Weekly Update for Elected Officials: Nov. 21, 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 a new study from the group Good Jobs First, which reveals that cash-strapped states are forgoing a total of roughly $1 billion annually in tax revenue because of little-noticed laws that permit retailers to keep a slice of the sales taxes they collect for the government. In fact, the study finds thirteen states do not cap the amount that a retailer can receive as vendor compensation for collecting sales tax, resulting in millions of lost tax dollars.
A large focus this week is also on Wal-Mart’s announcement that Lee Scott will step down as CEO in February 2009, to be replaced by Michael Duke, Wal-Mart’s Vice Chairman of its International Division. In addition to the CEO change, you’ll find stories on the battle over the Employee Free Choice Act, how Wal-Mart will deal with the Obama Administration from a labor perspective, and related news on Wal-Mart’s labor battles in Canada.
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 has founded a new consumer group in New England geared towards fighting Wal-Mart opponents, and has purchased its own wind-energy supply based out of Odessa, Texas
Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials [November 21, 2008]
Posted by Corey Himrod on Friday, November 21 | 1 comments | Permalink
A Look At Michael Duke
Since becoming Vice-Chairman in 2005, Michael Duke has presided over Wal-Mart’s international division. Unfortunately, the company’s international track record during these three years has been less than stellar. While aggresively expanding into Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China and recently India, Wal-Mart has been accused of sourcing from sweatshops, selling dangerous foreign products on its shelves, union-busting, and attempting to monopolize employees’ business by paying them in vouchers.
Here’s a little background on the man who will shortly run the biggest company in the world.
Early Life and Education
Michael Duke, 57, was born in 1950. He has a wife, Susan, and two daughters and a son. He graduated from Georgia Tech with a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering in 1971. He serves on the Board of Directors of the US-China Business Council as well as CIES-The Food Business Forum. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of Morehouse College and on the University of Arkansas Board of Advisors. He is also a Company Director on the Board of Directors of Arvest-Bank of Bentonville and the Retail Industry Leaders Association.
Professional Life
Before joining Wal-Mart, Duke spent 23 years working for Federated Department Stores and May Department Stores.
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Posted by Research Team on Friday, November 21 | 6 comments | Permalink
Change is Coming Wal-Mart
Hey, Wal-Mart? Do you feel the winds blowing today? Ah, yes, the winds of change. Indeed, that key demographic of Wal-Mart women across the country surely voted their pocketbooks and their consciences - and helped the electorate hand a decisive victory to Senator Barack Obama.
You can bet the Walton family and CEO Lee Scott weren’t doing a victory dance last night when the election was called for Obama. Oh, sure the company’s pr and gov relations guy, Leslie Dach has tried really, really, really, really hard recently (especially as things were looking really promising for Obama) to convince everyone that Wal-Mart was “non-partisan” – even going so far as to air infomercials for both candidates in the company’s stores. But, those “non-partisan” activities, like so many things Wal-Mart does are mere distractions from what the company was really up to.
In August, the Wall Street Journal exposed Wal-Mart’s mandatory meetings to attempt to instruct its employees to vote against Democrats and Senator Obama – oh, sure they nuanced the message in some settings, but the point was clear. And, the company implemented a plan at the beginning of 2008 to train all of its managers how to fight the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) should Obama be elected. During the presidential campaign, we saw anti-EFCA ads (and anti-Obama – walking the legal line in various forms) from several different organizations - including (but, not limited to): the Workforce Fairness Institute; Center for Union Facts; The Center for Consumer Freedom and of course, the Employment Policies Institute. Since these groups don’t disclose all of their contributors, it’s hard to prove that Wal-Mart gave them money, but we have a pretty good idea that Wal-Mart invested a nice chunk of change in their efforts. Maybe someone should ask Wal-Mart.
For the past eight years, Wal-Mart has had a free pass to trample workers’ rights - in part due to the ineffectiveness of the NLRB – and in part due to a system that has favored employers. The company’s business model of paying appallingly low wages, offering catastrophic, unaffordable health care plans, forcing employees to forgo overtime pay, manipulating employees’ schedules as punishment for standing up to the company, discriminating against employees and a host of other issues – evident from a multitude of lawsuits - and from the mouths of employees themselves - is finally in jeopardy.
Yep, change is coming. With an Obama presidency and the Democratic gains in Congress, average Americans – including Wal-Mart workers - will once more have a say and stand a chance of getting a fair shake. Wal-Mart knows it – and fears it.
Expect to see the company increase its lobbying expenditures in the next few months and ramp up its efforts to mislead its employees about EFCA – which by the way, could finally give its employees the ability to stand up to the company. And, expect to see even worse treatment of employees to send a clear message to them about who is still in charge (and Wal-Mart just doesn’t ever seem to learn on this front).
Posted by Media Team on Wednesday, November 05 | 24 comments | Permalink
New Wal-Mart Watch Video
Wal-Mart Watch’s new video, “Wal-Mart saves money, the Walton family lives better,” shows the real life implications of Wal-Mart’s low-wage business model. While the average full-time hourly Wal-Mart worker makes $19,200 a year, the Walton family’s net worth rose to over $100 billion during the past year.
As average American families have conversations around their kitchen tables just like the Wal-Mart employee and his family in this video, the Walton family doesn’t have a care in the world. Because the Walton family and Wal-Mart choose to pay low wages to the company’s workers, families across the country - just like this one - are struggling to stay in their homes, pay their bills, pay their medical expenses and take care of their families.
So, while Wal-Mart saves money on the backs of its employees, the Walton family lives better – much better. It’s no wonder that Wal-Mart is so opposed to any tool such as the Employee Free Choice Act, which could actually make it easier for employees to stand up to Wal-Mart and demand better wages and benefits. No, Wal-Mart executives and the Walton family want to keep on living better themselves - and it’s just too bad for the 1.4 million U.S. employees.
Check out the new video, and let us know what you think.
Posted by Media Team on Tuesday, October 28 | 6 comments | Permalink
Grumpy Tom Mars wants to pay Wal-Mart’s lawyers in giftcards
According to the ABA Journal, Wal-Mart general counsel Tom Mars says he is considering initiatives to lower associate billing rates at the company’s outside law firms “to some point where they reflect value.”
Actually, that’s probably not a completely horrible idea. First-year and low-level law firm associates make, well...let’s just say one makes about as much in one year as 7-8 Wal-Mart “associates” do. Sure, they went to law school and work long hours, but does that qualify them to make up to $160,000 per year? Tom Mars says: “No...NOOOO, DAMMIT!!!! Now get off my lawn!!”
Earlier this year, Wal-Mart issued a memo to its law firms announcing a moratorium on across-the-board rate increases. So you may be wondering where Wal-Mart gets the brass balls to announce these “initiatives” and “moratoriums” and such? Probably because they employ half the private attorneys in the United States? I mean, seriously, without paying all the lawyer fees that they do, Wal-Mart could probably just start giving store product away. Really. Note to Tom Mars: If you stop breaking the law, you won’t have to worry about lawyer fees. Its a strategy, and I stand behind it.
After Freezing Fees, Wal-Mart GC Considers Cutting Associate Billing Rates [ABA Daily Journal]
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Posted by Corey Himrod on Friday, October 24 | 18 comments | Permalink
More on closure of Canadian Wal-Mart’s Tire and Lube Express
Wal-Mart earned $31 billion in profit last year, but repeatedly refuses to raise wages for its lowest-paid employees. When workers at a Tire and Lube Express in Canada voted to unionize in hopes of raising their wages and securing better benefits, Wal-Mart responded in the same way it has before: it shut the shop down. Such actions have been challenged before; hopefully these workers will be able to find justice.
Wal-Mart Closes Quebec Tire Center After Labor Accord (Update1) [Bloomberg News]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s biggest retailer, said it closed a unionized Quebec tire and lubrication shop because of costs tied to the first labor agreement imposed at any of its North American locations.
The closing is effective immediately because it would have raised operating costs by at least 30 percent and triggered “dramatic’’ price increases on products, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer said today in a statement. The Quebec Labour Relations Board imposed the three-year labor contract in August after the union and company failed to reach an agreement.
“The union contract that was imposed is simply unworkable,’’ Wal-Mart Canada spokesman Andrew Pelletier said in a telephone interview.
Wal-Mart rose $1.89, or 3.8 percent, to $51.94 at 1:05 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
Under the contract, wages would have increased by a third, or more than 10 times the average hourly rate of Quebec companies this year, the company said in the statement. Wal-Mart Tire and Lube Express’s six employees in Gatineau won’t be fired and will be offered jobs at other regional shops.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, October 16 | 3 comments | Permalink
The Two Richest Women in America are Waltons
Alice and Christy Walton top Forbes’ list of the richest women in America this week. Alice is Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton’s only daughter; Christy married Alice’s brother John and inherited his share of the Walton family fortune upon his death in 2005.
The Walton family takes up nearly half of Forbes’ list of the top ten wealthiest Americans. Alice and Christy are on that list, as well as their brothers Rob and Jim. As we mentioned in our earlier posts on this issue, each of the Walton siblings are worth more than an hourly Wal-Mart employee could earn in several lifetimes. $23.2 billion (what Alice and Christy are each worth) is more than enough for anyone, but the family has refused to share its earnings with the employees who create their fortune. What would Sam say?
America’s Richest Women [Forbes]
Alice Walton is the daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. Christy Walton is Sam’s daughter-in-law. Each has a net worth of $23.2 billion, thanks to the ubiquitous discounter, America’s largest employer.
Alice has a taste for objects you can’t find in any Wal-Mart: fine art. She’s led her family in hundreds of millions of dollars in donations to the Crystal Bridges Museum. The new art museum will open in 2010 in Bentonville, Ark., the location of Wal-Mart’s headquarters.
Christy is the widow of Wal-Mart heir John Walton, who died in a 2005 plane crash. She also is using some of her considerable fortune for art. She recently donated an award-winning yurt--a domed tent used by Asian nomads--to a San Diego museum.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, October 09 | 6 comments | Permalink
Both Parties Pursue ‘Wal-Mart Mom’ Demographic
We’ll take this news from the Financial Times as proof that Wal-Mart Moms agree with our post last week: they’re worried about the kinds of economic problems caused by Wal-Mart.
The FT article makes it seem a bit like working class white women have been responsible for the outcome of every election in the last ten years. We might not go that far, but it’s certainly true that millions of people shop at Wal-Mart’s stores each week, and they all have a vote come November. So what are Wal-Mart Moms thinking now?
Ms Palin’s fading star is only part of the reason why Democrats see a fresh opportunity to go after working class, white women. At least as important is the return of “kitchen table” economic issues to the heart of the campaign, eclipsing the debate over values and culture that Ms Palin helped ignite.
Wal-Mart moms have been hit harder than most by America’s economic storm as their household budgets come under pressure from the rising cost of food, energy and healthcare, while wages stagnate.
A big part of this is Wal-Mart’s role in our economy. Though the retailer claims its low prices help working class families, Wal-Mart reps are less eager to discuss the company’s depressing effect on wages, its tendency to ship well-paying jobs overseas and putting its private health care needs on the public tab. Wal-Mart moms are concerned with the forces that drove them to shop at Wal-Mart in the first place, and the forces which keep them there, too.
Wal-Mart moms beginning to buy Democrat’s message [Financial Times]
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, September 30 | 13 comments | Permalink
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