Former Wal-Mart Exec Pleads Guilty

As I always say, “Give a fat cat a big enough ball of yarn and eventually they will hang themselves!”

It’s a sad day for not only Wal-Mart, but, for stockholders like myself, to see that one of Sam Walton’s closest friends betrayed the trust that “Mr. Sam” placed in him all those years ago.  It also betrayed the loyal stockholders who have stuck with the company through thick and thin.

It’s a good day for unions, though, in that there’s some measure of vengeance here in that Tom most likely undertook a personal vendetta against those that would like to see Wal-Mart Stores, Inc become uniononized.

It would open the door (no pun intended) to former Associates who were fired for union sympathy to sue for lost wages and more punitive damages.  Wal-Mart’s got a lot of explaining to do, I’m afraid, as to why Tom was carrying out this campaign to begin with.  QUestions that must be asked include:  Did the other borad members at that time know that Tom was carrying out a plan to weed the company of those that supported unions instead of the Open Door?  If the Board members at that time were aware of Tom’s actions, was there any formal discussion/debate held or a resolution passed that permitted Tom to carry out this plan?  How many Associates were terminated for simply saying “I think that the store here should be a union shop’?  Will the company instruct it’s managers in no uncertain terms that termination of people that merely sympathize with unionization will no longer be permitted or otherwise harrassed?  ALso, will Wal-mart offer to rehire or otherwise compensate those fired for such reasons?  Will they at least apologize to terminated Associates since there’s a good possibility that those former Associates will tell Lee Scott what impossible act he can do to himself?

Think about it :)

Splinter in Columbus, Ohio:

Yeah, it must be a “sad day” for you.  What’s even sadder is that you and so many others are aiding and abetting Wal-Mart by being a shareholder.  There are many many others who have sold out “Mr. Sam” a long time ago.

Why should Lee Scott be worried about Associates telling him to perform that “impossible act” on himself?  He’s been doing it to the entire country for a long time!

Being a shareholder is not something I take lightly.  People, especially Associates, forget that is they are a shareholder, even if it’s just one share, that they have a right and a duty to have input upon the company that they own stock in.  It’s not just sitting back and letting the dividends flow in, when something occurs that affects the shares of stock in a negative manner, the stockholder must ask themselves why the stock has slipped and if need be, ask the hard questions that the Board of Directors needs to answer at some point, whether it’s just to the single shareholder, or, a LOT of like minded shareholders/proxies.

Shareholders ultimately decide on the Board of Directors in a publically traded company.  If there’s a competing slate of people who want to be on the Board and can convince 50.1% of the shareholders that they can do a better job with a company and turn the company around, then, the current board is sent packing.

The union sponsored sites are not even trying to convince shareholders that their position is better than Lee Scott and the rest of the board.  Stockholders, generally, are intelligent folks and if enough get together to force a major change in company thinking, things will change, correct?  The Board ultimately answers to shareholders like myself because shareholders own the company, not the Board.  Sam Walton once said that customers can fire everyone in the company, simply by shopping elsewhere.  Shareholders can fire everyone on the board of directors as long as there’s a simple majority or can even demand that a single board member resign or otherwise be removed if that person has shown a disregard for those who work under them.

Also, you want to bet if some shareholders are closested union supporters who have wisely stayed “in the closest” because they heard of others fired for a simple statement.

I can sense your sincerity Splinter, but I have to question anyone who owns stock in Wal-Mart.  Just how serious are you to ask the really tough questions that are being asked of Wal-mart?

I wonder what would happen if Warren Buffett announced he was dumping the 9 million (give or take a few) shares he owns in Wal-Mart?

All shareholders need to do, if they really are sick and tired of the bad news coming from the chain and the bad PR is to email the directors themselves:  directors@wal-mart.com.

Each director has their own email address as well, for example, Rob Walton’s email is “srobwalton@wal-mart.com”.  You could probably assume that if you wanted to send hate mail to Susan Chalmers, it’s “susanchalmers@wal-mart.com”

The key here is for shareholders to decide that they’ve had enough with the loss of potential ROI that they revolt en masse.  One or two shareholders will not mean all that much.  Even if Warren Buffet and Garth Brooks were to sell their shares, it wouldn’t really be enough to force a major mind-set change.  Now, if Associates and the other aspects of the public sector were to dump stock en masse, or, better yet, give their all important proxy votes to a person that is going to be at the shareholder mtg this year or next and say “Hi, I’m Joe Sixpack, and I currently hold the proxy votes of 10,000 shareholders with a combined stock of 25,000,000 shares, and they’ve entrusted me to ask the Board some very difficult questions which, as a shareholder, I’m entitled to ask and demand straight answers to.” Then, grill the Board for as long as it takes to get to the truth about things that are happening.

One doesn’t have to support a union getting into Wal-Mart, just a desire to find out why Wal-Mart is open to so many lawsuits and why the company is being dragged into these multi-million dollar settlements along with other failings that are happening.

The best way to change Wal-Mart, IMHO, is by going to the shareholders even if they are Associates (remember, even if the Associate is fired, they still own stock, so, unless the company buys the stock, the fired Associates still has the right to voice their opinion as a shareholder.) Associate stockholders will especially be useful, though, as they can start with subtle pressure on their managers and going through the chain of command.  If they voice their opinions as stockholders and not assocaites, it might be frowned on by the SEC for the company to punish the shareholder.  I’m not really sure of that, though.  But, Wal-Mart needs to be more concerned with not ticking off a majority of shareholders...or they might be getting a more favorable board.

One question I’d like to know the answer to on a personal level is:  Are there any members of the Board who started off as an hourle associate in the company (and who isn’t named “Walton”?)

Whatever the case with this guy--it stems from Bentonville HQ’s and its paranoia concerning anything ‘union’. He was the hammer they used against employees and their right to organize. Whether someone agrees with this right ideologically speaking or not it is still a right supposedly protected by law as is the right to work law at least in some states such as Arkansas which is not something that I am particularly in favor of. It also seems he had more than his fair share of arrogance--or an unhealthy amount. This may have accumulated over time however now with his guilty plea he can be seen as something of a crook.

WM might be better off honestly facing what it fears (in this case employees wanting to organize) instead of going to any lengths to circumvent the law.

My My My I remember when the Enron Scandal came out and mangement made us watch a film from home office and Tom Coughlin was in it.  They told us that we didnt have to worry about Walmarts board of directors that they would never do anything immoral and they were honest and above board and now Mr Coughlin is pleading guilty to tax evasion.  Also I noticed that all the bad pr is being blamed on unions.  Did anyone ever think that maybe its just odinary people or their own associates that are finally seeing what this company is doing or how it compares to other companies in treatment of their associates and benefit packages?

I LOVE WALMART. should we not admire walmart? it is doing what every other store dreams of. people say sam walton would be “disappointed” had he seen what his store is doing, I personally would be ecstatic with joy, people shop at walmart not because a gun is put to their head but because their prices are lower. a 3% margin is something that very few, if any, other stores could operate at and is, therefore, something to be bragged about. every other buisness out there seeks to destroy their competition, that is the way life is.

one more thing, if people are going to complain so much about their job at walmart… just dont work there :)

anonymous in walmart, my favorite store:

Gee anonymous...another Wal-Mart Troll heard from.

Wal-Mart operating at a 3% margin give us all a break!  I bet you don’t even know what a margin is.

Accordong to a former manager with 17 years at Wal-Mart on a recent PBS special, the margin on the Chinese crap that Wal-Mart pushes in its stores is 60, 70, and even as high as 80%. I’ll believe him before I believe you!

none in nowhere: 

Try to be original.  Like we haven’t heard the other Trolls say that before. Stay tuned...things may be changing for Wal-Mart.  Who will Wal-Mart hire if even the less educated among us get wise to how Wal-Mart is screwing them and the country?

Hey, Screwed:

I actually have several friends that work for Wal-Mart.  They make anywhere from 32K to 42K a year.  This is in a midsized town in the South, where that can actually buy you a 2200 sq. ft. house.  These people have no education after high school, and no training that Wal-Mart did not provide for them.  They have been treated by WM better than at any other job.  And these jobs are manual labor, so don’t try to pull that 1 in a 1000 crap.  WM only has 1% of its work force a min. wage. 

I personally don’t shop at WM, but that stems from my distaste for crying children and people shopping for cheap plastic products.

And for you saying try to be original, yeah, we’ve never heard your liberal rants before.  You are the model of originality…