Walmart is appealing to the Supreme Court the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling that the Dukes v. Walmart case can move forward as a class action lawsuit.

Dukes v. Walmart is the largest gender discrimination lawsuit in history, alleging that women who worked at Walmart were systematically given less pay and less chance at promotion due to gender. We've spoken a lot about it in the past on this blog.

According to the 9th Circuit:

Plaintiffs contend that Wal-Mart's strong, centralized structure fosters or facilitates gender stereotyping and discrimination, that the policies and practices underlying this discriminatory treatment are consistent throughout Wal-Mart stores, and that this discrimination is common to all women who work or have worked in Wal-Mart stores.

Walmart even knew they were wide open for such a lawsuit but did nothing to change their practices. Now Walmart is asking the Supreme Court to say that its one million plus female employees can't make this claim as a class action.

So maybe if Walmart had only discriminated against half a million women it wouldn't be appealing?

From what we can tell, the reason that Walmart is asking the Supreme Court to take on this case is that they do not want to be exposed to the damages might result from such a large class, up to and possible more than 1 million women. Walmart would like to have each woman bring suit individually, rather than trying to defend themselves against the allegation that there was an overall culture of discrimination.

Dukes v. Walmart is the perfect example of why we have class action lawsuits in this country: no lawyer would be able to take any one of these cases individually because the damages would be too small to devote the time needed to prove discrimination.

Walmart would like a legal system that only works for the big guys.

Walmart's second quarter earnings report this morning show that U.S. same store sales continue to slide. While profits were boosted by international sales, Walmart reported lower than expected sales growth. The company continues to have trouble expanding its customer base, while at the same time Walmart's core customers are hurting. The effect of this slowing of sales has been poor returns for shareholders.

Meanwhile Walmart managers are increasingly using cost-cutting measures in an attempt to maintain profits, and Walmart Associates are paying the price. Walmart Associates have told us that they are short staffed and department inventories are a mess. Full-time associates have been seeing their hours cut to part-time levels and a rise in part-time staff in the company as a whole. Earlier this year executives at Walmart's home office increased premiums for Associates' health care plans, which already have very high deductibles. This results in the transfer of even more costs to Associates.

This rate of return is also a poor bargain for shareholders. Walmart's goal is to be a perpetual growth stock, but this downward spiral will only lead to more sluggish sales and poorer share price performance. Over the last 12 months Walmart's stock has underperformed the stocks of unionized grocers including Safeway and Kroger, demonstrating that unionization isn't a problem for companies that have a healthy business model.

The Walmart model of low wages, poor benefits, and no job security continues to trip up the company and these missteps are seen in this quarter's returns. Walmart Associates don't have the resources needed to build positive financial growth in their own lives, and Walmart, as the nation's largest employer, puts downward pressure on wages throughout the entire economy. These practices stand in the way of a meaningful recovery both for Walmart Associates and the economy as a whole.

Join us in calling on Walmart to demand a stop to attacks on garment worker leaders in Bangladesh.

Recently we wrote about the conditions under which garment workers in Bangladesh struggled, often making as little as 11.5 cents per hour. Last week these workers began to protest when the wage increases they were seeking fell short of their demands.

The government of Bangladesh, under pressure from manufacturers, has begun systematically attacking worker rights groups, especially targeting the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS). BCWS's assets have been frozen by the government, and one of their leaders was detained and beaten by authorities.

BCWS leaders in Bangladesh are reporting persecution from manufacturers and the government. One manufacturer in particular, Nassa Global Wear, has filed suit against BCWS. The owners of Nassa, who are former high-ranking military officers, may have used their political power to pressure the government to arrest BCWS leaders. Walmart is Nassa's largest customer, purchasing an estimated 80% of the production of the company. As the largest retailer in the world, Walmart has enormous bargaining power and influence over the way their suppliers do business.

Walmart has written a letter to the Ambassador of Bangladesh to the United States, asking him to investigate the worker crackdown, but they could use their influence much more powerfully than by just writing a letter. One phone call from Walmart--either to Nassa officials or to Bangladeshi government officials--could make these human rights abuses stop.

Please join us in calling on Walmart to use the full weight of their influence to push Nassa Global Wear to stop its assualt on workers' rights.

UPDATE: Take our Online Action in support of Bengali garment workers.

Ever wonder how Walmart can sell jeans for $8 a pair? The National Labor Committee found out by going to the source: young women garment workers in Bangladesh.

UPDATE: Garment workers protested on the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh on Monday, August 2, 2010.

The Faded Glory - Women's Organic Cotton Relaxed-Fit Flared Jean is sewn in Anowara Apparels factory in Chittagong, which sells almost 100% of its production to Walmart. According to an action alert from NLC issued on July 28, 2010 and available at nlcnet.org.

These workers make the equivalent of 11½¢ an hour. They are expected to make 10 pairs of Faded Glories an hour, working out to about 1.2¢ a pair. Compare that to workers who engaged in the Bread and Roses Strike here in the US. They were making about 15¢ per hour. In 1912.

In June we encouraged Wake Up Walmart supporters to join the National Labor Committee and called on Walmart CEO Mike Duke to support a minimum wage for garment workers in Bangladesh. The letter to Duke is still available, and more than two thousand people have already signed on.

Walmart isn't willing to pay a cent or two more per pair of jeans to lift these women and thousands like them out of abject poverty.

"The wage the workers are paid, I will say, is not only insufficient, but also inhumane. It is simply impossible for [the garment workers] to even live from hand to mouth in the capital with the peanuts they get in wages." - Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

Please join us and NLC in telling Wal-Mart to support the modest 35-cent-an-hour minimum wage demand of Bangladesh's garment workers, not one cent less.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
702 SW 8th Street
Bentonville, AK 72716

Phone: 479-273-4000
Fax: 479-273-4329
Email: Mr. Rajan Kamalanathan, Vice President of Ethical Sourcing - Rajan.Kamalanathan @wal-mart.com

Let Walmart know that under no known branch of moral philosophy is this considered to be ethical:

"A few years back, I told Wal-Mart, 'Give me one cents more a piece, one cents. I will use that money for these poor people.' He says, 'No, give us two cents less.'" - Bangladeshi Factory Owner

The urban sprawl wars continue this week, as the Chicago, Illinois City Council approved the third Walmart for the windy city, and officials in Houston threw public welfare at a Walmart superstore in the Heights neighborhood of Houston.

In Chicago, the city council voted 41-4 to approve a third Walmart location: a 143,000 s.f. store in the Chatham neighborhood. On assurances that Walmart will pay its workers $8.75 an hour (25 cents above Chicago's minimum wage), the city council is now approving sprawl without even a debate.

Walmart is now scouting out as many as 20 additional locations---realizing that they better get their stores in the ground now that the political winds are behind their back, and before the windy city blows back against them.

Mayor Richard Daley, who has drunk deep the Walmart Kool-Aid, made the remarkable statement quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times this week that "No one questions Walmart in the suburban area." After all the battles and scars Walmart has suffered in suburban America, including small Illinois communities, Mayor Daley has missed the narrative, like someone who walks in at the end of Gone With the Wind and tries to recreate the plot line.

Continue reading "Urban Sprawl On the March"

On September 28, 2007, Sprawl-Busters reported that the town of Wellsville, New York was up against a Wal-Mart.

Almost three years later, all is not well in Wellsville for Wal-Mart. Even though Wal-Mart has reduced the store size by 24%---it's still not ready to go.

Wellsville promotes itself as a lovely small town in the heart of the Allegany Hills. This town, and Wellsville Village is nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, with the Genesee River flowing through it.

But the town is also looking for big malls, and says it has several properties in "Empire Zones," which allow it to give tax subsidies to developers. If a Wal-Mart ever happens in this town, it will be with public welfare subsidies.

On March 3, 2008, Sprawl-Busters noted that Wal-Mart held one of its dog and pony shows in Wellsville, but for many local residents, there were no ponies. It is common practice now for Wal-Mart to hold such public relations "open houses," where people mill around a series of posterboard displays about the proposed Wal-Mart, get to ask the engineers some informal questions, and most importantly, from Wal-Mart's perspective, sign a sheet supporting the plan. The retailer then uses that list to drum up support for public hearings on the plan later.

Continue reading "Smaller Wal-Mart Still Not Ready To Build in Wellsville, NY."

Walmart is starting to put RFID tags on items such as blue jeans and underwear. Walmart claims that these tags, which the company uses already to track shipments and pallets, will help with inventory control. But there are many privacy and security issues surrounding RFID which must be addressed.

A little background: RFID stands for Radio-frequency Identification, and when used in this context refers specifically to RFID microchips. These chips send out a short, identifiable signal, similar to a computers IP address, when scanned by an RFID reader. This signal can be uniquely identified when scanned.

RFID tags can be very, very small. They can be washable for textiles and clothing like, well, underwear and blue jeans. They already are in many things you may have on you at this moment. Got a US Passport issued after 2006? If you use public transit and have a smart card, use a credit card with a swipe option, or use a touch badge at your place of employment, you are already using some of these chips without even knowing it.

If this freaks you out, check out how to disable RFID chips (not for those who are afraid of using blunt force).

Walmart was one of the industry leaders in using RFID along its distribution network, and many companies have followed Walmart's practices. So Walmart putting RFID tags in merchandise is setting a practice that we can expect other retailers to follow.

Continue reading "Understanding Walmart's Bugging of Underwear"

As Walmart pursues expansion into major urban markets, Wake Up Walmart and the United Food and Commercial Workers have sought the opinion of local residents in DC, Philadelphia, and Baltimore to find out how they feel. The response to this poll, preformed by the respected polling firm Lake Research, was clear: Resident have clear standards and support a living wage for big box retailers.

Specifically, people want career jobs in their communities that pay a living wage and provide benefits - not low-wage jobs that cannot support a family.

Residents in these areas were read conditions a large supercenter retailer would have to meet and asked if they would support legislation making certain requirements of these retailers. Specifically the poll asked if residents agreed to the following statement:

The zoning and building for a new big box retail store would be approved only if the company agrees to:

• Pay a minimum wage of at least $12 an hour for entry-level employees and only pay less if they provide quality, affordable health care
• Designate at least 75% of jobs to full-time positions and commit to recruiting and hiring workers from the local community
• And reinvest a portion of any local tax breaks they receive into charities and community organizations in the surrounding neighborhoods.

In all three cities, residents supported a law that would impose these conditions very strongly.

Residents were then given a pitch similar to the one that Walmart gives when entering a community to see if their opinions changed. Even after hearing these messages support was very strong.

In DC, 74% of respondents supported these standards for large retailers, with 54% reporting that they strongly supported the idea (in darker blue).

Continue reading "Poll: DC, Baltimore and Philly Residents Support a Living Wage"

On April 15, 2009, Sprawl-Busters reported that a proposed Wal-Mart supercenter in Massachusetts had been thrown into a deep freeze.

A rival grocery chain store, the Demoulas Super Markets Inc. of Tewksbury, Massachusetts, the parent company of Market Basket supermarkets, had taken Wal-Mart to court over a proposal superstore in Raynham, Massachusetts. Demoulas is the owner of the Market Basket Plaza on Route 138 in Raynham, Massachusetts. Demoulas filed their lawsuit in May of 2005, naming the Raynham Planning Board and Wal-Mart as defendants.

Demoulas challenged the legality of a Planning Board vote made on May 2, 2005 to grant Wal-Mart a special permit, paving the way for a 208,622-s.f. superstore at the former Par 3 golf course, located next to the Market Basket Plaza, close to the Taunton, Massachusetts line. Demoulas charged that the Planning Board made its decision without full review of plans and without proper consideration of the impact of increased traffic on area roads.

Demoulas sought to overturn a decision by the Planning Board to accept a subdivision and a site plan under one heading, after waiving a review of the subdivision plan. Demoulas said the board failed to fully consider evidence during the public hearing phase of the project.

Continue reading "After 5 Year Legal Battle, Wal-Mart Is Still Not Building in Raynham, MA."

Thanks to Baltimore City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, Baltimore may soon have a new living wage law for major retailers.

On July 22, the Labor Subcommittee of the Baltimore City Council will vote on an ordinance that would require such large retailers to pay their hourly employees the Baltimore City living wage (currently $10.57). Large retailers could pay up to $2 less than the living wage if their employees receive benefits worth up to $2 per hour.

Walmart has one store in Baltimore already, and hopes to build another in the Remington neighborhood. Walmart has gone on the record as opposing this bill and at a community meeting on May 26, 2010 a representative from Walmart deflected questions from the community about what a starting wage at Walmart in Baltimore actually was.

BmoreLocal, a community group, has been working to promote smart development, good jobs and healthy neighborhoods in Baltimore.

If you live in Baltimore (and please, only if you live in the area), click here to send a email to Labor Subcommittee Chair Warren Branch asking for his support of this bill.