New Report from Wal-Mart Watch: Wal-Mart in Crisis
At its annual shareholder meeting earlier this month, Wal-Mart announced plans to slow construction of new domestic stores, a first in the company’s history. Wal-Mart’s business model has depended on new store construction to remain successful, and this announcement has major implications for the company. Our new report, “Wal-Mart in Crisis: How the World’s Largest Retailer Lost its Way,” examines what these developments mean for Wal-Mart. From the introduction:
Wal-Mart’s attempts to sustain its growth during the past few years have been met with enormous challenges and setbacks. Its same-store sales numbers are down, its stock is flat, its growth has leveled off and it is continuously plagued by self-inflicted public relations problems. While other large U.S. retailers like Target and Costco are prospering, Wal-Mart is floundering…
This special report from Wal-Mart Watch, “Wal-Mart in Crisis: How the World’s Largest Retailer Lost Its Way,” provides insight into the dilemma Wal-Mart faces as it attempts to turn its massive ship around. It examines the immediate and long-term growth problems of the company and offers evidence that Wal-Mart must re-examine its business model to sustain itself and adequately address upcoming challenges.
Click here to download the full report (PDF) >>
Posted by Media Team on Wednesday, June 20 | 8 comments | Permalink
Consumer Safety at Wal-Mart
Our newest fact sheet examines how Wal-Mart frquently fails to protect consumers, both by stocking unsafe products on its shelves and failing to remove them if and when recalls are issued. The multiple food and product recalls in recent weeks - many of which solely affected Wal-Mart - have exposed these cracks in the company’s infrastructure. In regards to Wal-Mart’s role in the US food supply chain:
As the world’s largest company and the nation’s leading grocer, Wal-Mart’s actions have a tremendous impact on the health and safety of Americans. While it squeezes suppliers to get the lowest costs for products, Wal-Mart neglects to ensure that those products are safe. Low prices should not be offered at the expense of consumer safety. Wal-Mart’s track record is not trustworthy as highlighted briefly below.
From food to flowers to bibs to toys, learn more about Consumer Safety at Wal-Mart (PDF) >>
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Friday, June 15 | 22 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart’s Latest Ethics Controversy
Wal-Mart’s Latest Ethics Controversy [BusinessWeek]
The very first day that Chalace Epley Lowry started working at Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) as an administrative assistant in the communications department, on Jan. 2 of this year, she went through a day-long orientation with a heavy emphasis on ethics. “We were told that even if we see something that has the appearance of something unethical we should report it,” says Lowry. Now, two weeks after filing a complaint against a more senior executive, the 50-year-old mother of two finds herself looking for another job.
Lowry is the first to admit that she didn’t know whether the Wal-Mart executive had done anything wrong. Mona Williams, the vice-president for corporate communications, had asked Lowry to photocopy some papers related to stocks. When Lowry found out a few days later that Wal-Mart was planning a $15 billion stock buyback, she worried that Williams might have traded on insider information by exercising her stock options. “In all honesty, Mona’s transactions could all have been aboveboard,” she says, “but I acted in good faith, just pointing out that there might have been some wrongdoing.”
“Next Steps”
Wal-Mart says Lowry is simply confused. The company says she mistook a deferred compensation form for an options exercise request and that Williams did nothing wrong. “The Ethics Office determined the same day the complaint was filed that the document that created Ms. Lowery’s [sic] concerns had nothing to do with stock trading and that there was no violation of Wal-Mart’s ethics policy,” said David Tovar, a Wal-Mart spokesman, in a statement. (Wal-Mart spells the name “Lowery” throughout its communications, although her name, as she told BusinessWeek repeatedly, is in fact spelled Lowry.)
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, June 13 | 21 comments | Permalink
Shareholders Resolution Challenges Gender Disparities
Wal-Mart Shareholders Urge Disclosure of Stock Grants by Race & Gender [Responsible Wealth]
Question: Is there a Glass Ceiling?
At Wal-Mart’s annual meeting Friday, June 1, Responsible Wealth shareholders will challenge management on whether they are creating a gender and race glass ceiling, and ask for a report on how Wal-Mart’s perks are distributed.
The group will present a shareholder resolution for the third year running (http://responsiblewealth.org/shareholder/2007/wal-mart.html), which previously received 15% support.
“The information we seek is important to determine race and gender fairness,” said Mike Lapham, Responsible Wealth director. “We join others scrutinizing Wal-Mart to help stakeholders decide whether there’s a glass ceiling in employee equity compensation.”
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Friday, June 01 | 0 comments | Permalink
Shareholder Proposal Challenges Gender Disparities
Wal-Mart Shareholders Urge Disclosure of Stock Grants by Race & Gender [Common Dreams]
At the Wal-Mart annual meeting on Friday, June 1, in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Responsible Wealth shareholders will challenge management on whether they are creating a glass ceiling of gender and race, and will ask the company to report on how equitably its perks are distributed.
A Responsible Wealth shareholder resolution that received over 15% of the vote in previous years - unusually high at a company with so much stock closely held by family members and management - will once again come to a vote, asking the company to disclose the race and gender breakdown of those receiving stock options and restricted stock. The resolution is online at http://responsiblewealth.org/shareholder/2007/wal-mart.html. Responsible Wealth members have presented a similar resolution every year for the past three years.
“The information we seek on stock options through our resolution is important in determining whether the company is being fair to women and people of color. In light of increased public scrutiny of and lawsuits against Wal-Mart, the report we propose will help all stakeholders determine whether there’s a glass ceiling in employee equity compensation at Wal-Mart. A clearer understanding of Wal-Mart’s policies will help prevent potential liabilities for the company down the road,” said Mike Lapham, Director of Responsible Wealth.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Friday, June 01 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Watch Calls on Wal-Mart Board to Help Change Retail Giant
In a letter delivered to Wal-Mart’s Board of Directors, Wal-Mart Watch and more than 7,500 supporters call on the board to make help changes at the company. Wal-Mart’s 14 directors will each receive a packet today that includes the letters signed by 7,526 Wal-Mart Watch supporters, and a DVD compilation of personal appeals to board members. From thousands of comments sent in by Wal-Mart Watch supporters, the letter highlights nine individuals who voiced their concerns over Wal-Mart’s unfair labor practices, prohibitive health care plan and impact on local communities.
As Kristen from Upland, California put it:
“Wal-Mart can be about so much more than making money. It can be about leading the industry in fair labor practices. It can be about leading the field in environmentally sensitive causes. To many that I know Wal-Mart has become a symbol of all that disturbs them about big business. You CAN change their minds and get them back into your stores by showing the kind of compassion for the world around you that wins the hearts and minds of your customers.”
THANK YOU to all the dedicated supporters who signed the letter: your help is fundamental in pressuring Wal-Mart to change its practices and behave as a responsible corporate citizen.
Click here to read the letter in its entirety. >>
Click here to watch the video sent to the Board of Directors. >>
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, May 30 | 0 comments | Permalink
Working Mother Magazine on Wal-Mart
This week, Working Mother Magazine cited Wal-Mart among its top companies for multicultural women. Apparently, Working Mother was not aware of the huge lawsuits currently pending against Wal-Mart for both gender and racial discrimination. How these facts add up to a multi-cultural and women-friendly company defies logic. From our letter to the editor:
Ms. Suzanne Riss
Editor-in-Chief
Working Mother
60 East 42nd Street, 27th Floor
New York, NY 10165-0001
May 24, 2007
Dear Ms. Riss,
As a working mother and a subscriber to your magazine, I am dismayed that Wal-Mart is included in your 100 Best Companies for Multicultural Women. Your magazine’s lack of scrutiny of the company’s record on diversity calls into question the credibility of your entire list and is a disservice to your readers.
Contrary to your magazine’s accolades for its diversity, Wal-Mart has an egregious record of discrimination. The company has already paid out millions of dollars in lawsuits involving acts of racial, gender and religious discrimination along with violations of the Americans with Disability and Family and Medical Leave Acts.
Wal-Mart also currently faces the largest gender discrimination lawsuit in our nation’s history. In June 2004, U.S. District Court Judge Martin Jenkins granted class-action status to 1.6 million current and former female Wal-Mart employees who charge the company with paying women less and offering them fewer opportunities for promotion.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, May 24 | 30 comments | Permalink
Women’s Organizations Call on Wal-Mart to Reform
14 Women’s Groups Send Wal-Mart Mother’s Day Challenge [YubaNet]
Today, in honor of Mother’s Day, many of the nation’s most influential women’s groups, including the National Council of Women’s Organizations, the National Organization of Women (NOW), CODEPINK, National Congress of Black Women, National Committee on Pay Equity, Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW), National Women’s Conference, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, International Women’s Democracy Center, Coalition of Labor Union Women, Black Women United for Action, National Women’s Political Caucus, Veteran Feminists of America, and the Dolores Huerta Foundation signed a joint letter that calls on Wal-Mart to address its record of mistreating women workers and help “make this Mother’s Day the best ever for Wal-Mart’s Associates and mothers all across our country.”
The joint letter, which is part of WakeUpWalMart.com’s 2007 Mother’s Day Campaign, entitled “Moms Deserve Better Than Wal-Mart,” challenges Wal-Mart’s CEO Lee Scott to address the company’s record of discrimination, poverty-level wages, unaffordable health care, and anti-family policies that negatively impact its women workers, many of them moms.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, May 15 | 0 comments | Permalink
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