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Check out this piece from the Oakland Tribune on our kickoff event for our week of action:

The sick-leave policy of the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., is putting the public at risk because workers are not paid the first day they take off for an illness, even if it is a serious contagious disease, according to members of several unions and labor watchdog groups.

The policy of docking pay on the first day of an illness, they said, ignores government recommendations to let H1N1 victims stay home without being penalized.

“Wal-Mart workers are coming to work sick,” said Jenya Cassidy, of the Labor Project for Working Families, during a rally Wednesday organized by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 5, and Wake Up Wal-Mart.

“Everybody gets sick, but not everyone can afford to get well,” Cassidy said.

Wal-Mart, which has become the largest grocer in the United States, denies the claim. But the specter of workers potentially spreading the H1N1 virus because they cannot afford to take time off has public health officials worried — especially retail workers who have frequent direct contact with the public.

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Originally posted at the Huffington Post, David Nassar writes that Wal-Mart in America’s big cities was a bad idea 5 years ago - and is still a bad idea today. That’s why Wal-Mart Watch activists in New York, Chicago and LA have sent over 25,000 letters to their city councils, and more than 1,500 state legislators around the country have been told by their constituents that new Wal-Mart plans should be called off until a worker safeguard like the Employee Free Choice Act is passed.

Wal-Mart in Chicago, New York and L.A. without EFCA? A bad idea

While most of America’s businesses are struggling through the recession, Wal-Mart and the Walton Family are raking in billions in profit. There’s nothing wrong with making money - but the rest of us are getting poorer as a result. Whether it is the low wages the Waltons pay, the taxes that the company expertly dodges or the subsidies Wal-Mart demands, the average American is helping the Walton family get richer every day.

That behavior has been a drag on Wal-Mart’s reputation and a primary reason why the company has had such a hard time entering high-income communities and first tier urban markets like New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. Now, however, it’s clear that Wal-Mart wants to use the cover of the recession and the promise of new jobs to enter the same communities that have rejected it in the past.

Unfortunately, Wal-Mart hasn’t changed - only the economy has.

Given Wal-Mart’s low-margin, high-volume business model, it has always been dependent on rapid growth to stay alive. Over the past two decades, Wal-Mart’s growth plan has been simple: build as many supercenters in suburban and rural America as possible. But in the past few years, Wal-Mart has had to hit the brakes on its expansion after saturating most of the country and leaving itself few places to grow.

Still, America’s big cities remain largely untapped by the company. Millions of Americans live relatively Wal-Mart-free existences in the metropolitan areas of Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, D.C. and Philadelphia, among others. Now that Wal-Mart sees a moment of weakness, it is poised and ready to strike.

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On June 20th, the Wintu tribe—whose land encompasses parts of Northern California—dedicated an 8 foot bronze statue to memorialize the site of a sacred burial ground. Too bad this statue rests in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

After discovering the burial ground during the construction of a supercenter, Wal-Mart did the right thing and stopped construction kept building the store and made concessions to the local Native American tribe --- in the form of a $60,000 bronze statue dedicated to a traditional Wintu feather dancer. While a nice gesture, local tribal leaders agreed the land should never have been used for commercial purposes.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Wal-Mart disrespected a Native American burial site; or for that matter, an area of historical significance.  .

Wal-Mart construction unearths 64 Native remains in Hawaii.  During the construction of a Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart supercenter in Hawaii, workers found 64 sets of remains.  In 2007, three years after being unearthed, the remains still sat locked up in a trailer under a parking ramp, awaiting reburial. [AP via Fox News, 5/23/07]

...in Georgia and California…

In 1996, Wal-Mart sought to build a new store on a sacred Mohican site, but abandoned the project after four years of court battles. In 1995, JDN engineered a deal in Canton, GA to relocate numerous graves and set up a permanent display of Indian artifacts inside the Wal-Mart, right next to the layaway counter. In 1992, Wal-Mart redesigned a store in Paso Robles, CA so a plaque at one end of a parking lot marked a grassy knoll where Native American graves were left undisturbed. [New York Times, 8/3/97]

...and even in Mexico

Wal-Mart supercenter intrudes on ancient Aztec ruins and destroys farmland. When Wal-Mart decided to place a store in an area of San Juan Teotihuacán, a mere one and half miles from Aztec ruins, some Mexican citizens staged a hunger strike in protest of destroying Mexico’s “indigenous heritage.” Not only did the Wal-Mart store destroy the “cultural heritage” of the land, it destroyed “alfalfa and cornfields” which were “razed to make way” for the big box store. [Newsday, 11/7/04]

To read more about this issue, please check out our Native American fact sheet

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To the right is Millswood eighth-grader Samantha Titus. She lives in California, and this week she had the chance to flex her arguing muscles in a debate competition at the Lodi Boys and Girls Club. The topic? If you guessed Wal-Mart - and this IS the Wal-Mart Watch blog - then commence patting yourself on the back.

Titus was one of about 25 middle school students to participate in the debate tackling whether the city of Lodi needs a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter - a battle that has frequently found its way onto our Battlemart Blog, as you can here, here, here and here.

Personally, I think this is a great story, and not just because those students arguing against the development so TOTALLY kicked butt. (Actually, all sides gave well-presented arguments, with those for offering job creation and convenience while opponents pointed out negative environmental impacts, poor wages and the effect on local business.) The real winners were all the students involved, who learned how to research an issue in depth while picking up a little thing called self confidence in the process:

Jeisen Elemen has noticed that the team of three boys and two girls that he coaches are less nervous with public speaking..."They were very quiet,” Elemen said. “Now, they are coming up and speaking out in front of a live audience,” he said.

And how did the students feel about the experience? Take us home, Samantha Titus:

“We’re teenagers. We like to fight with people,” said Titus. “We fight with our parents, so we should use our ability to debate.”

Local students debate Wal-Mart issue [Lodi News-Sentinel]

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CALIFORNIA WAL-MART FINED FOR NOT PROTECTING WORKERS FROM HEPATITIS B

• NorCal Wal-Mart workers to be tested for Hepatitis [San Jose Mercury News (Calif.)]
  About 20 employees of Wal-Mart's Yuba City store will be tested for Hepatitis B after one worker was diagnosed with the bloodborne disease in December.

AMERICA'S OLDEST STATE PRESERVATION GROUP JOINS FIGHT TO SAVE WILDERNESS BATTLEFIELD

• Preservation group: Civil War battlefield at risk [Associated Press via Forbes]
  Preservation Virginia has joined a growing opposition that says a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter near the Wilderness Battlefield threatens the Civil War site where nearly 29,000 troops were killed or injured 145 years ago.
  

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REPUBLICAN APPOINTEES BLOCKED FEC CHARGES AGAINST WAL-MART

• Republicans Block Election Complaint against Wal-Mart [AllGov]
  Republican appointees to the Federal Election Commission found nothing illegal in the actions by Wal-Mart during last year’s election when the giant retailer was accused of pushing its employees to vote against Barack Obama and other Democrats.

• FEC Dismisses Wal-Mart Complaints [CQpolitics]
  The Federal Election Commission deadlocked on whether Wal-Mart violated campaign finance laws during the 2008 campaign. Because of the tie vote, complaints against the retailer were dismissed, documents released Thursday show.
  

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LONG ISLAND STAMPEDE VICTIMS WIN SETTLEMENT, SAFETY CHANGES FROM WAL-MART

• Wal-Mart to pay victims of stampede [Newsday via Chicago Tribune]
  Mega-retailer Wal-Mart will pay an unspecified sum to victims hurt in a stampede that left a security guard trampled to death at a Valley Stream store during an after-Thanksgiving sale.
  

• NY prosecutor ends investigation into Wal-Mart trampling death, creates pact with retailer [Associated Press via Chicago Tribune]
  A New York prosecutor is ending a criminal investigation into the post-Thanksgiving trampling death of a temporary employee at a Long Island Wal-Mart.
  

• Wal-Mart To Announce Changes In Wake Of Trampling Death [NY 1-TV (N.Y.)]
  Wal-Mart officials are expected to announce today an agreement to improve safety measures following the trampling death of an employee from Queens last year.
  

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At 5 p.m. this afternoon, Eastern Standard Time, Wal-Mart will try for a third time to halt the Dukes v. Wal-Mart sex discrimination lawsuit, as a panel of 11 judges from the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear Wal-Mart’s latest attempt to stop this case from moving forward as a class action.

On initial review, the Ninth Circuit voted 2-1 to allow the case to proceed to trial as a class action. Wal-Mart appealed, however, and just about a month ago the federal court agreed to rehear the case en banc - that is, a hearing where all judges of a court will hear the case, rather than just a panel of three. In this Marketplace story, attorney on each side give their opinions as to why the case should (or should not) proceed:

Ted Boutros (Wal-Mart): We have a tradition in this country that individuals get their day in court. Class actions are an exception to that that need to be used carefully so as not to defeat people’s rights.

Debra Smith (Equal Rights Advocates): It’s exactly the type of case that the federal judiciary envisioned being a class action. It’s David versus Goliath, you know, it’s classic.

As of right now you can check out the en banc status page of the Ninth Circuit for updates. A California Legal blog, the UCL Practitioner, is providing updates as well, and has provided this nice tip:

This morning’s Daily Journal reports on the upcoming argument and provides the names of the eleven judges on the en banc panel...According to the article, seven were appointed by Democratic presidents.

So there you go, seven out of eleven judges on the panel appointed by Democrats...take that for what you may. And we’ve already learned which side the EEOC and the Obama Administration are pulling for. We’ll keep you updated as we find out more on the hearing.

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Something about oil not meeting viscosity levels? The report doesn’t pack a ton of information, however, it appears that Wal-Mart has been selling low-quality gear oil in violation of California law. You can check out the whole article below...In total, Wal-Mart has agreed to pay over $350,000 in civil penalties and attorney fees.

DA settles consumer protection lawsuit [Vacaville Reporter]

The Solano County District Attorney’s Office joined with DA’s in Napa, Monterey, Shasta and Sonoma counties to settle a consumer protection action against Wal-Mart and Warren Oil.

According to District Attorney Dave Paulson, the complaint alleged Wal-Mart and Warren Oil—the manufacturer of Wal-Mart SuperTech Gear Oil—sold gear oil that did not meet advertised viscosity levels, a violation of California law.

“Wal-Mart and Warren cooperated with prosecutors during the investigation and agreed to undertake additional testing procedures in order to comply with law,” Paulson announced Monday.

Some 5,000 bottles of the non-compliant gear oil were sold in California.

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After a stinging loss to the Chicago Bears in 2006, coach Dennis Green flipped out at a post game press conference and uttered the now famous phrase “we are who we thought they were!” In other words, the Arizona Cardinals were prepared for the game and understood the other team’s flaws, but failed to capitalize on them. This quote reminds me of the many site fights around the country. Residents understand what Wal-Mart brings to the table before they get a store, yet are still surprised by some of the negative aspects after they get it. Despite what Wal-Mart says during the planning process, a supercenter will bring more traffic, more crime, and small business destruction.

Wal-Mart did not have an easy time building a supercenter in American Canyon. Finally, in late September 2007, a Wal-Mart supercenter opened, replacing another location in Vallejo, which had been open for 16 years. After one year of service at the new location, the supercenter is getting mixed reviews according to the Times-Herald. While Wal-Mart supporters and some local business leaders welcome the creation of good jobs and tax revenue, Wal-Mart critics feel the store

“...has hurt the area in the last year mostly by increasing already heavy traffic, and boosting crime.” Joel Feller, who also fought a Wal-Mart super store in Vallejo, goes on to say that “The store has had a profoundly negative impact on the regional economy for a couple hundred in sales tax revenues.”

To be fair, some residents are happy with the new Wal-Mart supercenter. They point to sales tax figures and the convenience of one-stop shopping; however, Wal-Mart’s growth is not without consequences. As Stacy Mitchell points out in her paper “Major Flaws Uncovered in Study Claiming Wal-Mart Has Not Harmed Small Business,” Wal-Mart will do more harm than good to a community in the long run. Also, don’t forget Wal-Mart’s use of subsidies and Medicaid as a way to drain funds from a local community.

For the latest story, see the Times-Herald:

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New York’s Governor called for a host of new fees and taxes yesterday, including an “iPod tax” that taxes the sale of downloaded music and other “digitally delivered entertainment services.”

The Governor’s new budget for 2009 includes 88 new fees plus a bunch of other new taxes on anything from soda, beer, wine and cigars to movie tickets, taxi rides, and massages. According to the NY Daily News, It would also extend sales taxes to cable and satellite TV services and remove the tax exemption for clothes costing less than $110. So no more grabbing a box of stogies and hitting the local cinaplex for me, I guess...well, assuming I lived in New York. Which I don’t.

That the “iPod tax” actually refers to Apple’s popular product by name would cause one to infer that Governor Paterson has it out for frequenters of the iStore. In actuality, however, MacWorld points out that the title is a little misleading.

It’s not a tax on iPods, but rather the levying of state and local sales taxes for “digitally delivered entertainment services.” The iTunes Store would seem to be a prime target there, but Amazon, Wal-mart, and other retailers would take a hit from the proposed tax as well.

We’ll see if Wal-Mart and the rest flex their mighty lobbying muscles on this. While at least 16 states plus DC already have taxes of this nature, California shot down a similar proposal earlier this year.

New York governor proposes digital download tax [MacWorld]

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We’ve covered Wal-Mart’s wage and hour (and overtime) issues many times over, culminating with last week’s $54 million settlement in Minnesota. We all get that Wal-Mart would prefer its employees work through breaks. And we certainly know that when it comes to paying employees for overtime, well, Wal-Mart would prefer that be optional.

California wage laws are, not surprisingly, fairly strict. And now, with that state facing a financial shortfall, the LA Times is reporting that business groups and GOP lawmakers are using wage and hour law as a bargaining chip in negotiations over how to fix a $14.8-billion hole in the state budget. The argument is that state laws like those in California - the ones mandating breaks for workers working at least 6 hours in succession, and requiring an employer to pay time-and-a-half once a worker has worked more than 8 hours in day - are expensive for employers to follow and force them to flee the state for friendlier confines. Places where breaks are voluntary [for the employer] and overtime exists only in a fantasy dreamland.

Not surprisingly, California Democrats and labor officials in the state disagree.

Employers’ latest efforts to tie both the meal break and overtime issue to contentious budget negotiations are aimed at reversing basic worker rights, said Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation.

“It’s about trying to help Wal-Mart and other big corporations get away from the long-established understanding that people should get a meal break at work” or be paid extra for extra hours, Pulasksi said.

“This has nothing to do with the budget or stimulating the economy,” said Barry Broad, a lobbyist for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and other labor unions. “It doesn’t help the economy to lower 20 million people’s wages during a recession.”

It has been suggested that if state lawmakers can’t come to a consensus and close out these budget negotiations, a state government shutdown in the spring is a distinct possibility.

Overtime pay, rest breaks become bargaining chips in state budget crisis [LA Times]

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From time to time, Wal-Mart funds studies of questionable merit to justify its continued expansion around the United States. Wal-Mart claims to save people money at the register, boost local job numbers, and contribute hefty sales taxes revenue to support the community. While the media eats these studies up, others are skeptical of the findings. In 2005, Wal-Mart, trying to quell an upwelling of criticism, sponsored the Global Insight conference in Washington, DC and allowed authors and academics a chance to highlight their studies regardless of the findings. At the time, it appeared Wal-Mart might be entering into a new age of transparency and sophistication.  We were wrong. What ever happened to Global Insight conference part deux? Apparently, Wal-Mart feels it wasn’t such a great idea to showcase opposing studies. 

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Falling sales-tax revenues. An onslaught of vacant storefronts. When your state economy is based on growth, and the national economy goes in the tank, these are the dangers. According to yesterday’s Arizona Republic:

By late next year, more than 75 stores are expected to close, resulting in a loss of nearly 2,000 Arizona retail jobs. The turnover likely will offer shoppers bargains at various going-out-of-business sales and could eventually inspire an influx of newer, trendier stores. But the closures also have city officials scrambling to cover revenue shortfalls and deter commercial blight.

While Wal-Mart may be able to absorb the cost of closed stores and their leases, cities and towns are left dealing with empty buildings that can lead to a rise in crime and vandalism, the lowering of property values, and depressed sales for neighboring retailers when the closed store is the anchor for a strip mall. And for states like Arizona, a drop in sales tax revenue. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has pointed out that some cities, such as Oakdale, California, or Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, require retail developers set aside money that can be used by the city to either demolish or maintain the site should the store or shopping center become vacant.

Some cities, like Mesa, Arizona, aren’t so lucky.

The shell of a former Walmart sits 2 miles from a Kmart that will close in January. A Mervyn’s and Circuit City will soon depart the area. Such losses this year contributed to Mesa’s $62 million budget shortfall. The city announced 315 layoffs last month.

Cities try to cope with shortfalls in sales taxes, blight left by shut stores [Arizona Republic]

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California Attorney General Jerry Brown - a former California Governor, CA Secretary of State, Mayor of Oakland, and President of the Patrick Stewart fan club - announced a settlement with Wal-Mart today in which the retailer was fined $1.4 million and ordered to implement a “get it free” program for California consumers. This after an investigation found that the store overcharged for numerous items at checkout.

Actually, the investigation and settlement announcement was a joint venture with San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, who has a much shorter but waaaaayyyyy more interesting Wikipedia entry than AG Brown. In fact, Dumanis, a Republican, is the first openly gay or lesbian District Attorney in the county, and the first Jewish woman to hold the post. Fancy that.

Anyway, back to the story we’re here to tell. Apparently, Investigators conducting random price-checking across the state found that 164 Wal-Mart Stores in 30 counties had made scanning errors. On average, customers who were overcharged paid an extra $8.40 at checkout.

Christine Gasparac, a spokeswoman for Brown, said state investigators concluded that “these were systemic problems,” not just run-of-the-mill mistakes.

“Systemic problems” might sounds bad to some, but one person’s systemic problems are another person’s financial opportunity. As the LA Times blog puts it - if Wal-Mart’s price scanners are wrong, you can make a quick $3. So the moral to this story - and every blog post I write today will have a moral - is to shop at Wal-Mart, cross your fingers that their registers go insane, and then collect a cool handful of George Washingtons.

Wal-Mart now promises to give back $3 to customers any time a pricing mistake is discovered. If the mispriced item sells for less than $3, you get it free. The refund program begins immediately and will last for four years, but it’s up to shoppers to spot any disparity between what a product is listed for on the shelf and what’s rung up by the price scanner.

The company was also ordered to pay $1.2 million in penalties; $190,621 to reimburse costs to numerous state agencies and prosecutors’ offices; and $50,000 to a consumer-protection prosecution trust fund.

Wal-Mart to pay $3 if price-scanning errors occur [Sacramento Bee]

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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 on Wal-Mart and the economy, and whether Wal-Mart sales statistics can be used as a new barometer for the U.S. economy. You’ll also find stories on changes in shopper behavior, now that consumers are faced with less disposable income. And, you’ll find stories on Wal-Mart’s slowed growth, and the switch to smaller store formats by retailers across the country.

In addition to the economy, you’ll find stories related to next week’s election. Barack Obama highlighted the story of a 72-year-old man forced to go back to work for Wal-Mart in his half-hour special this past Wednesday night. Meanwhile, according to Reuters Wal-Mart vows to remain non-partisan in the 2008 election season, while the Financial Times reports on the candidates attempting to woo the so-called “Wal-Mart Moms.” Plus, there are suspicions that Wal-Mart is behind a new grassroots group recently set up to fight the Employee Free Choice Act, as reported in The National Journal.

Also: Find out whether a Wal-Mart case in Montana could lead to changes in that state’s campaign finance law.

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. A California ballot measure could lead to increased demand for more humane animal products, while citizens in Virginia continue to fight Wal-Mart’s attempt to build near an historic Civil War battlefield.

Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials [October 31, 2008]

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Thanks to reader Jason for sending us along these pics.

A Wal-Mart in Southern California is selling $1.00 face paint - “No Smear Makeup Crayons” - for kids’ Halloween costumes. And they’re not even trying to hide it - the front of the package states that the product that is a “choking hazard”, and CONTAINS LEAD! which is “known to the state of California to cause birth defects.”

Let’s see how fast we can get these pulled from shelves. 

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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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Proposed Roseland Wal-Mart hits snag [Press Democrat (Calif.)]

A Sonoma County judge has sided with opponents of a proposed Wal-Mart in Santa Rosa, tentatively ruling that the environmental study for the proposed store is flawed.

Superior Court Judge Robert Boyd said the analysis of parking and noise for the Wal-Mart in southwest Santa Rosa is “especially problematic.”

Boyd’s ruling is not final, and on Friday he gave attorneys on both sides another chance to present arguments before he completes his decision.

After hearing from opponents of the store and attorneys for both Wal-Mart and the city of Santa Rosa, Boyd said he would take the matter under submission.

He noted the environmental document for the store makes it “hard for the public to determine what is being proposed.”

It was not immediately clear what impact Boyd’s ruling would have if it becomes final.

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Attorney sues Barstow over Wal-Mart distribution site plans [The Press-Enterprise (Calif.)]

An Upland lawyer has sued the city of Barstow, alleging the City Council erred when it approved an environmental impact report regarding a planned Wal-Mart distribution center.

That report was prepared inadequately and failed to take into full account all of the environmental problems the proposed logistics facility could create for the city, according to attorney Cory J. Briggs.

The lawsuit, which was filed Aug. 8 in the Barstow division of San Bernardino Superior Court, also alleges that city officials have failed to respond to public complaints about their environmental report, a possible violation of the California Environmental Quality Act.

City Council members approved the report July 21.

That $60 million facility, which would serve Wal-Mart Supercenters, could create up to 700 jobs within two to three years of its opening, Wal-Mart officials said.

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