Rep. George Miller of California released the following today:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A federal inspector general has found that a secret and controversial agreement between Wal-Mart and the U.S. Department of Labor, signed in January, was the result of "serious breakdowns" in the Labor Department's normal procedures and resulted in an agreement that was "significantly different" than other agreements signed by the Department. The investigators also concluded that the agreement has brought significant benefits to Wal-Mart while weakening future federal oversight of labor practices at Wal-Mart.

The breakdowns resulted in Wal-Mart being able to author "key provisions" of the agreement, reached after the Labor Department found the company had violated child labor laws at operations in three states, the IG reported.

Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the lawmaker who requested that the DOL's Inspector General investigate the sweetheart deal after it was revealed in news accounts in February, said today that the IG report bolsters his belief that the Bush Administration was doing a favor for a powerful friend by making the deal. Miller said that he would join legislation, offered by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), to prevent DOL from making these sweetheart deals with companies in the future.

"Instead of looking out for all Americans, the Bush Administration took care of one of its closest friends, Wal-Mart," said Miller, the senior Democrat on the House labor committee. "The Bush Labor Department chose to do an unprecedented favor for Wal-Mart, despite the fact it is well known for violating labor laws, including child labor laws. The sweetheart deal put Wal-Mart employees at risk, undermined government effectiveness, and further undermined public confidence that the government is acting on its behalf."

The controversial arrangement reached in January only became public when it was leaked in February. Under the arrangement, Wal-Mart is given 15 days advance notice before any wage and hour audit or investigation by the Department of Labor. Upon receiving a complaint about a potential violation of wage and hour laws, DOL's field offices around the country are now instructed to notify the DOL office in Little Rock, Arkansas, which will then notify Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas of the complaint. The Department will not launch its own investigation during that time.

Miller said that such an arrangement could allow the giant employer to cover up evidence of a violation and would discourage aggrieved employees who might fear retribution from the company from ever filing a complaint. In addition to the 15 days advance notice, if a violation is ultimately found, Wal-Mart is given an additional 10 days to come into compliance with the law, in order to avoid any penalties for such violation. Finally, the deal included a provision that restricts how the DOL may disseminate information to the press or public about the agreement.

The Inspector General said today that the Labor Department had entered "into an agreement that gave significant concessions to Wal-Mart...in exchange for little commitment from the employer beyond what it was already doing or required to do by law."

The Department entered into the deal - formally known as a "compliance agreement" - in settlement of dozens of child labor violations by Wal-Mart in three states involving the use of dangerous equipment by minors. The deal included the payment of $135,000 in fines, amounting to just 15 seconds of sales for the retailer. Compliance agreements are meant to prevent similar violations by the employer from recurring, not to give employers advance notification of future violations.

"This report proves what we have known all along - that Wal-Mart's settlement with the Department of Labor put the interests of one of the nation's worst labor law violators ahead of the protection of America's workers," said DeLauro. "Imposing a fine equivalent to what Wal-Mart generates every 15 seconds and granting the company advance notice before any federal labor investigation was not only unprecedented for labor settlements, but literally a slap on the wrist for the country's largest employer."

Wal-Mart is a major contributor to the Republican Party. In the 2004 election cycle, Wal-Mart donated $2.1 million to candidates and campaigns - more than any other retailer. Eighty percent of those donations went to Republicans, according to OpenSecrets.org. Wal-Mart's closeness to Republicans was further demonstrated in May 2004, when Vice President Dick Cheney said, "The story of Wal-Mart exemplifies some of the very best qualities in our country - hard work, the spirit of enterprise, fair dealing, and integrity."

In fact, Wal-Mart has a long history of labor violations, from failing to pay workers for overtime hours, violating child labor laws, and locking workers into stores at night. Last year, Miller's staff prepared a report that detailed Wal-Mart's egregious labor practices, and the costs to taxpayers who pick up medical, educational and other costs associated with the company's well-known low wage policy.

For a copy of the IG report, visit:

http://www.democraticleader.house.gov/GM/DOL_ESA.pdf

Statement by Paul Blank, Campaign Director WakeUpWalMart.com

It is an especially sad day in America when our children’s safety can be bought and paid for by Wal-Mart. In the end, it should be no surprise to the American people that Wal-Mart received a sweetheart deal from the Bush White House - Wal-Mart’s own lawyers wrote the deal.

WakeUpWalMart.com supporters went back out to Wal-Mart locations today, on Halloween, to educate consumers about Wal-Mart's "scary" memo and to raise more money to provide health care for Wal-Mart workers. We wrapped up the Halloween weekend with candy fundraising events today in places like Denver, CO, Pittsburgh, PA, Pecos, TX, Joliet, IL, Philadelphia, PA, West Saint Paul, MN, and many more locations across the country. Events were held in cities big and small, rural and urban, west and east coast.

All told, thousands of volunteers in over 84 cities and 26 states will have taken part in well over 100 Halloween Candy Fundraisers. We got reports of events in locations we did not even know about. WakeUpWalMart.com supporters were on television in Phoenix, AZ, Cincinnati and Columbus, OH, Houston, TX, multiple cities in California, among other locations. We talked to hundreds and thousands of shoppers and many Wal-Mart workers.

We'll let you know how much grassroots fundraising we did after we hear back from everyone in the field. We know we handed out well over 100,000 flyers letting people know about Wal-Mart's "scary" leaked memo. (Last week's memo revealed that 46% of Wal-Mart's employee's children have no health care at all or are forced to rely on the public program).

For pictures from some of the Halloween Candy Sales, check out our photo gallery:

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/gallery/

Today, WakeUpWalMart.com launched the nation’s first advertising and multi-media campaign about “the movie and the memo Wal-Mart does not what you to see.” As part of this national media effort, we are running a full-page ad in today’s edition of USA Today, internet ads on 19 sites with over 17 million readers, and a 30-second TV Ad, entitled “High Cost.”

You can see the TV ad here:

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/video/ad1.html

The USA Today ad can be viewed here:

USA Today Ad [PDF]

“America will be shocked when they learn the truth about Wal-Mart as seen in the new film - Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. Our new multimedia campaign is just the beginning of our national movement to expose the truth about the high cost of shopping at Wal-Mart,” said Paul Blank, campaign director for WakeUpWalMart.com.

WakeUpWalMart.com’s nationwide media campaign is the first national TV, print, and online media campaign launched in the fight to change Wal-Mart. The media campaign, beginning Monday, Oct. 31st, will highlight ‘Wal-Mart’s Secret Memo’ that is shocking the nation and the Robert Greenwald documentary: “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.” The 30-second television commercial was produced by Joe Trippi - Democratic strategist and former presidential campaign manager for Howard Dean.

The full-page USA TODAY ad encourages all Americans to visit WakeUpWalMart.com to see the commercial for the Wal-Mart movie and to get their copy of ‘Wal-Mart’s Secret Memo.’

The launch of the national media campaign follows a successful weekend of activities in 84 cities and 22 states highlighting Wal-Mart’s health care crisis and distributing out the internal memo shocking the nation. Following the release of WakeUpWalMart.com's 'Six Demands for Change' to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott, the organization has surpassed 112,000 supporters in all 50 states -- making WakeUpWalMart.com the nation's largest effort to change a corporation in history.

I just got back from one of the 102 Halloween Candy Fundraisers we had across the country today. Over 20 WakeUpWalMart.com volunteers and children met in Bowie, Maryland at Wal-Mart Store #1893. We passed out literature on Wal-Mart's health care crisis and this week's leaked memo. We also did some grassroots fundraising to help raise money to provide health care for Wal-Mart workers who have none.

The most amazing part of the day, aside from raising a considerable amount of money and handing out over 1,000 flyers, was the response we received from Wal-Mart customers. I was actually shocked at the overwhelmingly positive response - customers told me they agreed with what we are doing and asked what action they could take. Many customers talked about the tax burden they are facing because of Wal-Mart's health care crisis, others said they had heard about the campaign and wanted to get involved, and many had just started to learn the real truth hidden behind Wal-Mart's PR machine.

The only people who didn't welcome us were the managers, as you might expect. Seems they didn't want their customers or employees to know the truth, to know that top level executives have a new health care motto: "Unhealthy Need Not Apply." Fortunately, we have First Amendment rights in this country. Fortunately, our grassroots campaign cannot be silenced.

We'll update you throughout the weekend about other actions across the country. Stay tuned to learn more about upcoming actions as part of our Holiday Campaign. This is merely the beginning of much, much more to come!

WakeUpWalMart.com, America’s leading campaign to change Wal-Mart, will hold an unprecedented series of public actions around Wal-Mart locations all across America as part of the “Nothing’s Scarier than Not Having Health Care” campaign. From October 28th-31st, supporters of WakeUpWalMart.com will hold the nation’s first Halloween fundraising drive to help uninsured Wal-Mart workers and will distribute flyers about the shocking “Secret Wal-Mart memo” that was revealed by the New York Times. The public actions led by local supporters of WakeUpWalMart.com will be occurring in 84 cities and 26 states.

“It is a national tragedy that Wal-Mart, a company with $10 billion dollars in profits, has such poor health care benefits that 1 out of every 2 children of Wal-Mart workers either has no health insurance or relies on a public program. In fact, as Wal-Mart’s internal memo proves, this company is determined to cut its health care costs by shifting more workers to part-time, making it more expensive for spouses and even not hiring unhealthy or obese workers. Our hope is that through the generous donations of the American people, we can help at least a few Wal-Mart workers have the health care they deserve and need,” said Paul Blank, campaign director for WakeUpWalMart.com, America’s campaign to change Wal-Mart.

Supporters of WakeUpWalMart.com will also be distributing the highlights of Wal-Mart’s shocking secret memo authored by Executive Vice President Susan Chambers. The memo outlines the company’s frightening plans to use more part-time workers instead of full-time workers, to push spouses of workers off Wal-Mart’s health care plan through higher premiums, and to try to dissuade “unhealthy” people from seeking jobs at Wal-Mart. The memo states that executives enthusiastically embraced these recommendations.

“Wal-Mart’ Secret Memo proves that Wal-Mart views its workers as if they were cattle - to be weighed, aged, and disregarded if they don’t meet its vision of “healthy” or cost the company too much. Wal-Mart’s proposed plan would rob workers of their human dignity and sets a dangerous precedent for all of corporate America,” added Blank.

At today’s actions, supporters of WakeUpWalMart.com, many in costumes, will receive donations in support of Wal-Mart workers who do not have health care. Similar Halloween candy fundraising drives are being held in 84 cities. As part of the effort to highlight how serious the “Wal-Mart health care crisis” is, WakeUpWalMart.com supporters also distributed tens of thousands of flyers to the public and Wal-Mart customers highlighting the “scary facts” about Wal-Mart’s poor health care record.

The Halloween fundraising drive is the latest grassroots effort by WakeUpWalMart.com to change Wal-Mart into a responsible corporation. Following the release of WakeUpWalMart.com’s ‘Six Demands for Change’ the organization surpassed 112,000 supporters in all 50 states - making WakeUpWalMart.com the nation’s largest grassroots effort to change a corporation in history.

In the coming weeks, WakeUpWalMart.com, and other organizations, will help organize “Wal-Mart Week” - an unprecedented national week of action from November 13th-19th, beginning with the national release of the movie by Robert Greenwald, “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.” During this week, WakeUpWalMart.com and a broad coalition of partners from all across America will be raising public awareness about the growing negative effects Wal-Mart has on their workers, the community, and the nation.

From The Morning News (AR), we learn that our efforts to change Wal-Mart are having a real effect:

Wal-Mart's brief honeymoon from its critics after the Bentonville-based retailer went above and beyond in helping with the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort seems to be over.

Just days after President and CEO Lee Scott announced a more affordable health-care plan for employees and also a "bold" new environmental program, a Wal-Mart internal memo was leaked to the media that caused a new firestorm of criticism.

The memo outlined different tactics the company could use to reduce health-care costs, among them hiring "healthier workers."

U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-Conn., called the memo a "smoking gun" that revealed Wal-Mart's employee benefits strategy to be "both hostile and anti-worker."

Wal-Mart's most persistent critics, Washington-based Wal-Mart Watch and Wake-Up Wal-Mart, also jumped on the bandwagon, saying the memo "shattered the myth" of the company's benevolence.

It seems that for every few steps Wal-Mart takes toward improving its image, it receives another whack for falling short. Doug McMillon, newly appointed head of Wal-Mart's Sam's Club division, told a business luncheon Thursday that the recent publicity "felt like a reality show."

"When you read a memo in the New York Times before you (got to see it) ... you almost feel like pulling down the shades. It seems that every little chink in (Wal-Mart's) armor is put in the news," he said. "They pick up a draft of a memo that means nothing to us and hit us over the head with it."

Today, on the Floor of the United States House of Representatives, Congressman George Miller exposed Wal-Mart's hypocrisy by analyzing yesterday's leaked Wal-Mart memo.

You can view Miller's speech by clicking here.

Miller's speech highlights the unbelievable facts coming out of the secret memo. Here are just a few of them:

• Nearly one out of every two (46%) children of Wal-Mart employees are uninsured or on public health care.
• On average, 38% of Wal-Mart employees spent more than 16% of their poverty-level wages on healthcare.
• Wal-Mart admits: “Our coverage is expensive for low-income families, and Wal-Mart has a significant percentage of Associates and their children on public assistance.”

Miller also points to some of Executive Vice President Susan Chambers' recommendations: use more part-time workers, cut life-insurance payouts, push spouses off health plans through higher premiums, and try to dissuade so-called “unhealthy” Americans from seeking jobs. He points out that the memo actually states that these recommendations were enthusiastically received by other top Wal-Mart executives.

From the Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price website:

Mona Williams: "I guess we will pretty much ignore it -- because to all but a handful of anti-Wal-Mart activists, it simply will be irrelevant."

Well, looks like Wal-Mart changed their mind. The attacks have begun, and we're not surprised, but the fact they are attacking so hard, so early and so personally vicious is a sign of how seriously they are treating the film. And they should, the film combined with the expose in the New York Times about their duplicity -- they say one thing, they do another -- should be a one two punch in the butt of corporate hypocrisy.

They just released a video smear job and backgrounder, on the trailer. And they don't even get the attacks right, claiming snowfall in Ohio proves Wal-Mart did not crush H&H Hardware. The movie is quite clear on what crushed H&H Hardware, and it's got nothing to do with snow. It's a poignant example of the Wal-Mart effect, and you'll all get a chance to see it soon.

The other two attacks are nothing but Wal-Mart's multi-million dollar spin machine at work trying to refute very well documented facts about Wal-Mart's discriminatory practices against women and minorities, and their stubborn refusal to pay a living wage.

In related news, a companion book will be released with the Wal-Mart movie. Here are some details:

Author Greg Spotts and the Disinformation Company will publish the official companion book to Robert Greenwald’s widely-anticipated new documentary during a weeklong grass-roots pressure campaign focusing on Wal-Mart Stores Inc, America’s largest and most powerful corporation. The film and book bear the same title, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, and will be released simultaneously on November 13. The story of a wide-ranging investigation that was kept secret from its target, the book is a compelling behind-the-scenes account of Greenwald’s nine-month journey, a filmmaking adventure filled with unexpected challenges and breakthrough moments.

“A revolution is taking place in the making and distribution of documentary films, particularly films that address social and political issues,” said Spotts. “Inexpensive digital video cameras and desktop video editing have combined with the connective power of the Internet, and the result is a new form politically-themed DVD that reaches the public via a network of nonprofit organizations and individual activists. Robert Greenwald is one of the pioneers of this revolution, which is energizing political dialogue, challenging the dominance of mainstream media, and confronting corporate power.”

Statement by former congressman and author of the Americans with Disabilities Act Tony Coelho:

As the author of the American’s with Disabilities Act and long-time advocate for people with disabilities, I am deeply troubled by Wal-Mart’s internal memo exposed by the New York Times this morning.

This is one of the most profitable companies in the world and this memo shows that in their pursuit for greed and power, they have chosen to cut costs even at the price of human dignity. Wal-Mart’s desire to “dissuade unhealthy people from coming to work at Wal-Mart” is chilling and unconscionable. No company or organization should be able to discriminate against an employee on the basis of age, level of fitness, disability status or potential cost to the company.

It is a sad day when American’s largest employer callously treats its employees as products in its stores. Wal-Mart has a moral responsibility to immediately disavow itself of this memo and not selectively hire Americans on the basis of their potential cost to the company.

From the New York Times:

An internal memo sent to Wal-Mart's board of directors proposes numerous ways to hold down spending on health care and other benefits while seeking to minimize damage to the retailer's reputation. Among the recommendations are hiring more part-time workers and discouraging unhealthy people from working at Wal-Mart.

In the memorandum, M. Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart's executive vice president for benefits, also recommends reducing 401(k) contributions and wooing younger, and presumably healthier, workers by offering education benefits. The memo voices concern that workers with seven years' seniority earn more than workers with one year's seniority, but are no more productive.

To discourage unhealthy job applicants, Ms. Chambers suggests that Wal-Mart arrange for "all jobs to include some physical activity (e.g., all cashiers do some cart-gathering)."

The memo acknowledged that Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, had to walk a fine line in restraining benefit costs because critics had attacked it for being stingy on wages and health coverage. Ms. Chambers acknowledged that 46 percent of the children of Wal-Mart's 1.33 million United States employees were uninsured or on Medicaid.

Statement by Paul Blank, campaign director, WakeUpWalMart.com

“An internal Wal-Mart memo, released by the New York Times this morning, exposes what a farce the last two days have been. Wal-Mart’s CEO had the gall to come out this week and try to spin Wal-Mart as a company changing. Wal-Mart is not a company trying to change. Today’s memo proves Wal-Mart’s announcements are nothing more than a publicity stunt by exposing the truth behind Wal-Mart’s culture of greed and moral corruption.

The memo, authored by Susan Chambers, Executive Vice President for Benefits, robs Wal-Mart workers of their human dignity and instead treats them like products in their stores. It is simply appalling that Wal-Mart’s senior management would actually write a memo suggesting not to hire certain workers because they may be unhealthy or obese.

Most startlingly, Wal-Mart, for the first time, admitted there is a Wal-Mart health care crisis in America. The memo specifically states, ‘Wal-Mart has a significant percentage of associates and their children on public assistance.’ In fact, Wal-Mart revealed 46% of the children of Wal-Mart employees are either uninsured or on taxpayer funded public health care programs. No wonder Wal-Mart so vehemently opposes legislators’ efforts to expose the truth about the true cost of the Wal-Mart economy. It is inexcusable and unconscionable for a company, with $10 billion in profits, to know 1 out of every 2 of their employees’ children has no health care or is forced to rely on our public safety net and do nothing about it.

The key question becomes: What else does Wal-Mart know and when will they reveal it? Wal-Mart’s great American deception of the past two days will not stand and Lee Scott ought to be ashamed of himself for perpetuating such a fraudulent image to the American people.”

You can read the entire text of the memo here.

Harold Meyerson, in an op-ed in the Washington Post, has this to say about Wal-Mart's America:

Is Wal-Mart going wobbly? Over the past couple of weeks, America's largest company -- linchpin of the low-wage, no-benefit economy that is increasingly the norm in America -- has announced some surprising reversals of course. In a series of speeches and interviews, chief executive H. Lee Scott unveiled four initiatives that he clearly hopes will polish the company's increasingly tarnished image. ... Wal-Mart, could, of course, raise its workers' wages, but Scott has dismissed that out of hand. So now it's the feds' responsibility to rescue Wal-Mart from the consequences of the low-wage, low-consumption economy that Wal-Mart, with such fanatical devotion, has created. For, in Wal-Mart's America, it's not clear that even Wal-Mart can thrive.

To read the entire piece, click here.

Today, in a conference call with reporters, Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart, was asked why he would not sit down and meet with WakeUpWalMart.com. Scott stated that he would not meet with us because our interest was that Wal-Mart “simply did not exist.” In fact, WakeUpWalMart.com sent Lee Scott a personal letter on October 12th that extended a sincere offer to build a true working partnership between WakeUpWalMart.com and Wal-Mart.

As the letter states, “In the end, we are not your enemy. Our goal is to be your partner in making Wal-Mart a better business. We welcome the opportunity to meet you and discuss how we can help Wal-Mart grow and prosper in new ways.”

Sadly, Lee Scott is determined to ignore our desire to build a partnership that improves the lives of their workers, their families, the community and the nation. Instead, Wal-Mart and Lee Scott meet with “mystery critics” that are not even willing to be public with their criticism, and release a speech that is more about a publicity stunt than about substantive changes to improve Wal-Mart.

We again extend a sincere offer to Lee Scott and Wal-Mart to partner with us, to embrace our six demands for change, and to build a better Wal-Mart and a better America.

Here is a copy of the letter we sent:
AN OPEN LETTER TO WAL-MART CEO LEE SCOTT

Mr. Lee Scott, CEO
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611

Dear Mr. Scott,

In the wake of the terrible tragedies caused by Hurricane Katrina, Wal-Mart helped ease the suffering of many Americans. This crisis brought out the best in Wal-Mart and we applaud your hurricane relief efforts. We hope Wal-Mart’s response to Hurricane Katrina represents a turning point.

Wal-Mart has a great opportunity to work with us to help improve the lives of so many Americans who face an economic and health care crisis everyday, everywhere in America. The American people want to know, will Wal-Mart do what is right for America or will Wal-Mart lead a race to the bottom?

We believe now is the time for Wal-Mart to address the serious issues facing its 1.3 million workers, their families, our communities and our country by agreeing to the following “six demands for change.”

1) Living Wage. Pay all Wal-Mart workers a fair living wage so they can support their families.

2) Affordable Health Care. Provide all workers comprehensive, affordable health insurance coverage so they can care for their families and no longer be forced to rely on taxpayer-funded public health care.

3) End Discrimination. Ensure equal opportunity and equal pay for women and people of color in your workforce at all levels through a stringent and independent monitoring process.

4) Zero Tolerance on Child Labor. Adopt a zero tolerance policy and institute an independent monitoring program to stop the exploitation of child labor in the United States and abroad.

5) Buy American. Establish a “Buy America” program that annually increases the percentage of “Made in America” goods purchased by Wal-Mart so as to help protect American jobs.

6) Respect Communities. Work with local communities to effectively address Wal-Mart’s negative impact on issues like traffic, sprawl, the environment, and local businesses.

As you stated recently, "When you do the right thing, good things accrue to you." We agree. Just imagine the good Wal-Mart can do if it works with us to become a better company by doing the right thing - everyday. We hope you will view our “six demands for change” as a sincere effort to form a new partnership for change.

In the end, we are not your enemy. Our goal is to be your partner in making Wal-Mart a better business. We welcome the opportunity to meet with you and discuss how we can help Wal-Mart grow and prosper in new ways. But, make no mistake about it, if Wal-Mart refuses to change for the better, we will continue to build this broad-based social movement into one of the most powerful forces for change the nation has ever seen.

Wal-Mart has an incredible opportunity - right now - to work with us to better the lives of all your workers, to set a new standard for corporate America, to be a better business, and to build a better nation. We hope you will and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

WakeUpWalMart.com - America’s Campaign to Change Wal-Mart.

P.S. This November we, along with a broad coalition of community organizations, will be launching Wal-Mart Week, November 13th - 19th, to highlight Wal-Mart's negative impact on America. You can go to www.walmartweek.com and learn more about the actions we will be taking and the movie being released. Our hope is that by then, instead of highlighting Wal-Mart’s failures, we can stand together and celebrate a new day at Wal-Mart - a day when real change improved the lives of millions of Americans.

New Name, Same Basic Plan - Extremely High Deductibles & Strict Eligibility Requirements

October 24, 2005 - Washington, D.C. - Today, Wal-Mart’s CEO Lee Scott is announcing Wal-Mart’s “new” health care plans for 2006. Wal-Mart falsely claims its plans will increase the number of employees who can afford health insurance. In fact, Wal-Mart’s so-called “new” Value Plan is simply a repackaging of the poor health care plans Wal-Mart already offers, which already leave over half of its employees without company provided health care.

“Wal-Mart’s new health care plan is another empty promise wrapped in a publicity stunt that will do nothing to increase health care coverage for over 600,000 Wal-Mart employees who go without company provided health care,” said Paul Blank, campaign director of WakeUpWalMart.com.

“Wal-Mart fails to address the key reasons more than half of its employees aren’t covered under their health care plan - ridiculously high deductible costs and overly strict eligibility requirements. Wal-Mart latest publicity stunt will do nothing to help their employees and is more reflective of a morally bankrupt company trying to deceive the American public than live up to its responsibilities as America’s largest corporation,” added Blank

Here are the facts.

Last year, Wal-Mart had two major health care plan options: 1) the Standard plan and 2) the Network plan. Each of those plans has 4 options within them: 1) a $350 deductible; 2) a $500 deductible; 3) a $750 deductible; and, 4) a $1,000 deductible.

This year, Wal-Mart is introducing two additional options: 1) a so-called Value plan and 2) Health Savings Accounts (HSA’s). Since the HSA’s are only available to employees who have already been enrolled in a Wal-Mart health care plan for one year, the HSA’s are not designed to, nor will the HSA’s, increase health care coverage for anyone.

Therefore, the only plan that has the potential to increase the abysmal fact that Wal-Mart only provides health insurance coverage to 48% of its employees is the Value plan. The Value plan, however, comes with a $1,000 deductible. In addition, the Value plan has additional deductibles for in-hospital care, prescription drugs and surgical care. All told, the Value plan’s deductibles plus premiums could be as much as 25% of an employee’s take-home pay for individual coverage and up to 40% for family coverage.

Even more disturbing is the fact that the Value plan is almost identical, if not worse, than the $1,000 deductible versions of the existing Standard and Network plans already offered to Wal-Mart employees.

The following is a comparison of the rates between Wal-Mart’s proposed plan for 2006 and last year’s plans.

Wal-Mart’s business model has already paved the way for other corporations to try and reduce their health benefits to employees. Currently, the average company with 200 or more employees has 67% of its workers covered under the company health care plan, Wal-Mart is well below that average with only 48% of its employees covered under the company health care plan.

“Wal-Mart’s so-called Value health care plan offers nothing but an empty promise of higher deductibles that remain unaffordable and out-of-reach to most Wal-Mart workers. With Wal-Mart’s poverty-level wages, the average worker would have to spend up to 40% of their take-home pay to purchase the family option of this so-called Value plan. No wonder Wal-Mart admits the taxpayer-funded public safety net is often a ‘better value’ than their own inadequate health care plan.”

Last week, Republican Congressman, and former Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, Tom DeLay was arrested and booked on state conspiracy and money-laundering charges.

As if corruption at the highest level of our government isn’t bad enough, it turns out Wal-Mart actually gave Tom Delay money 2 days after he was indicted. That’s right. Wal-Mart made a $5,000 contribution to support Tom Delay’s corruption 2 days after his indictment.

For a long time, we have known Wal-Mart’s policies are morally corrupt, but now we know Wal-Mart’s politics are politically corrupt too. But, this time, we are going to do something about it. Wal-Mart should ask Tom Delay for its contribution to be returned immediately.

Sign the online petition calling on Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott to insist Tom Delay return Wal-Mart’s politically corrupt contribution today.

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/feature/delay/

Wal-Mart has recently become a key player in "pay-to-play" politics. Wal-Mart’s corporate PAC donated more than $2.7 million to federal and state candidates in 2004, with nearly 80% of Wal-Mart’s campaign contributions going to Republican candidates.

Wal-Mart's radical right wing agenda hurts America. Only a corrupt, right-wing politician like Tom Delay could support Wal-Mart’s political agenda of poverty-level wages, poor health care, weaker child labor protections and an acceleration of shipping good-paying U.S. jobs overseas.

Don’t let Wal-Mart’s morally corrupt political agenda corrupt our Congress. Tell Wal-Mart to stop supporting corrupt politicians like Tom Delay today.

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/feature/delay/

Our country deserves better than morally corrupt companies like Wal-Mart supporting politically corrupt politicians like Tom Delay.

Today marks the official launch of The Writing on the Wal, a new collaborative blog designed to take a critical look at Wal-Mart. Regular blog contributors will represent a broad coalition of individuals, including writers from academia, the private sector, worker rights groups, and individual activists. You can visit the new blog at:

http://www.thewritingonthewal.net

WakeUpWalMart.com issued the following response to Wal-Mart’s CEO Lee Scott’s announcement today that Wal-Mart would work to tighten standards at its overseas suppliers:

“Unfortunately, Wal-Mart’s exploitation of workers is not limited to its use of sweatshop labor overseas. Our campaign is building a sea of public pressure to force Wal-Mart to end its race-to-the-bottom business model.

For too long, the American people have paid the price as Wal-Mart has relied on sweatshop labor to produce its cheap products. We will continue to work hard to get Wal-Mart to change its outrageous practices of exploiting sweatshop labor and failing to meet international labor standards. But, sweatshop labor is only the beginning of the long list of problems that Wal-Mart must address.

We welcome the opportunity to have a dialogue with Wal-Mart about how it can improve working conditions both here and abroad, but we know that actions speak louder than word. We hope Wal-Mart will accept our ‘Six Demands for Change’ and work with us to form a partnership for change.

Over the next several months, our campaign will continue to highlight the disastrous effect Wal-Mart is having on communities, families and our country. We hope Wal-Mart won’t respond with rhetoric and vague small steps, but will take bold action to change their greedy, arrogant ways.”

In an article in the Manteca Bulletin, we learn that one out of every 4 residents of Ripon, CA have signed a petition opposing the building of a Wal-Mart in their town. Hundreds of these residents showed up at a Ripon City Council meeting Tuesday night to protest a possible Wal-Mart.

Kevin Loscotoff, Wal-Mart’s Regional Manager of Community Affairs, was also in attendance. He translated this growing petition into the following:

"And it’s amazing the overwhelming support that is pouring out of residents of the community."

Wal-Mart has certainly been known to spin the facts to appear in the favor, but this one is quite a stretch. Here are some quotes from Ripon residents, pouring out their, um, "overwhelming support" for Wal-Mart:

“They mow over small towns like it’s nothing — it’s a disgrace. Wal-Mart represents low-wages, low-benefits, and shifting a huge burden onto taxpayers.”

“Just like a situation we had with homes looking down on a tow-yard, the people of Ripon didn’t buy homes to look across the street at a Wal-Mart. I suggest you find ways to stop this.”

“That feeling is what Ripon was built on — it’s a small family community. If you drop a SuperStore in this community, I believe it will decimate Ripon.”

From The Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Every attempt to increase the wage since then has sputtered. Now, under pressure from fed-up workers, cities are beginning to act on their own.

Boston, San Francisco and 128 other cities have enacted living-wage laws, more than 80 of them in the past five years.

Most of the laws guarantee that city contractors and vendors pay workers at a minimum level -- a wage they can live on.

On Election Day, Oberlin could become the sixth and smallest city in Ohio to take action. Cleveland, Toledo, Cincinnati, Dayton and Lakewood all have passed such laws since 2000.

Opponents charge that the Oberlin proposal is nothing more than an attempt to keep Wal-Mart out of town.

The retailer, criticized nationwide for low pay and benefits, plans to build one of its super centers at Ohio 58 and Ohio 20, a store opponents say would decimate shops in the city's historic downtown a few miles away.

Today, WakeUpWalMart.com was featured on CNBC's "Power Lunch" and CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight." Not surprisingly, Wal-Mart declined invitations to debate us on either show.

Both shows examined the potential negative impact of Wal-Mart's application to expand into banking.

Dobbs started his segement tonight with these words: "Critics say if Wal-Mart has its way, local banks will go the way of local retailers, run out of business by Wal-Mart. Your community will be a Wal-Mart community."

WakeUpWalMart.com Communications Director Chris Kofinis appeared on the show, saying, "The sad reality here is Wal-Mart is not only interested in monopolizing the American economy, they're interesting in monopolizing the American way of life, right down to where we bank."

Click here to see the transcript from Lou Dobbs Tonight

Robert Greenwald's (Outfoxed) new documentary, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" will premiere in NYC & LA theaters on Nov. 4th and will expand wide on November 13th to over 3,000 screenings nationwide in churches, colleges, and living rooms in the largest grassroots mobilization in movie history.

In making the film, the producers were fortunate enough to meet numerous former Wal-Mart store managers, including Weldon Nicholson, a whistleblower whose stories are so compelling that they made a special video, "Confessions of a Wal-Mart Hit Man" and are releasing it exclusively to the blogging community.

http://www.walmartmovie.com/confessions/

From the Forth Worth Star Telegram:

The Fort Worth school district has joined a neighborhood group in opposing an application by Wal-Mart for a beer and wine sales permit for a store scheduled to open this month behind an elementary school.

The district opposes the sale of beer and wine at the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market because of the proximity to Ridglea Hills Elementary, said district spokesman Robert Hurst.

"I don't think we want to go into 'what-if' scenarios, but I think the obvious response would be we want to make sure there are no liabilities toward the children," Hurst said.

The Ridglea Hills Neighborhood Association and the school district have filed protests with Tarrant County Judge Tom Vandergriff. A hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. Oct. 26 in Tarrant County Court at Law No. 3, before Judge Vince Sprinkle, who handles alcohol permit hearings for Vandergriff.

The state usually issues the requested permits unless challenges are raised and prevail in court.

Members of the Ridglea Hills Neighborhood Association executive committee say that allowing alcohol sales close to the school will endanger children at the school and in the area.

JibJab, makers of infamous satirical cartoons during the 2004 Election, have taken on a new target in an animated piece they call "Big Box Mart."

You can see the video by visiting the JibJab website:

http://jibjab.com/

College students, a group typically benefiting from the low prices and convenience of supercenter shopping, are realizing that there is a high cost to Wal-Mart's low prices.

From the Ball State Daily News:

So how is Wal-Mart able to provide everything we need at “Always Low Prices?” Well that’s easy: It just pays its 1.6 million associates an average of less than $20,000 a year for full-time work, force local businesses to close by cutting retail prices way below cost when you enter new communities and buy $10 billion worth of merchandise each year from Chinese sweatshops that pay their workers 13 cents an hour.

Wal-Mart’s got it all figured out. Once it devours the local grocery, hardware and clothing stores, it jacks the prices back up to bring home those consistent record profits that only a true monopoly can get you.

The superstores don’t even have to create new jobs; in fact, for every two Wal-Mart jobs created, three local business jobs are lost.

All those small local Aussie businesses should take a step back and watch how the pros do it. Buy cheap goods from poor people, sell them at low prices to poor people and keep opening new stores where poor people live. That’s the way the real money-makers do it; it also happens to be the most convenient way, for everyone.

Oh, and by the way ... This might have been my last “Wal-Mart run,” unless I’m in a town where it’s the only store.

From the North Carolina State Techinican:

I have a confession. It is about my shopping habits. When I got my driver's license in high school, I discovered Wal-Mart and I loved it. I loved walking the aisles and looking at all the "stuff." I loved eating pretzel-combos at the Radio Grill. I loved just hanging out and people watching. Everywhere I went I sought out the nearest Wal-Mart and checked it out. I even have a collection of pictures of myself at many of the different (except they are all the same) Wal-Marts across the country. I'm not sure what drove this madness. I guess I thought about going to Wal-Mart as the ultimate American experience. And then I started dating this guy who introduced me to his sister. She was appalled by my obsession with Wal-Mart. She actually told him to ditch me since I wasn't smart enough to know what was wrong with Wal-Mart. Well, he did ditch me, but not for my shopping preferences, I don't think. But she had planted a seed of doubt. What could be wrong with low prices, one-stop shopping and free parking? Isn't Wal-Mart about as American and as good as it gets? What could be bad about these things? I guess this is really about asking ourselves what is truly the American way.

What I found out is that Wal-Mart asks our government to come up with $2.5 billion every year to subsidize them. Each year you and I spend about that much of our federal taxes to compensate Wal-Mart employees for their lack of benefits and wages. Over half of the store's employees do not qualify for health coverage and they are paid wages that are below the poverty line. In 1999, the average annual wages of Wal-Mart employees was $13,861. Who do you think picks up the tab when they get injured or are sick? You and I do! While Wal-Mart stock owners are enjoying a profit of $10 billion a year, Wal-Mart keeps it's prices low by passing on costs of health care to the taxpayer.

From Reuters:

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s bid to open a bank in Utah has generated more than 1,000 comments, more than any other application subject to public commentary.

In a letter dated Thursday to members of the House of Representatives' Committee on Financial Services, FDIC Chairman Donald Powell said the agency would look into whether holding public hearings on the application by the world's largest retailer is in the public interest.

WAL-MART SEX OIL SALES SKYROCKET
Thu Oct 13 2005 11:41:23 ET

K-Y Product Lines Heat Up in Middle America

That sex sells comes as no surprise. That it's now selling quite nicely at Wal-Mart Stores -- the naughty-magazine-yanking retail nanny -- may come as a shock, AD AGE reports.

Suddenly at the forefront of taking sex aids mainstream, conservative marketer Johnson & Johnson almost overnight has doubled sales of its once-sleepy K-Y brand for the second time in four years thanks to the blockbuster summer rollout of a new line of massage oils. And nowhere has that success been greater than at Wal-Mart, where K-Y Touch Massage oils have hit the list of top 10 new health and beauty products of 2005, according to J&J VP-Personal Care Marketing Jim Peterson.

J&J has found warming lubricants sell well not only for Valentine's Day but also around Memorial Day and Fourth of July. "We dubbed these sex holidays," Mr. Peterson said. "And we try to line up all our promotional efforts around them."

Oct. 13, 2005 - Washington, D.C. - WakeUpWalMart.com, the group leading the national fight to change Wal-Mart, announced today it had achieved a record milestone of public support. In the last six months, over 103,052 Americans have joined the WakeUpWalMart.com movement. The WakeUpWalMart.com campaign enjoys growing grassroots support in all 50 states, and is one of America’s fastest growing social and political movements.

“We are witnessing the creation of a new social and political movement led by ordinary Americans, from all across the country, who are coming together to change Wal-Mart into a responsible corporation,” said Paul Blank, campaign director for WakeUpWalMart.com. “The national momentum to change Wal-Mart is both incredible and unprecedented.”

Today, WakeUpWalMart.com also announced an exciting new partnership with two of the largest grassroots organizations in the country - Jobs with Justice and ACORN. The alliance between Jobs with Justice, ACORN, and WakeUpWalMart.com builds an unparalleled force for change with thousands of activists, on-the-ground organizers and community groups ready to help change Wal-Mart in every town and city in America. Jobs with Justice and ACORN will be instrumental in helping WakeUpWalMart.com raise public awareness of why Wal-Mart needs to change beginning with Wal-Mart Week in November and extending through the entire holiday season.

“This is a new day in the fight to change Wal-Mart. We have created an unprecedented, bottom-up force for change which will demonstrate why Wal-Mart needs to change now,” added Maude Hurd, ACORN’s national president.

“We are building the largest grassroots movement in history to change Wal-Mart. Our movement is led by community coalitions who believe America’s largest corporation should reflect the best in American values,” said Fred Azcarate, executive director of Jobs with Justice.

ACORN
ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities. Since 1970, ACORN has grown to more than 175,000 member families, organized in 850 neighborhood chapters in 75 cities across the U.S. and in cities in Canada, the Dominican Republic and Peru.

Jobs with Justice
Jobs with Justice (JwJ) is a national network of local coalitions that connect labor, faith-based, community, and student organizations to work together on workplace and community social justice campaigns. JwJ coalitions now exist in over 40 cities in 29 states in all regions of the country.

Add Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to the list of people taking Wal-Mart's name in vain:

Since the disclosure last year that a Pakistani scientist sold nuclear designs to Libya and other countries, ElBaradei has become increasingly alarmed about what he calls a “Wal-Mart of private-sector proliferation.”

The latest news about Tom Coughlin and Wal-Mart's alleged "union project" comes from The Springdale Morning News:

Tom Coughlin wants to keep nearly $12 million in retirement benefits and stock options, despite his alleged thefts and misdeeds, because his attorneys say Wal-Mart Stores Inc. released its longtime executive from any wrongdoing.

"This is not an ambiguous contract. Wal-Mart got what it wanted," Coughlin's attorney, William Taylor of Washington, D.C., said Tuesday during a hearing in Benton County Circuit Court. "In this case, it is a plain question of contract interpretation."

From Forbes:

Wal-Mart Stores fended off a racketeering charge on Friday, but a U.S. judge decided that a lawsuit brought against the behemoth retailer by the undocumented workers who once buffed its superstore floors can proceed. Wal-Mart will have to answer to charges of not paying these workers fair wages and overtime, and that its store managers locked the doors on overnight cleaning crews, keeping them prisoner until the doors were opened the next morning to let in bargain-hunting shoppers.

New York City labor lawyer James Linsey, who represents several hundred illegal workers in their lawsuit against Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ), promises to resubmit the racketeering allegations. But he says he is pleased that the heart of his complaint--that the workers were underpaid and mistreated--withstood Wal-Mart's motion to dismiss.

John Durso, president of the 250,000-member Long Island Federation of Labor, had this to say in a Newsday editorial:

Assuming the proposed Fair Share for Health Care Act becomes law in Suffolk County, approximately 12,000 retail workers will receive health care - something out of reach for the vast majority of them now. That's a small piece of the 45 million Americans who have no health insurance, but it is a step that may resonate outside the county.

Why is the larger goal of health care for all so hard to obtain? Since Harry Truman tried to address the nation's health care crisis in 1945, more than 70 percent of Americans have consistently favored national health insurance. With every attempt to reform a broken system, a barrage of distortions came forward from the medical, insurance and pharmaceutical industries. The solution afforded by the Suffolk County legislation addresses the issue the federal government has avoided: what to do about the growing class of employers who pay low wages and provide little or no health care.

Suffolk legislators will conduct a hearing on the proposed law Tuesday. Assuming they enact the measure, it will go to County Executive Steve Levy for approval.

The growing sector of the economy where employers provide little or no health care is mainly retail, and some of the nation's largest employers are found in this industry.

The established retail employers, particularly retail grocers, provided decent wages and health care for many years. Employees gained decent working conditions and benefits through unionization, a result that afforded retail workers and their families an avenue toward stability and middle-class life. This model is challenged by a new one: low wages, no benefits, high turnover, and the promise of low prices for consumers. Sounds like Wal-Mart, doesn't it?

Our nation's largest employer, Wal-Mart is playing a central role in driving down living standards for working families. With wages among the nation's lowest, our neighbors who hold these jobs are unable to pay for health care. The burden is passed on to the taxpayer as retail workers turn to government programs or just show up in emergency rooms.

It is a well-known fact Wal-Mart instructs its employees to apply for Medicaid, the taxpayer-funded health care program for the poor. That is one reason why government must step in and pass legislation like Fair Share. The Suffolk measure would require covered employers to contribute to a health care fund that would be administered by the county department of labor. We may also see similar laws passed around the country that benefit the working poor and the taxpayers and that monitor business practices of wealthy corporations.

Wal-Mart's aggressive supply and pricing strategies take away revenues from local merchants and put many out of business. This hurts our economy, locally and nationally. Wal-Mart destroys more jobs than it creates, and the jobs it creates pay less.

It is not surprising the detractors would say that the health care issue is somebody else's problem to fix. It's not. Retail sectors are growing in municipalities and counties all over the country. Suffolk County lawmakers understand that it is their responsibility to address the raid on public funds by the big retailers.

Best estimates conclude that the county will save $25 million annually in Medicaid costs when the Fair Share for Health Care Act becomes law. There's a good chance that people in other jurisdictions, fed up with political gridlock at higher levels of government, may look to Suffolk County for inspiration in dealing with this national crisis.

From Business Week:

Using a multimillion-dollar ad campaign, Wal-Mart's (WMT ) executives are defiantly blasting back at opponents who have criticized the retail giant's shoddy labor practices. But most people and even Wal-Mart's critics are missing the real crisis, which is that the behemoth from Bentonville, Ark., with its nationally destabilizing business model, is a dangerous detriment to America's local and national economies and to the middle class.

Today, if you listen carefully, you can hear a second giant sucking sound: Wal-Mart sopping up the vitality from middle-class American families, local communities, and the national economy.

EMPTY DOWNTOWNS. This happens in three different but related ways. First, there's the clobbering of Main Street: Wal-Mart moves in on the edges of towns, and the much smaller downtown merchants, unable to match its prices, soon go under. Second, there's the miserable wage and benefits package offered by Sam Walton's creation. And third, there's Wal-Mart's purchasing strategy, which seems to be about buying American-made products only as a last resort -- to the point that today Wal-Mart, by itself, is China's eighth-largest trading partner!

You could make the case that we are well on our way to becoming "Wal-Mart Nation." But maybe we don't have to be. Consider Costco (COST ), Wal-Mart's most notable competitor –- whose much more sensitive and noble business model actually serves as a boost to the national economy and to its shareholders.

From the Chicago Defender:

I recently sat in a conference held in St. Louis listening to the testimony of several workers whose rights and dignity, they charged, had been denied by Wal-Mart. I listened to the stories of humiliation and intimidation. I listened to stories of the negative impact of Wal-Mart stores on businesses in communities across the USA.

As I sat there, I thought: Why is this not a human rights issue? Why is it that human rights advocates, and occasionally the U.S. government, can expose injustices overseas -including workplace injustices - yet say nothing about the abuses we suffer here?

Robert Greenwald, the filmmaker behind "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" - set to be released in November, will join labor leader David Bonior and journalist Harold Meyerson on October 6 for an online discussion of the movie.

Moving Ideas will be hosting this discussion, which will occur from 2:00-3:00 pm this Thursday, October 6. For more details about the panelists and to ask questions in advance, visit:

http://www.movingideas.org/chat/WalMart/WalMart.php

From the Manteca Bulletin:

It's not just merchants that are concerned about the change that could accompany a Wal-Mart Superstore.

And Dion Hardy plans on proving just that.
Prior to the actual start of normal business during the Ripon City Council meeting, Hardy spoke to the nearly packed chambers about an effort he was a part of that is making a point to gather signatures on a petition that will be submitted to the council before any final action is taken.

"There is an atmosphere in this town that is desirable," said Hardy. "And it can be seen in other communities that when these locate there, that the small-town environment is eliminated."

From a press release by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy:

A new NCRP report reveals more than just charitable intentions in Wal-Mart’s seemingly generous, but systematically self-interested philanthropy. The Waltons and Wal-Mart: Self-Interested Philanthropy chronicles the philanthropic and political activities of the Walton family through their family foundation and through their Wal-Mart corporate empire, painting a picture of a family and corporation with increasing financial and political prowess.

“The Waltons’ and Wal-Mart’s philanthropy deserves more scrutiny than praise. Giving by the family and the corporate foundation exemplifies the family’s true priorities and agendas,” said Jeff Krehely, deputy director of NCRP. “Not only are they deflecting public scrutiny with their shameless public relations campaigns, they are doing so while simultaneously using quasi-public dollars to advance an agenda of personal enrichment cloaked in philanthropy."

From Newsday:

With a splashy fashion show and an advertising spread in September's Vogue magazine, Wal-Mart lately is trumpeting its desire to be a contender for space in the closets of America's style mavens.

But the company's efforts to reposition itself as a purveyor of hip threads - ground it once ceded to rival Target - has attracted some negative attention, in the form of a lawsuit from the retail chain Anthropologie.

In a complaint filed last week in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Anthropologie and its parent company, Urban Outfitters, allege that Wal-Mart copied several fabrics designed by Anthropologie.

The suit charges Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, with copyright infringement, deceptive trade practices and unfair competition.

Following the lead set by Jim Bernard, the Mayor of Milwaukie, OR, the Mayor of Crown Point, IN has also stated his opposition to a Wal-Mart in his city:

Mayor Dan Klein said last week he hadn’t yet determined how people feel about a Wal-Mart coming to town.

But after a Post-Tribune article last Tuesday revealed that’s who Lauth Development is courting to anchor its proposed The Shops at East Point development at Interstate 65 and U.S. 231, the public let Klein know.

And the feeling was virtually unanimous — he says the flood of calls his office received show Wal-Mart is not wanted in Crown Point.

People were also under the impression that Klein was in favor of Wal-Mart, he said. So he scheduled a news conference Monday to set the record straight:

“Personally speaking, I am not in favor of Wal-Mart for a variety of reasons.”

Mostly, Klein said, “I don’t believe they’re a good corporate citizen.”

According to The Macomb Journal, October is safety month at Wal-Mart, which means that the Wal-Mart in Macon (and likely other Wal-Mart's across the country) will host events designed to "improve the overall safety in your home as well as your health."

This is a good time for Wal-Mart to also address the safety and health care of their workers by providing comprehensive, affordable health care for all employees, so they can care for their families and no longer be forced to rely on taxpayer-funded public health care.

This is another great opportunity for Wal-Mart to work with us to improve the lives of so many Americans who face an economic and health care crisis every day, everywhere in America. We believe now is the time for Wal-Mart to address the serious issues facing its 1.3 million workers, their families, our communities, and our country by agreeing to our "six demands for change."

Add your name to our six demands for change today:

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/feature/benton/

From Editor & Publisher:

At the National Newspaper Association (NNA) convention Friday, community newspaper publishers unloaded on a Wal-Mart spokesperson, complaining that the world's biggest retailer wrecks their advertising base, shuns their local organizations, almost never advertises in their paper -- and then wants front-page coverage when it presents a check to charity.

When a Wal-Mart opened in her town of Forney, Texas, The Forney Messenger's Judy Griffin told the convention that the store took out four full-page ads to promote the grand opening in her weekly.

"Since then, we have got absolutely nothing," Griffin said. "How is it that we were good enough to get people to your opening, but not good enough anymore? (Wal-Mart managers) are out there by themselves, and they could care less about us or our community. All we ever get from them are e-mails with news releases that tell us how good [they] are."

Griffin and other newspaper owners and publishers directed their remarks at Mona Williams, Wal-Mart's vice president of corporate communications, who spoke at the NNA convention as part of what she called a "dialogue" the retailer wants with community papers.

In her remarks, Williams repeatedly said Wal-Mart recognized the "importance" of community newspapers.

Just as often, she cautioned that she was not saying anyone in the convention ballroom would be getting more advertising from Wal-Mart.

"I'm not saying there will be more ad dollars, but we will continue the dialogue," she said.

Williams' appearance is part of a new charm offensive by the retailing giant, whose reputation has taken a beating in the past year. A key executive was accused of embezzlement, and several grassroots campaigns against building Wal-Mart stores in Chicago, California, Florida, and elsewhere have gotten a fair share of publicity. Even an attempt to get better PR backfired badly.

NNA President Mike Buffington, who introduced Williams at the convention, fired off an angry open letter to Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott last January after he was contacted by a public relations agency telling him that Wal-Mart executives were "available for interviews" to "set the record straight on Wal-Mart."

"Why is it that community newspapers in America are good enough to help you fend off critics with free PR, but we're not good enough for your paid advertising?," he wrote. "You can't have it both ways. Based on a number of previous conversations I've had with newspaper publishers and editors across America, I don't think you will find very many who are willing to give you the requested free PR space to fend off attacks from your corporate critics. I believe my view is one held by many newspaper publishers: If Wal-Mart wants to communicate valuable information about itself to our readers, then you can purchase our valuable advertising space to do it.

"Anything less is just an insult to the community newspapers of America," added Buffington, who is editor of The Jackson Herald weekly in Jefferson, Geo.

From Bloomberg:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. named John Menzer and Mike Duke as vice chairmen, setting up a competition for the chief executive post held by H. Lee Scott.

The two executives are also swapping territories. Menzer, 54, will take over the U.S. business after serving as chief executive officer of Wal-Mart International. Duke, 55, will run the international division after heading Wal-Mart Stores U.S.A., Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart said in a statement today. The retailer also promoted two Wal-Mart and two Sam's Club executives and hired a new vice president from McDonald's Corp. for its warehouse chain.

From the AP:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, named Jim Walton, the youngest son of late founder Sam Walton, to its board of directors.

Jim Walton, 57 years old, is chairman and chief executive of Arvest Bank Group, a Bentonville-based group of banks with total assets of $7.5 billion. He fills the vacancy created by the death of his older brother, John Walton, in June.

"Our family remains committed to the ongoing growth and improvement of Wal-Mart, and to representing the interests of all shareholders," said Rob Walton, chairman of Wal-Mart Stores.