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In the last week, the blog Chicagoist has written what is one of the most in-depth looks at what it means for Americans to work at Walmart we’ve seen in the media this year.

In a three-part series, Chicagoist journalist Kevin Robinson, interviewed three current and former Walmart employees about what it is like for them to work for the world’s largest private employer and took a look at the labor practices that Walmart uses to create massive profits while at the same time depressing wages throughout entire industries.

That the Chicagoist is taking a look at Walmart is especially, well, appropriate.  The Good Jobs Chicago coalition has been working for years make sure that if a Walmart is built in the South Side community of Englewood it will provide good jobs with living wages. 

And we mean years. 

If you live in Chicago (and I would imagine most regular Chicagoist readers do) you’ve been hearing about this proposed Walmart store for some time.  A big-box wage ordinance that was aimed at the retailer was passed by the City Council and was then vetoed by Mayor Daley, his only veto to date (and he’s been in office for two decades).  In 2007, a coalition of activists, unions, and community organizers pushed back against Daley, not supporting him for reelection, and helping to elect a number of pro-labor alderman.  Now activists are looking to push a living wage ordinance that would require any company with 50 or more workers to pay the wage of at least $11.03 per hour if the company benefits from a city subsidy. 

So Walmart might have been in the news a few times.

Part One of the Chicagoist series introduces the three associates, all working at Chicagoland area Walmart stores, how tough management can be as taskmasters, safety concerns (two of whom have suffered injuries on the job), and how Walmart’s push for low prices extends into how they pay their employees.

The second part addresses wage concerns and one of the scams that Walmart uses to increase profits.  The scam?  Pushing employee wages so low that many employees qualify for food stamps and public assistance.  Specifically, the piece looks at how Walmart employees make such low wages that they are eligible for food stamps, which they then spend at Walmart to great advantage by the company.

Part Three examines Walmart’s labor practices, something near to our hearts here at Wake Up Walmart.  That Walmart has one of the most aggressive anti-union practices in the world should come as no surprise, and Robinson includes some very interesting information about how those practices directly impact associates.

So if you have a few minutes, head over and read the articles.  It is a very good introduction to how Walmart operates nationwide and provides good insight for anyone who might be hearing about a Walmart attempting to move into their town, or for Walmart associates to know that they are not alone when it comes to the kind of poor working conditions and employee treatment that occurs in Walmart stores everywhere.

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The Shaw’s supermarket on Whalley Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut is closing down. It’s one of 18 stores that are being sold off by Shaw’s owner, SuperValu.

Most of the Shaw’s stores are being bought up by three other New England grocery chains, including Stop & Shop, ShopRite and PriceRite. The Shaw’s in New Haven doesn’t have a buyer yet. Wal-Mart is listed by Supermarket News as the largest grocery chain in the world. In America, Wal-Mart’s market share is in the mid 20% range for dry groceries, dairy and frozen foods.

Supervalu is listed as number 15 on the worldwide grocers list. Supervalu describes itself as a “mix of owned, licensed, franchised and affiliated stores, (which) serves millions of families from coast-to-coast.” The retail banners that Supervalu operates include: Acme, Albertsons, Bigg’s Bristol Farms, Cub, Farm Fresh, Hornbackaer, Jewe-Osco, Shaw’s/Star Market, Shop ‘N Save, and Shoppers. The company also controls the discount grocery chain Save-A-Lot.

The Shaw’s lineage goes back to 1860, when George C. Shaw opened his first store in Portland, Maine. A few years later, another native New Englander, Maynard A. Davis, opened his first Public Markets in Brockton and New Bedford, Massachusetts. These two stores merged, and today the Shaw’s/Star Market chain has over 30,000 workers in the six New England states---soon to be five states. The 18 stores being shut down represent around 9% of the 194 stores under the Shaw’s banner.

Supervalu as a conglomerate controls roughly 4,300 retail outlets in the United States. “We bring our national scale and local hyper-relevance to thousands of consumers, helping to make us ‘America’s Neighborhood Grocer.’” But in Connecticut, Supervalu is leaving the neighborhood.

According to the Hartford Courant’s account of the Shaw’s meltdown this week, the company had a 15 year track record in Connecticut, but had come under increasing pressures from competitors like Wal-Mart and Whole Foods. Today Wal-Mart has only 5 superstores in Connecticut, and 28 discount stores. But in 1994, just as Shaw’s was preparing to enter Connecticut, the state had only 2 Wal-Mart discount stores, and no supercenters.

A spokesman for Supermarket News told the Hartford Courant that Shaw’s had failed to differentiate itself. “They’ve had an inconsistent identity with the shopper. In order for a conventional supermarket to stand out, they have to be special, whether that’s local flavor or product or service offerings that are unique.” At their point of highest penetration, Shaw’s had 26 stores in Connecticut, but over the years they shut down 8 stores. A spokesman for Supervalu told the Courant, “While these decisions are always difficult given the impact on associates and customers, they ultimately allow us to operate more efficiently and effectively within a highly competitive retail environment.” That’s of little consolation to the workers who are losing their jobs in the middle of this recession.

What you can do: Many of the former Shaw’s stores will be unionized under their new owners. Brian Petronella, a spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) local 371, said 5 of the ShopRites will be represented by the UFCW. Local 371 will also represent the new Stop & Shop stores. The UFCW extended a hand to the Shaw’s workers who will work at ShopRite stores that are not unionized. “We will try to help those people get jobs at union locations,” Petronella told the Courant.

The demise of Shaw’s in Connecticut is just a continuation of the shift in market share towards the largest grocer in the world: Wal-Mart. In 2003, a study by Retail Forward, entitled “Wal-Mart Food: Big, and Getting Bigger,” pointed out that just ten or fifteen years ago, “Wal-Mart was barely on the food radar screen. Virtually overnight, the retailing behemoth has become the dominant grocer in America.” In 2003, Wal-Mart sales were bigger than the combined sales of the top ten U.S. supermarket retailers. “Wal-Mart has the proven ability to quickly blanket a market with its multi-format approach,” said Retail Forward, “to become a dominant---if not leading—market share player in rapid fashion, wreaking havoc for the incumbents.”

The latest incumbent is Shaw’s supermarkets. Seven years ago, Retail Forward predicted that “for every Wal-Mart supercenter that opens in the next five years, two supermarkets will close their doors. As a result, the supermarket industry is projected to lose 2,000 more stores over the next five years.” The consultant concluded that grocery stores can survive, but “the key is to be what Wal-Mart is not.” The analysts will say that Shaw’s failed to find a “distinct positioning strategy” that set them apart. But the fact is, the Connecticut market is saturated with grocery stores, and most of Wal-Mart’s stores still do not carry a full line of groceries--so the problem will get worse if Connecticut communities let Wal-Mart build more superstores.

Readers are urged to copy this article and send it to their local city or town officials with the following note: “When Wal-Mart files a proposal for a superstore in our town, please learn from the lesson of Shaw’s supermarkets, and understand that a Wal-Mart opening merely leads to to other stores closing. It does not happen overnight---but it happens---and when it does, people lose their jobs, and no added value comes to the local economy. It’s just an unproductive game of retail musical chairs, and shifting market share. Wal-Mart sales comes largely from other cash registers. If you understand that, then you behave differently when the superstore comes knocking on your door.”

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Last week we told you about Walmart firing 300 workers from its headquarters staff as the company goes through a major restructuring. The 300 jobs were just the tip of the iceberg, with 10 Sam’s Club stores closing, a major layoff of 11,000 workers at Sam’s Club stores, and a new decentralized set up for the company that will shift many jobs away from the main office in Bentonville to regional offices.

When we told you about those 300 layoffs, we wondered if there might by more job losses on the way. As it turns out, there may be. The Northwest Arkansas Times reports that as the company starts creating regional offices and moving positions there, jobs in Bentonville will be eliminated. According to the article,

“some headquarters staff members will face a choice of relocating, looking for other jobs or retirement, according to several people familiar with the situation.

Wal-Mart declined to put a number on positions that could be moved out of Bentonville. Those decisions will be made case by case and it will take time to figure out what works for each area”

We’ll certainly be keeping an eye on this transition to see how it affects the company. We can only hope that Walmart does all it can to ensure that jobs aren’t eliminated unnecessarily, or workers aren’t pushed out of their jobs. Walmart has a reputation, after all, for pushing workers with seniority out to reduce the cost of salary and benefits overall. It’s one of the reasons Walmart has such a high turnover rate. 

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We hate to say “I told you so,” but....

Marc Gunther on ClimateBiz discussed Wal-Mart on his blog yesterday, and points out something we’ve been trying to get across as well. Even as its greenhouse gas emissions have begun to fall, the company’s overall carbon footprint has continued to rise.

As Gwen Ruta of the Environmental Defense Fund, a Wal-Mart partner, writes in her frank assessment of the company’s 2009 sustainability report, the problem is that all the good things that Wal-Mart is doing—increasing its use of renewable energy, driving efficiency in individual stores, improving its fleet operations and pushing up its recycling rate—are offset by the fact that the company is adding more stores and selling more stuff.

In late 2007 we released our own environmental report, in which we brought up the following:

Wal-Mart’s new stores will use more energy than its energy-saving measures will save. Its fleet of trucks, massive overseas shipping to import its goods, and the increasing vehicle miles traveled by its consumers all contribute heavily to CO2 emissions and the number of ozone-causing particulates released into the air. Its huge stores and even larger parking lots contribute to the degradation of our water supply, affecting our drinking water and the viability of aquatic life.

Wal-Mart’s response has been that by increasing its market share, it can replace less efficient competitors and thereby reduce emissions in the retail sector as a whole, even as it continues to expand. That might ultimately be true in the far, far distant future, especially if one day every store is a Wal-Mart. But in the interim, Wal-Mart’s total carbon emissions continue to outpace its efficiency gains. And as Gunther so eloquently adds:

If the Earth’s atmosphere could speak, it would tell us that it doesn’t care about efficiency or renewables or recyling—or market share.

Wal-Mart’s Big Problem: Climate Change [ClimateBiz]

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By this time we should all be aware of the controversies surrounding credit companies - in addition to increasingly complex and confusing options for credit applicants, credit card issuers have been raising interest rates and fees for many current borrowers, many of whom were in complete compliance with their card holders’ agreements when their rates were raised. This is a major reason behind the call for continuing credit card reform.

What many people might not be aware of is the struggle between credit companies and the retailers at which their cards are used. As Bloomberg explains, this could end in a giant Visa vs. Wal-Mart rumble:

Lawmakers are promising new rules to bring down the interchange fee, a charge on purchases sometimes topping 3 percent that’s split by the two banks serving the customer and merchant. Supporters of the legislation include the biggest retail chains, restaurants and small businesses, which say the fees erode profit and inflate prices...Interchange is the second-biggest cost after payroll, Target said, and merchants want to negotiate lower payments collectively without running afoul of antitrust law.

The issue has become such a hot topic, the Government Accountability Office has been ordered to study the effect interchange fees have on both consumers and merchants. The “interchange fee” is the fraction of every credit card transaction that the card’s issuer retains. When combined with additional smaller fees levied by a retailer’s own bank (to which the retailer first submits the transaction), interchange fees can cut into retailer revenue - especially important for those retailers with slim profit margins.

Interchange fees have risen over time - interesting, since technological advances would suggest the cost of such transactions should go down - and the result is a growing battle between retailers and card issuers. Wikipedia provides a surprisingly simple example of how the fees work:

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Much is made of Wal-Mart’s presence in China - from the fact that many of its products are sourced there to the realization that the growing power remains a prime target for Wal-Mart’s expansion.

Harold Meyerson, in his Washington Post column marking the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square, poses that it has been American capitalism - chiefly the Wal-Marts of the world - that has spurred the growth of China into a rising superpower:

The transfer of manufacturing from the United States to China—driven by the rise of mega-retailers such as Wal-Mart that have been able to enforce a regime of low wages all along their global supply chains—has diminished our middle class and expanded theirs.

In fact, Meyerson points out it was American businesses and their representative groups (here’s looking at you, U.S. Chamber of Commerce) that opposed legislation in China aimed at strengthening worker rights. The goal was to improve working conditions and arrest the practice of withholding wages and forcing employees into working insanely long hours, but American business interests succeeded in pushing amendments to “make it more acceptable to foreign firms” - a fancy way of saying weakening the effect the bill would actually have on workers and the businesses that depend on keeping costs down. No wonder they’re such close buddies nowadays.

You can read the whole column, but Meyerson unleashes his most venomous critique in his closing:

Wal-Mart, which used to lock its night-shift stock clerks and janitors inside a number of its stores until the morning managers arrived, prefers production in Guangdong to manufacturing in the Midwest. Indeed, the director of purchasing for Wal-Mart is based in China.

As historian Nelson Lichtenstein and others have documented, Wal-Mart inspires in its managers an almost fanatical allegiance to the company’s cause. In Wal-Mart world, the provincialism (if not “idiocy") of rural life is fused with a brilliance in the art of low-cost, low-wage logistics to create a company that is both authoritarian in its inner workings and a friend of authoritarian regimes abroad. The butchers of Beijing could not have found any more compatible capitalists.

Beijing’s Favorite Capitalists [Washington Post]

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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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“Underpaid, disempowered Wal-Mart employees have a tough time staying chipper these days — and they pass along their misery to the company’s customers.”

So begins the entry for Wal-Mart in Business Management Daily’s list of the five worst companies for customer service. In compiling its list BMD interviewed several sources, including Service Quality Institute president John Tschohl and David VanAmburg, managing director of the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The worst offenders, in order:

1. Bank of America; 2. Comcast; 3. ebay; 4. Wal-Mart; 5. U.S. Airways

So where exactly does Wal-mart come up short?

“Wal-Mart built its business on customer service, but they’re in the sink now,” Tschohl contends. “The stores are ugly, and they attract the people with the least amount of money who are willing to put up with bad service.” Adds David VanAmburg, managing director of the American Customer Satisfaction Index: “They are at the top of our list when it comes to value, but near the bottom when it comes to service.”

The key, of course, is that you would think this problem would have an easy solution. Treating your employees better through better wages, better/more affordable health benefits, consistent scheduling, ending discriminatory practices and pay theft...well, you get the picture...would all lead to a more content work staff. And what happens when you have happy employees? That’s right, happy customers.

“It’s a matter of treating your employees better than anybody else does and offering world-class customer service,” explains a manager of a Les Schwab Store in Concord, Calif. “That is what keeps your business growing.”

That will be something for Wal-Mart to keep in mind as the economy slowly rebounds. As more people return to their previous shopping habits - and more importantly, their previous shopping locals - Wal-Mart could see its sales figures returning to the flat numbers from pre-recession days. Is it really THAT hard to show your employees a little love??

Failing grades: The 5 worst companies for customer service [Business Management Daily]

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When is a loss really a win? In Colorado, it’s when a piece of legislation fails and the result is a victory for the little guys.

The Colorado General Assembly has been debating HB 1192, a bill that would have allowed large grocery chains and drug stores to sell liquor, wine and full strength beer (grocery stores can already sell beer with an alcohol content at or below 3.2% - Bud, Miller Lt., Coors Light, etc). The reasons for the bill being introduced are many, but basically for a long time in Colorado, grocery stores were the only place that you could purchase beer on Sundays. When laws were changed in mid-2008 and liquor stores were allowed to remain open 7 days a week, grocery stores saw their revenue dip ever so slightly, and they were not happy. So the grocery industry began pushing HB 1192.

The consequence of allowing grocery chains to move into the wine and premium beer market, of course, is that perhaps you risk putting local liquor stores out of business. One can argue all they want that the increased competition will be a good thing, but it really won’t. Why? First, as Colorado resident Denise Washington explains, the liquor store industry in Colorado really is a local industry:

Many liquor stores and wine shops in Colorado are family owned. They build relationships with their customers and learn their tastes. There is added value of a knowledgeable staff who wants to work with you to make your experience with a new wine or beer memorable. Who enjoy teaching you about how to choose a good Pinot Noir for your dinner party or a hearty stout for your big BBQ.

Beyond that, however, is the fact that local liquor stores and wine shops support other Colorado businesses - vineyards and microbreweries from across the state that Coloradoans wouldn’t be able to find in large grocery aisles regardless of whether HB 1192 passed.

With the bill failing, grocery stores (many owned by companies outside the state) aren’t really going to see much change - they aren’t going to close up or raise prices simply because they can’t sell craft beers or wine. For them, life will go on. But had the bill passed, 1,650 locally-owned liquor stores would have been devastated to the tune of 50% of its full-strength beer sales in the first year. It doesn’t take much to determine that a loss of business like that would eventually threaten not only the local liquor store industry, but the breweries and wineries they support.

You can get more information on the legislation, including a great video piece from BeerTap TV, after the jump.

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A new lawsuit has been filed by the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) against Wal-Mart.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims some Hispanic employees at a Fresno Sam’s Club were subjected to a hostile work environment. The suit filed yesterday in U.S. District Court against parent company Wal-Mart Stores Inc. alleges that managers failed to stop repeated verbal harassment, including the use of derogatory words, against employees of Mexican origin.

The EEOC attempted to reach a settlement, but when an agreement could not be reached, a lawsuit was filed. The EEOC filed two lawsuits against the company in 2008, and settled two more. The current suit is seeking compensatory and punitive damages and the creation of a formal complaint procedure.

EEOC sues Fresno Sam’s Club on behalf of Latinos [San Jose Mercury News]

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

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

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

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

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SENATOR HARKIN OPEN TO COMPROMISE ON EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE

• Harkin May Drop ‘Card-Check’ to Pass Milder Labor-Law Changes [Bloomberg News]
  The chief Democratic sponsor of a measure to promote union organizing says he may have to sacrifice its “card-check” centerpiece in favor of more modest labor-law changes that could clear the U.S. Senate.
  

• Card-check may be stripped from bill [Philadelphia Business Today (Pa.)]
  U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, who sponsored legislation to make it easier for workers to join unions, has said the main provision of the proposal may have to be dropped to get the votes to pass it.
  

U.S. REPRESENTATIVES TOUR WILDERNESS BATTLEFIELD WITH ROBERT DUVALL

• Actor Duvall enters battle to save Va. battlefield [Associated Press]
  Academy Award-winning actor Robert Duvall has fired a verbal salvo against plans to build a Wal-Mart Supercenter near a Virginia Civil War battlefield where Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee first fought the Union's Ulysses S. Grant.
  

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We reported earlier this week on Chinese workers protesting a Wal-Mart “job optimization” program that would have led to layoffs for many mid-level executive positions. In fact, managers included in the optimization program were actually to be given three options: demotion with reduced salary, relocation, or leaving the company with compensation.

Today, however, the China Daily is reporting that Wal-Mart has decided to backtrack on its optimization plan.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to adjust its plan to streamline staffing in China, and will keep positions and salaries unchanged for employees who don’t want to be reassigned to other locations, the China Daily reported Wednesday. The report, citing Chen Lu, a Wal-mart public relations official in China, said the adjustment to the plan came after a breakthrough in talks between the U.S. retailer and its Chinese union.

So THIS is why unions can be a beneficial tool for workers, eh??

The report did, however, go on to say that Wal-Mart will keep pushing forward its program to redeploy workers.

Wal-Mart reportedly to ease up on China staff streamlining plan [MarketWatch]

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In China, Wal-Mart’s “job optimization” program was just a fancy way of saying you’re fired. That is, until the country’s government-run trade union stepped in.

Earlier this month, Wal-Mart announced it could need to slash some mid-level executive positions in an effort to adapt to “the changeable market situation.” At the time, however, company officials refused to say how many people would lose their jobs. The plan that was ultimately unveiled was dubbed the retailer’s “job optimization and regrouping” program, aimed at relocating some mid-management staff to similar posts in new stores.

Angry staff affected by the plan were not buying it, however, and labeled the program as a “de facto layoff plan.” In fact, managers included in the optimization program were actually given three options: demotion with reduced salary, relocation, or leaving the company with compensation - with those choices, Wal-Mart was obviously aiming to trim staff.

“I came to work for Wal-Mart in my 20s. I have been always working hard and never made any major mistakes. I am now pushing 40. If I have to leave Wal-Mart, I really don’t know where to find another job.” said a department manager at Wal-Mart’s Shekou store in Shenzhen.

The optimization program has been thwarted for now, however, as the country’s government-run trade union stepped in and blocked the restructuring. That decision came after over 50 staff protested the plan at Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China.

“Three mid-level executives came to my office this morning and told me the plan was shelved and they have resumed their work,” Xinhua news agency quoted Yang Fengzhi, a union official in northeast China, as saying. The managers in Jilin province, who earlier had been told they would be laid off, were asked to return to work after the union stepped in, the report said.

See, but that’s the thing. China is what it is, yet for all we complain about that country’s methods of doing things, workers there can still band together to fight for their jobs. Yet here in the land of the free, Wal-Mart workers attempting to flex their muscles will find themselves quickly unemployed.

What do you think? Does it make sense that workers in China have more rights that those right here at home?

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For an appealing market with 1.4 billion people, a booming middle class and a fascination with Western products, Wal-Mart’s performance in China has been questionable.

According to some sources, the company hasn’t turned a profit there in 12 years. And yesterday the retailer announced that it is ‘restructuring’ about 1,400 people (read: ‘transfers’ at best, layoffs at worst). The retailer says eliminating one whole layer of management is necessary to remain competitive “as the market matures.”

What Wal-Mart spokespeople didn’t mention is that the Chinese retail market has been maturing and changing for over a decade, giving Wal-Mart ample opportunity to adapt. Wal-Mart has encountered numerous difficulties in China, especially in working with its government. It needs the approval of the Department of Trade to open new stores, and in provinces all over China it has been unable to get this approval. The retailer also has been trying to enter the Guangzhou market, one of China’s biggest, for over 12 years without success.

As we’ve seen in the U.S., community and government resistance to Wal-Mart often goes hand in hand with the company’s poor labor practices. In China, unlike in the U.S., Wal-Mart workers have successfully formed a union to fight for better pay and benefits. By September 16th of last year, all 108 Wal-Mart China stores had collective contracts.

Still, in spite of last year’s successful unionization, why did it take Wal-Mart two years to respond to an All China Federation of Trade Unions and National People’s Congress blacklisting of the retailer for not allowing its employees collective contracts? This blacklisting and delay raises questions as to Wal-Mart’s ability to address the concerns of China’s government and unions alike.

Under Mike Duke’s guidance, Wal-Mart is clearly banking on most of its growth coming from the international sector. China is the biggest prize of them all, and after a decade - Wal-Mart continues to struggle there. Will it make it?

Wal-Mart China to cut jobs in management rejig [Reuters]

Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s (WMT.N) China unit will eliminate one management layer of its stores in China to improve efficiency, affecting up to 1,400 people, the company said on Wednesday.

The U.S. retailer, which has 147 outlets in China and employs over 50,000, will offer affected employees the option to move to new stores or take other positions with lower salaries, said Jonathan Dong, a spokesman at Wal-Mart (China) Investment Co Ltd.

“As the market matures ... we have to adjust our productivity and efficiency,” Dong told Reuters.

The reduction will affect 140 “super centres” as the layer of assistant managers or deputy mangers is eliminated. That will involve between 840 and 1,400 staff, the company said. (Reporting by Fion Li; Editing by David Holmes)

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We can’t say we didn’t see this one coming: Wal-Mart’s designs on Russia have been surfacing for months. Signals include the establishment of an office in Moscow and joining the Russian Association of Retail Companies. Now, though, the retailer has taken a concrete step into the country by aiming to purchase a controlling stake in OOO Lenta, a major Russian food retailer. The move carries many parallels to Wal-Mart’s recent acquisition of Chile’s D&S. These include:

a) Wal-Mart’s attempts to buy large stakes in companies off wealthy private individuals. In the case of Chile, Wal-Mart acquired its D&S share from Felipe and Nicholas Ibañez Scott, two brothers that had held a controlling stake. In Russia, Wal-Mart is trying to buy OOO Lenta founder Oleg Zherebtsov’s 35 percent share.

b) Intense secrecy surrounding purchase negotiations.

c) A focus on the grocery sector (D&S owned a few different leading Chilean supermarket brands). Are we seeing a pattern emerging here?

Wal-Mart Renews Talks On Buying Russia’s Lenta, Kommersant Says [Bloomberg News]

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has renewed talks on buying a controlling stake in Russian food retailer OOO Lenta, Kommersant reported, citing unidentified minority shareholders.

Wal-Mart is seeking to buy 51 percent of St. Petersburg- based Lenta, the Russian newspaper said. That includes acquiring founder Oleg Zherebtsov’s 35 percent stake; the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s 11 percent stake and 6 percent from another minority shareholder, Kommersant said.

All of the parties declined to comment, according to the newspaper.

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The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that Walmart’s decision to close its South Side optical lab - laying off 650 workers in the process - has state officials considering ways to recoup a $1.8 million job-creation tax credit the company received back in 2002.

The 650 worker layoff is apparently the largest mass layoff in the region since the economy began to flounder in mid-2008.

The Ohio Department of Development awarded Walmart the tax credit when it opened the lab in 2002, on the condition that the company create and maintain jobs there for a certain number of years, department spokeswoman Kelly Schlissberg said. State officials are reviewing the agreement to determine whether Walmart held up its end of the bargain, she said. If Walmart is found to have broken its agreement, Schlissberg said, the state could go after the company to recoup its money.

Needless to say, the State of Ohio isn’t pleased with the layoffs, especially when just a couple months ago workers were told “the facility wasn’t going to close and jobs weren’t going to be cut.” Now, it’s to the unemployment line for 650 new jobless Walmart employees.

The company has said that laid off employees will be eligible for positions at nearby Walmart and Sam’s Club stores - little consolation for the optical lab employees who would face pay cuts and part-time status as regular Walmart associates.

Walmart shuts 650-job lab: State to check if company reneged on 2002 tax-credit deal [Columbus Dispatch]

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Dear Small Business Owner:

If Wal-Mart opens a store near yours, and you need to come up with a strategy to compete, don’t try to copy Wal-Mart by lowering your prices. It certainly won’t help - in fact it might even hurt - according to a new study published by the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. The report finds that a new Wal-Mart has a strong negative effect on an existing retailers’ sales in general, though certain retail formats see more negative effects than others.

Having Wal-Mart as a new neighbor means that—no surprise—grocers and other competing retailers will likely take a sales hit...On average, neighboring grocers’ sales decline by 17 percent when a new Wal-Mart opens.

In fact, the study found that when Wal-Mart comes to town, local mass merchandisers, supermarkets and drug stores all see significant sales declines. Cutting prices only “mitigates” the harm for grocery stores, and doesn’t work at all for mass merchandisers and drug stores. And so perhaps the most important piece of information to come out of the report for any business looking to compete with a Wal-Mart moving into its neighborhood is this - the key is differentiation, not mimicry.

Grocers, in fact, should try to be the opposite of Wal-Mart, the study concludes, by offering more high-end items as well as more private-label, natural, and organic products. Rather than reducing prices overall, grocers should run more sales promotions.

When a Wal-Mart comes to town, retailers “should be scared,” one of the study’s authors, Dartmouth professor Kusum Ailawadi, told the Wall Street Journal’s Independent Street blog. But “it’s no use to blindly cut prices” because “price-sensitive consumers will move to Wal-Mart anyway.”

What You Can Do to Fight Wal-Mart [Wall Street Journal]

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What a weekend at Wal-Mart. Over the past few days there seemed to be an usual number shootings, car crashes, suspected kidnappings, purse snatchings, and doubtless many other dramatic crimes.

At Wal-Mart Watch, we haven’t spent too much time talking about the crimes that occur every day in Wal-Mart stores and parking lots around the country. But it’s a very real issue.

When Wal-Mart moves in to many rural and suburban settings, it often becomes the busiest place in town, and thus a haven for criminals of all variety. Time and time again we hear stories of how Wal-Mart refuses to properly secure its parking lots and stores, and forces local police departments to pick up the slack.

Al Norman writes more on Wal-Mart’s refusal to acknowledge crime is a major problem on its premises, especially in its parking lots.

Here’s just one example of how bad the problem often gets, courtesy of the Associated Press:

A teenager wounded in a shooting at a Rochester, N.H., Wal-Mart last week has been charged with reckless conduct.

Seventeen-year-old Levi Downs is the third person to be arrested after Tuesday’s night’s confrontation. A prosecutor said last week that Downs accidentally shot himself in the abdomen, but police now say they’re not certain of that.

Downs is accused of brandishing a gun during the fight. Eighteen-year-old Stephen Miller of Rochester is charged with reckless conduct, falsifying evidence and having a gun without a permit. Thirty-4-year-old Cindy Byrnes of Rochester was charged with falsifying evidence for allegedly taking the guns from the store to hinder the investigation.

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Wal-Mart’s Mexican invasion just sped up today with the company’s announcement that it will invest $805 million in the country, and open 252 new stores in 2009. The number is remarkable, given that Mexico is less significantly smaller than the U.S. where Wal-Mart is planning to open less than 150 new stores this year.

This aggressive growth also comes at a time of particular weakness for one of Wal-Mart’s main domestic Mexican competitors: the troubled Comercial, which last December was on the verge of bankruptcy. Wal-Mart has also challenged Mexico’s major commercial banks by offering its own store-brand credit card and other in-store financial services. Wal-Mart pledges to be “aggressive” in their Mexican moves, yet we’ve seen how this “aggressiveness” is connected to Wal-Mart’s poor treatment of its U.S. employees. One can only hope the Mexican government has the best interest of its people and workers at heart and makes sure Wal-Mart treats both its consumers and employees with the dignity they deserve.

Walmex to invest $805 million, open 252 stores [Business Week]

Wal-Mart de Mexico SA said Thursday it will invest 11.8 billion pesos ($805 million) and open 252 new stores in 2009 despite the slowing Mexican economy.

The investment represents a 4 percent increase compared to last year and will create 14,500 new direct jobs, said Walmex Chief Executive Officer Eduardo Solorzano.

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