Bloomberg is reporting today that Wal-Mart and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are among those opposing legislation that would allow the U.S. to cut off duty-free imports from factories in Pakistan and Afghanistan, if they fail to adhere to international labor standards on matters such as prohibiting forced labor and child labor. The bill, titled the Afghanistan-Pakistan Security and Prosperity Enhancement Act, is meant to help strengthen democracy in the two countries by creating “Reconstruction Opportunity Zones” and increasing their ability to export goods to the U.S. - and in return, it only requires that the countries make sure their factories are providing adequate working conditions.

Wal-Mart, however, is among those arguing that such labor restrictions would reduce any beneficial effect the legislation might otherwise have - and besides, if factories in Pakistan can’t export products to the U.S. because of labor and human rights abuses, Wal-Mart can’t then turn around and sell those products at their everyday low prices, right?

“Pakistan doesn’t have a good record in terms of child labor and the employment of women,” [Susan Aaronson, a professor at George Washington University in Washington who has written on trade and human rights] said. “This ensures the rule of law will be followed.”

The House bill states that each country “shall continue to receive duty-free treatment under this Act only if the President determines and certifies to Congress that Afghanistan or Pakistan, as the case may be has implemented the requirements set forth” - said requirements including insuring the following:

(A) compliance with core labor standards; and
(B) compliance with the labor laws of Afghanistan or Pakistan, as the case may be, that relate directly to core labor standards and to ensuring acceptable conditions of work with respect to minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational health and safety.

We’ve already documented Wal-Mart’s sourcing issues in other international locales, so it shouldn’t be all that surprising that they would oppose such regulations here. Links to summaries of both the House version of the bill (with labor requirements) and the Senate version can be found after the jump.

Obama’s Bid to Boost Exports From Pakistan Hits Snag Over Labor [Bloomberg]

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Wage theft. The illegal practice is rampant at restaurants, nail salons, car washes, nursing homes and farms, according to federal labor department surveys. Large corporations including Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Target, McDonald’s and Burger King have faced lawsuits over allegations of wage theft.

Wal-Mart is of course a prime example. While the seemingly endless list of wage/hour suits against the retailer is systematically shrinking as Wal-Mart settles case after case - wrapped up and tied neatly with a bow - the spectre of the hundreds of millions the company had to pay out in settlements will hang over the company for the near future. And according to Kim Bobo, author of a newly published book, “Wage Theft in America,” wage theft is a national epidemic.

“Greed is nothing new, but what’s changed is that we don’t have adequate enforcement to deter and penalize wage theft,” she said. There are fewer than 750 federal investigators currently policing fair wages for 130 million workers nationwide, compared to 700 investigators for 15 million workers in 1941.

According to Bobo, wage theft is pretty common. Having read file after file from Wal-Mart cases, I could have told you that, but it’s surprising just how far the practice reaches. Some companies will do anything to make a profit - especially in this economy - even if it means siphoning money away from their own workers, many of which fear for their jobs and have few resources with which to protect themselves.

As many as 10 million American workers have suffered wage theft, forfeiting an estimated $40 billion to $50 billion annually in wages rightfully owed to them by employers who steal tips, pay less than minimum wage, refuse to pay overtime, classify full-time employees as temporary independent contractors and take illegal deductions.

Help wanted: Long hours, no pay [Albany Times Union]

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News broke last week that Wal-Mart raised gasoline prices at its stores in Texas just before Hurricane Ike hit the area. Consumers in the area didn’t fail to notice, despite the coming storm. Texas state law protects against price gouging, especially during a disaster or emergency.

Now, news from Arkansas tells that the Attorney General there will subpoena “30 gasoline retailers” as part of an investigation into gas price hikes around the time of Hurricane Ike. Though the article doesn’t list the gas retailers in question, we assume it includes Wal-Mart, which has several dozen gas stations in the state. From the news brief on the Arkansas News Bureau’s website:

Arkansas law prohibits businesses from raising prices for motor fuel, food and certain other products by more than 10 percent within 30 days of a declaration of emergency. Violators can be fined up to $10,000 for each transaction in which a customer is overcharged. Fuel prices in Arkansas rose dramatically over a three-day period during the storm’s mainland trek.

Consumerist also brings news of price gouging, but in a different place and on different items. A company insider in Kentucky explains the price of pre-charged cell phone batteries shot up to $19 a piece - almost doubling in cost, in some cases - in the days preceding the hurricane. When power was knocked out to parts of the state, the store sold out of batteries despite the higher price. From Consumerist:

Now today all of our car chargers go up nearly 50%. In fact, every charger, car or wall, in our store is a flat $19.00, when car chargers were $10.00 and wall chargers were $15.00 yesterday. This is hardly a coincidence, and it’s so blatently obvious to our customers. I can’t believe Walmart would do something so totally against their own mantra of Save Money, Live Better. This is more like “Raise Prices, Screw Suffering Customers!”

Price gouging disaster victims is exploitative and potentially illegal - but also destroys the good publicity Wal-Mart frequently seeks after natural disasters. The company holds high profile donation events and invites professional photographers, but clearly isn’t committed to helping disaster victims when there’s no PR benefit for the company.

For those of you who have visited a Wal-Mart store before or after a disaster or emergency, have you noticed higher prices on essentials?