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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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While Wal-Mart has announced more retail jobs for the United States, the company continues to draw nearer to an agreement that would send IT tech jobs to India.

From Citizen Economists:

In 2009 it (Wal-Mart) now predicts it will add another 22,000 positions nationwide. In fact in some hard hit states like California, Florida and Michigan, Wal-Mart plans to add over 1,000 jobs in each.

More jobs are great, but the majority of them are going to be of the lower-paying, sales associate variety. Meanwhile, however, Wal-Mart is drawing nearing to awarding multiple outsourcing contracts for managing its business applications and other back office activities to firms in India. The contracts could be worth $500 million.

According to BusinessWeek, Wal-Mart is doing so under the guise of “globalizing its information technology sourcing initiatives,” which is certainly its prerogative. But you would think that a U.S. company that has sought to build its standing as the very embodiment of American ideals would, during times of economic struggle, take an opportunity like this to find domestic firms to fulfill its IT needs. Provide hard working Americans with higher paying jobs. You would think that. But you’d be wrong.

“Wal-Mart has been testing the waters by outsourcing smaller projects to companies such as Infosys, TCS and Wipro. Now, the retailer wants to flesh out a more comprehensive outsourcing strategy and has shortlisted these tech vendors,” said a senior executive of one of the tech firms exploring business opportunities with Wal-Mart. He requested anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to media.

Wal-Mart, despite enjoying growth during the current economic climate, continues to show that while saving customers money is nice, saving its own money is paramount. BusinessWeek points out that UK retailer Tesco saves over $60 million every year by outsourcing its IT projects to India.

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Last week was supposed to be Wal-Mart’s grand entrance into India. The company’s joint venture with Bharti Enterprises was raring to open its wholesale store in Punjab—that is, until inter-communal and religious violence among Sikhs, who form a majority of the province’s population, temporarily shut down commercial activity.

To be clear - Wal-Mart had nothing to do with this particular episode. Reuters and other sources say that the violence was sparked by an attack on a Sikh temple far away in Vienna, Austria.

But the incident should remind us all that India is unlike places, such as the U.S., with more established channels of dissent. In Wal-Mart site fights across America, local battles against Wal-Mart have primarily taken place through petitions and city council hearings, but in India it could well happen on the streets. Wal-Mart already has enough inevitable opponents in India, including the country’s estimated 12 million shopkeepers whose livelihoods could be threatened by the foreign retailer.

As we’ve discussed before, there has already been significant resistance to Wal-Mart in India. In 2007, shopkeepers and farmers took to the streets and turned Mahatma Gandhi’s “Quit India” slogan (which originally urged British imperial commerce to stop crushing India’s native industries) into “Quit Retail”, showing their opposition to foreign retail like Wal-Mart.

Articles in Time, Business Week, as well as the important work of India FDI Watch have documented the growing unrest Indian small business owners and farmers are manifesting. Dharmendra Kumar, director of India FDI Watch, puts it this way:

“This is a do-or-die battle for us. Either they [the foreign retailers] go or the small traders and farmers perish” [Forbes, 10/10/07]

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Classic Wal-Mart. Only months after Wal-Mart tried to suppress a report detailing its sweatshop abuses in the country, the company is back in town demanding lower prices.

For the past few years as labor costs in China have become too high for Wal-Mart’s liking the company has been looking more and more into cheaper countries, like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam. While Wal-Mart and other retailers are claiming that the price cuts are necessary for Bangladesh to remain competitive with countries like India and Vietnam, Bangladesh’s prices already are among of the lowest in the world.

Bangladesh’s workers, like their U.S. counterparts, deserve better. These workers are not passively accepting virtual servitude: labor activism has grown there in recent years and some unions have resulted, though legal protections remain minimal. In 2006, factory workers even took to the streets in protest.

As the most powerful and profitable retailer in the world, the onus is on Wal-Mart to stand up and do the right thing for its workers - in every corner of the world.

International cloth buyers ask Bangladesh to cut prices [Reuters]

International cloth buyers and retailers at a rare meeting in Dhaka on Thursday asked Bangladesh to reduce prices of the ready-made garments (RMG) to make them competitive in the global markets, a key business leader said.

“They have suggested us to make all-out efforts to keep the prices at least at the level of what the price is being offered by India, Pakistan, China and Vietnam, the major competitors of us,” said Abdus Salam Murshedy, the president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

More than 50 major buyers including Sears Holdings Global Sourcing Ltd, Marks & Spencer Plc, Hennes & Mauritz International, Wal-Mart, JC Penney, Tesco International and Nike Inc, attended the meeting with Bangladesh’s textile exporters.

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Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar on the company’s rationale for the home office layoffs yesterday:

“The changes are designed to align our staffing and organizational structure, to increase operational efficiencies, support our strategic growth plans and help reduce our overall costs.”

Apparently.

On the same day that Wal-Mart gutted its Bentonville workforce, the company announced it will seek to outsource up to $500 million of IT functions to India. How many more layoffs might that mean? While Wal-Mart might not be the only one sending U.S. jobs overseas, the timing of the move is pretty crass, even for Wal-Mart. Even decades-long salaried employees in Bentonville belonging to “core” business functions are no longer safe from the retailer’s cost-cutting ruthlessness.

As we said yesterday, we would have hoped that during these tough times, some of the obscene wealth amassed by Wal-Mart Executives and the Walton family could have been invested in the company’s workforce. Unfortunately, they decided to go another direction.

We’re curious, though, about something else that didn’t show up in any of the stories we read. Has anyone heard anything about which employees were laid off yesterday? Possibly more full-time workers to make way for part-time? We’ve long heard rumors that home office has been “reclassifying” workers and moving to more part-time employees. Cost-cutting, for sure - but possibly bracing themselves for a union drive if EFCA passes?

Wal-Mart mulls IT outsourcing [Economic Times (India)]:

WAL-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, which until now has been dependent on its inhouse information technology division, is
evaluating a business process outsourcing (BPO) contract worth around $300- $500 million, as it seeks to outsource non-core processes of procurement, merchandising , finance, accounting and payroll.

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Wal-Mart Watch has released two documents to aid international activists in their fights against the expansion of Wal-Mart.  The primers, which have been translated into Chinese, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish, are tools which demonstrate the negative impacts Wal-Mart’s global expansion can have on local communities. 

“Wal-Mart’s International Expansions: A Primer for Activists” is intended to educate activists around the world about Wal-Mart’s retail development strategies and the company’s impact on local retail culture.  The primer uses case studies of Wal-Mart in Mexico and India to highlight the corporation’s primary tactics for entry into a county.

“Wal-Mart’s International Sourcing: A Primer for Activists” examines Wal-Mart’s procurement and sourcing systems, as well as some of the problems with factories in China, Bangladesh, and other countries where their sourcing model has failed to protect the rights of workers and to live up to Wal-Mart’s own standards.

Click here to see all the primers.

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Introducción
La división de Adquisiciones Globales de Wal-Mart fue creada en el 2002 para administrar los negocios de importación directa de Wal-Mart y las adquisiciones directas al fabricante. Adquisiciones Globales es responsable de supervisar la compra de mercancía a miles de fabricas proveedoras en el mundo.

Esa división también es responsable de identificar nuevos proveedores, de formar sociedades comerciales con proveedores existentes, y de administrar la cadena global de suministro de las importaciones directas de Wal-Mart. El objetivo de Adquisiciones Globales es trabajar en asuntos relativos a garantía de calidad, realizar inspecciones a fábricas proveedoras, y suministrar capacitación de estándares de lugar de trabajo para proveedores y fábricas. El equipo de la división es de 1700 personas, localizadas en su mayor parte en Shenzhen con oficinas adicionales en 50 países.

Establecido en 1992 para mejorar las condiciones laborales de los trabajadores de las fábricas proveedoras de Wal-Mart, el Programa de Valores Éticos es una subdivisión de Adquisiciones Globales. El equipo de Programa de Valores Éticos es responsable de verificar el cumplimiento de los Estándares de Wal-Mart para Proveedores, así como de las leyes locales aplicables. El programa coordina la administración y ejecución de auditorías a las fábricas proveedoras de las que Wal-Mart compra directamente y es el importador nominal.

Esta introducción examina los sistemas de procuración y adquisición de Wal-Mart, así como algunos de los problemas con fábricas en China, Bangladesh, y otros países donde su modelo de suministro ha fallado al proteger los derechos de los trabajadores y cumplir con los propios estándares de Wal-Mart.

Como la compañía más grande del mundo, y como miembro de proyectos de estándares laborales tales como la Iniciativa de Comercio Ético (Ethical Trading Initiative) y el Programa Global de Cumplimiento Social (Global Social Compliance Programme), es responsabilidad de Wal-Mart dar un paso al frente y ser un líder e innovador en cuestiones de suministro, como lo ha hecho en cuestiones de menudeo. Al estudiar los diversos casos sobre abusos en fábricas de explotación y Wal-Mart, tres patrones notables salen a la luz:

1.) La incapacidad de Wal-Mart para aplicar sus propios Estándares de Proveedores
2.) La incapacidad de Wal-Mart para implementar un sistema de responsabilidad con los dueños y gerentes de fábricas
3.) La perpetua insistencia de Wal-Mart en conseguir el precio más bajo posible de sus proveedores

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Introdução
A divisão de Procurement global do Wal-Mart foi criada em 2002 para gerenciar as compras diretas da fábrica e os negócios de importação direta do Wal-Mart. O Procurement global é responsável por inspecionar a terceirização de mercadorias de milhares de fábricas fornecedoras do mundo todo. 

A divisão também é responsável por identificar novos fornecedores, terceirizar novos produtos, criar parcerias com fornecedores existentes e gerenciar a cadeia de suprimentos global das importações diretas do Wal-Mart. O objetivo do Procurement global é resolver problemas de garantia de qualidade, conduzir inspeções de fábricas fornecedoras e dar treinamentos de padrões do local de trabalho para fornecedores e fábricas. A equipe da divisão de 1.700 funcionários tem sua principal sede em Shenzhen com escritórios adicionais em 50 países.

Fundada em 1992 para melhorar as condições dos trabalhadores nas fábricas fornecedoras do Wal-Mart, o Ethical Standard Program (Programa de padrão ético) é uma subdivisão do Procurement global. A equipe de Ethical Standards (Padrões éticos) é responsável por verificar a conformidade da fábrica com os Padrões do Wal-Mart para Fornecedores além das leis locais aplicáveis. O programa coordena a administração e execução de auditorias nas fábricas fornecedoras das quais o Wal-Mart terceiriza diretamente e é o importador do registro.

Esta cartilha examina os sistemas de terceirização e procurement do Wal-Mart, bem como alguns dos problemas ocorridos nas fábricas da China, Bangladesh e em outros países nos quais houve falha em seu modelo de terceirização em proteger os direitos dos trabalhadores e em cumprir os próprios padrões do Wal-Mart.

Como a maior empresa do mundo e como membro de padrões justos de trabalho, projetos como Ethical Trading Initiative e Global Social Compliance Programme, é responsabilidade do Wal-Mart intensificar sua participação e ser líder e inovadora no âmbito da terceirização como tem feito no setor de varejo. Ao estudar os diversos casos que envolvem péssimas condições de trabalho e o Wal-Mart, surgiram três padrões notáveis:

1.) Falha do Wal-Mart em forçar corretamente seus próprios Padrões de fornecedores
2.) Incapacidade do Wal-Mart em implementar um sistema de responsabilidade com os gerentes e proprietários da fábrica
3.) Insistência contínua do Wal-Mart em obter o menor preço possível dos fornecedores

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简介
沃尔玛的全球采购部创建于2002年，管理沃尔玛的直接进口业务和工厂直接采购。 全球采购部负责监管全球数千家供应商工厂的商品供货。

该部门还负责鉴别新供应商、寻找新产品货源、与现有供应商建立伙伴关系以及管理沃尔玛直接进口的全球供应链。 全球采购部的职责是解决质量保证问题，对供应商工厂进行检查以及为供应商和工厂提供工作场所标准培训。 部门1700名员工主要位于深圳，另外在50个国家/地区设有办事处。

道德标准计划是全球采购的一部分，制订于1992年，旨在改善沃尔玛供应商工厂的工人条件。 道德标准团队负责验证工厂是否遵守沃尔玛的供应商标准以及适用的当地法律。 该计划协调管理和执行对沃尔玛直接采购供应商工厂进行的供应商工厂稽核，且是记录的输入者。

这篇短文自查了沃尔玛的采购系统，以及中国、孟加拉国及其它国家/地区的工厂出现的一些问题，在这些国家，他们的采购模式无法保护工人的权益且达不到沃尔玛自己的标准。

作为全球最大的公司以及公平劳动标准计划（如道德贸易运动和全球社会责任计划）的成员，沃尔玛有责任在采购领域建立它的游戏规则并成为领先者和革新者，如同它在零售行业取得的成就一样。 然而在研究涉及血汗工厂和沃尔玛的各种案例时，发现了三种值得注意的情况：

1.) 沃尔玛没有充分执行它自己的供应商标准
2.) 沃尔玛无法实施与工厂老板和经理之间的责任系统
3.) 沃尔玛继续坚持从供应商那里获得最低廉的价格

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Introduction
Wal-Mart’s Global Procurement division was created in 2002, to manage Wal-Mart’s direct import business and factory direct purchasing. Global Procurement is responsible for overseeing the sourcing of merchandise from thousands of supplier factories worldwide. 

The division is also responsible for identifying new suppliers, sourcing new products, building partnerships with existing suppliers and managing the global supply chain of Wal-Mart’s direct imports. The purpose of Global Procurement is to work on issues of quality assurance, conduct inspections of supplier factories, and provide workplace standards trainings from suppliers and factories. The division staff of 1700 is mostly based in Shenzhen with additional offices in 50 countries.

Established in 1992 to improve conditions for workers in Wal-Mart’s supplier factories, the Ethical Standard Program is a subdivision of Global Procurement. The Ethical Standards team is responsible for verifying that supplier factories are in compliance with Wal-Mart’s Standards for Suppliers and local law. The program is in charge of the administration and execution of supplier factory audits in supplier factories from which Wal-Mart directly sources and is the importer of record.

This primer looks at Wal-Mart’s procurement and sourcing systems, as well as some of the problems with factories in China, Bangladesh, and other countries where their sourcing model has failed to protect the rights of workers and to live up to Wal-Mart’s own standards.

As the world’s largest company, and a member of fair labor standards like the Ethical Trading Initiative and Global Social Compliance Programme, it is Wal-Mart’s responsibility to step up its game and be a leader and innovator in the sourcing realm as it has done in the retail industry. While studying the various cases involving sweatshop abuses and Wal-Mart, three notable patterns emerged:

1.) Wal-Mart’s failure to adequately enforce its own Supplier Standards in the factories
2.) Wal-Mart’s inability to implement a system of accountability with factory owners and managers
3.) Wal-Mart’s continued insistence on getting the lowest price possible from suppliers

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Wal-Mart has already acknowledged (PDF) the fact that illegal logging goes on in its wood supply chain. A new investigation by The New Yorker follows lumber from the forests of Russia to the toilet seat aisle of Wal-Mart stores.

Taking six years to eliminate illegal logging from its supply seems like a long time for a company that can get Procter and Gamble to sell concentrated laundry detergent in a matter of months, don’t you think?

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THE NEWEST FAD DIET: LIVING NEAR A WAL-MART
Exciting news from the Wal-Mart Watch blog room: since we found out about this study earlier in the week, we’ve all started spending lots of time at our nearest Wal-Mart, and we’re loosing weight like crazy! As Richard Simmons says, “We’re fabulous!” Diets in Review points out the real reason Wal-Mart shoppers might be losing weight: they’re too poor to eat!

Wal-Mart Good for Your Health? [Diets in Review]

I’m still skeptical. For one, there seem to be too many variables to prove their theory. Plus, the study also found that an additional Wal-Mart also led to decreased exercise. Either way, it seems there are other factors to include, like a a down economy that may lead people to eat out less, which should have a positive effect on waistlines.

The Wal-Mart Diet [Seeking Alpha]

Courtemanche and Carden also found evidence that purchases of fruits and vegetables increased after the introduction of a big box retailer. But the news isn’t all good: An additional Wal-Mart also led to decreased exercise, though the reasons for this are somewhat mysterious. The researchers suggest a couple of reasons...Neither of these is very convincing though.

NeoNeocon and the Healthy Food Review offer a different explanation:

My theory on the Walmart Diet [NeoNeocon]

I beg to differ. Even though the study reports that a Walmart leads to decreased exercise, I still think exercise might be the key. My theory is that whatever the decrease in other exercise reported in the study (and I assume activity level was not measured, but was based on self-report), it left out one extremely important factor: the exercise involved in shopping in a Walmart itself. Think about it—have you been in one lately? I have. Those babies are huge.

Wal-Mart Diet Exists According To New Study [Healthy Food Review]

My theory?  Shopping at a Wal-Mart Super Center especially gets you walking a lot more than it does at a smaller store.  In fact, when I lived in Colorado, my local Wal-Mart Super Center was in quick walking distance in cold snowy, weather, and my husband and I would purposely go to get out and do a bit of a walking workout.  In Las Vegas, I’ve been doing it all Summer in the triple digit temperatures.

Shopping At Wal-Mart Makes You Thinner [Health Care BS]

And just think: while you’re in there buying your cheap fruits and veggies, you can go to the retail health clinic and have that sinus infection looked at. I love the free market!

After the jump, Wal-Mart moms and unions in China.

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The Daily Show’s Rob Riggle, on assignment in Beijing, takes a trip to one of the country’s “home-grown success stories,” Wal-Mart. 

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Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott is in Beijing today to attend the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games. His presence represents Wal-Mart’s dedication to its partnership with China, despite the country’s history of human rights violations and environmental problems, as well as the resulting economic fallout here at home.

Activists around the world have called on China to improve human rights standards, yet Wal-Mart refuses to acknowledge factory abuses. The company continues to invest heavily in the country, and sources more than 70% of its products from China alone.

Olympic athletes and environmentalists alike have criticized China for its massive pollution problems. China’s rapid industrialization and lax standards have resulted in toxic, algae-choked rivers and soot-filled air in Beijing and other cities. China exports 33% of its industrial production - and it’s largely to companies like Wal-Mart. Despite these facts, Wal-Mart insists that it is “greening” its supply chain and improving its notoriously poor environmental standards.

Wal-Mart claims it helps the U.S. economy, but the company’s low-cost pressure on its suppliers has forced many U.S. manufacturers to move production overseas to China and other countries. As American workers lost out, Wal-Mart continued to invest more and more in China.

Furthermore, while employees in the United States and Canada face stronger anti-union pressure than ever before, Wal-Mart’s Chinese workforce - supported by the Chinese Communist government - is bargaining collectively for better working conditions. American and Canadian workers want the same respect, but as we learned last week from the Wall Street Journal, Wal-Mart is opposing legislation that would make it easier for American workers to unionize. If the case of Wal-Mart’s unions in China can teach us anything, it’s that passing labor-friendly legislation like the proposed Employee Free Choice Act is a crucial part of gaining low-wage workers better conditions from Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart will do anything to lower costs, even if it means tolerating human rights violations and poor environmental practices in countries like China. Instead of continuing to cozy up to China and simply look the other way, Wal-Mart should consider the broad impact of its partnership with China both overseas and at home.

While you watch the Olympics this week, cheer for team USA in more ways than one: click here to join our campaign.

Sincerely,
David Nassar
Wal-Mart Watch

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Hot on the heels of a report in which Wal-Mart advocates against clearer guidelines for environmental marketing, the Arkansas Morning News reports the megaretailer is telling its suppliers increase their environmental marketing. Wal-Mart’s “green” initiative is part of the company’s attempt to improve its reputation, and apparently the company just can’t get enough of it. Rather than telling its suppliers to source responsibly or focus on reducing carbon emissions, Wal-Mart is telling them to hire a decent ad agency and slap a fresh coat of green paint on everything they sell.

The point of this marketing push, as one Wal-Mart exec explained to a crowd of 250 suppliers, is not to improve Wal-Mart’s environmental impact. Rather, it’s to convince shoppers that Wal-Mart cares about the environment: whether that statement is actually true seems to be beside the point. The irony here is that this kind of behavior will ultimately make Wal-Mart’s green marketing fail. Consumers remain distrustful of Wal-Mart’s environmental claims, and actions like this are precisely why. In fact, Wal-Mart seems guilty of several of the “six sins of greenwashing,” which appear at the end of the article. This initiative might just be Wal-Mart’s way of atoning for its sins without actually changing its behavior.

Six “Sins” of Greenwashing

• Hidden trade off - Does the product focus only on one or two environmental issues while ignoring other important issues?
• No proof - Does the product offer evidence of its claim, either on the package or through the company Web site?
• Vagueness - What does environmentally friendly really mean?
• Irrelevance - Claiming something is “CFC-free” is nice, but they were banned 30 years ago.
• Fibbing - Can anyone else back up the claim?
• Lesser of two evils - Is organic tobacco really a green product?

Source: TerraChoice Environmental Marketing Inc.

Wal-Mart Details Green Marketing To Suppliers [NW Arkansas Morning News]

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. doesn’t just want sustainable products from its suppliers, it wants them complete with a story to tell customers. Rand Waddoups, senior director of corporate strategy and sustainable development, on Thursday told more than 250 suppliers that Wal-Mart had devised a clearer strategy on its sustainability marketing.

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As Beijing prepares for the opening ceremonies of the Olympic summer games later this week, more and more attention is being drawn to China’s pollution problems. The country is notorious for smog-filled air and chemically tainted waterways. While cleaning crews struggle to clear up algae-strangled rivers, many athletes are planning to compete with face masks because the air quality is so poor.

China recently became the world’s largest CO2 producer, producing one quarter of the world’s carbon emissions. A post on Treehugger today points out that 33% of those emissions are from export manufacturing.

Wal-Mart is an integral part of this problem. As we mentioned in yesterday’s post on China’s human rights violations, Wal-Mart isn’t the cause of China’s pollution problems, but it certainly has a vested interested in keeping China’s environmental standards low. Were China to improve environmental regulation, manufacturers looking to source as cheaply as Wal-Mart demands would inevitably be forced to other countries and China would loose billions.

The Olympics are only highlighting a problem that has been going on for decades: companies like Wal-Mart force countries like China to sacrifice environmental integrity for production profits. It’s a critical aspect of corporate social responsibility that Wal-Mart glibly passes-over in its sustainability reports, but China’s carbon production is everyone’s affair. As the Olympics have revealed, China’s people are suffering from these practices and shouldn’t be made to bear the world’s burden.

It’s Not You, It’s Me: 33% of China’s CO2 Emissions From Export Manufacturing [TreeHugger]
33% of China’s carbon footprint blamed on exports [New Scientist]
Global CO2 emissions: increase continued in 2007 [Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency]

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Amnesty International has taken the 2008 Beijing Olympics as an opportunity to highlight China’s legacy of human rights violations, and to call on the country to change its practices. The Olympics may stand for all that is strong and vibrant in the human spirit, but the Chinese government’s policies of forced labor, censorship, arbitrary police detentions, and unjust executions fall miserably short of these lofty goals.

Wal-Mart sources more than 70% of its products from China, and relies on this atmosphere of abuse and oppression to keep production costs low. The issues Amnesty International raises are precisely why Chinese factories can manufacture products for so little: most workers are too afraid to stand up for better working conditions, and understandably so. Without these intimidating working conditions, Wal-Mart would have a much tougher time keeping its prices so low.

Wal-Mart might be in a joint venture with China, but Wal-Mart’s heart lies with exploitative working conditions, not the Chinese people. Surely once China’s labor standards improve far enough, the retailer will move on to a country where working conditions remain medieval and workers’ rights are nonexistent.

China’s Olympic Legacy [Amnesty International]

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Conscientious consumers everywhere know it’s hard to sort through all the conflicting messages about where to shop. Multiple factors go in to making a company socially responsible - fair labor standards, ethical sourcing, environmental care, community impact and transparent corporate practices - and it can be hard to take them all into consideration simultaneously.

Co-op America’s newly expanded Responsible Shopper website is designed to cut through that confusion. The site lists news stories, special reports and academic studies about companies’ business practices in hopes of helping shoppers make informed shopping decisions. The site’s profile of Wal-Mart notes several outstanding labor and human rights violations that no responsible shopper would support, and offers low-price alternatives to big box retailers.

Co-op America’s Responsible Shopper >>

Web Site Dishes Up Dirt, Exposes ‘Greenwashing’ [Consumer Affairs]

Worried that your consumer dollars are rewarding bad corporations with problem practices? Concerned about greenwashing? Wish there was an easy way to get the dirt on America’s biggest companies before you buy something? Looking for a way to pressure consumer companies you patronize to get responsible and clean up their acts?

A new Web site, ResponsibleShopper.org, promises to do all that, and then some.

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Wal-Mart has, unsurprisingly, been the target of more lawsuits than one can count over the years. The company’s treatment of its workers and “save money at all costs” mentality has resulted in a flood of legal challenges ranging from single plaintiff suits to multi-million dollar class actions. Dukes v. Wal-Mart is of course one large example (the largest class action in American history, actually), as are the myriad wage/hour/overtime class actions the company faces.

At Wal-Mart Watch will be focusing on one of these stories each week, highlighting those cases that warrant further attention because of the light each sheds in its own way on how Wal-Mart does business.

A seventy-seven year old Nevada resident is suing Wal-Mart for their unlawful, discriminatory employment practice which caused him to be terminated from his position. Mr. Gold was hired on as an electronics cashier for an unfinished Wal-Mart store. Construction at the Wal-Mart was still being finished up in January, when employees were brought in to stock the store. In February of 2008, Mr. Gold reported to work like usual; little did he know that this would be his last and most embarrassing day at Wal-Mart.

The Wal-Mart store was nearing completion, so much so that employees were putting the finishing touches on stocking the store shelves for the grand opening. Yet, one problem remained. Wal-Mart had not yet finished the plumbing system in the building, forcing employees on the clock to use an outdoor port-o-potty.

On February 28, Mr. Gold, needing to use the port-o-potty, headed toward the building’s exit. Stopped at the door by a Wal-Mart supervisor, Mr. Gold was ordered to go back to work. Mr. Gold explained that he needed to use the restroom, but again was told that he needed to return to work. 

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Food politics has become an increasingly important part of social responsibility and aided by bestselling books, blockbuster movies and celebrity endorsements, the movement is gaining ground. Wal-Mart, eager to improve its reputation among progressives, has tried to capitalize on the popularity of responsible eating...with varying degrees of success. The retailer first started selling organic produce - a program it later abandoned - and more recently has publicized its sourcing of local foods.

In his new book “The End of Food,” Paul Roberts points out Wal-Mart’s impact on our food supply goes far beyond these superficial initiatives. From the New York Times’ review:

Roberts isolates a number of culprits. Wal-Mart, for example, where America spends 21 cents of every food dollar and where some experts say we will soon be spending 50 cents of that dollar, continues to drive down retail prices to unsustainably low levels. One consequence is that food is becoming, once again, a commodity of “lesser quality and nutritional value.”

As the largest grocer in America, Wal-Mart is using its marketplace power to drive down the cost - and quality - of food. As a result, our food supply is degrading faster than you can say “in-store dining options.” And it’s not just Wal-Mart’s purchasing power that’s damaging our food supply: the retailer contributes heftily to the environmental damage, suburban sprawl and economic poverty that Roberts blames for the decline in food quality and food choices.

Wal-Mart is certainly not solely to blame for the world’s food problems, but the retailer’s business model simply doesn’t qualify as a sustainable solution to growing demand for fair food. For those committed to leveling the playing field of food politics, stick to the farmer’s market and your locally-owned grocer.

Nothing to Eat [New York Times]