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So were back to this? And we thought worker intimidation was soooooooo last year.

In 2007, Human Rights Watch released a report detailing Wal-Mart’s unionbusting policies and practices in the United States. According to the report, “while many American companies use weak U.S. laws to stop workers from organizing, the retail giant stands out for the sheer magnitude and aggressiveness of its anti-union apparatus.”

That aggressiveness is back in the news, courtesy of a unionizing push in St. Paul, Minnesota:

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789 filed unfair labor practices complaints this week with the National Labor Relations Board. The union contends that during meetings with employees at its Midway store in St. Paul, Wal-Mart managers said people who sign union authorization cards would be fired. The union also charges that store managers interrogated employees regarding their union support and whether they had signed cards in favor of the union.

Of course this shouldn’t be very surprising, though it does seem pretty interesting that management staff came right out and told people that they’d no longer be a Wal-Mart employee if they supported unionization. You’d think they would hew closer to the Godfather-esque, vague threat route - we can’t be held responsible if, say, a supporter “had an accident” type thing. They should know that threatening workers’ employment status is illegal, right? Or do they just not care? One thing we do know is that they’ve certainly had problems with labor issues in Minnesota before.

Anyway, we’re attempting to get a copy of the NLRB complaint. In the meantime, feel free to check out video of the Local 789 worker rally after the jump.

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A settlement in a Minnesota wage and hour class action has moved a step closer to reality, gaining court approval that would allow Wal-Mart to pay over $54 million to close the lawsuit Braun v. Wal-Mart. The settlement includes not only back pay to employees, but also a payment to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry believed to be the largest payment of its kind in Minnesota history.

From Bloomberg, via the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

The Minnesota hourly workers said Wal-Mart forced them to work off-the-clock in training and denied full rest or meal breaks in violation of state wage-and-hour laws. In the first phase of the case, Dakota County District Judge Robert King Jr. ruled July 1, following a nonjury trial, that Wal-Mart broke labor laws more than 2 million times and ordered the retailer to give employees $6.5 million in back pay.

Wal-Mart will pay $14 million of the $54 million settlement to the State of Minnesota - the Minn. Dept. of Labor was a plaintiff in the case, and the payment covers Wal-Mart’s violations of Minnesota wage and hour laws.

As for the settlement, this one was reached before a certain other settlement agreement was reached by Wal-Mart. Between the $54 million here, the $33 million payed out to the DOL, $400+ million in previous judgments and settlements, and the $350-$640 million that will be paid out as part of Wal-Mart’s most recent multi-litigation settlement, these wage cases could end up costing the company over $1 billion.

Minnesota to get $14 million from Wal-Mart settlement [Bloomberg, via Minneapolis Star Tribune]

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I would say that this story is surprising, but with Wal-Mart’s track record in these cases, that really, reeeeaaaalllllly would be disingenuous. As reported this morning, Wal-Mart will pay over $54 million as part of a settlement of a class-action lawsuit in Minnesota over wages and hours. The case is Braun v. Wal-Mart, a case in which Dakota County District Court Judge Robert King Jr. ruled on back in July, holding that Wal-Mart broke Minnesota labor law more than two million times over a six-year period by forcing employees to work without breaks and without full pay.

At the time, Judge King ruled that in addition to penalties, Wal-Mart owed workers at least $6 million in back wages. Under a Court order, a jury was expected to decide the amount of punitive damages and penalties in October, but settlement discussions pushed that date back.

Wal-Mart will pay up to $54.25 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged the discount giant cut workers’ break time and allowed employees to work off the clock in Minnesota. The class includes about 100,000 current and former hourly workers who were employed at Wal-Mart Stores and Sam’s Clubs in Minnesota from Sept. 11, 1998, through Nov. 14, 2008. Wal-Mart has also agreed to maintain electronic systems, surveys and notices to stay compliant with wage and hour policies and Minnesota laws.

Needless to say, this is really just the latest in a disturbing pattern of Wal-Mart’s disregard for the law. Not only can’t Wal-Mart’s workers be very happy that retailer has decided overtime pay to be voluntary, but Wal-Mart also has a fiduciary obligation to its investors and shareholders to comply with labor regulations, and not, you know, keep doing stuff like this.

You can check out our fact sheet on Wal-Mart’s wage and hour shenanigans, if you’d like. Go ahead, click on it, and put in a little overtime on this story.

Wal-Mart To Pay $54.25 Million In Minn. Settlement [Associated Press via WCCO.com]

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Next week, Wal-Mart is trying for the third time to supersize its store in Apple Valley, MN - just south of Minneapolis. Many of the reasons why locals have opposed the project are the usual suspects - but the major sticking point has been noise. Residents who live directly adjacent to the store say that the late-night delivery trucks are too loud as is, and that a supercenter would only make the problem worse, requiring that more deliveries be made and new loading docks be built even closer to homes. 

According to the Pioneer Press, Wal-Mart brought in its own “noise expert,” who - big suprise - said that “noise would not increase with the new plans.”

Al Norman at sprawl-busters on the noise issue:

As for the noise issue---noise walls will never solve the problem. Just ask residents in Lake Charles, Louisiana, who describe themselves as prisoners of the Wal-Mart supercenter in their backyards. Neighbors in Lake Charles have sued Wal-Mart over noise issues, and say that sound walls have failed to change the loss of the quiet enjoyment of their homes.

Councilmember John Bergman was quoted in the Pioneer Press, and seems ready to put up a fight against Wal-Mart:

Bergman was more concerned about the location of the loading docks and asked the company to consider moving them.

“If the loading docks don’t move ... my vote will be not for expansion,” Bergman said.

The Apple Valley City Council is meeting on Thursday, October 9th to discuss the issue.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Email the Apple Valley Mayor and City Council and tell them to say no to Wal-Mart once and for all.

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Well, at least someone is getting paid.

Another day, another wage/hour class action is awarded judgment against Wal-Mart. This time it comes to us from Minnesota, where Dakota County District Court Judge Robert King Jr. ruled Monday that Wal-Mart broke Minnesota labor law more than two thousand million times over a six-year period by forcing employees to work without breaks and without full pay.

That is, in fact, not a typo. Two million times.

Judge King ruled that, in addition to penalties, Wal-Mart owes workers at least $6 million in back wages. In addition to penalties, you say? Ahhhhh, penalties...this is where it could get expensive for Wal-Mart, a company which, as the Northwest Arkansas Morning News reported last week, is already facing a whole plethora of legal woes. The violations at issue here carry a penalty of up to $1,000 each, which could be pretty pricey when you have two million of the darn things. According to Bloomberg’s math, which I am hardly in a position to disagree with, that puts the ceiling up around $2 billion. It probably won’t get that high, but it will be high, nonetheless...all I’m saying is, don’t be surprised if the next time you’re in Wal-Mart, a brand new copy of Guitar Hero costs...ummmmm...a million dollars?

A jury is expected to decide the amount of punitive damages and penalties in October, according to the judge’s order. And that could drive the amount Wal- Mart pays to hundreds of millions of dollars, said lawyer Frank Azar, whose Colorado firm was involved in the case and began fighting Wal-Mart in the 1990s.

Wal-Mart Faces $2 Billion Labor Law Trial, Judge Says [Bloomberg]

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. broke Minnesota labor laws, a state judge ruled, handing the world’s largest retailer its third-straight defeat in a wage-class action trial and the possibility a jury may order it to pay $2 billion.

The company required hourly employees to work off-the-clock during training and denied full rest or meal breaks in violation of state wage and hour laws, Hastings, Minnesota, District Judge Robert King Jr. held today following a non-jury trial. King ruled Wal-Mart broke labor laws more than 2 million times and ordered the company to give employees $6.5 million in back-pay.

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Editorial: Wal-Mart certain to affect Austin [Post-Bulletin (Minn.)]

Will the opening of Wal-Mart bring about a new era of economic development in Austin? Or will it have a negative impact on the city’s existing businesses?

Only time will tell—perhaps more time than you might think.

Sure, when the retail giant opens its 194,000 square feet of shopping space next month, there’s little doubt that some local businesses will take a hit. Even Wal-Mart’s detractors—and yes, it has more than a few—will be likely to go check it out, if only to see what all the fuss is about. We like new stores, and in this economy, the prospect of finding rock-bottom prices close to home is attractive.

Only after the newness wears off will we truly know how Wal-Mart’s presence will change people’s shopping habits in Austin, if indeed they do change.

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Cottage Grove ‘not in the plan’ for Wal-Mart [South Washington County Bulletin (Minn.)]

Wal-Mart has no plans to locate a new store in Cottage Grove, a company spokesperson said last week, a development that could derail plans for a retail center informally proposed to city officials last fall.

The disclosure by the Bentonville, Ark.,-based discount retailer appears to contradict what PariPassu Companies told Cottage Grove Economic Development Authority and City Council members last September. Then, representatives from the Minneapolis-based developer revealed plans for a roughly 700,000-square-foot retail development proposed for the Cottage View Drive-In site, saying it would include a Wal-Mart Supercenter while declining to reveal other interested tenants.

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Wal-Mart says no to Princeton [Princeton Union-Eagle (Minn.)]

Wal-Mart Corp. has decided not to locate in Princeton at this time.

The news was confirmed midway through last week by Princeton Community Development Director Jay Blake, and then later on Friday by developer Dan Howard.

Blake said he had talked with Dylan Howard, who handles the real estate end for the land that was being considered by Wal-Mart and concluded that the sales and traffic projections did not rank Princeton high enough.

Dylan’s father Dan Howard co-owns Thousand Acres Development, which has the land on the city’s west side where Wal-Mart had been looking. The development is called Rivertown Crossing and it lies between Highway 95 and First Street and between Pine Loft Road and Highway 169.

Dan Howard said the weak economy was also a factor for Wal-Mart deciding not to locate in Princeton. Additionally, Howard said the fact that the city will be tearing down two of its bridges in about two years has also been a concern by Wal-Mart people.

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Afton’s future is a tale of two cities [Woodbury Bulletin (Minn.)]

It’s a tale of two cities.

One is a “historic village… nestled between wooded river bluffs and a protected scenic river… nostalgic, friendly and quaintly charming.”

The other is home to “warring factions” who want opposite things for their hometown as it develops throughout the end of the first decade of the 21st century.

Actually, both descriptions are of Afton, which finds itself at a crossroads in spring 2008, desperate to move on from events of the last few years, but at times crippled by indecision on the best way to proceed.

And that, say some of those observing the city, is the root of its problem.

“It would be nice if they could reach some kind of consensus on a vision,” said Molly Shodeen, an area hydrologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

“Otherwise, you are just going to have these warring factions that will just keep driving the problems.”

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New Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club stores on hold [St. Cloud Times (Minn.)]

Plans to build a Wal-Mart in Waite Park appear to be on hold, and recent media reports indicate it could be part of a larger corporate plan to scale back expansions.
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Waite Park City Administrator Shaunna Johnson said Friday that plans to build new Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores in the city have been put on hold.

Related road improvements in Waite Park, including improving 10th Avenue South, are also on hold until development plans are established, she said.

A Star Tribune report earlier this week indicated that Wal-Mart has “ditched plans” to open new stores in the St. Cloud area and other Minnesota cities as part of a plan to scale back growth.

Wal-Mart did not respond Friday to a St. Cloud Times request for an interview.

In December Wal-Mart told the Times of plans to build a new Supercenter and Sam’s Club in Waite Park, creating 200 new jobs. The company said it would eventually close its current St. Cloud stores.

Plans included a multibuilding development along Minnesota Highway 23 and 10th Avenue South, near Menards.

Times Business Editor Britt Johnsen contributed to this report.

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Wal-Mart rolling back plans for new stores [Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal (Minn.)]

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has killed plans for three proposed stores in Minnesota and delayed some projects as part of a companywide effort to slow its growth.

The Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant plans to open just two stores each in 2008 and 2009 in Minnesota after opening 12 new, expanded or relocated stores here in 2007.

Wal-Mart was forced to re-evaluate its plans in Minnesota after CEO Lee Scott announced last fall that the company would open just 170 stores nationwide this year and 140 next year, down from 281 in 2007.

“We recently abandoned efforts for stores in Carver, East Bethel and St. Cloud that we had been working on,” said Lisa Nelson, Wal-Mart’s senior manager of public affairs and government relations for this region. “We would still like to relocate in St. Cloud, but the site we were working on became cost-prohibitive due to required offsite improvements.”

A proposed store in Cottage Grove also is postponed, putting an entire 700,000-square-foot retail development on hold.

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Sounding like a broken record, yes, but might as well get used to it. These wage and hour cases continue to proceed through the legal system, and there are no shortage of new cases popping up.

The Minnesota case is, in most respects, very similar to those class actions that have come before it. The claims are simple - workers have not been allowed to take mandatory meal or rest breaks, and then after the fact, timecards are being changed to reflect that the breaks actually were taken. Why is this important? Because we are seeing a pattern of Wal-Mart underscheduling employees, forcing fewer workers to do more work. The result is one has to work through one’s break. Generally breaks are unpaid, and because Wal-Mart has allegedly been subtracting break periods from employee time cards whether breaks were taken or not, the company has been getting a free hour’s worth of work per employee per shift. And that doesn’t include the charges that Wal-Mart hasn’t been paying employees for overtime.

Wal-Mart’s hourly employees weren’t paid for more than 8 million missed meal and rest periods and company managers falsely recorded breaks on time cards, attorney Justin Perl said today in closing arguments for a non-jury trial that began in September. The lawsuit, brought by four women on behalf of 56,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club employees, claims the retailer violated Minnesota wage and hour laws.

These cases are starting to cost Wal-Mart some serious coin, and I’m not talking legal fees here. Wal-Mart lost a $172 million verdict in California in 2005 over meal breaks. A Pennsylvania judgment was increased last year to $187.6 million when the judge awarded additional damages, interest and attorneys’ fees. Add to that a 2004 class action in Colorado that settled for approximately $50 million, and that adds up to over $400 million Wal-Mart has been forced to pay because of its wage and hour practices. Attorneys in the Minnesota case are seeking over $50 million, so Wal-Mart is creeping ever closer to the half-billion mark, which they should be good for.

Wal-Mart Shortchanged Minnesota Workers, Lawyer Says [Bloomberg]

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Wal-Mart plans still on track [Daily Journal (Minn.)]

Low sales reported out of corporate Wal-Mart and competition from a neighboring supercenter won’t affect expansion plans for the Fergus Falls location. Those plans, however, are still static at the moment.

Earlier in the week, CNNMoney.com reported U.S. retailers experienced their slowest monthly sales growth in five years. Topping the list was Wal-Mart Stores Inc. That’s news to Tim Bosworth, Fergus Falls Wal-Mart manager. However, the local store did take a bit of a hit when a Wal-Mart Supercenter opened up 25 miles down the road in Wahpeton last August.

“It was a good year in light of the fact that the last five months of 2007, the Wahpeton store took 10 percent of our sales,” Bosworth said.

Sales were up 7 percent in July in the Fergus Falls locale — then the Wahpeton store opened. Things are getting back to normal, however.

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Another wage and hour lawsuit [Braun v. Wal-Mart] is heading towards it conclusion now that a 12-week trial in Minnesota’s Dakota County Court has concluded. Both the plaintiffs and Wal-Mart now have until February 1 to submit summaries of their arguments, and a ruling will come sometime by early May. The class is seeking $25 million in back pay, plus punitive damages.

The complaint, like those filed across the country, alleges that Wal-Mart failed to pay employees for off-the-clock work, and prevented them from taking or completed their earned meal and rest breaks by scheduling more work than could be completed during a normal shift. Beyond claims of state wage and hour law violations, this case is very much a breach of contract case - Wal-Mart had a contract with its employees, and in doing so it promised employee breaks as laid out in its company policies and handbook. Wal-Mart corporate policy entitles employees to one paid rest break for every three consecutive hours worked, and one unpaid meal break for employees working six or more consecutive hours.

Wal-Mart has countered that its payroll and break records are inaccurate because employees forgot to punch in or out on various occassions, although attorneys for plaintiffs are not convinced - they argue that Wal-mart has been perfectly willing to submit those records for payroll and tax purposes:

“Wal-Mart relies on its time records for everything...To pay people, to pay taxes – for every purpose they say, ‘Look at our time records,’ except for when we sued them.”

Deposition testimony from a previous case (Radonna Perrin - manager of Wal-Mart’s Customer Service Scheduling Project) has shown that, at least in the past, Wal-Mart had a policy of drawing up employee hours based on need for each store, and then “requesting” that store managers schedule below those hours. Could “Every Day Understaffing” be every bit the Wal-Mart motto as “EveryDay Low Prices?”

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Many communities are eager to see a new Wal-Mart come to town, but few think of the effect the retailer will have if and when it leaves. This article from Minnesota’s St. Cloud Times gives a local perspective to the retailer’s global prospects. Visit Battle-Mart for more information about fighting Wal-Mart in your local community.

Wal-Mart’s exit is boon, bane for communities [St. Cloud Times (Minn.)]

An empty Wal-Mart building sits along a stretch of road in Little Falls and shoppers have been rerouted to a newer, bigger Wal-Mart down the street.

Its owners have taken care of the old building after the Wal-Mart Supercenter was built in August. It’s been repainted a shade of light green, masking signs of what once thrived there.

At any given time, about 300 to 400 former Wal-Mart stores sit empty around the nation, in some cases for as long as five to seven years, said Ken Stone, a retired professor from Iowa State University who has studied Wal-Mart for about 20 years. Those empty buildings can be a blight to a community and area businesses if they sit untouched for too long.

“It’s a real problem, there’s no question about it,” Stone said.

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Across the country this week, citizens and activists are taking a stand against Wal-Mart. It’s the busiest selling season for the reatiler, and local communities are standing up to its unfair practices, unsafe products and unacceptable behavior. From Wake Up Wal-Mart:

Through its relentless pressure on suppliers to reduce costs, Wal-Mart fosters a corporate culture that encourages cheap manufactures to cut costs and cut corners. The result is that American children are literally placed in harms way when they play with cheaply-made toys from retailers like Wal-Mart.

Local papers have covered allied protests in Minnesota, several in California, and, below, Michigan.

Candlelight vigil against a Wal-Mart in Lincoln Park [Detroit News]

A candlelight vigil is slated for 6-7 p.m. tonight at the Lincoln Park Shopping Center on the northwest corner of Southfield and Dix-Toledo by a group that hopes to keep mega-retailer Wal-Mart from moving into center.

The group, called Wake up Wal-Mart Downriver, claims the discount chain destroys local businesses by undercutting prices, and sells unsafe products imported from China.

Nick Infante, Michigan spokesman for Wal-Mart, said the company now has no plans for a store at the site, which straddles the Allen Park/Lincoln Park border, with about 75 percent of the property in Lincoln Park.

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Wal-Mart would come with cost [St. Cloud Times (Minn.)]

Waite Park officials are exploring ways to pay the estimated $3.2 million it will cost the city if a possible Wal-Mart development along Minnesota Highway 23 and 10th Avenue South moves forward.

Total retail space of multiple buildings could be more than 450,000 square feet, a city traffic-impact analysis shows. That includes a 215,000-square-foot retail store, as well as three other buildings and a gas station.

The cost of road and other improvements needed to support the development area is expected to be $12.5 million, with the city paying an estimated $3.2 million of that cost, a September city memo says.

One option is development impact fees, council member Paul Ringsmuth said.

“We have a pretty good way of making this work, but the attorney is still checking out the legality of this,” Ringsmuth said.

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Waite Park may get a Wal-Mart [St. Cloud Times (Minn.)]

A Wal-Mart could be built in Waite Park in two years along Minnesota Highway 23, and the city conducted necessary studies on its behalf this fall, city documents show.

The development could include four commercial buildings and a gas station, including one 50,000-square-foot building along Highway 23, according to a layout produced by a traffic consultant for the city and used to analyze traffic in the area of the development.

Waite Park entered into an agreement with Wal-Mart in August to prepare an environmental assessment worksheet and traffic-impact analysis of the proposed development.

Wal-Mart agreed to reimburse Waite Park for the administrative, engineering and legal expenses, estimated at $25,000.

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Letter: Wal-Mart? CG deserves better [South Washington County Bulletin (Minn.)]

Recent discussions have begun on the possible construction of a new Wal-Mart. I would like to share some information with my fellow citizens of this great city of Cottage Grove. The fact that some individuals have suggested that building a Wal-Mart would bring some sort of character and added tax base to our community, has simply got me thinking. I’m not so sure if you ask the 56,000 Minnesota workers who recently filed a class-action lawsuit against the retail giant, that they would be as inclined to have the same suggestion.

Former and current employees of Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores in Minnesota accuse their employer of not paying them for all the time they worked. They were repeatedly forced to work through breaks and management inappropriately inserted breaks on their time cards, they say. In many instances they say they were even instructed to work off the clock, without pay, before and after their shifts. Clearly this is a violation of many laws — all totaling over $27 million in lost wages and savings for the employer. With more than one million documents collected to back the lawsuit, Wal-Mart continues to deny any wrongdoing. Does this sort of information really surprise anyone? Maybe just to the individuals who suggest that building a Wal-Mart would add character and revenue to our fine city. The fact that many companies are slowly starting to distance themselves from Wal-Mart, I foresee very little benefit in building in a city that already has plenty of character. If you don’t believe me, go ask the workers in Pennsylvania who were awarded a jury verdict of $78 million in a similar case or the employees in California who are awaiting the final details of a $172 million jury verdict. With Wal-Mart facing more than 70 similar cases in other states, I think it’s fair to say, they lack the character that this great community deserves.

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Cargill Sued Over Minnesota E. Coli Outbreak

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. agribusiness Cargill Inc is being sued by a Minnesota family whose two children suffered E. coli infections after consuming the company’s frozen ground beef products, the family’s attorney, William Marler, said on Monday.

Cargill said it had no comment on the lawsuit at this time, said spokesman Mark Klein.

Earlier this month, Cargill recalled 844,812 lbs of frozen beef patties due to possible E. coli contamination after investigators found four cases of illness linked to meat prepared by Cargill and sold by a division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc in Minnesota.

Symptoms of E. coli 0157:H7 illness—the strain associated with the recall—include potentially severe stomach cramps and diarrhea.