From today's Washington Post:

It's a Thursday morning in a downtown office building on K Street. Five staffers are fielding phone calls, soliciting help, blogging and brainstorming. Handmade posters are taped to drab walls, tracking their plans and progress. White boards are scribbled on, erased and scribbled on some more. Boxes sit unpacked. Dating lives have been put on hold. There are no plans for a summer vacation. Weekend rest is fleeting.

In other words, not much has changed since these staffers were with the Howard Dean, Wesley K. Clark and John F. Kerry presidential campaigns. But this time, they are trying to win one for the Wal-Mart workers.

Their group is the latest manifestation of the ongoing campaign to change Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation's largest private employer. After years of failed attempts to help Wal-Mart workers organize a union, leaders of the United Food and Commercial Workers are trying an Internet-oriented approach developed in recent failed presidential campaigns.

Entire article available here.

From Knight Ridder:

BOWIE, Md. - (KRT) - Lou Ann Holderness shops at Wal-Mart for the low prices. Like millions of Americans, she's indifferent to accusations that China manipulates its currency to make Chinese-made goods sold by U.S. retailers artificially cheap.

"I just buy. Isn't that terrible?" she said sheepishly, heading into a Wal-Mart store in the Washington suburb of Bowie. "I keep an eye out for bargains."

The Bush administration and Congress may take the bargain out of such bargain shopping. Congress threatens trade penalties of up to 27.5 percent on everything China exports to the United States unless Beijing revalues its currency. The administration is warning China that it must take action soon or face rising protectionism in the United States. Any penalties imposed on China could punish Wal-Mart and American consumers, too.

Here's how. Wal-Mart is the nation's largest retailer. Wal-Mart officials in China frequently boast that if the retailer were a country, it would be China's eighth-largest trading partner. Last year, Wal-Mart accounted for nearly 10 percent of the $197 billion in U.S. imports from China.

The entire article is available here.

From This Week (OH):

Liberty Township-Powell Neighborhood Watch Foundation is celebrating a May 19 magistrate's ruling that the group can be a party to the federal lawsuit over a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Magistrate Judge Norah McCann King of the U.S. District Court -- Southern District of Ohio wrote that the foundation "is entitled to intervene ... when it demonstrates a legal interest in the subject matter of the pending action, establishes that disposition of the action may impair or impede its ability to protect that legal interest, and demonstrates that the existing parties to the action cannot adequately protect the proposed intervenor's interest."

Full article available here.

From Liza Featherstone's piece in The Nation yesterday:

Wal-Mart is famous for trying to circumvent local zoning regulations, but in Dunkirk, Maryland, the retailer got particularly creative. The small hamlet had a rule against stores larger than 75,000 feet--so the company proposed to build two Wal-Mart stores side by side. Fortunately, this bit of Amelia Bedelia literalism was emphatically rejected by a community outcry, and Wal-Mart backed down last week.

To read the full article, click here.

Big box stores like Wal-Mart cost us all in lots of ways: more traffic, water pollution, flooding and fewer family-supporting jobs. But one thing really hits in the checkbook--higher taxes to subsidize their health insurance. It really bugs us to learn that billions of tax money goes to make the richest company in the world, Wal-Mart, even richer. That’s just wrong that these rich companies are mooching on Medicaid and taking health care from those who need it the most.

We learned that Wal-Mart had the most employees and families on BadgerCare, Wisconsin’s Medicaid program for low-income working families with children, costing state taxpayer almost $5 million a year.

This is a problem across the country. U.S. taxpayers pay $2.5 billion subsidizing Wal-Mart’s Medicaid costs and other federal subsidies, one-fourth of Wal-Mart’s $10 billion in profits last year.

Now we are all for free enterprise, but some companies think this means a free ride on the taxpayers’ dime. That’s just wrong.

With billion dollar state budget and $400 billion federal budget deficit, state legislatures and Congress should recover Wal-Mart and other wealthy companies’ health subsidies. Having taxpayers pay for Wal-Mart’s health care costs makes no sense when Medicaid is $2 billion in the hole and is being attacked by the Republicans across the country.

We should reform this corporate welfare. The Bush Administration is making it worse by trying to cut Medicaid payments to states by $6 billion a year.

We all deserve health care and need to direct our scarce health dollars to the one-in-five American whose can’t afford any health insurance. These Medicaid dollars were never intended to subsidize Wal-Mart and other greedy companies’ profits. Wal-Mart’s mooches on Medicaid in 14 states, according to Good Jobs First.

There is a better way. Other legislatures are requiring Wal-Mart and other large corporations to spend more on health care for workers. For example, earlier this month the Maryland legislature passed a bill known as the “Fair Share Health Care Bill,” which mandates that Wal-Mart spend at least 8 percent of its Maryland payroll on health care. Unfortunately, Governor Erhlich vetoed this measure. One report has Wal-Mart officials lobbying him. (From David Sirota)

You can check and see what the Wal-Mart subsidy is in your state by going to Good Jobs First report on Wal-Mart's mooching on Medicaid across the country. In Georgia, Wal-Mart had more employees on state-funded health programs than any other major employer in the state. Good Jobs First showed Wal-Mart is the top recipient of Medicaid in 13 of 14 states, for more click here. If your state is not listed, call your state’s Medicaid administrator and ask for the information.

When Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott was asked why so many of his employees were on Medicaid, he said "in many states the public program is a better value". Better value for him, but a raw deal taxpayers.

More than 50% of Wal-Mart’s 1.2 million workers nationwide do not have health insurance coverage and the monthly premiums for employees who elect family coverage run as high as $3,000 per month. This has prompted other states, including Wisconsin, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, to consider “Fair Share Health Care” bills of their own.

Check in with your state’s health care coalition. We can all be asking wealthy companies like Wal-Mart to pay their fair share for health care. That means you and I won’t have to, and we can spend more tax money on helping the truly needy. They should stop mooching on Medicaid.

If we all work together, we can have health care for all and stop Medicaid mooching.

By Brett Hulsey and Darcy Haber

Dane County Supervisor Brett Hulsey is vice chairman of the Personnel and Finance Committee, and Darcy Haber is health care campaign director for Wisconsin Citizen Action.

From today's Philadelphia Daily News:

WHEN WAL-MART descends upon a city or region, it promises two things people desperately want these days: jobs, and low-priced merchandise.

Wal-Mart makes good on those promises. It employs 1.2 million in the United States alone; and one is hard-pressed to name another store that sells trash cans or paper towels for less.

But Wal-Mart has satiated consumer wants on the backs of their employees - and taxpayers.

For full article, click here.

In today's Chicago Tribune, Lee Scott has an ironic take on the use of foreign products:

"Getting a hybrid is probably also a good way to send a message to the kids. I love the idea of emission control, and I just hate dependence on foreign oil.

"I don't think importing towels is extraordinarily dangerous," maintains Scott, whose company is criticized for stocking too many foreign goods.

"But I do think our dependence on foreign oil and the impact it has on our economy is something we have to come to terms with," he added.

So foreign oil is bad, but Wal-Mart's importation of foreign goods (according to PBS Frontline, about 60% of Wal-Mart's total merchandise was imported in 2004) is OK. It's interesting to note that while high oil prices have negatively affected Wal-Mart's sales, the low costs of merchandise imported from countries like China and India help Wal-Mart's bottom line. I wonder what is driving Lee Scott – a concern for America or his bank account?

From today's Wall Street Journal:

Jared Bowen, a former vice president of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., filed a complaint with the U.S. Labor Department alleging the retailer violated federal whistle-blower rules in firing him.

Mr. Bowen, 31 years old, gave Wal-Mart information that helped the company investigate Thomas Coughlin, who resigned as vice chairman of Wal-Mart in January but had been expected to fill out his board term until June. The company said Mr. Coughlin conducted a scheme to defraud Wal-Mart of as much as $500,000 through expense-account abuses and false invoices to obtain reimbursements. The board asked Mr. Coughlin to resign as a director on March 25.

See text of full article here.

The blogosphere is taking on Walmart in Cleveland. NoClevelandWalmart.org was launched this weekend, in response to a secret deal between Mayor Jane Campbell and the developer of Steelyard Commons.

Walmart’s secret involvement in Steelyard Commons, a planned big box retail development near downtown on the site of the oldest steel mill in Cleveland, was thought to have been prevented in February, 2005. Walmart’s first superstore in the city limits of Cleveland was opposed by the local councilman, the city council, local residents, the local AFL-CIO, as well as many local businessmen and other developers, and especially the Northeast Ohio blogosphere.

A group of local bloggers has set a “No Cleveland WAL-MART” organizational meeting for 7 p.m. this Wednesday, May 25, at the Treehouse, 820 College Ave. in Tremont. The goal is to drum up opposition for the revived plan to put a Wal-Mart supercenter at the proposed Steelyard Commons development in the Flats."

- The NoClevelandWalmart.org team

From the Concord (NH) Monitor:

The health-care system has become much like an old spin-the-plates comedy act out of vaudeville. In this version, the elegantly dressed star never appears to notice that most of the plates fall, only to be caught by the frantic assistant. The incompetent star is the private and public insurance system that covers a shrinking number of Americans. The nearly exhausted assistant is Medicaid, the joint federal-state program whose costs threaten to bankrupt state governments.

Nationally, 70 percent of the 45 million Americans who lack health insurance either work full-time or are the dependents of someone who does. According to a study done by the state Department of Health and Human Services, about half of the 70,000 children enrolled in one of Medicaid's Healthy Kids insurance programs have a parent or parents who work full- or part-time for an employer that does not provide health insurance.

It costs $2,200 per year to cover each child in the Healthy Kids program. Since parents who can afford to do so pay a premium based on their income, it's not easy to say how much the state would save if the parents had employer-based coverage. But the cost to taxpayers runs into the millions -perhaps tens of millions.

The state's study found that the employer with the greatest number of workers with children on Medicaid is, as you might guess, Wal-Mart, the nation's largest employer. In New Hampshire, 487 of its 8,500 workers have children enrolled in the program.

According to the Associated Press, 22 percent of the employers with workers with children on Medicaid are in retail, one of the state's fastest growing job sectors. Health-care providers come in second at 16 percent, followed by service sector companies, 15 percent, and state and local government, 10 percent.

The availability of taxpayer-subsidized health insurance gives employers an incentive not offer it. No company has been more often accused of shifting health-care costs to taxpayers than Wal-Mart. Thanks to low wages, coverage that's more expensive than its employees can afford and long waiting periods for eligibility, this company insures fewer than half its workers. By comparison, Wal-Mart's major rival nationally, Costco - a company founded on a belief in social responsibility - insures roughly 96 percent of its employees.

For years, the drive to avoid health-care costs has led employers to hire more part-time workers, including people who work just a few hours per week short of what would qualify them as full-time. Even state and local governments have sometimes fallen to this temptation.

Most states are taking steps to rein in Medicaid costs. Nearly a dozen are trying to pass laws to force large companies to cover more of their workers, but the effectiveness of that approach is doubtful. Maryland's legislature recently passed a bill that would require very large employers - large enough that the bill affected only Wal-Mart - to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health care for workers. Last week, Maryland's governor vetoed the bill.

States are tightening eligibility requirements, requiring higher premiums from Medicaid recipients and taking other steps to reduce Medicaid rolls. Since it costs taxpayers far more in the long run when children do not receive adequate health care, such measures are counterproductive.

Nor, we believe, will attempts to force some but not all employers to insure their workers succeed. The competitive advantage of not providing health care is great and growing.

In the end, the health-care problem will have to be addressed not by beating up employers or encouraging a system that creates 30-hour-per-week jobs. It could be solved if businesses band together to force political leaders to put real and lasting solutions on the table for discussion.

At his "veto celebration" yesterday, Gov. Ehrlich was joined by many supporters, including Wal-Mart COO Eduardo Castro-Wright. Instead of being ashamed of their decision to choose tax subsidies for a multi-billion dollar corporation over health care for working families and their children, these supporters, including Castro-Wright, were laughing at it all.

Governor Ehrlich signing the bill, backed by people laughing and smiling:

Eduardo Castro-Wright laughing as he addresses the crowd:

At an Executive Club Luncheon Meeting at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scottsang the praises of what will be that city’s first Wal-Mart:

When this Wal-Mart store gets located here in Chicago, it will be a local store. It will contribute sales tax to the local community; it will contribute back to the community in charitable causes.

What Mr. Scott doesn’t seem to recognize is that a store in a particular locale is not the same as a local store.

A local store won’t buy from manufacturers in developing countries whose workers labor under sweatshop conditions.

A local store doesn’t demand tax breaks in order to build in the first place.

A local store doesn’t have the power to shake down its suppliers.

A local store doesn’t leave hundreds of abandoned buildings once its existing quarters are deemed too small because of the interests of stockholders who want faster growth.

Local stores take local zoning laws seriously and don’t fund elections to try to have them overturned.

A local store advertises in the local newspaper.

A local store does not send all the sales receipts back to Bentonville, Arkansas every night unless it’s located in Bentonville, Arkansas.

A local store sees its tax payments as an obligation to the community, not a selling point for the store.

Lastly, and most importantly, a local store doesn’t build where it’s not wanted.

- Jonathan

Despite your calls to do otherwise, Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich has just vetoed the "Fair Share Health Care" bill, essentially saying no to health care for working families and yes to tax subsidies for multi-billion dollar corporations.

Express your disappointment by sending Gov. Ehrlich an email:

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/feature/write-to-mdgov.html

Wake-Up Wal-Mart's reaction to Gov. Ehrlich's veto:

Governor Ehrlich's veto of the "Fair Share Health Care" bill today sends a clear message to all of Maryland - you and your families should pay for Wal-Mart’s health care, not Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart's exploitation of public health programs, like Medicaid, is morally bankrupt. There are 4 corporations with more than 10,000 employees in Maryland, but Wal-Mart is the only one who fails to pay its fair share for health care.

With over $10 billion in profits, Wal-Mart should be embarrassed by how little it spends on health care in Maryland and across the nation. But instead of being ashamed, Wal-Mart sees its abuse of taxpayers as a badge of honor and even threatens to hold Maryland jobs hostage which is all but extortion.

We can only hope Wal-Mart's act of greed and arrogance will be a wake-up call to taxpayers and citizens that Wal-Mart would rather abuse the system than do what is right.

As of 9:00 a.m. EST this morning, over 2,500 of you have sent letters to Maryland Gov. Ehrlich, urging him not to veto the health care of children and working families. Stay tuned for his announcement today around noon EST.

From The Motley Fool:

Wal-Mart's biggest problem these days is bad PR: alleged immigrations violations with its cleaning crews, the perception of low wages, and, of course, the old "putting Mom and Pop out of business" bugaboo. All of this has added up to one big, bad reputation. So bad that the firm organized a recent feel-good campaign, but unfortunately, a few bad deeds carry a lot more water than Wal-Mart's current cures. [...] This is all a long-winded introduction to what might be a glimmer of hope. This week, Wal-Mart announced that it was dropping its spiteful plans to skirt zoning regulations in Dunkirk, Maryland, by opening two entirely separate stores. The side-by-side operation it had proposed was the first of its kind, and was simply a way to get around the county's 75,000-square-foot limit for a single retail store.

According to remarks published in The Washington Post, Wal-Mart said its reconsideration was a direct response to "community outcry." That's a start.

YOU are making Wal-Mart wake up. Over 20,000 of you signed a giant Mother's Day card that was sent to Lee Scott, telling him that we do not support Wal-Mart's record of gender discrimination. Then thousands of you demanded that Wal-Mart apologize for using a Nazi image in an advertisement. And Wal-Mart apologized. It is clear that together, we can make a difference. Ask your friends to add their voice to our campaign today.

Link to full article is here.

From today's Philly Inquirer:

With fewer Americans covered by health care at their workplace, the legions of Wal-Mart workers in their blue, "How May I Help You?" vests are on the cutting edge of an unsettling trend.

Generous employer-based health insurance is fading, if not failing. Health-care experts have declared the system broken. But not enough state or federal policymakers have championed a plausible replacement.

And what would an alternative to workplace health insurance look like? Answer: a government system that ensures (not provides, necessarily, just ensures) health care for all.

Not only would such a system remedy shrinking access to health insurance for working- and middle-class families. It also would address spiraling health-care costs that make health plans less affordable as an employee benefit, particularly in a globally competitive economy.

Link to complete article is here.

From 5:00 p.m. EST yesterday to 9:00 a.m. EST today, you have generated over 1,500 emails to Maryland Governor Ehrlich, urging him to say yes to health care and no to tax subsidies for multi-billion dollar corporations. That is very impressive, and I'm sure has the Governor thinking.

Keep the heat on -- Gov. Ehrlich is set to veto the Fair Share Health Care bill tomorrow. If you haven't sent him an email, please read more about the bill and send one now at:

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/feature/write-to-mdgov.html

If you have already signed, make sure to pass this on to all of your friends.

This Thursday, Maryland Governor Ehrlich is going to hold a "ceremony" celebrating a veto of the "Fair Share Health Care" bill.

The "Fair Share Health Care" bill requires large corporations, like Wal-Mart, to pay their fair share of their workers health care. Maryland has 4 corporations with more than 10,000 employees, yet only one does not pay their fair share for health care.

That's right - only one! Wal-Mart is the only company not to pay its fair share for health care. No wonder so many of Wal-Mart's employees have to rely on taxpayer funded public assistance for health care.

Help us tell Governor Ehrlich don't veto healthcare, make Wal-Mart pay its fair share:

Send an email using this form

or

Call Gov. Ehrlich at 1.800.811.8336

When the Jonquiere Wal-Mart closed because workers voted for Union representation, a group of protestors had a message for Wal-Mart:

From today's Washington Post:

Wal-Mart has abandoned plans for a controversial pair of side-by-side stores in Calvert County designed to skirt a local zoning ordinance limiting the size of big-box retail outlets.

The Bentonville, Ark.-based company said it was scrapping the unconventional proposal, which it had called one of the first arrangements of its kind in the country, in the face of widespread opposition from residents and elected officials.

Continue reading here.

Source: just-style.com

US retail giant Wal-Mart says it plans to expand its retail and export operations in China in 2005, with up to 15 store openings and Chinese exports worth $18 billion anticipated, AFX News reported.

Wal-Mart, which last week reported first-quarter results below expectations, buys footwear, toys and seasonal merchandise from China, making it the company’s ‘largest export country’, chief executive John Menzer was quoted as saying.

John Menzer said that Wal-Mart expected 12-15 store openings in China in 2005, but added that the nation was not really developed for chain stores and brands.

Send a letter to ABC News now, calling For them to drop Wal-Mart as "Only In America" sponsor:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/abcnews

From the Altus Times in Altus, OK:

Over the last two decades, Wal-Mart has marched through communities like Jackson County, Ga., and Jackson County, Oklahoma, putting many small businesses out of business. These were businesses that were part of the daily life of Altus and Jefferson, Ga., the county seat of Jackson County. These businesses were run by locals, employed locals, were covered by local newspapers and, yes, bought advertising in local media.

Then came the Arkansas equivalent of Gen. Sherman, putting mom and pop out of business and turning its nose up at local media. And it wasn't just a matter of advertising. If someone got involved in a fender bender in the Wal-Mart parking lot, employees and managers were absolutely forbidden to speak to a reporter...All reporters are to be referred to the Wal-Mart Media Office, which evidently hires people based on their ability to talk without saying anything.

Full article, which goes on to describe a letter written back to Lee Scott about abuse of local newspapers, is available here.

From today's Philadelphia Inquirer:

But critics say the jobs have come with a hidden cost: An unusually high percentage of Wal-Mart workers do not have company-paid health insurance, leaving them to rely on taxpayer-subsidized care. [...] The bill would require Pennsylvania companies with 20 or more employees to issue annual reports stating how many of them are receiving Medical Assistance. The bill is the first step, sponsors say, toward mandating that large companies pay their fair share of health-care costs.

"Wal-Mart is the most notorious abuser of Medical Assistance programs nationwide based on states that have done studies," said Rep. Mike Veon (D., Beaver), a cosponsor of the bill. "We need to find a way to encourage or require employers to provide affordable health-care insurance."

Entire article available here.

Soon after thousands of you signed the petition calling on Lee Scott to renounce the Wal-Mart ad that used Nazi imagery, Wal-Mart issued an apology. Your collective voices were loud enough for Wal-Mart, the giant, to hear:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is apologizing for a newspaper ad featuring a photo of a book-burning in Nazi-era Germany. The ad was published in a northern Arizona newspaper by a political action committee the company helped fund.

The company was writing an apology letter Friday to the Anti-Defamation League in Arizona and will run an apology ad this weekend in Flagstaff's Arizona Daily Sun, which carried the original ad, said Daphne Moore, director of community affairs for Wal-Mart.

"It was a terrible mistake and one that we sincerely regret," Moore said.

The ad ran as part of a campaign opposing an ordinance that would effectively prevent Wal-Mart from opening a supercenter in Flagstaff. The ordinance was passed by the Flagstaff City Council but voters are being asked to ratify it.

The ad showed a historic photo of people throwing books into a large fire. A swastika is clearly visible near the center of the photo.

The text below it reads: "Should we let government tell us what we can read?"

It says it was paid for by Protect Flagstaff's Future, the political action committee, with "major funding" by Wal-Mart.

Moore said the ad was prepared by an outside agency but reviewed and approved by Wal-Mart. "Whoever the individual who approved it was, was not aware of the historical context of the picture," she said.

The company apologized after receiving complaints from members of the public and the ADL.

HighGround Inc., the Phoenix company that prepared the ad, and the political action committee are also apologizing for the use of the photo, said HighGround President Charles Coughlin.

Bill Straus, Arizona regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, said the use of the image was clearly a mistake.

"I think all parties involved understand that a mistake was made," Straus said. "They understand the impact of it and they understand the importance of doing everything they can to follow up, and that includes an apology for any offense, although unintended, that was taken."

Yesterday, Wal-Mart spokesman Peter Kanelos’ was quoted in the Arizona Sun Daily denying Wal-Mart knew about the Nazi image paid for by their campaign group Protect Flagstaff.

But now, Bloomberg News is reporting that Chuck Coughlin, the consultant to the Wal-Mart campaign group and the designer of the ad, said that Wal-Mart “reviewed all the ads before they ran…They (Wal-Mart) did not raise an objection.”

Here is the quote from yesterday’s Arizona Daily Sun, “Campaign involvement was not part of the equation, he (Kanelos) said, adding that Wal-Mart's involvement is merely funding, and the corporation doesn't participate at a grassroots level. Because of this, Kanelos is unaware of the controversial campaign ads or whether Wal-Mart would support a campaign that used them. ‘I can't comment on the ad. I haven't seen it,’ he said. ‘We donate to the campaign committee’."

Which one is it Wal-Mart?

And when is Wal-Mart going to denounce the Nazi imagery used by a campaign group it funds and apologize?

The following letter was sent today from Paul Blank, Campaign Director of WakeUpWalMart.com to Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart:

Lee Scott, CEO
Wal-Mart, Inc.
Bentonville, AR

Dear Mr. Scott

I can’t express to you my profound shock and disappointment that Wal-Mart is bankrolling a group in Arizona running an advertisement using Nazi images to depict their opposition. This is outrageous, degrades the sacrifices that were made to end Nazism and must be immediately condemned by you and your company.

As you well know, recently, the world celebrated the end of the Second World War and the demise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. The brutality and viciousness of this regime has no modern parallel. To this very day, countless numbers of Americans and people around the world suffer from the memories of Nazism. I think you will agree with me, there is never a justification for any group to use the evil imageries of Nazism to push a political or corporate agenda.

It is frighteningly un-American to use Nazi images in an attempt to demonize those who oppose Wal-Mart and the negative effects this company has had on our communities and the nation.

I urge Wal-Mart to immediately end the company’s support for this group and its media campaign. You must publicly condemn this group and you should offer a public apology on behalf of Wal-Mart making clear you would never support – directly or indirectly – a media campaign that uses Nazi imagery.

Mr. Scott, I urge you to do the right thing.

Yours truly,

Paul Blank
WakeUpWalmart.com
Campaign Director

Click the image below to see the advertisement.

CNBC's 'Closing Bell' wants to know what you think.

Vote now by clicking here.

From an article by Paul Krugman in today's New York Times:

In 1968, when General Motors was a widely emulated icon of American business, many of its workers were lifetime employees. On average, they earned about $29,000 a year in today's dollars, a solidly middle-class income at the time. They also had generous health and retirement benefits.

Since then, America has grown much richer, but American workers have become far less secure.

Today, Wal-Mart is America's largest corporation. Like G.M. in its prime, it has become a widely emulated business icon. But there the resemblance ends.

The average full-time Wal-Mart employee is paid only about $17,000 a year. The company's health care plan covers fewer than half of its workers.

True, not everyone is badly paid. In 1968, the head of General Motors received about $4 million in today's dollars - and that was considered extravagant. But last year Scott Lee Jr., Wal-Mart's chief executive, was paid $17.5 million. That is, every two weeks Mr. Lee was paid about as much as his average employee will earn in a lifetime.

Entire article available here.

Just released from the office of Rep. Rosa DeLauro:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Amid reports of pay inequality and a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 1.5 million current and former female Wal-Mart employees - the largest in history - over fifty members of Congress led by U.S. Representative Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) today requested Wal-Mart release its wage statistics to Congress. In a letter to CEO Lee Scott, the members said they sought the information "to further understand why Wal-Mart pays its women associates less than men and promotes its female workers less frequently than their male counterparts."

Almost 700,000 women work for Wal-Mart - nearly three-quarters of the company's workforce - and on average earn higher performance ratings than men and stay with the company longer. Yet women account for only a third of the company's managers - only 15 percent of store managers. In comparable positions, Wal-Mart pays its female hourly workers 40 cents less per hour than their male counterparts, with female managers earning nearly $5,000 per year less than managers who are men.

"This is part of a public education campaign to familiarize a public that knows Wal-Mart the retailer with the practices of Wal-Mart the employer - the largest employer in the country," said DeLauro. "Our nation's largest employer is the single most influential corporation in the world right now. We need to make sure it is a responsible corporate citizen."

The full text of the letter follows.

May 12, 2005

Lee Scott, CEO
Walmart
7000 Marina Boulevard
Birsbane, CA 04005

Dear Mr. Scott,

We are writing to bring to your attention an ongoing matter involving Wal-Mart and its policy regarding gender discrimination. As you know, pay inequity is a serious issue in the United States, with women still earning only 76 cents for every dollar that a man earns. That is why it is of great concern to us that Wal-Mart, America's largest employer, does not pay its women the same wage as men for the same work.

A recent analysis of Wal-Mart's own payroll record conducted by Professor Richard Drogin, Professor Emeritus at University of California, Berkeley, showed that Wal-Mart paid its female hourly workers 40 cents less per hour than their male counterparts, with female managers earning nearly $5,000 per year less than managers who were men. In addition, while women comprise 72 percent of your workforce, almost 700,000 overall, women only account for a third of your managers and only 15 percent of your store managers - this, despite the fact that your female employees, on average, earn higher performance ratings than men and turnover less frequently.

In view of this, we would ask Wal-Mart to disclose its wage statistics for congressional review, including any documents submitted to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In doing so, we seek to further understand why Wal-Mart pays its women associates less than men and promotes its female workers less frequently than their male counterparts.

We welcome your new commitment to begin a national discussion about Wal-Mart's business practices; certainly, as the nation's wealthiest and largest employer and largest company, Wal-Mart has a unique role and responsibility to do the right thing and set the best standard for America. But it remains unacceptable for any employer, much less our nation's largest, to discriminate against its women workers. We would urge you to take a personal interest and active role in resolving this issue as soon as possible.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Rosa L. DeLauro
George Miller
Hilda Solis
Anna Eshoo
Barbara Lee
Rush Holt
Jim McDermott
Frank Pallone
Raul Grijalva
John Conyers, Jr.
Anthony Weiner
Carolyn Maloney
Tom Lantos
Bernie Sanders
Peter DeFazio
Joe Baca
Sam Farr
Neil Abercrombie
Rahm Emanuel
James McGovern
Carolyn McCarthy
Eddie Bernice Johnson
Linda Sanchez
Robert Wexler
Corrine Brown
Mike Honda
Louise Slaughter
Jan Schakowsky
Brian Higgins
Dennis Kucinich
Robert Brady
Shelley Berkley
Debbie Wasserman- Schultz
Lane Evans
Madeleine Bordallo
Lois Capps
Gwen Moore
Bob Filner
Bill Pascrell
Elijah Cummings
John Tierney
Sherrod Brown
Jerrold Nadler
Ed Markey
Zoe Lofgren
Stephen Lynch
Eleanor Holmes Norton
John Olver
Barney Frank
Betty McCollum
Michael Capuano

From CampusProgress.org:

1. Wal-Mart regularly violates federal law and flouts international human rights standards.

2. Wal-Mart regularly falls below industry standards for employee pay.

3. Wal-Mart has made the glass ceiling wider and thicker than ever before.

4. Wal-Mart sometimes doesn’t even pay its low wages at all.

5. Wal-Mart routinely makes health care unavailable or unaffordable for its employees.

Link to full article here.

From India's Business Standard:

Wal-Mart, the $56 billion global retail chain, plans to increase sourcing from India by 30 per cent. The company currently sources $1.2 billion worth of goods from India, mainly leather, apparels, textiles, home furnishing and jewellery. It is exploring the food sector and has set sights on commodity items, such as spices, rice, tea and sea foods, to increase its sourcing.

"The foods sector is an area which we have not yet tapped to its full potential from here and we will focus on this in the near future," he said. The $1.2 billion sourcing from India pales in comparison with the $18 billion worth of goods the multinational sources from China.

Today, our own Paul Blank will be among many esteemed speakers discussing Wal-Mart at the "Reclaiming Economic Development II" Conference, hosted by Good Jobs First. The conference is a gathering of hundreds of community leaders from around the country.

Among the topics being discussed at the conference today are:

* Medicaid/SCHIP and Wal-Mart
* The New Fight
* Wal-Mart Week
* Non-sprawl environmental issues and Wal- Mart's emerging "greenwashing" strategy
* Odd bedfellows and small business groups opposed to Wal-Mart

For more on this conference, see the Good Jobs First website.

We just went over 21,000 (21,044)! Pledge signatures came in last night from Bend, Oregon, Las Vegas, Nevada, Kansas City, Missouri and Indianapolis, Indiana.

Even more reports from the "Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart" Day of Action should be arriving today. We may hit the 22,000 mark. Amazing.

Community activists Peggy, Allen and Dylan reported in their Day of Action numbers from the weekend. They signed up 31 supporters Saturday in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak.

With their 31 pledges, we just went over our goal of 20,000. Their pledges put us at 20,003. After more faxes from across the country, our final pledge count was 21,788!

We did it.

With small groups of people like Peggy, Allen and Dylan on a busy street corner in Royal Oak, Michigan, we can change the largest company in the world.

With community leaders like Theondra — who organized a local group of Democracy for America volunteers in Clarksburg, West Virginia who signed up 225 supporters — we will be successful.

Here are the final "Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart" numbers from communities across the country:

Cherry Hill, New Jersey action: 993
Clarksburg, WV action: 225
Mayview, MO action: 2
Seattle, WA actions (2): 795
Seattle, WA Working America canvass: 87
Portland, OR Working America canvass: 168
Washington, D.C. action with Working America Virginia: 711
Atlantic City, NJ action: 12
St. Louis, MO Working America action: 77
Buena Park, CA action: 83
Sacramento, CA action: 156
Royal Oak, MI action: 31
Detroit, MI action: 12
Columbus, OH action: 853
Toledo, OH actio: 61
Cleveland, OH action: 158
Albuquerque, NM action: 576
Kansas City, MO action: 336
Wheat Ridge, CO action: 518
Milwaukee, WI action: 132
Milwaukee< WI and Oshkosh, WI action: 129
South St. Paul, MN action: 203
Lexington, MA action: 12
Tacoma, WA action: 425
Bend, OR action: 12
Coos Bay, Eugene, Portland, OR actions: 200
Las Vegas, NV action: 46
Indianapolis, IN action: 331
Houston, TX action: 69
Portland, OR Convention Center action: 1,554
Call ins: 15
Canadian Pledges: 57
Online signatures: 12,769


Total: 21,788

Congratulations on all of your hard work. The "Mother of All Mother's Day" cards is being sent to Wal-Mart's CEO Lee Scott right now with all of our Mother's Day pledges.

Well, I just came back from a great “Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart” action in Washington, DC and realized that I needed to add paper to the fax because we had received so many sign-up sheets from across the country.

Already today, we have 576 pledges from Albuquerque, New Mexico, 708 from Seattle, Washington, 492 from Wheat Ridge, Colorado, 336 from Kansas City, Missouri, 300 from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, 132 from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 84 from Houston, Texas, 96 from Cincinnati, Ohio, 48 from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and 57 from Canada!

We have about 2,000 pledges left to reach our goal, and the faxes and emails are still coming in. We even got a fax from a woman in Illinois who does not have a computer. The fax simply said: “Please include my name on the Mother’s Day Pledge to Wal-Mart. I agree with this campaign with all my heart.”

Reading that fax and working with the 20 volunteers at the Farmer’s Market today made me feel proud of all this campaign has accomplished in a few short weeks. In a few more hours, we will hit our “Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart” goal because people have taken this campaign to the streets.

Jeremy

There were about 20 grassroots volunteers today at Eastern Market in Washington, D.C., talking to people about the "Love Mom, not Wal-Mart" campaign, and having people sign the pledge.

Over 700 supporters joined our campaign and added their name to the pledge, and the "Mother of all Mother's Day Cards" was a huge success, so much so that there is almost no more room left on the card for people to sign.

We will keep you updated as the numbers come in from the other events that were held all over the country today.

Here’s a small story out of St. Louis that tells you a lot about the way Wal-Mart operates:

A state appeals court has ordered Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to pay legal fees for [Linda Monroe,] a former worker who sued after injuring herself stocking 50-pound sacks of dog food.

The court called the company's previous delay in covering her medical costs “egregious and outrageous.”...

“The problem here is that it's now 2005, and we've still got to wait for another hearing to get some compensation,” Damick said….
After years of legal challenges, Wal-Mart paid Monroe's medical expenses in August after the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission upheld an administrative judge's 2003 finding that Monroe deserved the compensation.

In the commission's ruling, member John Hickey wrote that Wal-Mart “has consistently demonstrated that it is unwilling to comply with the spirit of the Workers' Compensation Act by failing to provide timely medical care and temporary benefits.”

Think this case isn’t typical? Then read this story out of Seattle.

Think these kinds of workplace injuries happen at every large store? According to the Corporate Social Research Center:

Wal-Mart now ranks second behind the U.S. government as the most-sued organisation in the world. The supermarkets chain was sued 4,851 times last year - once every two hours... There are 9,400 cases pending against Wal-Mart in the U.S. court system. The curious phenomenon has created a micro-economy for lawyers across the U.S...The lawsuits are many and varied: slipping on just-cleaned floors, sex-discrimination claims from workers, a woman who was killed by a rifle bought illegally from the store by her husband. Even when the store is found liable, it still continues its legal trench warfare...

Wal-Mart is embattled as it has never been before. Sex-discrimination litigation, wage and pay disputes, fights with unions, and other workplace problems have left the company at loggerheads with plaintiffs lawyers, federal investigators, and even the chattering classes.

Such a record of litigation begs the question, “Why does Wal-Mart think it’s above the law?”

JR

Tomorrow, Saturday May 7, supporters across the country will be talking to people in their community about our campaign and having people sign the "Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart" Mother's Day pledge.

Over 70 actions in 25 states are planned, involving nearly 1,000 volunteers.

From a garage sale in Mayview Missouri to Pike's Place Market in Seattle, a Mother's Day picnic in Denton Texas, the chow wagons in Louisville, Kentucky, and the street corners in Detroit Michigan, Wake-Up Wal-Mart supporters will be spreading our message and encouraging people to join our campaign.

Grassroots supporters in Tooele, UT, Birmingham, AL, Haysville, KS, Clarksburg, WV, Davenport, IA, Wheat Ridge, CO, and Plymouth, MN are also taking part in the Day of Action.

If you are interested in holding an event of your own, please send an email to field@wakeupwalmart.com.

We have a toolkit available for you to download and print out flyers, the "Love Mom, not Wal-Mart" pledge, and sign-up sheets here.

Thanks for all you do,

Jeremy

From Reuters:

The international president of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, is scheduled to visit India next week amid signs the government may soon lift a ban on foreign investment in the retail industry.

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based group has no stores in India, where foreign retailers are only allowed to set up joint ventures or wholesale operations. But Wal-Mart sources apparel, home textiles and accessories from India.

From Rediff:

Last month, David Mulford, United States Ambassador to India, met the Indian prime minister, finance minister and commerce minister purportedly at the behest of the US retailer.

Saturday night (tomorrow), at 8 p.m. EST, C-SPAN will air the April 6th debate "What's Good for Wal-Mart is Good for America? A Debate between The Nation and The Economist." Liza Featherstone and Jonathan Tasini represented the Nation in the debate against The Economist magazine and the conservative Manhattan Institute.

From yesterday's story from Bloomberg:

Wal-Mart Store Inc. shoppers are likely to walk through at least 200 protesters with placards saying ``Love mom, not Wal-Mart'' in front of a supercenter in Ohio today.

The United Food and Commercial Workers have organized the protest in Huber Heights, a suburb northeast of Dayton, to discourage customers from buying gifts at Wal-Mart for the Mother's Day holiday on May 8th. The effort is part of a campaign that includes newspaper advertisements and Web sites that call on Wal-Mart to boost wages and benefits.

``Do I think they can force the company to change? Yes, I do,'' said Linda Ray, who helps manage about $130 million including Wal-Mart shares at Northstar Group Inc. in New York. ``The company is sufficiently uncomfortable with the stock price not having advanced for the past five years.''

You can read the full article here.

If you haven't yet signed the "Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart" pledge, please do so now by clicking on this link. If you have already signed, please send the pledge to your friends and family by clicking on this link. Help us reach our goal of 20,000 signatures by Mother's Day.

16,297 signatures as of 4:00 p.m. (EST) 5/7/05

We will be adding the signatures to the "Mother of all Mother's Day Cards" which is currently in New York City for an event at City Hall. Here is a picture of the card from an event in Washington, D.C. last week, with Members of Congress, a plaintiff in the gender discrimination lawsuit against Wal-mart, and Carolyn Sapp, Miss America '92:

To all of those who have the time to read this blog. If you could please take an extra minute or two and let me know what your personal view of Wal-Mart is, I would love to hear it. If anyone would like to know mine, it is real simple, "FEAR". Fear that this evil empire will one day set the sub-par standard of how all companies,Corporate America, and even the public sector employ their workforce. If we as workers of this Great Nation and World unite together in the wake of May-Day we can not only send a message to Wal-Mart but to all employers that we will never tolerate being exploited. If we let them know that our dignity, pride, ideals, and self worth is extremely important, than maybe we can prevent one of my greatest fears, "worker exploitation". For what it is worth to anyone who reads this, this is my two-cents. I am just curious to see how others feel? I am open to hearing all sides, whether you agree or disagree?

In today's New York Times, Steven Greenhouse asks the question: "Can't Wal-Mart, a Retail Behemoth, Pay More?" Here are a few quotes from his article:

With most of Wal-Mart's workers earning less than $19,000 a year, a number of community groups and lawmakers have recently teamed up with labor unions in mounting an intensive campaign aimed at prodding Wal-Mart into paying its 1.3 million employees higher wages.

Many of those assailing Wal-Mart argue that the company can, and should, pay its workers at least $2 more an hour and add $1 or $2 an hour beyond that to improve its health benefits. A Harvard Business School study found that Wal-Mart paid $3,500 a year for each employee for health care, while the typical American corporation paid $5,600.

Link to full article here.

From today's St. Petersburg (FL) Times:

As they ready their slingshots to fight the nation's largest retail giant, the residents of Brighton Bay are a bit hush hush about their strategy.

The official little guys don't want to give away any possible advantage.

But this much is known: They are using experts - not emotion - to keep Wal-Mart from building a 150,000-square-foot supercenter north of Gandy Boulevard, just east of Fourth Street.

They have hired a land use attorney and a Tampa engineering firm to prove why the store would hurt traffic and the environment. They have raised more than $5,000 and enlisted the help of the Sierra Club and the local AFL-CIO. They send out regular e-mail alerts about Wal-Mart's plans.

They have come together as the Concerned Citizens for Gandy Boulevard and have a media spokeswoman, Sonya March, a U.S. Senate candidate last year.

Link to full article here.

Are there similar efforts going on in your community? The new section of our site detailing local battles such as this one is almost done, and we want to make sure that all of your voices are heard and all of your stories are told. Use the comments section to share what is going on around you to keep Wal-Mart out of your city, town or community.

I wish you all could be with me here in Portland, Oregon. I have spent the last two days at the Oregon Convention Center signing up Wake-Up Wal-Mart and “Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart” supporters. It has been amazing! After only four hours of tabling, we’ve signed up over 600 Americans who believe that Wal-Mart needs to change. The support is overwhelming.

I am also here with Mike, Javon, and Ellen, members of Gresham First, a local Oregon group fighting a proposed Wal-Mart in their neighborhood. They brought some great “Always Low Wages, Always Low Morals” bumper stickers and everyone who has joined the national campaign today has also signed their petition to local Gresham officials.

Next weekend, we will be putting on over 50 of these tabling and clip boarding events at local community events like this across the country. We are asking all of our supporters to put together these events in order to build our national support and educate the public on the issue. Go to: http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/mom/toolkit.html and sign up your event and download a volunteer leader toolkit.

If it is as rewarding as my experience the last two days, I can assure you it is worth it. With shoe leather and local action, we will change Wal-Mart.

Jeremy

PS: Here is a picture from the event:

From Saturday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Critics say Wal-Mart's low prices have consequences. Some employees rely on state welfare programs, the company receives tax breaks for development and smaller retailers often fail under pressure from the giant.

"I don't think the average taxpayer should be forced to subsidize Wal-Mart, and they are," Schnuck said.

Share your thoughts - at what cost does Wal-Mart offer its low prices?