flu (an assistant manager asked if he was sick and said that he should probably go home..he did for the half day and called in the next day. He worked for about a month after that including working at 4:30AM on Black Friday. The day after Black Friday, he worked about 2 hours, and they called him in and fired him for missing too many days in 6 months. He did not take off “weekends, sunny days, or go fishing”..he was sick. This is just wrong. The people in the deli go in sick. They have gloves, but are coughing over the food. One girl was so sick, she was put into another department away from the food for a while, but she still worked. This is just wrong.”

“As a Human Resources Specialist, I find this policy alarming and unnecessary. Give your employees plenty of sick days and you will have higher morale and a safer environment for all who shop at your stores.”

Go give Walmart a “Demerit Badge” today!

| Dec 15, 2009

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Once again products sold at Walmart are being recalled due to safety concerns. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is recalling over 50 million roll up window blinds and roman shades sold at Walmart and other retailers due to strangulation risk. Here’s what the CPSC has to say:

Strangulations in Roman shades can occur when a child places his/her neck between the exposed inner cord and the fabric on the backside of the blind or when a child pulls the cord out and wraps it around his/her neck. Strangulations in roll-up blinds can occur if the lifting loop slides off the side of the blind and a child’s neck becomes entangled on the free-standing loop or if a child places his/her neck between the lifting loop and the roll-up blind material.

Of course dangerous products are nothing new at Walmart. They have a long history of pressuring suppliers to cut costs at any price, including cutting corners on product safety. In turn, to compete with Walmart’s prices, other companies take similar steps. The result is the proverbial “race to the bottom” where companies compete not to produce the best product, but the cheapest, no matter the defects of that product.

Check out the article from the Baltimore Sun about the recall and the full press release from the CPSC.

| Dec 08, 2009

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Walmart is not living up to its responsibilities on health care.

Nearly half of Walmart’s associates and their families go without the company’s health insurance and many are forced to rely on government programs, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill.

Tell the Senate that we all have to take responsibility for health care reform—especially large corporations like Walmart.

Walmart has built its business model on a low wage workforce, with bare-bones, high-deductible health insurance. As the largest private employer in the country, Walmart undercuts responsible employers who do their part and provide adequate health care.

President Obama and the U.S. House of Representatives have championed a bill that makes large companies like Walmart do their part, but provisions of the Senate bill meant to hold corporations accountable actually encourage companies to duck their fair share of the costs of health care reform.

Read the United Food and Commercial Workers and WakeUpWalmart.com special report: Health Care Reform and Walmart: What the Senate Health Care Reform Bill Means to the Country’s Largest Employer.

The bill the Senate is currently considering would:

Provide little or no incentive for Walmart to provide insurance to more associates or provide better care to its workers;
Continue the dependence of tens of thousands of Walmart associates and their families on federal and state subsidies for Medicaid and SCHIP, and encourage Walmart to have even more workers and their families dependent on these taxpayer-funded programs;
Make few, if any, Walmart workers eligible for tax credits to purchase better insurance through the health insurance exchange;
Force low-income Walmart associates into high- deductible, company-provided insurance;
Incentivize the hiring of a largely part-time workforce, and encourage reducing workers’ hours as a way to reduce health care costs.

Click here to send the message to the United States Senate: Health Care Reform is EVERYBODY’s Responsibility.

Thanks for all that you do,

The Team, WakeUpWalmart.com

| Dec 07, 2009

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Two years ago, Walmart promoted Aqua Dots as a top toy for the holiday season. It was soon discovered that children who ate the pieces of this toy (which looked quite a lot like candy) passed out because of a chemical that was used to make the toy.  Last year, despite safety concerns, Walmart still sold toys and products tainted with lead and other toxins. It looks like Walmart will continue their tradition of selling dangerous toys during the holidays.

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