Weekly Update for Elected Officials: Sept. 24, 2008
Check out this week’s issue of the Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials – a compilation of Wal-Mart news from across the country and beyond.
This week’s issue begins with reports of price gouging on the part of Wal-Mart. What’s truly abhorrent about these reports, however, is that they are being made by the very people affected most by the recent cavalcade of hurricanes to batter the Gulf coast. The Arkansas News Bureau and The Consumerist have more on these stories.
You’ll also find major news on the legal front. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed its second lawsuit against Wal-Mart in less than three weeks. The first involves the Americans with Disabilities Act in Illinois; the second involves age discrimination against a 67-year-old optician in Missouri. In addition to the EEOC lawsuits, Wal-Mart will now have to face another class action wage/hour lawsuit. Salvas v. Wal-Mart was originally certified as a class action back in 2004. Since then the case has gone back and forth through the Massachusetts court system, eventually being decertified and winding up in front of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on appeal. Well, the SJC released its opinion this week, ruling that the decertification was improper and that the lawsuit should be reinstated as a class action. A trial is possible, which could cost Wal-Mart hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid wages and damages. The Boston Globe and Boston Herald have the story.
Also check out the Product and Food Safety Report, where you’ll find stories on BPA (and a class action lawsuit regarding the chemical that includes Wal-Mart), dangerous soccer goals and baby cribs sold at Wal-Mart, and a pet food recall involving Purina products sold at the retailer.
And finally, check out our “Stateside” and “Wal-Mart International” sections to find out what’s going on with Wal-Mart around the country and across the globe.
Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials [September 24, 2008]
Posted by Corey Himrod on Wednesday, September 24 | 2 comments | Permalink
Another Survey Finds Wal-Mart Charges More for Groceries in Low-Income Neighborhoods.
Back in April, the Denver Post conducted a survey of grocery prices at Wal-Mart supercenters in several Denver neighborhoods. Over a number of weeks, the survey found Wal-Mart charged more for groceries at its stores in low-income neighborhoods than in higher income areas. As the article noted, “It’s not cheap being poor.”
A survey done recently in Florida corroborates those findings. WKMG in Central Florida went to several Wal-Mart stores in neighborhoods of varying income levels and found consistent price disparities at each. In each case, products were cheaper in higher income areas.
This trend points to a pricing scheme that takes advantage of lower income shoppers who can’t afford to drive to a competing store for groceries. Wal-Mart might claim to help people “Save Money” and “Live Better,” but there’s nothing charitable about taking advantage of consumers already struggling to get by. To those of you with multiple Wal-Marts in your area: have you noticed this trend?
Wal-Mart Price Discrepancies Investigated [WKMG-TV (Fla.)]
Apparent cost discrepancies at Central Florida Wal-Mart stores were investigated after the Problem Solvers received a tip from a viewer alleging different prices for the same items.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, September 23 | 76 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart named in BPA class action
Several retailers including Wal-Mart have been named in a nationwide class action for their participation in selling polycarbonate plastic baby bottles and toddler training cups containing the controversial hormone BPA.
This whole BPA - or Bisphenol-A - controversy is not a good thing. BPA is a key compound used in polycarbonate plastics, which are clear and nearly shatter-proof (a good thing), and also possibly toxic and poisoning us and our children daily (apparently bad...very, very bad). These plastics are used to make a variety of common products including baby and water bottles, sports equipment, medical devices, lenses, CDs, and household electronics...a fact that, in the interest of full disclosure, actually made me check the bottom of my water bottle this morning to make sure I wasn’t slowly killing myself.
The lawsuit in question was filed in Georgia, and you can read the (very long) complaint here, in which defendants are accused of manufacturing and selling materials made with BPA despite knowledge of likely adverse affects. In addition to Wal-Mart, retailers such as CVS, Target, and Kroger have been named in the suit. Also named were manufacturers of the bottles themselves, including Evenflo, Gerber, and Playtex. The best part of this whole thing - not only have over a hundred studies been produced in the last decade warning of the adverse affects of BPA, but apparently in deeming the compound safe the FDA decided to rely on only two, both of which were produced by the American Plastics Council. So kudos to the FDA for that.
The lawsuit has been filed in the U.S District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. You can read the release on it below.
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Posted by Corey Himrod on Thursday, September 18 | 5 comments | Permalink
Consumer Alert
According to a recent article in Bloomberg, a series of babies have fallen ill with kidney stones across seven provinces in China - one has died. It is suspected that melamine contaminated powdered milk manufactured by Sanlu Group is responsible. The Chinese ministry of health stated that Sanlu has recalled the milk powder while the investigation proceeds.
Bloomberg also notes that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is said to be pulling Sanlu milk powder off its shelves, citing Wal-Mart China spokesman Dong Yuguo. However, in a report from Ifeng Finance (China), Wal-Mart stores in Shanghai are still selling powdered milk “as usual”.
Exacerbating this horrific situation, “contaminated baby formula may also have reached the U.S., according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which warned consumers that illegally imported Chinese milk powder may contain melamine.”
China Says Sanlu Milk Likely Contaminated by Melamine [Bloomberg]
China’s health ministry said milk powder produced by Sanlu Group Co., 43 percent owned by Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd., may have been tainted with the chemical melamine and could be linked to kidney stones in infants.
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Posted by Michael Mignano on Friday, September 12 | 8 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart in the ‘hot seat’
Remember back in June, when the FDA warned consumers about eating certain kinds of tomatoes coming out of Mexico due to potential salmonella contamination? And then expanded that warning to include certain peppers as well? All vendors of these products, including Wal-Mart were to halt the sale of such items.
Cheryl Grubbs is filing suit against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc, alleging that her husband, Brian Grubbs came close to death after eating several jalapeno peppers that were purchased at a Wal-Mart and tainted with salmonella in an article published today in LawyersandSettlements.com.
[An earlier version of this blog post mentioned that the FDA recall in question occured on June 25, 2008. This was incorrect: we apologize for the mistake.]
Tomato-Pepper Salmonella: Why the Grubbs are Suing Wal-Mart
Dolores, CO: “Truckloads of contaminated jalapenos were turned back at the border before we bought them at Wal-Mart,” says Cheryl Grubbs, “so why did Wal-Mart still have them in their store?” Her husband, Brian Grubbs, almost died from the tomato/pepper salmonella outbreak, and Cheryl is furious because his illness could have been avoided.
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Posted by Luke West on Thursday, September 11 | 31 comments | Permalink
Friday Blog Round-Up: Labor Day Edition
We’ll be extremely busy this weekend relaxing and celebrating the valiant efforts of American workers, so in the meantime - a brief round up of the week’s Wal-Mart blogs.
DEADLY BASSINETS SOLD AT WAL-MART
Wal-Mart Still Selling Dangerous Cribs [WakeUpWal-Mart.com Blog]
Wal-Mart has long been plagued with recalls of dangerous products, and it has often been implicated in taking too little action about such products. Now it seems Wal-Mart is still selling a dangerous crib that is responsible for two deaths.
Here is the story yesterday at Consumeraffairs.com. I hope Wal-Mart (mentioned in this story) and other retailers have stopped selling these products, since being notified of the imminent hazard warning. And I assure readers, if SFCA’s defense somehow prevails in court, that the Congress will be quick with a technical correction to the new law.
After the jump, Wal-Mart’s local food, more on the company’s mandatory meetings and the new Marketside stores.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Friday, August 29 | 48 comments | Permalink
First Photos of Wal-Mart’s New “Marketside” Stores
The Financial Times brings news that the Building Dept. of the City of Mesa, AZ. has posted on its website some of the first photos of Wal-Mart’s new “Marketside” stores. The stores signal a departure for Wal-Mart, as they are significantly smaller than the retailer’s traditional format and designed to compete head-to-head with UK retailer Tesco’s “Fresh and Easy” markets.
Marketside’s small format isn’t the only thing that distinguishes the pilot program from other Wal-Mart stores. Marketsides have completely independent design elements and don’t mention the word “Wal-Mart.” From the Financial Times:
The design includes a natural wood finish around the entrance, and deep-purple awnings - the same colour that will be used on the aprons of the staff, and on its website, http://www.marketplace.com. The Marketside name appears in lower case green lettering, with no reference to its parent company.
As Wal-Mart nears the U.S. saturation point for its traditional stores, the company has been forced to evolve into alternate formats. But Marketside’s distinct branding implies the company is worried customers have had enough not only of Supercenters, but of Wal-Mart itself.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, August 26 | 63 comments | Permalink
Legal Blog: Is Wal-Mart stealing money meant to help low-income women and their children?
Wal-Mart has, unsurprisingly, been the target of more lawsuits than one can count over the years. The company’s treatment of its workers and “save money at all costs” mentality has resulted in a flood of legal challenges ranging from single plaintiff suits to multi-million dollar class actions. Dukes v. Wal-Mart is of course one large example (the largest class action in American history, actually), as are the myriad wage/hour/overtime class actions the company faces.
At Wal-Mart Watch will be focusing on one of these stories each week, highlighting those cases that warrant further attention because of the light each sheds in its own way on how Wal-Mart does business.
Deborah Metcalf v. Wal-Mart Stores East
In the process of scouring the country searching for egregious examples of Wal-Mart malfeasance, we came across this interesting little case filed earlier this year in Oklahoma. On its surface, it’s a retaliatory discharge case – however, the plaintiff here, Deborah Metcalf, was fired for blowing the whistle on what should be considered some pretty repulsive conduct.
Among the many programs funded by the United States Government, we’re going to focus on one in particular – the federal WIC program. WIC stands for Women, Infants, and Children, and is a special supplemental nutrition program funded by grants by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered in Oklahoma by the OK State Department of Health. Basically, WIC provides food and education to low-income women, infants and children deemed eligible for the program. The program’s website tagline delivers the following:
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children - better known as the WIC Program - serves to safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, & children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating, and referrals to health care.
Deborah Metcalf, at the time of her firing, was an employee working at the Wal-Mart Pharmacy located within store #47 in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. In 2001, the Sallisaw Wal-Mart became a participant in the WIC program. Before we go any further, perhaps a little more information is needed on how the WIC program works:
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Posted by Corey Himrod on Wednesday, August 20 | 70 comments | Permalink
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