Wal-Mart Watch Daily Clips - March 20th

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION RULES THAT DUKES v. WAL-MART TO MOVE FORWARD

• Obama Administration Sides With Wal-Mart Workers [Bloomberg News]
  The Obama administration sided with women suing Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for discrimination, urging a federal appeals court to let the current and former workers sue as a group and proceed with the biggest sex-bias case in U.S. history.
  

• EEOC Reverses Stance on Wal-Mart Class in Gender Bias Case [National Law Journal]
  The federal government got off the sidelines Thursday to throw a few blocks for plaintiffs in a huge gender class action against Wal-Mart.
  

• Pay Equity: Will Lilly Help Betty? [New York Times Economix Blog]
  Legal cases like this typically don’t get much attention from the media until they are resolved. But the Wal-Mart class-action suit has been publicized by the writer Liza Featherstone as well as activists at Wal-Mart Watch.
  

WAL-MART ANNOUNCES BONUSES FOR U.S. EMPLOYEES

• Wal-Mart Hourly Workers to Get $2 Billion in Bonuses [Bloomberg News]
  The bonuses reflect Wal-Mart’s “sensitivity to the growing public pressure to share some of its billions in profit with the workers who earned it,” David Nassar, executive vice president of Wal-Mart Watch, a consumer advocacy group, said today in an e-mailed statement.

• Wal-Mart Increases Employee Bonuses [Wall Street Journal]
  Wal-Mart Stores Inc. handed out $933.6 million in bonuses to its rank-and-file U.S. workers on Thursday, an increase of 46.7% compared to last year.
  

• Wal-Mart awards $2 billion to U.S. hourly employees [Reuters]
  Wal-Mart Stores Inc is awarding approximately $2 billion to its U.S. hourly employees through financial incentives, including handing out $933.6 million in bonuses on Thursday, after the world's largest retailer gained market share amid a recession.

• Wal-Mart awards bonuses [Associated Press via Washington Post]
  Wal-Mart Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke said $789 million was paid in profit sharing and 401(k) contributions and the remainder went to the employee stock purchase plan and merchandise discounts for workers.
  

• The Bright Side of Big Bonuses [ABC News]
  Wal-Mart announced Thursday that it paid out $933.6 million in bonuses and $788.8 million in profit sharing and 401(k) contributions.
  

• Walmart Gives Bonuses to Hourly Employees [Morning News of NW Arkansas]
  Wal-Mart Watch also asked the retailer to raise wages. "What remains for Wal-Mart is what it has always refused to do: Truly lift up its work force by making a substantial investment in hourly wages and health care benefits," Nassar said.
  

NEW STUDY TELLS SMALL RETAILERS WHAT TO DO TO FIGHT OFF WAL-MART

• What You Can Do to Fight Wal-Mart [Wall Street Journal]
  When a Wal-Mart comes to town, trying to compete with the big-box store by reducing prices does not help, concludes a two-year study by the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University in Hanover, N.H.
  

WAL-MART BOND PRICED AT ONE BILLION POUNDS STERLING

• Wal-Mart 25 yr bond set at 1 bln sterling [Reuters]
  Guidance has been set at gilts plus 195 basis points. Initial guidance was at gilts plus 200 to 210 basis points, said IFR Markets, a Thomson Reuters online news and market analysis service.
  

• Wal-Mart Sterling Bond Comes After BOE Purchase Plan [Dow Jones via CNN Money]
  U.S.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) is planning to issue a 25-year, sterling-denominated benchmark bond, one of the banks working on the deal said Friday.
  

COMMENTARY: BERNIE MADOFF SHOULD WORK AT WAL-MART

• Sentence Bernie Madoff to work at Wal-Mart [InjuryBoard.com]
  Wal-Mart is adding approximately $2 billion U.S. dollars to the benefit and incentive packages for hourly employees in the United States. That’s a good sign.
  

RECESSION TO HELP WAL-MART ENTER JAPAN?

• Japan Warming to Cheap Foreign Gadgets Amid Slump [Associated Press via New York Times]
  Newly frugal Japanese consumers may finally be ready for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which pushes electronics made outside Japan and has struggled here since arriving in 2002. Wal-Mart does not break down financial data by nation.

MASSACHUSETTS OFFICIALS CONSIDER BANNING BABY BOTTLES SOLD AT WAL-MART

• Officials mull ban on some bottles [Boston Globe]
  Major retailers such as Wal-Mart promised to pull BPA baby bottles from their shelves while manufacturers of hiking water bottles made with the chemical, such as Nalgene, said they would make BPA-free products.

BHARTI-MART'S EXPANSION SLOWED BY RECESSION

• Bharti Wal-Mart slow down amid slowdown [NDTV (India)]
  Bharti Wal-Mart is facing the heat in the retail sector like anyone else. Their plans for the future are delayed. But the company says, in hindsight, their slow approach has worked given that players like Vishal and Subhiksha are in serious financial trouble.
  

ANOTHER WAL-MART SALE ADVERTISED BY REUTERS

• Wal-Mart cuts prices on contacts, kids' eyeglasses [Reuters]
  Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) is extending its partnership with 1-800 CONTACTS and cutting prices on contact lenses and children's glasses.
  

WAL-MART 'GANG INITIATIONS' TEXT MESSAGE HOAX GETS PRESS NATIONWIDE

• It's a Hoax: Text Message Spreads Rumor of Violence at Walmart [MSNBC]
  In a check of several law enforcement agencies in Arkansas, police say they have no information confirming any possible threat at any Walmart store.
  

• Rumors of gang initiation attacks at Wal-Mart called a hoax [Mercury News (Calif.)]
  Authorities are calling a hoax rumors spread by text messages and the Internet that gangs will carry out violent initiations at area Wal-Mart stores.

To keep updated on Wal-Mart Site Fights across the country, visit the Battlemart blog at http://walmartwatch.com/battlemart/blog

CALIFORNIA SITE FIGHT: LOCALS CONTINUE TO ASSESS WAL-MART'S 'VALUE' TO SALINAS

• Bigger role awaits Wal-Mart in Salinas [Californian (Calif.)]
  One of these stories is represented by a "merchandiser" business here in Salinas. Wal-Mart has been a profitable business that has expanded throughout our country.
  

CALIFORNIA SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART PLAN KILLED IN SUISUN CITY?

• Controversial Wal-Mart in Suisun Rejected By State Water Board [News Blaze]
  The State of California Regional Water Control Board has rejected an application for a proposed 227,000 square foot Wal-Mart SuperCenter in what is yet another blow to the controversial Walter's Road Project.
  

• Wal-Mart plans not scrapped [The Reporter (Calif.)]
  Plans for Wal-Mart in Suisun City are still moving forward, although there are questions from the state's water board that must be answered. A letter from the California Regional Water Quality Control Board to Wal-Mart poses several questions about the project proposed for the intersection of Highway 12 and Walters Road.
  

• Suisun City, CA. Wal-Mart Gets Water-Boarded [Battlemart Blog]
  Wal-Mart has been ‘water boarded,’ and it must feel like the bureaucracy in California is just an endless form of torture.

UTAH SITE FIGHT: A 'HURRICANE' CALLED WAL-MART COMING TO HURRICANE

• Hurricane retailers brace for Wal-Mart impact [thespectrum (Utah)]
  While many are touting the Hurricane Wal-Mart as a tremendous step for the growing community, the introduction of the massive store is expected to result in sales losses for retailers in the Hurricane Valley area.

For more news on Wal-Mart as well as commentary, opinions and multimedia, visit our blog at http://walmartwatch.com/blog

Posted by Chris C on Friday, March 20, 2009

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