Wal-Mart Watch

WAL-MART WATCH is a campaign working to make Wal-Mart a better employer, neighbor and corporate citizen. Use this site to learn more about our campaign, explore the issues or read why Wal-Mart needs to change.


		Walmart: Cut Costs, Harm Others. Click here to buy our union made, union printed t-shirt.

		Wal-Mart's Wage and Hour Violations Wal-Mart is currently facing more than 80 lawsuits at various stages of the legal process. The potential financial impact of these cases and those still to come are massive,ven for a behemoth such as Wal-Mart. (PDF)

		Learn more Click here to read Debbie Shank's full story and how Wal-Mart's health care policy really impacts the company's employees.

Wal-Mart Watch to Join Efforts to Give Workers a Voice on the Job

Wal-Mart Watch, a leading critic of the nation’s largest employer and architect of an independent public education campaign to expose the truth about Wal-Mart’s business practices, announced today…
-- [Wal-Mart Watch Press Release]

AFL-CIO confident of gains

The government affairs director of the AFL-CIO said he is certain that organized labor’s top priority - a law that would make it much easier for unions to organize businesses both large and small…
-- [Washington Times]

Emanuel treads lightly on union bill during CEO gathering

Incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel tread lightly before a room full of CEOs when the subject turned to a union organizing bill that President-elect Barack Obama championed on the campaign…
-- [Raw Story]

Employment Law: The Shifting Legal Landscape

The 2009 agenda for HR professionals must assume EFCA in some form will become law. In anticipation, employers should consider auditing conditions to determine whether they would support an organizing…
-- [Human Resource Executive Online]

Opinion: Barack, attack labor abuses: Obama must crack down on wage theft

As the nation slumps into recession, one of President-elect Barack Obama’s key cabinet picks - one that could help millions of struggling Americans get on their feet economically - will be the…
-- [New York Daily News]

The Employee Free Choice Act: What’s At Stake

In 1980, the United Labor Unions set out to organize employees at Detroit fast food chains in the hopes of sparking a nationwide movement to unionize the workforce in this fast-growing industry. …
-- [Progress Illinois]

Failing Home Economics

“But when Wal-Mart released its report last week, there was a surprise. Consumers had increased their flat-screen purchases. Somehow, because Wal-Mart feels like a bargain store, shoppers who have…
-- [New York Times]

The New Frugality: Americans return to thriftiness

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. and Goodwill thrift shops are thriving, while Saks Inc. and Abercrombie & Fitch Co. are struggling. Likewise, as casual dining chains such as…
-- [Associated Press]

Wal-Mart Holds Key to Holiday Success for Dell, Hewlett-Packard

The number of consumers planning to shop for electronics at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. rose 50 percent from a year ago, according to a survey this month by ChangeWave, a market researcher in Rockville, Maryland.…
-- [Bloomberg News]

Wal-Mart in wind energy deal with Duke Energy

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Thursday that it had entered into a partnership with Duke Energy to have wind power supply up to 15 percent of its energy load for roughly 360 of its stores and facilities…
-- [Reuters]

Wal-Mart buys wind energy supply

The world’s largest retailer said Thursday that the Duke Energy farm is being built near Odessa, Texas, in the Notrees community. The farm is scheduled to start production in April, and Wal-Mart…
-- [Associated Press via Houston Chronicle]

Study shows retailers get $1B of sales tax back

Even as they struggle amid the slowing economy, some states are giving retailers back about $1 billion in sales taxes each year as reimbursement for acting as tax collectors, according to a study released…
-- [Associated Press]

Texas No. 2 in giving sales tax dollars back to retailers

Texas came second after Illinois, which allocates $126 million of sales tax revenue. Pennsylvania is third at $72 million, followed by Colorado at $68 million.
-- [Austin Business Journal (Texas)]

Report highlights states’ practice of paying retailers to turn in sales taxes

The sales taxes that Texans pay on everything from shoes to new sedans don’t all go to help pay for government services. Texas is among 26 states that let retailers keep part of the money to compensate…
-- [Austin American-Statesman (Texas)]

Holidays Could Be Good For Wal-Mart As Traffic Grows

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is seeing more customer traffic now that gas prices have come down, and the company is reducing its prices on certain foods, measures that that may portend happy holidays this year…
-- [Dow Jones Newswire via CNN Money]