Two names familiar to Wal-Mart Watchers have joined forces with writers and activists from around the net to create a new blog, The Writing on the Wal. Founded by Daily Kos diarist Jonathan Rees and Jeff Hess from No Cleveland Wal-Mart, The Writing on the Wal takes Wal-Mart to task on everything from outsourcing to low wages. Contributers also include Jim Gilliam, producer of the upcoming documentary Wal-Mart: the High Cost of Low Price and Matt Lipsky of the Neighborhood Retail Alliance. Wal-Mart Watch staff members will also periodically post our thoughts on the Wal as well.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of Jonathan and Jeff, the blog is already off to a great start. We encourage you to take a look and check back often. As we approach Higher Expectations Week, the conversation should really heat up.

Click here to visit The Writing on the Wal.

JUST IN: BusinessWeek takes a look at Higher Expectations Week and Wal-Mart's high-priced "charm offensive."

From the Associated Press:

Elizabeth Paige Laurie’s name was on a sports arena when a former University of Southern California roommate alleged the Wal-Mart heiress paid her $20,000 to do her homework. Now it isn’t even on a USC diploma.

Laurie, the granddaughter of Wal-Mart co-founder Bud Walton, has returned her degree, nearly a year after Elena Martinez told ABC’s ‘’20/20’’ that she had written term papers and done assignments for Laurie for 3 1/2 years.

‘’Paige Laurie voluntarily has surrendered her degree and returned her diploma to the university. She is not a graduate of USC,’’ the school said in a statement dated Sept. 30 but not widely disseminated until the school newspaper wrote about it late last week. ‘’This concludes the university’s review of the allegations concerning Ms. Laurie.’’

USC spokesman James Grant said Wednesday the university had no further comment. Laurie had been given a bachelor’s degree by the USC Annenberg School for Communication in May 2004.

After the homework allegations surfaced last November, the University of Missouri changed the name of what was then Paige Sports Arena. Laurie’s billionaire parents, Bill and Nancy Laurie, had received naming rights in exchange for donating $25 million toward the building’s construction. Nancy Laurie is Walton’s daughter.

A call seeking comment from Bill Laurie at his Paige Sports Entertainment company was not immediately returned. The family has repeatedly declined to comment on the cheating allegation.

Martinez has an unlisted phone number and could not be reached for comment.

At the time of the ‘’20/20’’ broadcast, Martinez said she dropped out of USC because she couldn’t afford the tuition. She said she learned a great deal by doing Laurie’s class work.

Click here to read about the Walton family’s other philanthropic priorities.

Today the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Wal-Mart is switching from petroleum-based to corn-based plastic packaging.

“‘This is a way to make a change positive for the environment and for business,’ said Matt Kistler, who is vice president for product development and packaging for the company’s Sam’s Club division.”

“Kistler said the packaging initiative is part of a broad effort started a year ago by chief executive officer Lee Scott to incorporate environmental concerns into business decisions at Wal-Mart.”

While these stories are still fresh in our minds:

“In August 2005, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $1.5 million in penalties in Connecticut for storm water violations. In 2004, Wal-Mart was hit with a $3.1 million penalty for Clean Water Act violations. That same year, Wal-Mart paid $400,000 to settle violations of the Clean Air Act.” [Forbes, 8/15/05]

“‘Wal-Mart’s constant expansion and conversion of discount stores to Supercenters leaves vacant buildings behind - in 2004 an estimated 13 million square feet. Wal-Mart admitted the compnay perfers to let the buildings sit empty. There are times when it’s in our interest to get the property moving faster, but we’re certainly not going to give a competitor an advantage’ -Wal-Mart spokesman, Bob McAdam said.” [Wall Street Journal, 9/15/04]

We recognize our efforts to change the Wal-Mart business model is having an impact. And we’ll keep applying the pressure because we have higher expectations from Wal-Mart.

A new study from the Center for Economic and Policy Research finds only 25% of American workers have a job that pays at least $16 per hour and provides health insurance and a pension. The report, “How Good is the Economy at Creating Good Jobs?” found that between 1979 and 2004 the share of American workers in good jobs remained unchanged at about 25 percent, despite strong economic growth over that period.

“The U.S. economy has failed to convert long-term economic growth into better jobs,” said John Schmitt, CEPR economist and author of the report. “Despite huge improvements in the average educational level our workforce, most American workers still don’t have a job that pays a decent wage and provides health insurance and a pension.”

The study also found that 27% of the workforce is in a job that pays poorly and offers neither health insurance or a pension.

Click here to read the full report.

On September 28, 2005, GOP House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, known as “the Hammer” for his hard-nosed political tactics, was forced to step down from his leadership post after he was indicted by a grand jury for his involvement in an illegal scheme to funnel corporate money to Texas Republican legislative candidates. How does Wal-Mart react to DeLay’s indictment and possible jail time? They cut him a check!

There are some discrepancies concerning Wal-Mart’s latest foray into “pay to play” politics. According to the Wal-Mart PAC’s monthly filing, the transaction with DeLay occurred on September 23, 2005. However, according to the quarterly filing of Tom DeLay’s Congressional Committee, the check was received on September 30, 2005 - two days AFTER the indictments.

When did Wal-Mart write their check to “the Hammer”? When did the “exchange” occur? Did the world’s largest corporation have any qualms about funding criminal politicians?

Wal-Mart Watch calls on Wal-Mart’s PAC, notably called the “Responsible Government PAC,” to cancel its donation and to pledge to stop funding criminals.

Background: According to the National Center for Responsive Philanthropy, the Wal-Mart PAC has rapidly increased its activity in the past decade.  In the 1994 cycle, they doled out $110,000 to political candidates and organizations in 1994.  In the 2004 cycle, the PAC’s contributions totaled $2.1 million, with $1.6 million going to Republican candidates or organizations.

“I’m proud that I worked for Wal-Mart; I’m not proud of what I did for Wal-Mart.”

Those are the words of Weldon Nicholson, who worked at Wal-Mart for 17 years. Nicholson’s “Confessions of a Hit Man,” is the subject of an extended scene from Robert Greenwald’s upcoming film, ”Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.”

“I watched so many people go without lunch in the lounges that I stopped eating in the lounges, I just had my managers eating there because I just couldn’t stand it. They just wouldn’t eat and we weren’t allowed to offer them any money. There were people i’d see who didn’t eat nothing; they’d take an hour lunch and just sit there.”

“I had people there on welfare working, husbands totally disabled. We’re paying them $6.75, $7.75 an hour. And on any given day, if for some reason you just happen to tick off one of the managers, if you’re full time, you can just work 28 hours a week. And if you tick one of them off bad enough, no matter even if you are just a sub par performer, just at a blink of an eye they can get rid of you. They’ll find a reason. I found a lot of reasons and set people in a lot of positions where they would fail just so I would look good for my boss.”

To read the transcript or watch the web video, click here.

A Wal-Mart spokeswoman says the company has been open about its use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology.

“The front entrance doors have a decal that notifies customers electronic product code tags may be in use in the store,” she says. “If customers have questions, we have the pamphlets available for them. In our press release of April 30, 2004, we specifically state that HP printers and scanners will have tags on the outside packaging.”

”Wal-Mart does not have any RFID readers on the sales floor, as some retailers do, and neither Wal-Mart nor its suppliers will be hiding tags,” she adds. “We have said all along that for those people who remain cautious of the technology, the best avenue is simply to remove the tag once you’ve purchased the product.”

[InformationWeek, 10/14]

But Wal-Mart appears to be playing loose with the truth.

“Shoppers in a suburban Tulsa, Okla., Wal-Mart were unwitting guinea pigs earlier this year in a secret study that two of America’s largest corporations never expected you’d know about.”

“In the study, uncovered by the Chicago Sun-Times, shelves in a Wal-Mart in Broken Arrow, Okla., were equipped with hidden electronics to track the Max Factor Lipfinity lipstick containers stacked on them. The shelves and Webcam images were viewed 750 miles away by Procter & Gamble researchers in Cincinnati who could tell when lipsticks were removed from the shelves and could even watch consumers in action.”

[Chicago Sun-Times, 11/9/03]

For background information on RFID, visit the Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering web site
.

Our friends at the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy wanted to set the record straight:

“Contrary to the claims of Wal-Mart spokesperson Melissa O’Brien in a New York Sun article dated 10/5/2005, NCRP never received money from Target Stores or the Target Foundation. In the 1990s, NCRP received several grants from the Dayton-Hudson Foundation, whose parent company owned several retail chains. The Target Corporation emerged from the dissolution of the Dayton-Hudson Corporation. During the transition, NCRP was notified that it would not receive money from the newly formed Target Foundation, largely because of NCRP’s progressive mission and role as a philanthropic reform organization.”

“We are more than willing to engage the Wal-Mart Corporation in an honest debate about its philanthropy, but we will not tolerate blatant lies being spread about NCRP in an effort to discredit our research programs or publications.”

Wal-Mart’s false allegation stems from an NCRP report that found the retailer’s charity is often tied to advancing their corporate agenda.

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