WAL-MART SHIP RIDING HIGH ON A SEA POCKETBOOK PAIN
Survival of the Fattest [Writing On The Wal]
I’ve been writing for some time that the current down turn is a perfect example of the continuing excesses of capitalism and not a correction. As in most similar cases a downturn causes the weakest firms to fail leaving fewer and larger firms remaining.
Wal-Mart Wins, Everybody Else Loses [TrafficCourt]
That may be overstating things a bit. But Wal-Mart certainly is doing well these days. Wasn’t it a year ago or so that everyone was talking about the Bentonville behemoth stumbling and perhaps hitting the limits of its business model?
Wal-Mart beats trends, sees same store sales rise [Marathon Pundit]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. stood out as one of the few bright spots. It posted a better-than-expected 2.4 percent rise in sales at U.S. stores open at least a year. Analysts had forecast a 1.6 percent gain, according to Thomson Reuters.
The Wal-Mart Weekly: Wal-Mart the big winner in the current U.S. downturn [BloggingStocks]
So, does it come as any surprise that Wal-Mart is seeing triumphs as the U.S. economy completely implodes? We’re not even done yet, and layoffs mount daily as corporate earnings and vehicle sales take a huge nosedive. All the while, Wal-Mart is probably thinking it’s living in some kind of alternate universe.
JUST WHAT THE ECONOMY NEEDS
Business - Wal-Mart’s Credit Card? [Good Read]
Is Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) going to bring its price-chopping ways to the credit-card industry? BusinessWeek has learned that the retail behemoth has held talks with Herbert and Marion Sandler, founders of Golden West Financial Group, about a new credit card that would offer lower interest rates and few of the onerous fees associated with traditional credit cards.
WAL-MART LOVES ITS WORKERS...
Wal-Mart: Discounted Workers’ Rights [AFL-CIO NOW BLOG]
Want to understand why so many of America’s workers find it so hard to organize unions in their workplaces? Look no further than Wal-Mart, says Carol Pier of Human Rights Watch who says: Wal-Mart is a case study of the abysmal workers’ rights regime we have here in the United States.
INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO SELL OUT
A Critic Changes His Tune About Wal-Mart [Wall Street Journal Independent Street Blog]
Some companies spend months trying to break their products into Wal-Mart. Yet others prefer to have nothing to do with it. They claim Wal-Mart’s reputation of hurting small, local retailers and its controversial labor practices keep them from wanting to do business with the big-box retailer.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Eric Bull | Permalink
Wal-Mart’s official company position on politics is bipartisan, but glimpses into Wal-Mart’s corporate culture reveal this is far from true. Daily Kos diarist Arkydem wrote a post today about a party his adult daughter attended in northwest Arkansas hosted by two Wal-Mart executives. From the sound of it, Wal-Mart’s executive corps is made up entirely of the insensitive meatheads you hated in high school, but instead of teasing you about your lame off-brand sneakers, now they tease you about not being a Republican. Says Arkydem:
I live in the Republican stronghold of Arkansas, the northwest corner. The home of over 7,000 Wal-Mart employees and since early 2002 when Wal-Mart made the announcement that if you’re a vendor, you set up shop here, adding another 30-40K folks and a sea of vendor offices all over the county, all carrying the misinformation and hate that corporate Wal-Mart spreads through its ranks and its vendor slaves about Democrats and about a million other things.
Wal-Mart strives to be seen as a politically neutral company for several reasons. The politics of Wal-Mart have never been positive for the company: low wages, poor benefits and other stingy practices have dogged the retailer for years, and have damaged its reputation. The farther the company can distance itself from these issues, the better. But Wal-Mart is also desperate to break in to several predominantly Democrat markets, and aligning with Republican values never helps this cause. Stories like Arkydem’s present a real problem for Wal-Mart, and seriously hamper its attempts to woo Democrats. Stories like this one don’t help much either, but no one said the company was interested in actually changing its practices to achieve change.
They Attacked our Daughter [Daily Kos]
Wal-Mart on the attack [Arkansas Times]
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
Wal-Mart Watch has launched a new website - http://www.waltoninfluence.com - which analyzes and tracks the Walton family’s and Wal-Mart’s growing influence on American politics.
Although Sam Walton believed his company should stay out of politics and stick to retailing, Wal-Mart’s strategy changed immensely after his death. From 1999 to 2007, Wal-Mart’s lobbying expenditures for outside firms increased 7425%. Although Wal-Mart attempts to tout its bipartisanship, the Wal-Mart PAC has given the vast majority of its over $7.5 million in the past decade to the Republican Party and other conservative groups.
With more than $12 billion in profits last year, Wal-Mart is the biggest and arguably most powerful corporation in America. Sam Walton’s heirs, the majority owners of the company, are worth over $100 billion - making them the wealthiest and certainly one of the most influential families in America.
During the past year, Wal-Mart Watch conducted an analysis of public lobbying and political contribution records for the Walton family and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., in order to determine how this influence is used to affect politics and policy. The conclusion is clear: Wal-Mart and the Walton family spend millions of dollars every year to fund an extreme right wing corporate agenda that is often directly at odds with the interests of Wal-Mart’s workers and shoppers.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
...a Wal-Mart Exec travels to Vegas to head a panel on how to integrate blogs and business. Seriously.
From the Wall Street Journal:
John Adwards, senior marketing manager at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), and Michael Brito, social media strategist at Intel Corp. (INTC), will help lead a panel Friday to discuss how companies can integrate blogs and other social media strategies into their business models.
We SO wish we could be there!
*Still 3 posts on the Checkout Blog in the past 38 days, if you were wondering
**And a blogging/online marketing expert named Adwards? really?
Las Vegas Tradeshow To Bring Bloggers Face-To-Face [Dow Jones Newswire via Wall Street Journal]:
“The reach of the blogosphere is enormous and only growing,” says Rick Calvert, founder and CEO of BlogWorld, noting the 1,600 attendees at last year’s event had a combined blog monthly audience of 98 million visitors. Calvert expects attendance this year to increase 20% to 30%.
“Our event is a sign of the blogosphere’s move toward mainstream acceptance,” Calvert says.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
Check Out, we hardly knew ye.
Remember Wal-Mart’s Check Out Blog? The one that the New York Times gushed over back in March? The rowdy band of nine fearless buyers Wal-Mart unleashed to conquer the blogosphere with unfiltered wit and opinion? The birth of Check Out was a time of youthful idealism: finally, a corporate blog where ideas could run free, and highly paid marketers could say what they truly felt. The future looked bright.
But less than a year later, Check Out is dying.
We’ve counted three posts on the site in the last 36 days. The few posts tend to be either on video games or apologies for writing so few posts.
Blogger Susan’s last entry reads:
Just wanted to apologize for being out of touch for the past few months! Of course I have a reason...I was recently promoted to the Merchandise Manger over the Video Game and PC software categories. I have been busy learning my new role and feel terrible that I haven’t posted anything as of late.
Russell has also stopped writing, leaving the simple, homespun world of Check Out for the bright lights of more exciting things:
But, let me tell you blogging is hard work. Anyone that consistently maintains any type of online commentary is to be greatly commended. It isn’t so much finding time to post, for me. It isn’t even writer’s block. The problem is finding a compelling story to tell, one that I think other people would find interesting.
And Tifanie echoes Russell’s sentiment, sadly solidifying Check Out’s ghost town status:
I feel Russell’s pain on the blog front....if you would like to know something specific or have an interest you would like me to expound upon, feel free to make the request; otherwise, you will be subjected to my ramblings.
Most sadly though, sustainability guru Rand Waddoups has been missing in action since mid-July. Perhaps he got moved back to salty snacks and has secluded himself for months, racking his brain to invent the greatest Wal-Mart-exclusive salty snack of all time. (Rand: just let it go, it’s already been done.)
Meanwhile, the rest of us are left to mourn the loss of yet another Wal-Mart social media project. We can only hope another, similarly misguided replacement will come along soon...
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
MEXICAN SUPREME COURT SLAMS WAL-MART’S LABOR PRACTICES
Mexico’s Supreme Court rules against Wal-Mart’s labor practices [AlterDestiny]
Mexico’s Supreme Court has been making some really interesting decisions lately. Last week they upheld Mexico City’s law to provide access to abortion. Yesterday, they ruled in favor of a Wal-Mart employee in Mexico who brought a case against the corporation for its practice of providing store coupons in place of a portion of one’s salary. (English story here, Spanish here). The court likened Wal-Mart’s practice to the old company stores that operated under the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz (1876-1910), that were subsequently outlawed with the 1917 constitution.
Walmart Slammed by Mexican Court [Politics and Hypocrisy]
Now to be fair, I am far from knowledgeable on the working conditions in Mexico. I do know that they must be bad enough to cause 1000’s of Mexicans to cross our borders yearly in search of a better life.
So knowing that, how bad must Walmart be in Mexico if their Supreme Court is criticizing their labor practices? I’ll give you a hint, an 1890’s dictator and store only salary vouchers are mentioned.
I wonder if they tell their employees how to vote down there as well?
After the jump, Wal-Mart’s new in-store TV network, the company’s outreach to mommy bloggers and why you should love the REALLY free market.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
Wal-Mart has previously tried to win over college students, Facebook users, “working families,” and RVers in its social media misadventures. Now the company has a new target demographic: mommybloggers.
Maybe it was the toy recalls that made Wal-Mart decide to target mothers. Maybe it was the massive gender discrimination lawsuit filed in 2006. Or maybe it was the retailer’s problems adhering to WIC rules, or harsh treatment of pregnant employees that made the company think, “Huh. Women might not like us a whole lot.”
The newest project entails giving free video cameras to mommybloggers across the country and asking them to discuss how they like to save money. We imagine the conversation will pretty quickly turn to Wal-Mart. And Wal-Mart’s marketing execs undoubtedly hope those free video cameras are enough to keep the bloggers from mentioning Wal-Mart’s abysmal record for discriminating against women...but where would the fun be in that?
Retailer, moms who blog form new coalition [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is venturing further into the social media waters with a coalition of busy moms who blog about how to save money on everyday necessities, vacations, even big-ticket items that may fall outside most shoppers’ budgets. Soon, the company intends to invite customers to share their own money-saving tips in exchange for a chance at winning a year’s worth of groceries. Blogs, or Web logs, are journals that are available on the Web. Some of the 12 moms selected for the project already have begun posting video clips on their Web sites, suggesting ways to trim spending.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
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.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
There’s still way too many bloggers talking about last week’s Wall Street Journal story for us to give an accurate run down of all of them. But that’s not the only thing going on in the world of Wal-Mart this week: our Friday Blog Round-Up has the details.
WAL-MART RECOMMENDS LEAVING CARBON OFFSET DETAILS “VAGUE”
We caught a post earlier this week from Sustainable Industries, which mentioned that Wal-Mart has come out against defining carbon offset standards. Given the company’s desperate attempts to be seen as environmentally friendly, we found this a bit shocking, and we weren’t the only ones…
To Everything: Term, Term, Term [Grist]
In comments to the Federal Trade Commission earlier this year, Wal-Mart asked the agency not to define the terms “carbon offsets” or “renewable energy certificates” in order to keep the terms flexible and to retain their “less tangible nature.”
Carbon Offsets: To Define or Not to Define? [Green Tech Media]
Wal-Mart has attracted plenty of attention for its environmental initiatives, including more energy-efficient lighting – the chain surpassed a goal to sell 100 million compact fluorescent light bulbs in 2007 – less packaging and a goal of removing nonrenewable energy from all its products, although an Environmental Leader report released in May found that most consumers didn’t identify the company as socially responsible, in spite of its significant green marketing.
Wal-Mart has been taking many major steps go green in recent years. The mega-retailer has taken steps to assess the carbon footprint of some of its products, and it has become the largest buyer of organic cotton and of locally grown produce...So you can imagine my surprise when I came across Wal-Mart’s comment on the Federal Trade Commission’s attempts to standardize carbon offsets.
Walmart Against Setting of Carbon Offset Guidelines [Carbon Offsets Daily]
There seem to be loopholes in Walmart’s argument as well - it argues that the FTC should refrain from setting concrete offset guidelines as there is lack of “widespread consensus about the precise contours of what constitutes a carbon offset or a REC”. But isn’t that exactly what the FTC is looking to rectify?
My good deed for the day. [The Writing on the Wal]
The Christian Science Monitor has noticed that despite its vaunted green reputation Wal-Mart doesn’t want the government to formally define carbon offsets in order to facilitate pollution cap and trade programs. Confused? So is the guy who wrote the blog post...Therefore, he called Wal-Flack Central (aka the Wal-Mart Press Office) for clarification...Can you imagine what the Wal-Flack who took that call must have been thinking?
a) “At Wal-Mart, we are very concerned about…”
b) “At Wal-Mart, we do not comment on pending legislation…”
c) “Let me tell you about all our other wonderful environmental programs…”
After the jump, bad deals, jalapeno peppers and the Griswold family makes their mark on the American retail landscape.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
We at Wal-Mart Watch deeply value the community of commenters who discuss the stories we post on our blog. In order to better accomodate all commenters, we’d like to remind everyone of a few basic courtesies for commenting on our site:
1. Stay on topic. Wal-Mart is a complicated company, and our critique of the retailer is multifaceted. It will help everyone to restrict your comments to the subject at hand. Want to discuss an issue we haven’t posted on? Email us.
2. Back up your arguments. The bloggers here all appreciate hearing opinions other than our own - so long as they add to the discussion. Please back up your arguments and explain your reasoning. Extra points for providing citations.
3. No insults. Please refrain from insulting your fellow commenters, or the editors here at Wal-Mart Watch. If you’re unable to make an informed, cogent retort, we will do you the favor of taking down your childish name-calling.
4. Keep it brief. We ask that the poets, dreamers and those with long treatises provide only brief excerpts. If you have that much to say, you can probably create your own blog! Otherwise, please don’t clog the comments with your musings.
In sum:
Characteristics of a good comment:
- Provides insight/additional information on the subject of the post
- Adds an intelligent critique to the discussion
- Wit/humor are always appreciated
- Calm, courteous, reasoned disagreement, either with the opinions/facts presented in a post itself or with other commenters
- Sharing of relevant, personal anecdote (within reason)
Characteristics of a bad comment:
- Personal attacks on other commenters or editors
- Vulgarity
- Racist, sexist, or otherwise offensive remarks
- Whining/Complaining: ("So what, who cares?")
- Irrelevance
Like we said, we really appreciate everyone’s comments, and remind you of these courtesies for the benefit of everyone who comments on our site. As always, Wal-Mart Watch reserves the right to take down any comment for any reason.
Post your (courteous) feedback in the comments!
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
The blogosphere has come out in full force in response to today’s Wall Street Journal story on Wal-Mart’s unconscionable, intimidating behavior towards its workers. Comments centered on both the egregious nature of Wal-Mart’s overt political posturing, as well as their fierce anti-union rhetoric. Following is a few of the insightful commentaries set forth by bloggers:
Wal-Mart to Employees: Don’t Vote for Democrats [AlterNet]
There’s a stunning story on the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal about how Wal-Mart is freaking out over the possibility of a Democratic win in the fall. So much so, in fact, that they’re calling mandatory propaganda meetings across the nation in which they’re indoctrinating workers about the alleged dangers of a Democratic takeover.
Wal-Mart vs. Their Workers [Political Animal]
This is par for the course. Few companies are as rabidly anti-union as Walmart, and there was never any doubt where their sympathies lie on this issue. They have a habit of firing workers who try to organize their stores, closing down stores that vote to organize anyway, and outsourcing entire departments when multiple stores vote to organize.
Why Are Democrats Taking Money From Wal-Mart? [Daily Kos]
To cut to the chase, Wal-Mart’s PAC spending is aimed at one thing: to make sure EFCA does not pass and, if it does pass, to make sure that the bill that reaches the president’s desk will be weakened (which, by the way, is what happened to labor law reform in the 1970s).
Fearing unions, Wal-Mart tells employees ‘how to vote’ [Carpetbagger Report]
At its core, these election-year efforts are targeting the Employee Free Choice Act, championed by unions and most Democratic lawmakers, which would likely boost union membership through a “card check” system.
Wal-Mart Warns Store Managers Of Democratic Party Win [The Moderate Voice]
The likely impact? It’ll become a big story on progressive talk radio (an increasingly hard-to-find entity in broadcasting) and most likely a huge issue on progressive blogs. And although Wal-Mart is unlikely to be seriously hurt by it, some who don’t want to see the GOP in power will decide their money might better be spent visiting a local Target store.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
WAL-MART ROLLS OUT THE ECO-BLING
Wal-Mart introduced a line of jewelry this week that “can be traced from mining site to store”, drawing much applause from the MSM. Meanwhile, a couple crack reporters from the blogosphere veered away from Wal-Mart’s talking point to cover the details that just happen to matter. Like the fact that Wal-Mart only committed to making 10% of its jewelry come from sustainable sources. And the fact that the company Wal-Mart is teaming up with to make sustainability goals and set industry standards is currently accused of thousands of deaths in the South Pacific.
Wal-Mart Launches Eco-Bling Project [TakePart Blog Network]
Wal-Mart is stepping up to answer the call for more eco-friendly bling. Jewelry has always held a special place in our cultural history, but the industry doesn’t exactly have the best reputation for being environmentally friendly and conflict-free. The movie Blood Diamond comes to mind, but did you also know that a single 1/3 ounce 18-karat gold ring creates 20 tons of mine waste?
Wal-Mart greening its jewelry? [Bright Green Blog]
The raw materials for Wal-Mart’s Love, Earth line are extracted by the Anglo-Australian mining company, Rio Tinto, and a major gold producer, Newmont Mining Corp.
These companies are interesting choices, to say the least. Rio Tinto is currently fighting a suit under the federal Alien Tort Claims Act that blames the company for the deaths of thousands of Bougainville islanders in Papua New Guinea. Rio Tinto’s copper mine, the suit alleges, resulted in environmental destruction and crimes against humanity stemming from a military blockade motivated by civilian resistance to the mine.
According to Scorecard, a US pollution information site, in 2002 Newmont was operating some of America’s dirtiest mines. According to The New York Times, villagers in Buyat Bay on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island filed a $543 million lawsuit against Newmont contending that arsenic waste from their mining killed an infant and destroyed local fisheries.
WAL-MART IS PERHAPS MAYBE JUST A LITTLE GUILTY FOR NOT PAYING ITS ASSOCIATES A FAIR WAGE
Sometimes, we get this odd, guttural feeling that one of the reasons for our current economic downturn is that good, living-wage jobs (i.e., manufacturing) are being replaced with part-time Wal-Mart jobs. Imports from China certainly do not help, we suspect.
Polling the Ohio Pols [MOJO Blog]
An NPR poll conducted with the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard’s School of Public Health shows (.pdf) more than 50 percent of respondents in both states say their pocketbooks will be the most important issue guiding their votes in November. When pollsters combined respondents’ first and second most pressing concerns, the economy showed up 70 percent of the time.
This could bode well for Obama and his fellow party members, especially in Ohio, where some counties face unemployment rates of more than eight percent. “It does help the Democrats,” says Johnnie Maier, chairman of the Democratic party in Stark County, Ohio, which historically has acted as bellwether county in presidential elections. “When George W. Bush took office, we had a budget surplus. We didn’t have a housing crisis. Now we’re replacing what used to be living-wage jobs with part-time jobs at places like Wal-Mart—a major Chinese importer. It’s beyond a mess.”
After the jump, read about worker activism, Wal-Mart’s flirting with mothers, and more up-to-the-minute coverage of Wal-Mart’s new logo.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
Earlier this month, Wal-Mart announced that it will be changing its company logo, replacing the all-caps logo with lower case letters, getting rid of its trademark hyphen/star and adding a sunshiny burst of Valium-hued yellow at the end. To which marketing experts everywhere said, “Oh puh-lease.”
Several bloggers commented last week that the new sunburst logo seems to resemble a certain Kurt Vonnegut illustration, but several more ad critics and bloggers have written their thoughts on what this change means for the company.
Wal-Mart: To change or not to change, that was the question. [The Origins of Brands Blog]
For consumers who had problems with Wal-Mart’s brand the new logo won’t change their minds, slapping lipstick on a pig does little good either. For consumers who love to shop and save money at Wal-Mart (and there are a lot more of these consumers) the new logo is likely to confuse and frustrate. It is like your wife coming home with a new Mohawk, she might hope it makes her suddenly look young and rebellious but her family knows nothing could be further from the truth.
Walmart, not the shouting type [KR Connect]
As a name, Walmart has been shrinking for decades. When Sam Walton started the business back in the 1950s it was as the leisurely Walton’s Five and Dime. Name plus price right up-front. Then it was Wal-Mart, and in 1992 the hyphen gave way to the star and Wal•Mart. That version never quite added up for me. The * may be OK for a logo, but I’m sure no one ever wrote it that way so there was always a question mark over it.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
The website hosting this apparently amazing Wal-Mart map has been down all day, but because we’re willing to believe whatever MTV tells us to, we’ll say “OMG WAL-MART IS HUGE.”
The Rapid Spread Of Wal-Martaphentitis Across The United States [Best Week Ever]
Some guy who has a LOT of spare time on his hands, and really hates Wal-Mart, made this animated map showing the spread of Wal-Mart stores across America. When I’m watching it, I’m not gonna lie, I get a chill in my bones. When this kind of thing happens in movies, they usually have to make a decision to blow up the nation.
The Growth of Wal-Mart [The Linkist]
At first, the dots representing store locations seem to tell a local success story, but starting in the late 70’s it begins to look more like an infestation.
The Growth Of Wal-Mart Across America [The Presurfer]
Wal-Mart has been criticized by some community groups, women’s rights groups, grassroots organizations, and labor unions, specifically for its extensive foreign product sourcing, low rates of employee health insurance enrollment, resistance to union representation, and alleged sexism.
Protect your community, wouldya? After the jump, pygmy rattlesnakes, additions to the customer service hall of fame (shame?) and weighing in on Wal-Mart’s new, er, logo…
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
Wal-Mart has been inducted to Corporate Accountability’s Corporate Hall of Shame for the second year in a row, just a day after being recognized as the largest company in the world by Forbes. Also being inducted today are Blackwater and Archer Daniels Midland, companies that share Wal-Mart’s love of stellar profits and government subsidies. Congratulations, Wal-Mart. We’re sure Sam Walton would be proud.
Today Corporate Accountability International announced the 2008 inductees into the annual Corporate Hall of Shame: military contractor Blackwater, agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and big box retailer Wal-Mart. More than 30,000 votes were cast online and through the mail.
Inductees have been responsible for the murder of innocent civilians in Iraq, gross labor law violations, and accelerating climate change.
“The voting tells us that people are frustrated with a broad range of corporate abuse,” said Leslie Samuelrich, deputy director of Corporate Accountability International. “They are tired of being lied to about corporate greed under the veil of environmentalism and they are tired of seeing their hard-earned dollars subsidizing human rights abuses abroad.”
In the weeks before the polls closed:
-- Blackwater was raided by federal agents in a firearms probe;
-- Wal-Mart was fined $2 billion by the State of Minnesota for cutting worker break time and forcing employees to work off the clock;
-- ADM has been called to task by Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace for helping make Indonesia the third largest emitter of CO2.With 28 percent of the vote, Blackwater earned the dubious honor of the year’s most abusive corporation. More than 20 percent of the votes went to ADM and 15 percent to Wal-Mart for runner-up. Wal-Mart, the largest corporation in the world, is facing its second consecutive nomination.
Corporate Accountability International will now continue to monitor Blackwater, ADM, and Wal-Mart’s activities, exposing abusive practices throughout 2008. In previous years, corporations like Columbia HCA and Waste Management have earned their way out of the Hall by reforming their practices in response to this type of direct pressure.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
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.
Just as important as those large class actions, however, are the countless suits filed by individual plaintiffs – the tiny David trying to win justice over Wal-Mart’s Goliath. We 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.
Randall Nalls vs. Wal-Mart Stores, East, L.P.
Randall Nalls was employed as a “temporary remodel associate” at a Wal-Mart in Fayette, Alabama in June of 2006. During Nalls’ trial period as a temporary hire, a co-worker (Tony Gill) repeatedly used the term “n*gger” both in his presence and in reference to him with other workers. When Nalls approached his supervisor, Thomas Burks, about the incident, Burks pledged to address the issue immediately. Burks also felt it his personal duty to inform Nalls that usage of the term was acceptable for people ages 15-25 because of its appearance in the dictionary, and because of the rise of Black music and culture in society.
Burks’ method of dealing with the palpable racial tension was not limited to dismissing it, but also fueling it. On several occasions, Burke referred to Nalls as “boy” – usually in conjunction with the terms “idiot” and “dummy.” This racially hostile work environment, laden with implications of slavery and disempowerment, proved enough for Nalls to file a charge with the EEOC and slap Burk and Wal-Mart with its latest wave in a sea of Title VII claims.
A pretrial hearing has been set for August 1, 2008 in District Court, with a trial date currently set for September 15, 2008. Read below for more:
Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
Wal-Mart rolled out a new logo this week to help fix its sinking public image, but the new look falls short. Not only does the new logo fail to address the real problems with Wal-Mart, but it just doesn’t look very good, either. In fact, we think YOU could do a much better job designing a new logo than Wal-Mart’s multimillion-dollar marketing company did. Not only would it look better, but it would truly reflect Wal-Mart’s poor business decisions.
Design your own Wal-Mart logo in our Wal-Mart Logo Redesign Contest. The top 10 submissions will win a custom printed t-shirt, and maybe even catch Wal-Mart’s eye. Click here to submit your design.
We’re not sure how Wal-Mart’s new logo is supposed to represent the company. It doesn’t reflect the company’s poor treatment of its workers, dismal environmental policies, or detrimental impact on American communities. Nor does it reflect Wal-Mart’s poor health care plan, the toxic toys for sale on its shelves, or the company’s continued use of sweatshop labor.
Let Wal-Mart know what you really think of the company by designing your own logo. We’ll display the top submissions on our web site and make t-shirts featuring the best one. The designers of the top 10 logos will win one of the shirts, as well as the pride of seeing their anti-logo prominently displayed on our website.
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
Wal-Mart found itself embroiled in a massive wage & hour lawsuit in Minnesota this week. Minnesota District Court found that Wal-Mart violated state labor law two million times, and could award plaintiffs in the case a maximum of $2 billion in damages. In honor of the case, we decided to release our second Wal-Mart All Stars Collectible Trading Card: the woman who started it all, Susan Chambers.
Susan Chambers first came to Wal-Mart in 1999 after 14 years at Hallmark Cards, Inc. From 2003 to 2007, Chambers served as Executive Vice President, Risk Management, Insurance and Benefits. It was in this position that she issued a now-infamous memo encouraging Wal-Mart to get rid of senior employees - who cost the company money both in salary and health benefits - and shift to a younger, cheaper workforce (PDF). Chambers made a number of specific suggestions for implementing this plan, including denying cashiers stools to sit on and forcing all employees to push carts around the parking lot for exercise.
In 2007, Chambers was promoted to Executive Vice President of the People Division where “she is responsible for managing, attracting and retaining the nation’s largest private workforce.” Well Susan, we gotta say, we’ve always thought paying people for the hours they work is a great way to retain employees. We know Wal-Mart’s always looking for ways to save money, but forcing employees to work off the clock and altering time sheets just doesn’t seem like it’s going to help those folks “live better.” And that’s what Wal-Mart’s all about these days, isn’t it?
Take a cue from international labor law: pay your employees fairly! We think you’ll find your job just that much easier if you do.
Notable stats:
- Ms. Chambers is the highest ranking female employee at Wal-Mart. And of the 10 executives who report directly to CEO Lee Scott, Susan Chambers is the lone woman. Maybe that’s why she didn’t get fired after “Chambers Memo” was leaked to the press - Wal-Mart would have had to fire its entire female senior executive staff!
- Ms. Chambers is on the Kansas State University Business Advisory Board, the Center for Women’s Business Research Advisory Council, and serves on the Leadership Council of the New America Foundation. [New America Foundation]
- “She is a firm believer that human resources issues – like training, compensation and opportunity – are issues with a real social, financial and economic impact.” [Cite] She also like puppies.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
Rolling out a new logo can be a delicate time for brands - it’s a time of self-questioning and transition all-too-reminiscent of middle school. Sometimes companies (and their PR teams) say one thing, but really have a lot more on their mind. Portfolio.com’s Business Spin blog provides this helpful, insightful analysis of Wal-Mart’s new logo roll-out. The bottom line? “Don’t worry, we’re not abandoning our roots. We’ll still squeeze our suppliers like soggy dishrags.”
Parsing Walmart: This Is Not a Reaction [Portfolio.com’s Business Spin Blog]
After the news leaked over the weekend, Walmart confirmed that it will roll out a new de-hyphenated logo.
While most companies flog their make-overs, Walmart’s overly restrained release seems intended to tamp down any speculation that the company is struggling to find a new sweet spot, as competitors get increasingly efficient and Target’s model continues to pick up steam. Here’s the parse.
Walmart: Walmart U.S. Refreshes Stores’ Logo
Translation: We’re not changing our logo. We’re refreshing it.Walmart: For the past two years, a customer focused transformation has been taking place in Walmart’s U.S. business.
Translation: We’ve pushed the price-as-the-only-differentiator model as far as it can go.Walmart: Walmart’s U.S. locations will update store logos as part of an ongoing evolution of its overall brand…
Translation: It’s an evolution. The revolution didn’t turn out too well. And it’s definitely not a reaction to Target.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
Wal-Mart spends millions on PR campaigns and re-branding efforts to fix its public image - money that could be spent on better wages and health care for its employees, stronger product safety standards or more environmentally friendly practices.
Instead of improving its behavior, Wal-Mart is introducing new logo that doesn’t change anything. Giving its employees new uniforms is not the same as giving them better health coverage. Changing color schemes is not the same as changing its impact on the environment. And a friendlier logo is not the same as a friendlier company. Do you think Wal-Mart's new logo will change people's minds about the company?
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
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