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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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After three infants suffocated to death due to faulty hardware on cribs, the CSPS has issued yet another recall for more than 500,000 cribs. Back in November, the CPSC recalled similar drop side cribs, and then, just a few weeks ago, the CPSC issued a second recall on cribs. That makes this the third major reacll on cribs in four months for a total of 3.2 million cribs. All the recalled cribs were sold at Walmart and other retailers.

As news of this recall hit, we read a few pretty gruesome stories that highlight how important this recall was. Here is a story from the Newark Advocate, for instance:

“On July 4, 2007, Isaac Grove was found dead after he had rolled in between the drop side of the crib and his mattress on the first block of Simms Avenue, said Dr. Jeff Lee, Licking County deputy coroner and chief forensic pathologist.

The crib had detached because of a broken plastic stop tab on the lower track, according to a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission news release.

Isaac Grove’s chest was squeezed and the infant suffocated within minutes, Lee said.”

This is clearly a major issue, and we think it’s simply disgraceful that any stores would allow products like this to be sold on their shelves.

Walmart, in particular has a history of dangerous products on their shelves. This is the 58th recall of Walmart products since the begining of 20008. Walmart can use its size and clout to push suppliers to produce at a lower cost, forcing them to cut corners to meet Walmart’s price demands and still make a profit. One of the areas that suppliers could cut corners is product safety. Walmart has repeatedly carried products that have been identified as unsafe or dangerous by reputable consumer safety organizations and the CPSC.

But just as Walmart uses its size and clout to push for lower prices from its suppliers, Walmart could instead push its suppliers to produce impeccably safe products. Just recently Walmart announced that it would penalize companies that delivered products to its warehouses too early or late. Imagine if Walmart threatened to penalize companies who manufactured unsafe products, or stop carrying the companies goods all together. Somehow I think the companies would take notice, and everyone would be better off.

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The Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled two ‘Princess and the Frog’ charm necklaces today due to high levels of Cadmium, a dangerous heavy metal. The necklaces are sold exclusively at Walmart stores. It may sound like many other recall stories, but this is actually the first time the CPSC has recalled anything for containing Cadmium. The metal was spotlighted in a recent Associated Press investigation which discovered high levels of Cadmium in many pieces of children’s jewelry.

Cadmium, like lead and other heavy metals, is a known carcinogen and can cause stunted brain development in children.

The Associated Press found that Chinese factories had started using Cadmium in products after they stopped using lead due to scrutiny from the US government during the last product safety scare.

In our opinion, it is no coincidence that this first Cadmium recall happened at Walmart, either. First because the use of cadmium seems to be linked with Chinese factories, at least so far. More than 70% of Walmart’s goods come from China, making it likely that these toxic metal products could end up on Walmart’s shelves. Second, Walmart has a history of using its size and clout to push suppliers to produce at a lower cost, forcing them to cut corners to meet Walmart’s price demands and still make a profit. One of the areas that suppliers could cut corners is product safety.

We think it’s pretty irresponsible for Walmart to be selling cadmium laced children’s necklaces, or anything else with highly toxic chemicals, for that matter. That’s why we launched a campaign over the holiday shopping season demanding that Walmart remove dangerous products from its shelves. Obviously they haven’t listened.

You can read more about Walmart’s dangerous products and sign an open letter to Mike Duke demanding that he take responsibility for consumer protection here.

The official CPSC press release about the Disney ‘Princess and the Frog’ necklaces is here.

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After our national campaign over the holidays focusing on product safety, an Associated Press report about the use of Cadmium in Chinese made products, especially children’s jewelry, and a huge crib recall back in November comes news of a second crib recall.

The Associated Press reports that more than 600,000 cribs are being recalled today after an infant died because of faulty hardware. Twenty models of cribs are being recalled due to issues with drop-side hardware and with slats that can break. The cribs were manufactured in China and Vietnam and sold at Walmart as well as other retailers.

According to the AP, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the company producing the cribs,

“have received 31 reports of incidents involving drop-side cribs, including six incidents of children being trapped between the mattress and the drop side. The agency and company have also received 36 reports of broken slats, including two reports of trapped children.”

This second recall highlights a disturbing trend of dangerous products on Walmart’s shelves. Walmart has a history of using its size and clout to push suppliers to produce at a lower cost, forcing them to cut corners to meet Walmart’s price demands and still make a profit. One of the areas that suppliers could cut corners is product safety. Walmart has repeatedly carried products that have been identified as unsafe or dangerous by reputable consumer safety organizations and the CPSC. It is truly sad that it took a death to bring attention to these cribs.

You can read the full article here and the full CPSC press release here for more information.

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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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$7,000 dollars is the figure. That was the amount the Occupation Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) fined Wal-Mart for the death of Jdimytai Damour, after he was trampled to death in a Long Island Wal-Mart in the opening minutes of a Black Friday shopping blitz.

A story on this morning’s Village Voice blog got us thinking about the subject again, after it discussed how Damour’s death led the NY City Council to enact new legislation – a “doorbuster” bill – making it unlawful for any person or company to publish notice about or conduct a “doorbuster” sale without first obtaining a license issued by the city commissioner. The license application would require stores like Wal-Mart to detail its floorplan and provide a detailed plan for crowd control.

That’s great for New York, but in the larger scheme of things, are retailers that regularly hold such sales really being held responsible in any meaningful way when a tragedy like the Damour death occurs – especially one that could have easily been avoided?

In announcing that it had cited Wal-Mart, OSHA’s press release stated that the company had failed to implement reasonable and effective crowd management principles and would be fined as a result.

As a result, OSHA has issued Wal-Mart one serious citation under its general duty clause for exposing workers to the recognized hazard of being crushed by the crowd. The citation carries a proposed fine of $7,000, the maximum penalty amount for a serious violation allowed under the law.

The problem with this is that the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which governs OSHA, was enacted back in 1970, before Wal-Mart even existed. More to the point, it was really enacted prior to the whole chain-store phenomenon – the proliferation of the Wal-Marts, Targets and Home Depots of the world that we see as commonplace today had yet to happen. Today, the idea of imposing a small fine on one store owned by a parent company operating thousands across the country is laughable - $7,000 isn’t even a drop in the ocean for Wal-Mart…it’s a drop in the Universe.

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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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Wal-Mart has agreed to pay nearly $2 million and improve safety at its 92 New York stores as part of a deal with prosecutors that avoids criminal charges in the trampling death of a temporary worker. Jdimytai Damour, 34, was crushed as he and other employees attempted to unlock the doors of a Long Island, New York, store at 5 a.m. on Friday, November 28th.

The news comes months after Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice began a criminal investigation into the death of Damour, a seasonal worker from Jamaica, Queens, who it is now known died from “positional asphyxiation” that resulted from direct and intense pressure having been applied to his chest - a result to be expected when a human being is trampled by 2,000 on-rushing shoppers.

[Wal-Mart] has agreed to implement an improved crowd-management plan for post-Thanksgiving Day sales, set up a $400,000 victims’ compensation and remuneration fund, and give a $1.5 million grant to Nassau County social services programs and nonprofit groups.

Perhaps more importantly, however, is that Wal-Mart will escape criminal prosecution as a result of the agreement. A telling quote from the Chicago Tribune - “The agreement included no admission of guilt by Wal-Mart.”

This aspect is important, because while Attorney Rice points out that Wal-Mart would have been subject to only a $10,000 fine if convicted, that conviction would have been hanging like a cloud over Wal-Mart during plaintiffs’ civil cases. The $400,000 victims’ compensation fund isn’t nearly as much as Damour’s family would expect to collect in a civil suit if Wal-Mart were to be found at fault, and anyone who accepts money from the compensation fund will automatically waive their right to sue. And as we reported following the tragedy, many media outlets and labor officials from UFCW to the Wall Street Journal have heaped the majority of the blame squarely on Wal-Mart for being woefully unprepared and understaffed (though that hardly would make winning a civil suit a slam dunk). From the Tribune:

Earlier this year, Damour’s family announced plans to sue the county, retailer and others. The family’s attorney did not immediately comment on Wednesday’s announcement. Any victims who accept payment from the Wal-Mart compensation fund will be required to waive their right to a separate civil suit against Wal-Mart, Rice said.

A heartfelt move by Wal-Mart, or part of a strategic plan to gain some positive press and escape further liability? You decide...More on initial reaction to the stampede, and Wal-Mart’s settlement announcement, after the jump.

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Originally posted on Huffington Post

Illegal Aliens Deliver Fear & Loathing To Wal-Mart Pharmacies
By Al Norman

One of the world’s largest drug store chains is employing a very unusual---and provocative---method for sourcing its drugs.

This week mighty Wal-Mart found itself at the center of a street-level drug deal that raised larger questions about where and how the retailer gets its cheap drugs.

In June of 2008, I wrote in this space about Wal-Mart’s global sourcing empire for prescription drugs, quoting one pharmaceutical industry analyst as saying, Wal-Mart drugs “come from all over the world. They’re U.S. manufacturers, Israeli and Indian manufacturers. They have a choice of where to buy these drugs.”

But this week, Wal-Mart’s choice of drug vendors made some small town news. The corporation was tight-lipped about a narcotics source that raised lingering questions about where the giant retailer is really getting its cheap drugs, and what product safety and procurement protections are in place at the retailer’s pharmacies. In fact, the whole incident was described by the ABC news affiliate that broke the story as “strange.”

Strange, but also unsettling. ABC 4 News in Cedar City, Utah---a town of roughly 28,000 people---reported that a routine traffic stop of three men led to a bizarre tale of prescription narcotics, illegal couriers, a Las Vegas drug supplier, and the world’s largest retailer.

Diego Jimenez, Maricio Jimenez, and Kyle Gutierrez are being held in a jail in Iron County while local authorities sift through their odd story. Police pulled over their car as it was traveling north on Route 15 just south of 100 miles per hour. The men claim they were hired to deliver prescription drugs to at least three Wal-Mart stores, including the superstore on South Providence Drive in Cedar City, Utah, which has an in-store pharmacy. The three men reportedly had already been to the Wal-Mart supercenter in St. George, Utah, which is south of Cedar City on Route 15, and the Wal-Mart superstore on Route 15 further south in Mesquite, Nevada, on the border with Arizona.

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Following on Obama’s signing yesterday of a law to make it easier for workers to file and win pay discrimination lawsuits, organized labor took another step forward today when the President signed three executive orders meant to increase protections for employees of government contractors, ensuring they have jobs when contracts change and making it more difficult to fire them.

In addition to saying he “disagreed” with Bush Administration labor policies, Obama yesterday took a shot at Wall Street’s excesses, calling the exorbitant spending behavior of top bankers “shameful”. And the bankers aren’t the only ones, considering outgoing Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott’s total compensation amounted to $31.6 million last year (not including the value of his stock options) while many of his employees are living in poverty.

Obama Moves To Reverse Bush’s Labor Policies [New York Times]

On yet another morning of grim economic news, President Obama on Friday sought to further distance himself from his predecessor as he announced steps that he said would strengthen organized labor and improve the lot of middle-class Americans.

At a White House ceremony, the president signed three executive orders that he said would “reverse many of the policies towards organized labor that we’ve seen these last eight years, policies with which I’ve sharply disagreed.”

Soon afterward, Vice President Biden drew applause when he flung another dart at former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney (on Mr. Cheney’s 68th birthday) as he told labor officials in the audience, “Welcome back to the White House.”

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An employee just wrote in to tell us that her/his Wal-Mart store is now claiming to take employee safety more seriously. ‘Safety Managers’ from Bentonville were touring the store and watching workers all day, and all employees were required to attend a mandatory meeting where safety guidelines were read. Apparently management wasn’t trying to hide the fact that this was all motivated by the company’s exposure over the Damour tragedy in New York.

The best line is at the bottom: the store manager insisted that paying for management to fly all over the country and read aloud the company’s already existing safety guidelines is proof the company cares so much about the workers.

Even thought the he/she clearly doesn’t believe Wal-Mart is making an honest attempt to create a safer workplace, we’d encourage any attempt by Wal-Mart to better protect its workers - even if it unfortunately had to a take tragedy to make it happen.

Read the whole thing:

I just wanted to update you on the steps Walmart is taking to minimize the fallout from Black Friday.  When I went in on Monday, there was a note beside the time-clock about a mandatory “safety meeting.” Mandatory meetings are very rare because if they happen to fall on a person’s day off, then that person will receive overtime when they clock in for this meeting if they have been scheduled for 40 hours.  We were also told that safety managers from the Home Office would be touring the store and observing all day.  They were at our store all day, and management (especially the Loss Prevention Manager), were nearly spastic.  They kept reminding us to work safely, keep all the exits clear and to be sure and speak to every customer that was within 10 feet of us. (Sam Walton had the 10 foot rule.)

I went to the meeting this morning.  All the store manager did was read a several page document that was given to him by the District Manager.  There was nothing new or different about the information.  It was all the same old spiel that we have heard countless times about cleaning up spills promptly, safe use of ladders, safe lifting procedures, etc.  However, he kept stressing over and over that Walmart cared about our well-being and safety and even said that he couldn’t stress this enough…since we are super-busy this time of year, I was sitting there thinking that this whole thing was a colossal waste of time and wondered why in the world Walmart would issue a mandatory meeting, when we were needed to be on the floor with customers and keeping stocked.  Then, at the very end of the meeting when he had stressed for about the 4th or 5th time how much Walmart cared about us, he brought up the incident in New York.  That’s when I did a mental “Ah-ha!” That’s why they are supposedly so worried about us.  He mentioned that the worker was a temporary worker and that the whole situation had been mishandled.  Then, to make a point about Walmart really caring for us, he told us that Walmart had gone to great expense to fly all the District Managers around the country for meetings so the expense alone should tell us that Walmart really cared about our well-being.  He also said that they had come up with the pages he read to us at those meetings.  Walmart really cares about us and can prove it by paying out a ton of money flying upper management all over the U.S.  Really??  I would be more convinced they cared if they offered me a decent health care plan...............but what do I know?

--Anonymous

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The family of Jdimytai Damour has filed suit against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.  The death, which The Oregonian (Ore.) called preventable, occurred on Black Friday.  While no amount of money can ever replace a lost loved-one, the hope is that Wal-Mart will respond by taking appropriate safety measures in future situations like this one to protect the Associates they claim to care so much about. Our hearts go out to the family of Jdimytai Damour. 

Victim’s kin file suit in Wal-Mart stampede death [Associated Press]

The family of a New York man who was trampled to death the day after Thanksgiving by a stampede of bargain hunting Wal-Mart shoppers has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

The family also filed notice that Nassau County, on Long Island, and its police department will be sued.

The lawsuit against Wal-Mart and the Long Island mall where it is located was filed Wednesday in state Supreme Court in the Bronx on behalf of Elsie Damour Phillipe. Phillipe is the sister of victim Jdimytai Damour (DHMEE’-tree Di-MOHR’), and is the court-appointed administrator of his estate.

Damour, a temporary worker hired for the holiday season, was crushed to death when some 2,000 customers stormed into the Valley Stream store.

None of the defendants in the lawsuit immediately responded to requests for comment.

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Six days after Jdimytai Damour’s tragic death, a clearer picture has emerged of not only its immediate causes but the broader question of who is responsible.

On the death itself:

[Nassau County, NY Police Commissioner] Mulvey said yesterday that Damour’s cause of death was “positional asphyxiation” consistent with having pressure applied to his chest… “He was trampled to death,” Mulvey said. [Newsday.com, 12/2/08]

The official autopsy does not lie; it clearly took a massive flood of people to knock over and crush a 270-pound man. Other articles point out how the death was preventable:

“This incident was avoidable,” said Bruce Both, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, the state of New York’s largest grocery worker’s union…"Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? How did store management not see dangerous numbers of customers barreling down on the store in such an unsafe manner?[CNN, 11/30/08]

Clearly, Damour lacked training and was ill-prepared to handle the onslaught he faced, further reiterating Wal-Mart’s tendency to under-train and under-staff:

[The family’s attorney] Hecht said Damour had been working at the Wal-Mart only for about a week and was hired through an employment agency that provides temporary staffing. Damour had not been trained for any security assignments and had no background in crowd control, he said. [AP, 12/1/08]

This Wall Street Journal story summarizes Wal-Mart’s culpability:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. should have had better crowd control to prevent the death of a worker who was trampled the day after Thanksgiving amid the bargain-hunting frenzy whipped up by the sales known as door-busters, according to local police and a lawyer for the worker’s family.

Unfortunately, it’s not the first time:

Wal-Mart faced several lawsuits from customers who claimed they were hurt by out-of-control shoppers seeking talking Furby dolls in 1998. [Wall Street Journal, 12/2/08]

It’s also important to keep in mind that Damour’s death, while the most severe event this Black Friday, was not the only one; it mirrored other, less serious incidents across the country that easily could have been far worse. For example, in Mississippi:

Allison Burchyett…said she was punched in the stomach by another female shopper who swiped a camera out of her hands at about 4:45 a.m. Friday. [DeSoto Times-Tribune (Miss.), 12/2/08]
News coverage of Damour’s death over the past few days has reflected mixed assignments of blame. Of course, many sources cite the crowd’s collective responsibility and that of the individuals within it.

One columnist wrote:

EXCUSE THE journalistic license, but I’m trying really hard to imagine what must have been in the minds of those impatient, early morning shoppers who trampled a security guard to death during a Black Friday sale at Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y. [Philadelphia Daily News, 12/2/08]

However, other sources place the responsibility squarely on Wal-Mart’s shoulders, pointing out that they and other retailers incited a climate of reckless bargain-hunting. A letter in the New York Times indicts corporate America as a whole:

Though blame for this tragic incident rests primarily upon the barbarians who rushed the door, corporate America must shoulder some blame for creating the hype surrounding the ritual known as Black Friday that causes some aggressive and nasty people to do horrible things. [NY Times, 12/1/08]

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AS A FORMER EMPLOYEE OF WAL-MART, I was aware that my store had a “loss-prevention team” - which basically consisted of two obvious plain-clothed, unarmed “security officers” that walked around the store watching people shop, trying to catch shop-lifters.  These guys were likely moonlighting at Wal-Mart on their days off from bouncer-duty at the bar.  Nevertheless, occasionally they would catch someone stealing, and that’s where it all gets fuzzy.  Let me make it perfectly clear, these guys ARE NOT law enforcement officials so the level of actual ‘enforcement’ they were legally allowed to use always seemed unclear.  From what I understood, they were not allowed to physically intervene in a theft situation, just ‘escort’ them to the back, and call the police. They were not allowed to slam you face-first onto the ground.

Apparently a loss-prevention officer for a Wal-Mart in Spartanburg, S.C. never got that memo. WYFF-TV in South Carolina reports that a video-survellience camera captured footage of loss prevention officer, Joseph Gregorie bear-hug a 58-year-old woman, he suspected of shop-lifting, and slam her face-first into the ground.  Talk about your all-time, total losses of composure.  The woman sustained minor facial injuries and was taken to an area hospital.  Wal-Mart was vague when talking to WSNA-TV in South Carolina about their loss-prevention protocol:

“...the spokesperson said their employees do follow certain ‘asset protection’ protocols, but she said she could not go into details about those protocols because of this investigation.”

UPDATE: if you didn’t already see it, check out the comment below from loyal reader Rob. He reports seeing a similar situation at a store where he worked.

Wal-Mart Employee Charged With Assaulting Shopper [WSNA-TV (S.C.)]

A Wal-Mart employee faces charges after police say he slammed a woman suspected of shoplifting face-first into the ground.

It happened late Tuesday night at the Dorman Centre Wal-Mart in Spartanburg. According to police reports, Joseph Gregorie, the store’s loss prevention officer, saw a 58-year old Greer woman concealing items in a bag. Gregorie says when he confronted her, the woman dropped the bag and tried to run away. The woman, Deborah Blackwell, tells police that Gregorie “bear hugged” her and slammed her face-first into the ground. She suffered a large contusion on her left eye and an injured hand and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. Gregorie told police that he grabbed Blackwell and she lost her balance and they both fell. But after reviewing surveillance video, the investigating officer said it shows Gregorie “throwing her to the ground”. He took the evidence to a judge who signed arrest warrants for both Gregorie and Blackwell.

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