Feb16
Dumb And Dumber
Why must Wal-Mart always be dragged kicking and screaming to do the right thing? Until the state of Massachusetts stepped in, Wal-Mart refused to stock and sell Plan B emergency contraception due of “business reasons.” Women’s rights to have access to family planning, much less health concerns never entered the minds of executives sitting in Bentonville. Wal-Mart’s number one surrogate, radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh still doesn’t understand the fears of a potential unplanned pregnancy. Media Matters has the story.
Commenting on a Massachusetts lawsuit filed against Wal-Mart over its refusal to stock emergency contraception pills, nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh told listeners on February 14 , “[I]f I were Wal-Mart ... I would stock one bottle [of emergency contraception pills]” and charge “a thousand bucks a pill.” Limbaugh also said that “the last place you want to be is between a ... liberal woman and her morning-after pill. You don’t want to be in her path when—if ... she needs her morning-after. Just get out of the way.”
Click here to read our new feature, “Women Be Wary.” And then take action with NARAL Pro-Choice America to change Wal-Mart’s birth control policies.
Posted by Brian Kline | Permalink
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke testified yesterday before the House Financial Services Committee, where he endorsed legislation that would block Wal-Mart’s banking application.
Click here to read more from Reuters.REP. JAMES LEACH (R-IA): Mr. Chairman, as you know, there’s an odd financial entity on the financial landscape called industrial loan companies which have powers of banks in many different ways because they allow the merging of commerce and banking. A number of well-known companies have established ILCs or are seeking to establish them. And then because of their regulator arbitrage advantages, a number of financial companies have also established ILCs.
In his last communication to the Congress, the former chairman of the Fed, Mr. Greenspan, endorsed a bill called H.R.3832 that would subject industrial loan companies to the same laws and principles that apply to financial holding companies.
In this hearing as your first appearance before the Congress, I’m wondering if you would care to present your views on the industrial loan company issue?
MR. BERNANKE: Yes, Congressman. If I understand your bill correctly—and you should correct me if I’m mistaken—the bill would require any firm acquiring an industrial loan company to take financial holding company status, which in turn would restrict—create restriction on its activities, require consolidated supervision and, indeed, would also require that the firm hold its subsidiaries to a somewhat higher standard than might otherwise be the case. That’s my understanding --
REP. LEACH: That’s correct. It simply puts ILCs under the Bank Holding Company Act, which has that effect.
MR. BERNANKE: Congressman, as you know, the Federal Reserve’s had concerns about industrial loan companies and the level playing field and the separation of banking and commerce. In my view, the bill that you’re describing would solve the problem and would relieve our anxieties considerably about this particular type of organization.
REP. LEACH: Thank you, sir.
Click here to read more from the Wall Street Journal.
Posted by Nu Wexler | Permalink
The Kentucky House Banking and Insurance Committee passed a bill requiring companies with 25,000 or more workers to spend 10% of their payroll on healthcare. The Lexington Herald-Leader has the story.
Lawmakers chastised retailing giant Wal-Mart today, threatening to approve legislation that would force the world’s largest company to take better care of its more than 30,000 Kentucky employees.
The proposal, which would require companies with more than 25,000 employees to spend at least 10 percent of their payroll on employee health insurance, was passed by the House Banking and Insurance Committee 15-4, with three members voting “pass.”
Called the Fair Share Health Care Act, the proposal appears to affect only Wal-Mart and UPS, which has a large air hub in Louisville.
Businesses with 25,000 or more workers that fail to spend 10 percent of their payroll on health insurance would be required to pay a sum equal to that amount to the state. That money would be used to support the Medicaid program.
Companies that fail to make the required payment would face a $250,000 fine.
“We have large entities that are riding on the backs of taxpayers,” said Rep. Melvin Henley, R-Murray, a co-sponsor of House Bill 493. “We need some special regulations to control the mammoths among us.”
Posted by Brian Kline | Permalink
Robert Greenwald’s film, ”Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price” is taking the Berlin International Film Festival by storm. The following story is from Expatica.
In the film, which has been screened to critical acclaim at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, the employees set out a string of damning allegations about working conditions at the company and how it sets about undercutting rivals.
“Wal-Mart is the poster child for the worst in corporate behaviour,” Greenwald said after his film screened to enthusiastic audiences in Berlin. More than 2,000 Wal-Mart stores are located outside the US.
With low wages and prohibitively high company health insurance, a former employee in the film related how when she questioned managers she was told: “If you can’t do it we will get someone else to do it.”
Needless to say, the Greenwald movie, which has secured considerable interest from both TV companies and film distributors around the world, has triggered a major counter-assault from Wal-Mart, which has dismissed the movie as propaganda.
Click here to read Greenwald’s interview with the German Web site Spiegel Online.
Posted by Brian Kline | Permalink
Acclaimed business journalist Charles Fishman is earning rave reviews from the critics for his latest work examining the Wal-Mart business model in ”The Wal-Mart Effect.”
Denver Post
“...no Wal-Mart book author has come close to achieving ‘superb,’ until now. Charles Fishman’s just-published book, ‘The Wal-Mart Effect,’ is almost certainly the best yet, as measured by depth and breadth of research, writing style and evenhanded treatment.”
USA Today
“In discussing a company of such size, one would expect an analysis to be choked by numbers and statistics. Fishman, however, makes effective use of anecdotes to lend meaning to the barrage of sound bites we hear about Wal-Mart.”
Business Week
“...well-written and insightful. ... Although the folks in Bentonville won’t like it, The Wal-Mart Effect is not an anti-Wal-Mart screed.”
San Francisco Chronicle
“...highly readable, incisive, precise and even elegant...”
Christian Science Monitor
“...clarity, compelling nuance, and refreshing objectivity.... Fishman explains how Wal-Mart appeals to pennypinchers but leaves many customers feeling conflicted, not cheered...”
Dr. Jonathan Rees of Colorado State University
“ ...Fishman’s story sets up a kind of moral equation: the benefits of low prices on one side and the costs and effects of these prices on the other. He leaves it up to the reader to answer the question of which side is greater than the other.”
You can catch Fishman tonight at Politics and Prose bookstore for a question and answer session at 7:00 p.m. Click here for directions.
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
Why must Wal-Mart always be forced into doing the right thing? On the heels of a ruling against them by the Massachusettes’ Board of Pharmacy, Wal-Mart today annouces that it is finally “considering” stocking Plan B emergency contraception bills in its stores. Here’s the story as spotlighted in today’s Wall Street Journal:
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is considering stocking emergency-contraception pills in other states after Massachusetts’ Board of Pharmacy determined the retailer must do so in the commonwealth.
Previously, Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart stocked and dispensed the pills only in Illinois, where it was required to do by state law. The retailer intends to comply with the Massachusetts order, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. Its plans for the pill in other states are under review.
“Women’s health is a high priority for Wal-Mart, so clearly, there are broader considerations,” Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sarah Clark said. “And we are giving this a lot of thought.”
On Tuesday, the Massachusetts board “determined that Wal-Mart pharmacies are required to stock and dispense emergency contraception, when presented with a prescription, to comply with the board’s regulations,” said Donna Rheaume, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Wal-Mart has until 5 p.m. Thursday to comply in writing.
Three Massachusetts women sued Wal-Mart in state court in Boston on Feb. 1 for not carrying the pill at its stores in the commonwealth. The Board of Pharmacy made its decision Tuesday after reviewing a complaint filed by the women’s lawyers.
Wal-Mart critics seized the opportunity to chide the retailer for not changing the policy in Massachusetts on its own.
“Why must Wal-Mart always be forced to do the right thing instead of doing it on their own?” said Andrew Grossman, executive director of activist group Wal-Mart Watch, in a statement. “We hope this ruling will encourage Wal-Mart to change its wrong-headed, and harmful, corporate policy.”
Click here to read the full story.
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
Mindful of the unfair competitive advantage Wal-Mart has in receiving government-subsidized healthcare, Safeway Seattle Division President Greg Sparks called for Washington House Speaker Frank Chopp (D) to take “immediate action” on the Fair Share Health Care bill. The Seattle Times has the story.
Greg Sparks, president of Safeway’s Seattle division, complained about having to compete against companies that don’t provide health insurance. And he urged House Speaker Frank Chopp to take “immediate action” to help ease what he described as a growing health-care crisis.
Chopp, D-Seattle, has come under pressure during the past week to allow a vote on union-backed legislation dubbed “Fair Share.” The bill would require companies with more than 5,000 employees to spend at least 9 percent of their payroll costs on health-care benefits.
Supporters have until 5 p.m. today to get the bill out of at least one chamber of the Legislature.
Chopp pointed out that “responsible employers” and taxpayers are facing an ”increased burden” to cover health-care costs for the uninsured.
“We share your concern with the impact on the health-care delivery system of the cost-shifting by the uninsured, as well as the unfair competitive advantage that employers who do not provide health benefits to their workers have over those of us who do,” Sparks wrote.
According to state reports, Safeway, with roughly the same number of employees in Washington state as Wal-Mart, had fewer than half as many workers on Medicaid or the state’s Basic Health Plan. Meanwhile, a new report released by Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) revealed a higher percentage of Wal-Mart workers on the state healthcare rolls than government workers.
Click here for more background information on the fight for Fair Share Health Care in Washington.
Posted by Brian Kline | Permalink
Breaking news from the Boston Globe:
Wal-Mart said today it plans to start stocking and selling the emergency contraception drug Plan B at its 44 Massachusetts pharmacies after receiving a directive from state regulators.
The retailer said it is also giving serious thought to carrying the drug at all of its 3,700 pharmacies nationwide. The only other state where Wal-Mart sells the so-called morning after pill is Illinois, where a state law requires it. Elsewhere, Wal-Mart has refused to stock the drug for undisclosed “business reasons.”
The state Board of Registration in Pharmacy voted unanimously this morning to require Wal-Mart to stock and dispense Plan B, a high dose of hormones that women can take three to five days after unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy.
The pharmacy board cited a regulation requiring all pharmacies to dispense “commonly prescribed medications in accordance with the usual needs of the community.”
Wal-Mart had indicated it would comply with any directive of the board and a company spokesman confirmed that after the board’s vote. The board acted on a complaint from three women who brought a prescription for Plan B to Wal-Mart pharmacies in Quincy and Lynn and were turned away. The women are also suing Wal-Mart in state court.
Melissa Kogut, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, said she is hopeful Wal-Mart will start carrying the morning-after pill nationwide. “What’s happening here in Massachusetts is really a turning point,” she said.
Click here for the Associated Press story.
Click here to read Wal-Mart Executive Director Andrew Grossman’s statement on the ruling.
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
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