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After years of litigation, 88,000 employees in Washington will finally have closure after Wal-Mart agreed to pay $35 million to settle their class-action lawsuit regarding “off the clock” labor violations.  The class-action lawsuit began when Wal-Mart was initially sued by three employees who claimed that their managers forced them to skip their lunches and breaks in order to work longer shifts.

It’s been a busy year for Wal-Mart’s legal department.

Wal-Mart settles lawsuit by Wash. workers for $35M

SEATTLE (AP) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to pay $35 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that says workers at Washington state stores were forced to skip meal and rest breaks or work off the clock.

The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer and lawyers for the workers jointly announced Wednesday that a King County Superior Court judge has given final approval to the deal. The settlement covers 88,000 people who have worked at Wal-Mart in Washington.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers will receive $10.5 million to cover eight years of legal fees. Three workers who brought the lawsuit will receive $10,000 each, and other workers will get varying amounts depending on how long they worked for Wal-Mart and how much detail they can provide about their claims.

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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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Two very different stories found their way into our clips this morning, and they paint two very different pictures of the way Wal-Mart deals with our Country’s small businesses. And both portraits find their origins in an event happening this week right here in Washington, D.C., - National Small Business Week.

On the one hand, there’s this - Sam’s Club and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce joining forces to fight for the interests of small businesses:

Sam’s Club, the nation’s leading small business membership warehouse club, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced on May 19 at America’s Small Business Summit in Washington, D.C., details of a joint member benefits program that will broaden both organizations ability to be advocates for small business, lower their costs and help them succeed.

The agreement would see Sam’s Club sponsoring more than a dozen small business events with local chamber offices, with the goal of making resources and best practices available to small business owners and operators. U.S. Chamber of Commerce members would also receive a $10 gift card and complimentary cost comparison by Sam’s Club. All of which could be useful on some level.

On the other hand, however, is this - numerous reports from outlets like ABC, CBS and CNN, all of which have found that firms such as Office Depot, Rolls-Royce, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, L-3 Communications and British Aerospace Engineering have received U.S. Government contracts intended for small businesses. From the Huffington Post:

Since 2003, a constant flow of federal investigations have been released which found hundreds of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been diverted to many of the largest firms in the United States and Europe.

So what do you think? Is this a case of Wal-Mart courting both sides? Seeking to draw in small businesses to its Sam’s Club label, while the parent company gets federal money earmarked for small business projects? Share your thoughts in our comments section!

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MORE RELIGIOUS LEADERS CALL FOR EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE

• Sam Stein: Rabbis Lobby Specter On Employee Free Choice Act [Huffington Post]
  Adding a religious element to the day's biggest labor-policy debate, a group of 30 rabbis penned a letter in Philadelphia's largest Jewish newspaper on Thursday, urging Sen. Arlen Specter to support the Employee Free Choice Act.
  

DICK CHENEY BATTLES CLERGY OVER EFCA

• Art Levine: The Dark Lord -- Dick Cheney -- Battles Clergy Over Employee Free Choice Act [Huffington Post]
  While most recent media attention about Dick Cheney has focused on his pro-torture comments, it's worth noting that his remarks Tuesday attacking the Employee Free Choice Act also aired on the same day as a new coalition of religious leaders, Faith Leaders for Workplace Fairness, pressed the case for the pro-worker legislation.
  

• Sam Stein: Cheney Whacks EFCA, Labor Welcomes Him As Spokesman [Huffington Post]
  Former vice president Dick Cheney keeps elevating himself to the role of Republican Party spokesman on key political issues. Usually the topic has to do with foreign policy. But in his interview on Tuesday afternoon on Fox News, he grasped hold of one of the GOP's biggest rallying cries -- the Employee Free Choice Act.
  

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Wal-Mart workers from across the nation are converging today on Capitol Hill for a National Organizing Meeting to brief Senators about wages, benefits and the Employee Free Choice Act. We have Wal-Mart Watch peeps down on the Hill, and will have more updates as the day goes on.

Wal-Mart Workers Holding Historic National Organizing Meeting [UFCW Release via EarthTimes]

WASHINGTON - (Business Wire) Walmart workers from across the nation are converging today on Capitol Hill for a National Organizing Meeting to brief Senators about wages, benefits and the Employee Free Choice Act. Nearly 100 Walmart workers from 17 states are participating in the event. As part of their campaign for a union voice on the job, they will urge lawmakers to level the playing field for working people by supporting the Employee Free Choice Act.

“I made the trip into Washington DC to stand with my fellow Walmart workers and to urge my Senators to pass the Employee Free Choice Act,” said Dominique Sloan a Dallas, Texas, Walmart worker. “We need change in this country. All you have to do is look at how all the money goes to CEOs. But when it comes to workers, it’s always the same, no health care or health care that’s too expensive and low wages. We need to change that.”

The National Organizing Committee is made up of Walmart workers from Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

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Workers at a North Miami Beach Wal-Mart Supercenter are hoping to make their store one of the first Wal-Marts in the United States to unionize. The Miami Herald is reporting that workers have gathered signed pro-union cards from 150 of the store’s 476 employees.

If a majority of workers were to vote to join the United Food and Commercial Workers union, Wal-Mart would have to negotiate a contract setting pay, work rules, complaint procedures, health insurance and other benefits for the workers.

The Miami store is the most impressive example of card-signing activity, the movement occurring despite the fact that the Employee Free Choice Act movement remains in neutral in Washington. It isn’t the only unionizing target, however, as the UFCW admitted the North Miami Beach store is only one of about 100 Wal-Mart stores it is working to organize in 17 states, according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

Meghan Scott, a Food and Commercial Workers spokesman in Washington, said the union increased its organizing efforts after the election of President Barack Obama and the reintroduction this year of federal legislation that would make it easier for workers to gain union representation. “We’ve seen a pretty significant uptick in calls from Wal-Mart workers across the country,” Scott said. “The workers just seem to be emboldened in a way that they have not been in the last few years.”

The Miami store is a continuation of a trend that began earlier this month, when the Wall Street Journal reported on organizing efforts in Texas and Illinois.

‘’If we vote and we get it [union certification], they can’t do nothing but go along with it,’’ (Miami employee) Cheryl Guzman said. ``That’s my hope and prayer.’’

Read more after the jump:

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Yesterday, Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) became the first Senate Democrat to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act. But when later allowed to elaborate, she left the door open for her to eventually get on board a revised version of the legislation.

It looked bleak early on - as the Washington Post reported, Senator Lincoln didn’t mince words when stating whether she still supported the Employee Free Choice Act legislation that she had voted for back in 2007:

“I cannot support that bill,” Lincoln told the club, one attendee recounted to Arkansas Business. “Cannot support that bill in its current form. Cannot support and will not support moving it forward in its current form.”

But as the day moved forward, Senator Lincoln did soften her stance - if only a bit - after listing several issues she hoped to tackle in 2009:

“Even though the Employee Free Choice Act is not on this priority list, it is receiving a lot of attention in the news and is the focus of many of my conversations with constituents on both sides of the issue. I consider both the labor and the business communities to be my friends. However, now that we need all hands on deck, including business and labor, to get our economy moving again, this issue is dividing us...I am stating today that I cannot support Employee Free Choice Act in its current form and I can’t support efforts to bring it to Senate consideration in its current form. I will consider alternatives that have the support of both business and labor but my pledge today is to focus my full attention on the priorities I have mentioned that affect every working family in Arkansas.”

Why is Senator Lincoln’s vote so important? Her defection would make it increasingly difficult for supporters of the bill to get the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture and help it to move forward under Senate rules. Not surprisingly, Lincoln’s shift towards the right - she has also recently made news for teaming with Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) to push a provision that would slash the controversial estate tax rate (or “death tax” if you’re a Republican or just a pessimist) - just happens to come as she looks towards a 2010 reelection bid in Arkansas, Wal-Mart’s home state. And we all know what Wal-Mart thinks of EFCA.

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With Democratic Rep. George Miller looking to officially roll out the Employee Free Choice Act today in Congress, America’s workers are physically bringing their message of the need for better wages, health care, and overall treatment to the heart of the Washington establishment. Yesterday under warm breezes and a sunny sky, hundreds of SEIU members rallied in front of some of EFCA’s most notorious opponents: the Retail Industry Lobbying Association, the American Chamber of Commerce, and a banking association meeting. Then, they marched to Lafayette Square—just a few yards from the White House—where SEIU President Andy Stern made it clear that workers and all Americans who look to Employee Free Choice as a way to restore America’s middle class will not desist in their struggle. Let the festivities begin.

The original Politico article reporting on the rally is below: 

You’ve probably seen the ads and heard the rhetoric on the House and Senate floor, but now the protests over the Employee Free Choice Act are under way.

A spokeswoman for the Service Employees International Union says the organization has dispatched 300 labor union members to protest outside the offices of the Chamber of Commerce, a leading business group that has been leading the fight against the bill, which opponents call the card check legislation.

“It’s startling how huge a lobbying machine corporations have deployed against change that would help workers gain a greater voice at a time when our country and our economy so desperately need it,” said Jeffrey Cappella, an SEIU spokesman.

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When Mike Duke took over as Wal-Mart CEO this week, we wrote an open letter of support to Wal-Mart workers and asked everyone to sign it. The response we received were overwhelming. Thousands of you signed the letter, and many wrote in their own personal notes of support to the workers.

We’ve seen a clear common trend: the American people are sick and tired of Wal-Mart’s disrespect for its employees and demand that Mike Duke increase workers’ wages and benefits, work to provide adequate health care options, and stop the company’s discriminatory and abusive labor practices.

If Mike Duke cannot or will not treat his employees with the respect they deserve, many respondents supported the Employee Free Choice Act as the best way to force Wal-Mart to change.

Here are some of the comments:

Hang in there; relief may be on its way.  I will be thinking of you and hoping for you.  I hope Wal-Mart will do what’s right and fair, not only what the share-holders want.  Justice in an unjust world is rare but it is time for a little justice at Wal-Mart.

You should have the RIGHT to be paid better, have healthcare coverage, have more sick days and personal days, to choose to unionize if you wish, and to not live in fear for your job if you even MENTION any of the above. Hopefully, the Employee Free Choice Act will help you achieve these goals if WalMart Administration won’t do the right thing and allow fair working conditions for you. The Waltons are INCREDIBLY wealthy,and can afford to do all of the above for you,if they choose to.I am yours in Solidarity,best wishes!!!

I am just speachless about this letter.  First I give praise to God and then to Mike Duke for taking a stand for the everyday working class assoicates at Wal-Mart.  A couple of suggestions .... make equal pay for women the same as men, listen to associates that use the open door, create a group that can check on the assoicates after the open door process to ensure no retaliation has taken place.  Ensure managers are enforcing the policies and work together as a group.  Managers that are not carrying their weight should be held responsible.  Make sure raises are given to people that truely deserve it.  Change the way raises are distributed.

To employees:  I know first-hand what it’s like to be treated like a second-class citizen in the workplace.  Hang in there, for, thanks to those like Wal-Mart who consider themselves our betters, a new bill protecting people who want to organize may soon be law.  I haven’t stepped foot in a Wal-Mart for over 6 months, and I won’t until they start treating their employees as co-equals under the law, with decent wages, AFFORDABLE healthcare and pharmaceutical insurance, and humane treatment of the people who got them rich in the first place:  you.

Please don’t be afraid to stand up for your rights!  You deserve a living wage and to be treated with respect at the very least!  There are so many wal-mart workers and so many people concerned about the welfare of wal-mart workers, if we all make our voices heard things WILL CHANGE!

This is a new day for Wal-Mart. I strongly believe that although it won’t be easy, things can and MUST change for the better for the employees of Wal-Mart. What better chance do we have than now when there is a new CEO. We must let Mr. Duke know that we have not been happy with the way Wal-Mart has conducted policies and treated its employees and there is no better time than now to improve the well-being of the people who devote their work lives to this employer.
This is the time, the law is on your side. Your voices will be heard. Organize and show a united front. There are more of us then there are of them.  If we stand up for our rights, they will listen. Work hard, be responsible, be reliable, then demand the same respect from your employer. Good luck to all of you.

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In the State of Washington, proposed legislation called the Worker Privacy Act would give workers the option of refusing to attend mandatory meetings where employers tell their side on issues of personal conscience, including politics or unionizing. Actually, the bill being considered in both the Washington House and Senate also mentions religion and charitable giving as protected issues, but politics and unionization are the ones getting all the media love. Yesterday, the Washington State Labor Council pointed out the following in arguing in favor of the bill to the House Labor and Commerce committee:

Under current law, companies can force their employees to attend such meetings to discourage union organizing or to press political views, as Wal-Mart did last year when it urged employees to vote against Barack Obama and Democrats.

Indeed, Wal-Mart Watch was intimately involved with the development of an August 2008 story in the Wall Street Journal, which broke the story of Wal-Mart’s “mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they’ll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies—including Wal-Mart.”

The actions by Wal-Mart—the nation’s largest private employer—reflect a growing concern among big business that a reinvigorated labor movement could reverse years of declining union membership. That could lead to higher payroll and health costs for companies already being hurt by rising fuel and commodities costs and the tough economic climate.

The Wal-Mart human-resources managers who run the meetings don’t specifically tell attendees how to vote in November’s election, but make it clear that voting for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama would be tantamount to inviting unions in, according to Wal-Mart employees who attended gatherings in Maryland, Missouri and other states.

In addition to those stories in the WSJ piece, some of the reports Wal-Mart Watch received were even more egregious - in one example, a worker said they were shown a slide that said “Obama = union” while being told why unions were bad. The Washington legislation would allow workers to elect not to attend such gatherings, without fear of reprisal.

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Despite its best efforts, Wal-Mart could not hold off Barack Obama and the incoming Democratic wave hitting our nation’s capital. When asked about the election results, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott, in a letter to associates, said Wal-Mart was committed to working with either party.

“A number of associates asked me how our company viewed the election and what our post-election plans were. I told those associates that this is clearly a time of great opportunity for our country, and also a time of great challenge. I reminded them that last June I said that Wal-Mart looked forward to working with the new President and Congress, regardless of party, to find solutions to our challenges. We are even more committed to that objective today.”

Talk about revisionist history. Wal-Mart, since the beginning of the campaign, made it clear to everyone that the company would rather deal with John McCain. While disappointment is in the air in Bentonville, regular associates around the country should rejoice. Now workers have an advocate in the White House!

So where does Wal-Mart go from here? It looks like Wal-Mart has decided to hire a new set of “reputation warriors” and other government relations personnel to mislead inform Congress about two key issues – health care and sustainability. These new directors will beg for mercy advocate for Wal-Mart’s interests on Capitol Hill.

I think we are all familiar with Wal-Mart’s benefits package and green campaign. Good luck to the brave souls who fill these positions, you will need all the help you can get.

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The biggest oil company in the world and the biggest retailer in the world are loving life as the economy sinks.

Wal-Mart stock has risen 20% since the start of the fiscal year. Exxon Mobile just posted the largest quarterly earnings in American history- to the tune of 14.83 billion dollars.  The recession has done wonders for both companies; the volatile price of oil, puts Exxon Mobile in the position to capitalize on futures from supply-wary market analysts, while Wal-Mart continues to post double-digit profits because of the high number of price-conscious consumers who are forced to trade down - even if it’s against their will.

Many more-upscale retailers, such as Target, are not doing quite as well during the recession.  BusinessWeek reports that looking at the most recent quarter over the past year, Wal-Mart’s same store sales are up 5% while Target’s are down 0.4% and K-Mart’s are down 5.6%.

But these days are numbered. Wal-Mart knows that the recession won’t last forever. This week, they unveiled plans to focus more on renovating existing stores next year than opening new stores. Wal-Mart realizes that when the economy turns up again, many of its new customers will want to shop elsewhere - and they’re trying to stop it. The question is: will it work?

Wal-Mart Wins Big During Downturn [BusinessWeek]

These are heady times for Wal-Mart (WMT). The Bentonville (Ark.) retailer has been enjoying double-digit profit growth and strong sales as bargain hunters crowd its aisles. Its stock is up about 20% since the start of the year. And shoppers like Sal Garcia of Downey, Calif., are joining the growing ranks of loyal customers. “Look,” says Garcia, 52, putting the last of 10 shopping bags into the trunk of his Lexus, “all that for $54!”

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In a story posted today from KXLY.com in Spokane, Washington, it seems that Wal-Mart has found a new market, in undercutting a local high-school. A Wal-Mart store in Cheney, Washington has begun selling shirts that bear the logo of the Cheney Blackhawks, the town’s high-school sports team. Wal-Mart does not pay the school royalties for using the logo, nor do they have permission from the school to sell the shirts and this is bad news according to the school’s Activities Director, Jim Missel who had this to say:

“They can buy their stuff at a larger quantity and be able to sell it at a cheaper price.  It hurts us when this happens.”

Cheney High School uses revenues from their own apparel sales to fund school activities and athletic programs, and without that revenue, it becomes increasingly harder to finance such programs. Missel says he doesn’t want to start a war with Wal-Mart, but would likely appreciate some consideration for the situation. Wal-Mart told a journalist from KXLY that the company “tries to give customers what they want at a good price, while still being a good neighbor”.

The ironic thing is that by selling shirts with the Blackhawks logo on them, they are lessening the chance that Blackhawks athletic programs will even continue to exist.  If anyone out there knows of this kind of thing happening in their town, feel free to tell us about it in the comments section.

Is Wal-Mart undercutting local athletic programs?

CHENEY - The start of the 2008 football season hits Thursday night, but if you’re looking to get into school spirit there’s at least one team on the West Plains that hopes you consider where you buy your gear from.

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New Yakima development draws ire of neighbors [Yakima Herald-Republic (Wash.)]

Former Yakima mayor John Puccinelli dropped the W-bomb during a hearing Thursday at City Hall over the future of a proposed gated community known as Toscanna.

“This could be the next Wal-Mart,” Puccinelli warned, referring to a legal battle over a proposed Wal-Mart store in the West Valley that has cost the city millions of dollars in attorney fees.

At issue is whether city planners were right to approve Toscanna, a proposed $40 million housing development in the 4200 block of Castlevale Avenue just west of North 40th Avenue.

The 30-acre site sits below Carriage Hill, one of the city’s classier neighborhoods. Developer David Sjule wants to build 42 duplexes and 96 apartment units comprising 15 apartment buildings on the site, a former orchard.

But neighbors said they don’t trust Sjule and his talk of “Tuscany with a Southwestern flair.” They fear the development is really just rental housing with a fancy name.

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Check out this week’s issue of the Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials – a compilation of Wal-Mart news from across the country and beyond.

This week’s issue focuses on the big story of the week - Wal-Mart’s efforts to mobilize its managers across the country to warn of a Democratic win in November. The company has been holding mandatory meetings for its store managers and department supervisors (possibly in violation of state and federal election law), who are being warned that if Democrats win in November it could lead to potential store unionization. The meetings focus on a piece of proposed legislation called the Employee Free Choice Act, which could make it easier for stores to unionize if it’s the wish of a simple majority of store employees. Read all the major stories on Wal-Mart’s efforts, plus reaction from Wal-Mart Watch Executive Director David Nassar.

Beyond the possible election law violations, the Washington Post and Chicago Tribune report on new toy safety legislation making its way through Congress. In addition, more legal problems for Wal-Mart - the first Salmonella-related lawsuit has been filed, and Wal-Mart is the defendant. Also, a new story in the Arkansas Business Journal describes how Wal-Mart knew of the existence of labor violations prior to the filing of the recent wage/hour class actions.

And finally, check out our “Stateside” and “Wal-Mart International” sections to find out what’s going on with Wal-Mart around the country and across the globe.

Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials

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Earlier this week, Wisconsin Public Radio hosted a discussion on state budget shortfalls, tax avoidance, and ways for states to make up lost revenue:

With the recent Wisconsin budget shortfall, lawmakers are examining ways to increase revenue. After nine, John Munson and his guests discuss the impact of corporate tax loopholes and how stopping them could help fix the state budget. Guests:
- Russ Decker, Wisconsin Senator (D-Schofield).
- Michael Mazerov, Senior Fellow, State Fiscal Project, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Washington, DC.

Check out the podcast. Wisconsin is currently one of the states that has gone after companies like Wal-Mart for avoiding corporate income tax, so the discussion is especially relevant there.

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Judge hears Wal-Mart appeal [The Olympian (Wa.)]

The 4-year legal fight over Wal-Mart’s plans to build a 187,000-square-foot store in Tumwater arrived at a Thurston County courtroom Tuesday.

Superior Court Judge Christine Pomeroy heard arguments for and against building the store at a 20.7-acre tract at 5900 Littlerock Road S.W. Pomeroy said she would issue a decision later.

The hearing was on an appeal from the citizens group Tumwater Liveable Community and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 367. The two groups are appealing a Feb. 5 Tumwater City Council decision that upholds a Dec. 19 ruling by a city hearing examiner. The examiner, after three days of testimony last year, upheld the city’s approval of the Wal-Mart site plan and its environmental review.

On Tuesday, Seattle attorney Claudia Newman, representing Tumwater Liveable Community and the union, said one of the key arguments was that the city erred in granting Wal-Mart a waiver for its tree retention law. The ordinance requires developers to retain 20 percent of trees, or 12 trees per acre, whichever is greater.

The Wal-Mart project would require more than 240 trees to be saved under those guidelines, but the city is allowing the store to save less than 100, Newman said.

She said the city failed to meet the burden of proof necessary to grant the waiver.

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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.

It looks like Wal-Mart’s been dumping dumping hazardous waste again. This time in Oklahoma.

The United States government and the State of Oklahoma filed a complaint in Federal Court on June 20, 2008, claiming that Wal-Mart, amongst other notorious companies (including “Worst Company in America 2008 nominees” Sears, American Airlines, and former nominee Halliburton), contributed hazardous waste to the Double Eagle Superfund site in Oklahoma City, OK.

“The United States and the State of Oklahoma bring this civil action under Sections 107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended (”CERCLA”), 42 U.S.C. 85 9607, and Title 27A O.S. 661-2-101, 1-3-101, and 2-3- 101 for recovery of response costs they have incurred, damages to natural resources, and declaratory relief as a result of releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances.”

Do you have a Wal-Mart near you? Wal-Mart has been charged with dumping the following chemicals into the Superfund site:

“Some of the contaminants of concern analyzed in the risk assessment included lead, arsenic, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ("’PAHs") and chlorinated hydrocarbons, heptachlor and chlordane, 1.2-dichloroethane, trichloroethylene ("TCE"), 1 ,l,l-Tetrachloroethane, 2-butanone, vinyl chloride, polychlorinated biphenyls ("PCBs"), and alkyl benzenes.”

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Appeals Court: Pullman Wal-Mart can be built [KLEW-TV (Idaho)]

A big decision over the Wal-Mart dispute in Pullman was made Tuesday. A Washington Court of Appeals sided with the City of Pullman and the Spokane Valley developer who wants to build a Wal-Mart supercenter on Bishop Boulevard.

The issue has been back and forth between various jurisdictions for some three and half years. And Tuesday the Appeals Court ruled in favor of the City and CLC Associates. The court says those two entities have followed the proper procedures and, in the case of the city, correctly evaluated the impacts of the supercenter.

The super Wal-Mart has been challenged in the courts by PARD, the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development. As of late Tuesday afternoon, PARD had not released a statement about the decision.

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Wal-Mart’s plan to drain Woodland site pending [The Daily News Online (Wash.)]

Within a few weeks, Wal-Mart expects to submit a plan to help solve drainage problems at the north end of Dike Road, where it wants to build a superstore.

No one expects the company’s proposal to completely solve the problem, and no one is stepping forward to pay for additional work, either.

Burris Creek typically floods Dike Road a few times a year where the road passes under Interstate 5 and the Burlington Northerm Santa Fe railroad tracks at the north end of town. At those times, access to the interstate is largely cut off.

A conditional use agreement with the city of Woodland requires Wal-Mart to install 900 feet of 30-inch drain lines under Dike Road to help siphon floodwaters away, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jennifer Spall said this week.

She expects a drainage report will be submitted to the diking district, city and Washington State Department of Transportation “in a few weeks.”

She declined to discuss costs or when the company will file for a building permit for the 163,000-square-foot store.

“We don’t discuss construction schedules or costs,” Spall said.

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