At the 33rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Hollywood today, Sam’s Club is “helping celebrities celebrate in style” by providing a “luxury gift package” to select presenters and nominees at an exclusive backstage gift lounge. The packages are valued at more than $750 each and include lavish gifts including: two dozen long-stem roses, a Magnavox portable DVD player, a Kodak V530 Digital Camera, a Channelock Mechanics’s tool set, and, of course, a one-year Sam’s Club membership.

The celebrities might enjoy the Dom Perignon Champagne … but what would $750 mean to the average Wal-Mart worker?

For the average full-time associate who works 34 hours per week and supposedly earns $10.11 per hour (according to Wal-Mart’s spin machine), $750 is approximately 2.18 weeks of work. For part-timers who work about 24 hours per week and earn roughly $8 per hour, $750 is closer to a month’s salary.

For the 775,000 Wal-Mart workers and their families without company health care, $750 could provide access to urgently-needed medical attention, or simply a visit to the doctor for the first time in years.

Cynthia Murray, for example, might use $750 towards rehabilitation for injuries related to a car accident years ago. Because Cynthia cannot afford Wal-Mart’s health care plan, she has gone without medical treatment to heal her injuries. Like many other Wal-Mart associates and their children, Cynthia must often forgo medical care and simply hope she doesn’t get sick.

Today KXAN-TV aired their investigative report on pricing inaccuracies in central Texas. What they found at Wal-Mart is disturbing:

Every time you go shopping, you could be getting overcharged and not even know it...

Store managers don't usually allow our cameras to come in and check things out so we used a hidden camera and went shopping...

The first stop is the Wal-Mart on 183 and I-35. We went straight to the clearance rack, which is supposedly where the best deals are, right?

We pulled a child's sweater set off the rack, which was marked $9. On the big clearance aisle, we found a halogen flood light for $3.

We also found a baseball batting glove in the 50-cents clearance bin. We ended up paying more than 20 times that price for the batting glove...

We checked our receipts, and we found mistakes.

Of the 18 items we purchased at the Wal-Mart on 183 and I-35, three were scanned incorrectly, but the overcharge was enormous.

The sweater set scanned at $13 -- an overcharge of $4.

The halogen flood light scanned at $7.47. That's an overcharge of $4.47.

Our deal of the day turned into the biggest rip-off. The batting glove in the 50-cent clearance bin scanned at $12.46. That's nearly 23 times the sale price. It's an overcharge of $11.96.

Our 18 items totaled $70.62, which if the scanner was accurate, should've been $50.19. It was an overcharge of $20.43.

...It's fair to mention, we also went to Randalls, H-E-B and Target.

Their scanners got it right.

I just arrived in Denver, Colorado. I wish you could see the stacks of sign up sheets here. At Wednesday's rally here in downtown Denver, local organizers and volunteers signed up 3,500 plus new WakeUpWalMart.com supporters in less than two hours.

Across the country, our rallies generated well over 10,000 new supporter pledges. Click here to view some of the photos from the rallies. We will be adding more photos as they come in from local organizers.

Rally Recap: Spotlight on Denver

The Denver rally was a great unified effort by the all the CTW unions. We had buses at two locations to bring people to the rally, and we ended up with 200-some people in attendance – many union members and staff people, but also many grassroots supporters. Everybody had fun!

After the rally, we issued everyone a clipboard and petitions, and we signed up over 3,000 new WakeUpWalMart.com supporters in just two hours. People from the rally spread out with our signs all over the downtown area, and we talked with as many passersby as we could. We let them know what we were doing and asked them to sign up. We ran into a good number of people who knew right away what the problems are at Wal-Mart.

Some of us went down to a nearby college campus, and we found the students to be very receptive. Apparently several professors had shown the movie “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price” in their classes, and the students knew all about how badly Wal-Mart treats their employees. That was very refreshing!

-John Mathewson, Local WakeUpWalMart.com organizer

Rally Recap: Spotlight on Portland

We had a great time in Portland! The rally was held at the Pioneer Courthouse Square, which we call “Portland’s living room.” It’s a very nice open area, almost like an amphitheater. And the weather even cooperated – it was overcast, but not raining.

The speakers were excellent. Geralyn Lutty, the UFCW International Vice President and Director of Region 7, started us off by describing the issues with Wal-Mart and why it’s so important to change Wal-Mart to make America better. Our Commissioner of Labor, Dan Gardner, gave a fiery speech and vowed he’ll do anything he can to help. He urged us to support Oregon’s Fair Share for Health Care bill. A few candidates for the Oregon State Legislature spoke, too, and Jeremy Bird, the Field Director from WakeUpWalMart.com.

There were lots of rally signs, and lots of enthusiasm. It was just great to be out there with so many people – well over 300, I’d say. The whole thing was pretty exhilarating!

-Stu Fishman, WakeUpWalMart.com supporter in Portland, OR

Today's newspapers are full of articles about yesterday's rallies to "Cure the Wal-Mart Health Care Crisis." A few examples:

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The Atlanta event was one of about 35 planned for Wednesday nationwide, and drew such company critics as the Rev. Joseph Lowery, Service Employees International Union organizer Tom Woodruff, and Linda Chavez-Thompson, executive vice president of the national AFL-CIO.

Lowery — who recently signed a letter condemning former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young for defending Wal-Mart as a community revitalizer and a good store for low-income families — took his turn on the podium to criticize the company's health care policies as inadequate.

"Health care is not a privilege — it's a right," he called out to the crowd, which responded with scattered shouts of "Amen."

The turnout for this news conference was quite a bit larger than the intimate, businesslike event put on last week in Atlanta by Young and the pro-company group he now helms, Working Families for Wal-Mart.

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

The nation's largest employers -- particularly Wal-Mart Stores --- should pay higher wages and offer workers affordable health-care benefits without shifting that burden to taxpayers, union leaders told supporters at a Pittsburgh rally Wednesday.

"Workers are rallying to urge Wal-Mart to start ... treating their employees with respect and dignity. Despite $11 billion in profits last year, Wal-Mart has 1.3 million people, and over 57 percent are not offered affordable health care," Ron Lenhart, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 23 in Canonsburg, told about 80 union members and activists during a lunchtime rally at Mellon Square, Downtown.

From CBS2 in Chicago:

Aldermen, labor leaders and other supporters of the so-called Living Wage/Big Box Ordinance rallied outside City Hall Wednesday, demanding better pay for employees of retail giants that call Chicago home.

"The Chicago City Council is in the early stages of emerging as a national leader in addressing this critical issue, to ensure the employees of big box stores earn a living wage," said Ron Powell, president of Local 881 and United Food and Commercial Workers vice president.

About 350 people attended the rally, with speakers urging passage of the big box ordinance now before the City Council and calling for higher wages and improved benefits for employees who work for such large retailers as Wal-Mart and Target.

It was lunch hour on a Wednesday in a city with few Wal-Marts. Yet, hundreds of supporters were rallying for health care in downtown Portland, Oregon.

Across the country in a city with no Wal-Marts, over 250 people lined the steps of City Hall in New York City to call for fair share health care.

Hundreds more rallied in Denver, St. Louis, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Cincinnati, Sacramento, and other cities. All of this in the middle of the day on a Wednesday.

While the rallies were motivating, the best part was the post-rally actions. In each city, supporters signed up people to the "Cure the Wal-Mart Health Care Crisis" petition. We simply asked Americans if they supported forcing large companies, like Wal-Mart, to provide their fair share for health care. The overwhelming answer was yes. Over 3,000 people signed the petition in Denver alone...in less than two hours.

And so we continue to build a sustainable movement across this country from New York City to Los Angeles.

From the Associated Press:

Unions representing six million workers planned to rally Wednesday in 35 cities from New York to Los Angeles to protest what they called inadequate health care coverage by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation's largest employer.

The Change to Win labor federation of seven unions, including two that have tried and failed for years to organize Wal-Mart workers, will denounce what it calls the "Wal-Mart health care crisis" in cities that also include Chicago, Atlanta, Boston and the Dallas suburb of Plano, Texas.

The rallies were organized together with WakeUpWalMart.com, a political campaign group started a year ago by the United Food and Commercial Workers union to pressure the retailer to raise pay and benefits and improve working conditions. The UFCW is part of Change to Win.

"Now is the time for Wal-Mart to seize the moment and become a better company. No hardworking American should ever have to live without health care or struggle to survive on poverty-level wages while corporate America makes obscene profits," said Paul Blank, campaign director for WakeUpWalMart.com.

The unions said in a statement that the Bentonville, Ark.-based company fails to provide company health care to 57 percent, or 775,000 employees, of its 1.34 million employees.

Wal-Mart has said 615,000 employees, or 46 percent, were enrolled in company health plans as of January versus 568,000 a year earlier.

The unions also cited an internal Wal-Mart memo, which became public last fall, that said 46 percent of the children of Wal-Mart workers were uninsured or on public health care.

Wal-Mart has defended its health care as better than average for the retail sector and twice since October has announced improvements, including shorter eligibility periods for part-time workers, coverage for their children and more affordable premiums between $11 and $23 a month.

The announcements reflect growing outside pressure on the company, which was exhibited in the state of Maryland recently. There, the state's legislature passed a law that requires companies with more than 10,000 Maryland employees to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on employee health care or pay the difference into the state's Medicaid fund.

The Change to Win federation is made up of the carpenters' union, the laborers' union, the service employees, the Teamsters, United Farm Workers, UFCW and UNITE Here.

I just arrived out here in Portland, Oregon where local activists are gearing up for one of 35 nationwide "Cure the Wal-Mart Health Care Crisis" rallies. Here in Oregon, members of the Change to Win federation, local politicians, workers and community members will be rallying downtown today.

Click here to find a rally near you.

We'll keep you posted on the actions throughout the day.

Here is our press advisory on the events:

WAKEUPWALMART.COM AND CHANGE TO WIN, AMERICA’S NEWEST LABOR FEDERATION, TO HOLD RALLIES IN 35 CITIES TO “CURE THE WAL-MART HEALTH CARE CRISIS”

Washington, D.C. - As part of a nationwide campaign to “Help Cure the Wal-Mart Health Care Crisis,” grassroots supporters of WakeUpWalMart.com, local Change to Win federation members, workers, and community activists will lead public rallies in 35 cities across the United States in a national day of action. The event is the first coordinated national action involving the new Change to Win federation, which represents over six million workers.

Speakers at the rally will discuss the “Wal-Mart Health Care Crisis” and the growing cost American taxpayers pay for Wal-Mart’s failure to provide company health care to 57% percent, over 775,000, of its employees and their families.

Change to Win (CTW), representing six million workers, is building a new movement of working people to provide better pay, affordable health care, a secure retirement, and dignity on the job for millions of workers and their families.

Change to Win unions include the United Food and Commercial Worker's International Union (UFCW), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, UNITE HERE, Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA), and the United Farm Workers of America (UFW).

The “Help Cure the Wal-Mart Health Care Crisis” campaign is the latest initiative launched by WakeUpWalMart.com. WakeUpWalMart.com is America’s national campaign to change Wal-Mart and one of the fastest growing social movements in America with over 216,000 supporters in all 50 states.

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

WASHINGTON — The Rev. Joseph Lowery and dozens of other civil rights and religious leaders are signing a letter that condemns former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young for his work defending Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

The letter, which could still undergo some minor changes before being released today, said Wal-Mart has a "history of breaking child labor laws" and engages in "unethical" business practices. The company now is using Young "to try to turn our eyes from the truth," it says.

Young, in his own letter to church officials released Monday, praised Wal-Mart for allowing poor people to be able to buy "low-cost fruits, vegetables, vitamins, medicines and clothing."

Since February, Young has been serving as chairman of the steering committee for Working Families for Wal-Mart, a group that defends Wal-Mart's business practices.

The letter invokes the name of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the revered civil rights leader who worked closely with Young during the height of the movement in the 1960s.

"Dr. King would have disagreed with Mr. Young on this issue — King sided with the poor," says a passage from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. "Young is taking a stand against the poor and is siding with the filthy rich who are oppressing the poor."

Young himself is a minister with the United Church of Christ, whose officials initiated the letter, according to Ron Stief, who heads the church's Justice and Witness Ministries.

Stief said Monday the final version of the letter would be sent to Young this morning. It will be released to the media later in the day.

John Thomas, general minister and president of the United Church of Christ, has already sent a private letter to Young, Stief said.

The church cannot order Young to change his position on Wal-Mart. Stief said the purpose of both the private and public letters is to ask Young: "What are you doing defending a company that has done more to hurt working people than any other company?"

Among those who signed the letter were Lowery, another Atlanta-based minister and civil-rights-era leader. Stief said the final version of the letter will have about 50 names attached, including a number of clergy members from the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, the Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church, Jewish groups and others.

The letter quotes Lowery, former head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, saying he is "disappointed" that Young "has chosen to defend the wayward ways of Wal-Mart."

Working Families for Wal-Mart was launched with Wal-Mart's funding in December. Last week in Rogers, Ark., just a few miles from Wal-Mart's headquarters, Young chaired the first meeting of 10 members of the group's steering committee, made up of business and community leaders who support Wal-Mart.

Young's consulting firm has a contract for an undisclosed sum with the group. His responsibilities include writing opinion articles and speaking with reporters about Wal-Mart's positive impacts on low-income people.

On Monday, committee spokesman Kevin Sheridan released a letter that Young already had composed and is planning to send to officials of the United Church of Christ to explain his position. Quoting from the gospel of Matthew, Young points out that Jesus Christ admonished his followers to feed the hungry. Young said that has always been his goal as well.

He said that while Wal-Mart may be "far from perfect," it has provided low-priced goods and foods for poor people. He said Wal-Mart critics are misguided. "After failing to get the government to address a social safety net, they are criticizing Wal-Mart for failing to provide it," he wrote.

Besides being an ordained minister, Young is a civil rights leader and former congressman, United Nations ambassador and Atlanta mayor.

After last week's steering committee meeting, Young released a statement noting that Wal-Mart plans "to build more than 50 stores in struggling urban areas, expecting to create up to 25,000 jobs in areas desperately needing employment."

"Even as a lifelong Democrat and union supporter, I have to say it's time for Washington, D.C., union leaders to let working families decide where to shop and work," he said in his statement.

A copy of the letter to Young was provided by Wal-Mart Watch, a union-supported group that pushes Wal-Mart to change its business practices. Spokesman Nu Wexler said that William Jarvis Johnson, Wal-Mart Watch's director of Faith Based Outreach, is among those signing the letter.

A recent resolution by the Democratic National Committee discussed concerns about low wages, limited benefits, child labor, gender discrimination, and other illegal and/or exploitative employment practices typical of Wal-Mart's business model. The resolution called on Wal-Mart to change and "set the standard" for a better America.

The following are excerpts from the resolution:

"WHEREAS, Wal-Mart, the world's largest corporation and the largest private sector employer in the United States, with more than 3,000 stores and supercenters in this country alone, follows a business model characterized by many of the practices described above; and

WHEREAS, Wal-Mart's practices affect not only its own employees, but also, because of the company's role as industry leader, have significant spillover effects on employers and workers in retail and across other sectors as well; and

WHEREAS, low wages and benefits for workers entail huge costs for taxpayers, who end up paying for services and benefits employers do not provide...

WHEREAS, bare knuckle competitive practices like those Wal-Mart reportedly follows, including squeezing domestic suppliers, has forced American manufacturers to outsource work or shutter operations altogether...

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) reaffirms its determination to fight for good jobs for American workers; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the DNC calls on large and profitable companies like Wal-Mart to be good corpoarte citizens and model employers, setting a standard of living wages, safe and healthy working conditions, and affordable, comprehensive health care benefits that will support families, sustain communities and foster growth of a strong middle class..."

Click here for an AP article about the DNC resolution and Wal-Mart's new diversity panel, the company's latest publicity stunt.

From the Associated Press:

LANSING, Mich. -- Wal-Mart has agreed to pay up to $1.5 million to settle claims that its merchandise did not carry price tags as state law requires in Michigan, Attorney General Mike Cox said Monday.

Cox's announcement came nearly two months after his office filed a notice of intended action against the retailer when an investigation found four Michigan stores had price tags on just 20 percent to 25 percent of their items.

"This far-reaching and innovative settlement will help assure continued item pricing compliance by Wal-Mart," Cox said at a news conference. "It is my hope also that it will serve as a notice to other Michigan retailers that violation of Michigan's item pricing laws will not be tolerated."

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will pay a $750,000 fine and $30,000 to reimburse the state for the cost of the probe, the government said. It also has agreed to donate $100,000 to Michigan food banks.

Wal-Mart will pay $620,000 in a separate account to cover the cost of independent audits. The retailer could get a portion of the $620,000 back in two years if the audits show its Michigan stores are meeting compliance goals.

Michigan is the only state in the nation that requires price tags on almost every item in stores. If consumers are charged more than the price marked, they can demand the difference plus 10 times the amount of the difference, up to $5.

From the Associated Press:

There is no candidate. There are no ballots. There won't be an Election Day. And yet it may be the hottest, highest-stakes political contest in America today.

It's the campaign against Wal-Mart.

A year-old effort to force the nation's No. 1 private employer to change its business practices has evolved into a Washington-style brawl: tens of millions of dollars spent by Republican and Democratic political consultants using polling, micro-targeting, ads, e-mails, direct mail, grass-roots organizing and strategic "war rooms" to ply their trade in the corporate world.

Their fight involves some of society's most vexing trends, including the rising cost of health care, the painful realities of globalization and the waning relevance of organized labor.

"Our opponents have organized the likes of a political campaign against us," said Bob McAdam, vice president of corporate affairs at Wal-Mart. "It would be nonsense for us not to respond in a similar fashion."

Wal-Mart's main opponents are the Service Employees International Union, which started Wal-Mart Watch, and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which funds a separate campaign called WakeUpWalMart.com

After failing to organize employees of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. with traditional tactics, the unions decided to use modern campaign and communications methods to drag the company into the public square and try to shame them into change.

Both groups have hammered the world's largest retailer about its wages, health insurance, treatment of workers and proclivity for buying non-U.S. goods. Wal-Mart has responded with counterattacks and a multimillion-dollar public campaign to polish its image.

On both sides are some of the best political strategists money can buy.

WakeUpWalMart.com is run by Paul Blank, political director for Howard Dean's 2004 Democratic presidential campaign, and Chris Kofinis, a former political professor who helped draft retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark into the same race.

Their campaign has all the markings of the Dean and Clark insurgencies - a snappy Web site, volunteer action lists and an issues-based grass-roots campaign.

Among those lined up against the company at Wal-Mart Watch are Jim Jordan, campaign manager for 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, and Terry Holt, a spokesman for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign.

Odd bedfellows: A Republican working for unions against Wal-Mart.

"Wal-Mart is giving capitalism a bad name," Holt explained. "It's lost touch with its small-town roots and has become a company that is depending on corporate welfare ... and an all-too-cozy relationship with China."

Under fire, Wal-Mart hired Reagan adviser Michael Deaver, Bush-Cheney political director Terry Nelson and several Democrats, among them civil rights leader Andrew Young, former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros and campaign strategist Leslie Dach.

Talk about odd bedfellows: Democrats working for Wal-Mart against organized labor.

"We were being attacked. We wanted to hire people who knew how to respond," said Wal-Mart's McAdam, formerly a GOP aide on Capitol Hill and political strategist for the tobacco industry.

WakeUpWalMart.com claims 212,000 supporters who can be mobilized with a computer stroke to recruit members and participate in media events designed to shine a bad light on the Bentonville, Ark., company.

The group also passes out UFCW-sponsored workers' rights material outside Wal-Mart stores.

A goal of the UFCW is to show Wal-Mart's 1.3 million U.S. employees - many of whom have a low opinion of unions or fear retribution if they organize - that unionized labor can change their workplace and lives for the better.

"For years, labor leaders were fighting Wal-Mart the old way, but times have changed," Kofinis said. "Instead of organizing workers, they're trying to organize the nation" against Wal-Mart.

In its own way, this campaign over Wal-Mart is as important as the congressional races this year.

Bringing Wal-Mart to heel with 21st-century tactics would signal a fresh approach for organized labor after a decades-long decline in membership.

At stake for Wal-Mart is the future course of a company with $312.4 billion in sales in the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31. Its stock has fallen 20 percent over the past two years, and the company has had trouble sustaining its historically high rates of profit growth.

Analysts say bad publicity from the union-backed campaigns may be hurting Wal-Mart, though unrelated business pressures are also a factor.

Wal-Mart denies that the union-backed campaign has hurt its bottom line. But the company sees the effort as a threat.

After Maryland's legislature passed a labor-backed bill requiring companies - Wal-Mart in particular - to spend more on workers' health insurance, the Arkansas company came out with improvements in its health care coverage.

Amid criticism, Wal-Mart also has announced plans to:

_Help competing local companies stay in business.

_Expand its share of the Hispanic market.

_Sell more environmentally friendly products.

_Increase diversity in its work force.

A multimillion-dollar advertising campaign featuring testimonials of happy customers and employees cast Wal-Mart as a good corporate citizen.

Nelson was hired to wage a grass-roots campaign by recruiting Wal-Mart shoppers and local leaders sympathetic to the corporation's cause.

In the union camp, both groups send opposition research on Wal-Mart to reporters, e-mail supporters and stage events such as rallies and documentary film screenings.

They have had an impact.

Maryland-style health care bills have been introduced in more than 30 states. Democratic candidates in Ohio, Arizona and Pennsylvania have spoken out against Wal-Mart, as have elected officials in Wisconsin, Georgia, Connecticut and several other states.

Then there is Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The potential 2008 presidential candidate served on Wal-Mart's board for six years when her husband was governor of Arkansas. Just two years ago, the New York senator called her time on the board "a great experience in every respect."

But now she does not want anything to do with the company. Her re-election campaign returned a $5,000 contribution from Wal-Mart, citing "serious differences with current company practices."

To this, Wal-Mart officials acknowledged that the company has become a political issue - at least for Democratic candidates who need labor's money and organizing might.

"While not commenting specifically on Mrs. Clinton, apparently there are those who want to appeal to union leaders regardless of what office they're running for and whether they want to do what union leaders want done," McAdam said.

Will the company be a major issue in upcoming campaigns?

"I think there are those who want to make it so," the Wal-Mart executive said. "But I think the true test of whether that's true or not will play itself out in the midterm elections and the presidential elections to come."

You can make a difference and help cure the Wal-Mart health care crisis!

On Wednesday, April 26, please join thousands of Americans rallying all across the country to fight for affordable health care for all Wal-Mart workers.

In at least 35 cities, grassroots supporters of WakeUpWalMart.com will take part in this national day of action to raise awareness about the Wal-Mart health care crisis and sign the pledge to make Wal-Mart pay its fair share for health care.

Click here to RSVP for the rally nearest you.

Despite over $11 billion in profits, Wal-Mart fails to provide company health care to 57%, over 775,000, of its employees and their families.

At the rallies, we will call on Wal-Mart to pay its fair share for health care and provide comprehensive, affordable health care to all of its employees. After the rally, supporters will take to the streets to sign up thousands of Americans to join the fight for health care by signing the “Cure the Wal-Mart Health Care Crisis” pledge.

The rallies are the first nationally coordinated actions involving the new Change to Win federation, which represents over six million workers.

Click here to RSVP!

It was a crazy few days in Bentonville for the WakeUpWalMart.com campaign. We held a tremendously successful press conference at the hotel of “Wal-Mart Media Days” with 3 current workers and 1 former manager who shared their personal stories. Reverend Markel Hutchins, an up-and-coming civil rights leader from Atlanta, GA, hosted the event and set the stage for the workers. While Wal-Mart touted company rhetoric, our workers spoke the real truth.

Cynthia Murray from Maryland, whose daughter has cancer, told us she can’t afford Wal-Mart health care. Greg Pierce, from Florida, talked about staff morale being low. Maria Lopez, from Texas, told us about the age discrimination she is experiencing at Wal-Mart. And Ollie Wells told us the story of his wife’s debilitating injury received while working at a Wal-Mart distribution center.

These are four stories of many. Workers are speaking out and Wal-Mart is starting to listen. A special thank you to these workers for coming out publicly and speaking for so many. You are the voice of this movement.

From NWAnews.com:

ROGERS — While Wal-Mart Stores Inc. set out to spread a positive message at the retailer’s second annual media conference on Tuesday, some Wal-Mart workers painted a different picture.

Three current Wal-Mart associates and one former assistant manager joined civil rights activist Markel Hutchins at the Embassy Suites on Tuesday to tell reporters about the poor working conditions, costly health insurance and low morale they said workers endure.

Hutchins called on Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott and the Walton family to "embrace the power they have to improve the lives of 1.3 million workers and their families."

Greg Pierce quit his job as customer sales manager at a store in Ocala, Fla., last Monday after being denied money, benefits, vacation time, sick time, personal time and workers’ compensation benefits. "The morale has just gone completely down because of the way the workers are being treated, and it’s time to speak out," he said.

Pierce is urging more Wal-Mart employees to speak out about poor working conditions in an effort to convince the company to change how it treats its employees.

Cynthia Murray, a sales associate at Wal-Mart in Laurel, Md., said that even after working at the store for more than five years, she still cannot afford the company’s health care on her $9.47 hourly wage. "I’ve watched Wal-Mart change the way they treat their employees," she said. "We all are hard workers, and we just want a fair deal."

When asked why they don’t quit their jobs and work for a company with better benefits, the panel agreed that they couldn’t afford to leave.

Ollie Wells, who works at a Wal-Mart distribution center in Brooksville, Fla., said he needs the flexibility of his weekend shift to help his wife — also a Wal-Mart employee — take care of their four children.

The workers stressed that more importantly, quitting their jobs would not solve the overall problem. "The argument ‘if you don’t like it, just leave’ is really in some way not patriotic at its core," Hutchins said. "We have the power to change this company for the better, and following the civil rights movement, the campaign to change our nation’s largest employer is one of the next great struggles for social and economic justice liberation for all Americans."

As part of the campaign sponsored by WakeUpWal-Mart. com, the Wal-Mart workers and Hutchins released a joint letter to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott asking him to "understand the painful challenges his workers face every day."

Our latest press release:

WAKEUPWALMART.COM CALLS ON WAL-MART CEO LEE SCOTT TO “WORK TOGETHER” AND “SEIZE THE MOMENT FOR TRUE CHANGE”

LAUNCHES RALLIES IN 35 CITIES WITH NEW, NATIONAL CAMPAIGN SLOGAN - “CHANGE WAL-MART, CHANGE AMERICA”

ANNOUNCES GOAL OF 1 MILLION GRASSROOTS SUPPORTERS BY DECEMBER 2008

Rogers, AR - In anticipation of CEO Lee Scott’s speech before the national media, WakeUpWalmart.com, America’s campaign to change Wal-Mart, called on Wal-Mart to “seize the moment for true change” and “work together to make Wal-Mart a better company.” The group, again, offered to sit down with Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott, and his executive team, to find specific, fair and just solutions that would improve the lives of its 1.3 million workers, their families, and help change America for the better.

WakeUpWalMart.com also announced it will be holding rallies in 35 cities all across America next week featuring its new national campaign slogan - “Change Wal-Mart, Change America.” Beginning next week, WakeUpWalMart.com will launch a series of initiatives across the country based on this new message and theme. As part of this new grassroots push, WakeUpWalMart.com, already one of America fastest growing movements in America with over 212,000 grassroots supporters, announced it is setting a goal of at least 1 million supporters by December 2008.

As part of this new initiative, Paul Blank, campaign director for WakeUpWalmart.com issued the following statement:

“Now is the time for Wal-Mart to seize the moment for true change. The American people are tired of publicity stunts, half-truths and empty words that have become synonymous with corporate America. Americans wants Wal-Mart to change for the better, to be a responsible corporation, and to reflect the best of our values.

We renew our offer to work together with Wal-Mart on specific, just and fair solutions to help make Wal-Mart a better business, and we remain committed to our goal of making sure Wal-Mart pays a living wage, provides affordable, comprehensive health care to all of its workers, adopts a zero tolerance policy on child labor, ends discrimination, protects American manufacturing jobs, and addresses the community concerns of crime, traffic, congestion and sprawl associated with a Wal-Mart store.

The debate over Wal-Mart is now a major political, moral and economic issue in America, and our campaign for social and economic justice cannot and will not end until Wal-Mart changes. In the coming months and year, we will grow our movement from 212,300 supporters to 1 million supporters who believe, like we do, the American people have the power and the responsibility to ‘Change Wal-Mart and Change America’.”

From Business Week:

The retailer is launching several initiatives, including a health-care package for part-timers, to improve its image. It may not be enough.

Cynthia Murray, a 49-year-old store associate at a Wal-Mart (WMT ) store in Laurel, Md., chuckled when she heard of her company's plan to offer health-care coverage to more part-time employees. "I've worked full time for six years at Wal-Mart and I can't afford the high-deductible plans," she says. "How is a part-time worker going to afford it?" Murray earns $9.47 an hour, answering phones and taking care of people in the fitting room. Murray doesn't have any health-care coverage and says she hardly ever sees a doctor.

After years of sharp criticism for its poor wages and benefits from policymakers, unions and its own employees, Wal-Mart is working overtime to improve its standing. On Apr. 18, the world's largest retailer opened its second annual media conference, gathering a large group of journalists in Rogers, Ark., near its Bentonville headquarters. The company unveiled several initiatives, including the expansion in health-care coverage...

But the reaction of employees like Murray suggests Wal-Mart may have a tough time in making substantial changes in its workers' health coverage. She earns about $16,000 a year, working four days a week. Her husband also works and doesn't have health care. She says the financial burden of Wal-Mart's plans are simply too much. The cheapest policy she can get in Maryland, she says, would run $110 every two weeks, out of a paycheck of $606.

Click here for the full article.

From CNNMoney.com:

ROGERS, Ark. - "Champion the Customer" may be Wal-Mart's theme for its media conference getting underway Tuesday, but union-backed watchdog outfit Wake-up Wal-Mart is hoping to keep reporters' attention focused squarely on what it claims are the retailer's unfair labor policies.

This is the second year in a row that Wal-Mart (up $0.49 to $46.31, Research) will trot out its senior executives -- including CEO Lee Scott -- before invited members of the media. Issues to be discussed include improving customer service and merchandise assortment, Wal-Mart's expansion strategy both in the United States and internationally, and its benefits and healthcare policies for its 1.3 million American workers.

Chris Kofinis, spokesman for Wake-Up Wal-Mart, dismissed the two-day event as simply a public relations ploy by Wal-Mart to offset the string of negative publicity its suffered over the past few months.

"The only reason that Wal-Mart is holding this conference again is because it knows it has an image problem," Kofinis said. "Unless Wal-Mart takes better care of its workers, it's going to see sales slow, turnover rates will continue to rise and the public's frustration will grow bigger. Wal-Mart knows what it needs to do, but is choosing not to."

To drive that point home to the attending media, Wake-Up Wal-Mart scheduled a news conference at the Embassy Suites hotel in Rogers, the same venue as the Wal-Mart event. Kofinis said three current Wal-Mart associates and a former manager will talk about how the company's attempt to shift more full-time workers to part-time schedules has negatively impacted their lives and forced one of them to recently quit.

"Wal-Mart was aware about our press conference but I don't think they knew about the speakers that will be there," Kofinis said.

The Wake-Up Wal-Mart event precedes the start of Wal-Mart's own gabfest later in the day.

According to the conference agenda, Eduardo Castro-Wright, president and CEO of Wal-Mart USA, will talk about "improving the customer's shopping experience." Castro-Wright, formerly CEO of Wal-Mart's Mexico unit, Wal-Mart de Mexico, was promoted to his current position early this year.

Analysts said Castro-Wright's presentation is the one to watch, since he's the one tasked with improving slowing sales at Wal-Mart stores, as well as revamping the shopping experience for customers.

This includes everything from redesigning stores and updating merchandise to attract a higher-income shopper to removing store clutter and reducing the long lines at the checkouts which can result in lost sales as frustrated shoppers abandon their shopping carts.

Worker health care an issue
Also on tap is Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart's executive vice president of benefits administration.

Union groups went after Chambers late last year after Wal-Mart Watch released an internal company memo suggesting to the board that Wal-Mart could hold down spending on health care and benefits if it hires more part-time workers who aren't immediately eligible for coverage. She also advocated wooing younger, presumably healthier workers and discouraging unhealthy people from working at Wal-Mart.

Chief financial officer Tom Schoewe is among Wednesday's scheduled speakers. His presentation is expected to focus on customer service as a path to growth.

Last but not least, CEO Lee Scott will tie up any loose ends as the conference's final scheduled speaker.

Todd Jones, an analyst with investment firm PNC Advisors, which holds Wal-Mart stock in its $50 billion portfolio, said he perceived the media conference to be a positive for Wal-Mart.

"I think it's in Wal-Mart's best interest to portray its business in a positive way to the public. Last year's conference was a step in the right direction," said Jones.

But he specifically wants to hear Wal-Mart's game plan to improve its merchandise, and how it intends to get customers to shop for higher-priced and higher-margin items such as electronics, in addition to food and household products.

"Wal-Mart hasn't had much success in this area yet. I want to know how they intend to revamp their product strategy while staying focused on being a low-cost provider," said Jones.

We finished up the press conference this morning. Inside the conference, Wal-Mart executives delivered slick presentations trying to convince the American people that Wal-Mart is changing. Outside the conference, however, actual Wal-Mart workers told the truth about Wal-Mart’s negative impact on working Americans.

The workers delivered this letter to CEO Lee Scott.

April 18th, 2006

Dear Mr. Scott,

Sam Walton built this company by valuing the associates who wake up everyday and work hard to make Wal-Mart a success. Unfortunately, Sam Walton’s principles of caring about his associates, improving the community and truly putting the customer first, seem to be a distant memory at Wal-Mart.

Today, while Wal-Mart talks about change and says it cares about its workers, their families, and our community, it has done little to address the serious concerns raised by so many associates. Maybe, if you could live a day in the life of an average Wal-Mart associate, you would understand the fear we have of getting sick because we can’t afford health care or how hard it is to support a family on Wal-Mart’s wages. We cannot describe to you how powerless you feel when work schedules are changed for no reason, hours are cut, and good people are pushed out because Wal-Mart has decided they are “too expensive.”

Mr. Scott, your workers are not numbers on a balance sheet. All of your 1.3 million associates are real people with real feelings, real families, and real hopes and dreams. We have come here today, in spite of our fear and concern for our job, because we believe joining together and speaking out is the only way we can make Wal-Mart a better company – a company that once again reflects Sam Walton’s values.

We believe a “better Wal-Mart” begins with you meeting with us, listening to our serious concerns, and working with us to reverse the terrible direction Wal-Mart is headed. Together, we believe, and hope you will agree, we can make Wal-Mart a better place for your workers, their families, our customers, and our communities.

We believe Wal-Mart can start becoming better by:

Paying a living wage for all full-time and part-time associates. With over $11 billion in profit, it is wrong that so many Wal-Mart workers are at or below the poverty line and struggling to support their family.

Providing comprehensive, affordable health care with deductibles and premiums every Wal-Mart associate can afford.

Improving workplace conditions for all associates. Too many Wal-Mart associates have had to suffer the indignity of being told that workplace problems or our workplace injuries are not Wal-Mart’s responsibility. Wal-Mart needs to respect and treat all of its associates fairly and establish a new method to respond to associates’ concerns immediately.

Respecting and honoring associates schedules. The recent move to cut hours, shift schedules without notice, and push out full-time workers is destroying morale, hurting Wal-Mart stores, and unnecessarily burdening Wal-Mart associates and their families. We ask you to immediately stop implementing the draconian changes outlined in last year’s memo by Executive Vice President Susan Chambers.

On behalf of all Wal-Mart associates, and the millions of Americans that share our concern, we hope you will meet with us and discuss these issues.

We know it will be a great day in America when Wal-Mart changes for the better and we hope you, and Wal-Mart, do the right thing.

Sincerely,

Ollie Wells
Cynthia Murray
Greg Pierce
Maria Lopez

WakeUpWalMart.com is in Bentonville, Arkansas today as Wal-Mart begins its "Media Days," a two-day Wal-Mart PR spin fest.

We have brought courageous current Wal-Mart workers to Wal-Mart's media fest so that reporters can learn the truth behind the spin.

This morning's press release:

BRAVE WAL-MART WORKERS TO SPEAK OUT AT WAL-MART MEDIA DAYS

Reverend Markel Hutchins Hosts Press Conference/Meet ’n Greet with Current Wal-Mart Workers and a Former Wal-Mart Manager

Workers to Discuss Recent Changes at Wal-Mart Stores/ Impact on
Store Performance/Worker Morale

Rogers, AR – Current Wal-Mart workers and a former Wal-Mart manager will speak out about working conditions and the negative effects new company policies, such as changes in scheduling, cuts in hours, and reducing the number of full-time workers, are having on store performance/worker morale at Wal-Mart. The Wal-Mart workers will be offering personal insight into the current state of affairs at Wal-Mart stores.

The Press Conference/Meet ’n Greet will be hosted by Reverend Markel Hutchins. At the event, Reverend Markel Hutchins will challenge CEO Lee Scott and Wal-Mart to improve pay and health care benefits for all 1.3 million Wal-Mart workers by the end of this year. The Wal-Mart workers and Reverend Hutchins will also be releasing a joint letter that will focus on key areas of concern. The letter will be delivered to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott.

A statement by Paul Blank, campaign director for WakeUpWalMart.com, in response to Wal-Mart’s recent health care announcement:

“After more than a year of publicity stunts, the health care crisis at Wal-Mart continues to get worse, not better. Today, Wal-Mart fails to provide company health care to 57% of its workforce or 775,000 employees and their families, up from 52% a year ago.

While this represents a first step to expand eligibility, none of Wal-Mart’s proposed changes address the fundamental problem with their health care plan - extremely high deductibles which poverty-level workers cannot afford. If you couple Wal-Mart’s changes for part-time workers with the company’s already announced cuts to full-time workers, Wal-Mart’s changes are not likely to provide health care to one additional worker.

We hope Wal-Mart will use its national media conference as a chance to offer real solutions for its workers, not more of the same stale rhetoric which has resulted in a declining public image.”

Click here to read more about Wal-Mart's proposed changes to the health care plan.

Caroline Vernon has been an avid WakeUpWalMart.com supporter since June 2005. Most recently, she has launched a Wake-Up community group in Davenport, Iowa. Along with other Wake-Ups around the country, Caroline's group turned out dozens of people on Saturday, April 15 to educate their fellow citizens about Wal-Mart's high cost to taxpayers.

From the Quad-Cities Online:

DAVENPORT -- Caroline Vernon wants Wal-Mart to change its policy on health care for its employees.

"It shows how disconnected they are with the American worker," said Ms. Vernon, who is the Wake Up Wal-Mart leader for change for the Quad-Cities area. "We want Wal-Mart to change Wal-Mart. We want them to be responsible to the community in which they operate."

Ms. Vernon, of Davenport, joined more than 25 other activists at the corner of 53rd Street and Elmore Avenue Saturday afternoon. Several held up a 9-foot-long check for $10,059,698 made out to Wal-Mart and signed by Iowa tax payers. Others held up miniature versions of the check. All of the checks were stamped with "Stop Payment On This Check."

The more than $10 million figure is what Wake up Wal-Mart says the state of Iowa uses in public assistance programs because of the low wages and poor benefits corporation pays.

This is the second Wal-Mart demonstration the group has held at the 53rd and Elmore store in five months.

"It's all about raising awareness in the community," Ms. Vernon said, adding the location of the demonstration was changed from the Wal-Mart parking lot last time to the corner of 53rd and Elmore for visibility purposes.

The group picked Saturday because it as the final day for people to pay their taxes, which is what Wake Up Wal-Mart claims helps subsidize the company’s lackluster benefits.

The group picked Saturday because it was the final day for people to pay their taxes, which is what Wake Up Wal-Mart claims helps subsidize the company’s lackluster benefits.

The last time the group was at the 53rd and Elmore store, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman said company executives have met with a consultant group to improve the company's benefits. She estimated the company spent $4.8 billion on benefits in 2005.

Ms. Vernon said some progress has been made to force big companies such as Wal-Mart to provide better health care benefits. In Maryland and California the Fair Share for Health Care bill was passed into law. The law expands health care for workers, stops large, profitable companies from shifting their health care costs onto taxpayers, and makes sure all large, profitable employers pay their fair share for health care, according to the Wake Up Wal-Mart web site.

Ms. Vernon said a similar bill is stalled in the Iowa senate.

"This is a common sense bill that will require very large corporations to either provide affordable benefits to their workers or pay a fixed rate to the state to offset the cost to Medicaid," she said. "We want folks to contact their representatives and write to the governor to pass this. We need a legislator to introduce the bill on the Illinois side."

She is proud of the local progress Wake Up Wal-Mart and her grassroots corporate reform organization, Progressive Action for the Common Good, has made.

"The fact that we have the bill now in the Iowa legislature is very promising," she said.

From the Toronto Star:

MONTREAL (CP) — The Quebec Superior Court has rejected Wal-Mart's effort to overturn the union certification of its store in St-Hyacinthe.

Employees of the store east of Montreal were certified by the province's labour relations board on Jan. 14, 2005. They chose to be represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

At the time, it became the second unionized Wal-Mart location in North America, following the lead of a store in Saguenay, Que., which has since closed.

The world's largest retailer said some employees had been excluded from the 200-member accredited union local. If these people were included, the company argued there wouldn't have been union certification.

After hearing from the two sides, the court concluded there was no need to intervene because the labour board's decision didn't seem unreasonable.

Wal-Mart spokesman Yanik Deschenes said company lawyers were reviewing the court's decision and hadn't decided whether to appeal.

Meanwhile, a conciliator is assisting the union negotiate a first collective agreement with the union. Another negotiation session is planned for the end of April.

An arbitrator was named last December by the provincial labour minister. The move could mark the first step in having a collective agreement imposed on both sides.

A union spokesman has previously said the two sides were not far apart, though some financial matters remained unsettled. But the union also said a conciliator had reported to the government last November that a negotiated settlement would not be possible.

U.S.-based Wal-Mart, the second-largest company in the world in terms of revenue with more than 4,000 stores worldwide, has been facing increasing pressure to accept unionized stores. But it has largely resisted.

Statement on Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott's "Month Long Vacation" by Paul Blank, Campaign Director, WakeUpWalMart.com:

At a time when Wal-Mart is attempting to repair a faltering public image, reverse sluggish store sales, and minimize the in-store damage from a collapse in worker morale, it is extremely odd and very unusual for Wal-Mart’s CEO Lee Scott to take a "month long vacation." Scott's "vacation" raises serious questions about whether or not this is the beginning of the end for Mr. Scott's troubled tenure as Wal-Mart’s CEO.

Above all, whether Lee Scott stays as CEO or is replaced by another Wal-Mart executive, like John Menzer or Eduardo Castro Wright, we remain hopeful Wal-Mart will realize it cannot solve its public relations quagmire simply by changing the leadership at the top. Only real change, which improves the lives of their workers and their families, can salvage Wal-Mart’s faltering public image.

As we have said in the past, we are willing to work together with Wal-Mart - no matter who is the CEO - to improve the lives of its workers and to make Wal-Mart a better and more successful company.

Click here for the full AP article about Lee Scott's month long vacation.

From the Wall Street Journal:

After decades of relentless expansion in the U.S., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is cannibalizing its own business in many markets. But the huge retailer says the strategy of opening new stores that compete with older ones is paying off and will continue, despite Wall Street's rising dissatisfaction.

When the Bentonville, Ark., company opens new Wal-Mart stores in markets already served by older ones, same-store sales -- sales at stores open for at least a year -- average two percentage points below those for stores free of competing new stores. More broadly, Wal-Mart's return on capital spending -- mostly on new stores -- has fallen in recent years, meaning that the company is earning less for every additional dollar it spends on expansion.

In the year ended Jan. 31, same-store sales grew 3.4%, down from a peak of 9% in the late '90s and compared with 5.6% for archrival Target Corp. last year. Wall Street has taken note. The retailer's stock is down about 28% from its five-year high in early 2002, even as net income has risen 68%. In 4 p.m. composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, Wal-Mart shares were at $45.90, up 40 cents.

Some Wal-Mart watchers want the company to slow its expansion and channel more resources into improving the appearance of existing stores and upgrading its merchandise to entice shoppers to spend more. "What hurts the company and ultimately the value of its stock price is if you're paying more for the real estate but getting less and less out of it," says Morgan Stanley analyst Gregory Melich.

But Wal-Mart executives, who wouldn't comment for this article, have vowed to maintain the pace of expansion, arguing that new stores add to Wal-Mart's aggregate sales and profit even if the result is less from each store individually.

"We would much prefer to increase growth rather than increase already very high -- way higher than acceptable -- returns," Wal-Mart Chief Financial Officer Tom Schoewe told analysts at the retailer's annual meeting last June. "And, in fact, if those returns were to come down a bit and we could grow faster, that would be just fine by me and...for our investors."

Wal-Mart points out that cannibalization saps only one percentage point from same-store sales growth nationally. However, that's a notable sacrifice when the retailer's same-store gains already are slowing, some analysts say.

Other big-box retailers that grew explosively in the 1980s and 1990s have met the same predicament Wal-Mart faces. Atlanta-based Home Depot Inc. reported in 2002 and 2003 that it sacrificed four percentage points of same-store sales to cannibalization as it raced to open 180 to 200 stores a year. Since then, Home Depot has slowed the pace to 80 to 100 new stores a year and turned for growth to new businesses such as wholesale supply. Meanwhile, the home-improvement retailer's stock has doubled.

But Wal-Mart isn't slowing down. It plans this year to expand its square footage globally by 8% -- its typical annual goal. In recent years, that has translated to 8% annual growth in the U.S., as well. At that pace, Wal-Mart alone -- not counting its Sam's Club stores -- will account for about 27% of the 150 million square feet of retail space forecast to be constructed in the U.S. this year, according to Property & Portfolio Research Inc. Included in its plans this year are up to 370 new Wal-Mart stores (the company won't say where), including store relocations and expansions, to add to the existing 3,900. Wal-Mart also has more than 1,500 potential store sites in the U.S. in various phases of review for construction.

When deciding where to put all these new stores, Wal-Mart has two options: continue to cannibalize in markets it already dominates -- Wal-Mart executives call it "market development" -- or push further into new markets like California and the Northeast, where land and labor typically cost more, government approvals take longer and shoppers are less enamored of the retailer.

Either way, the company is looking at a likely continuing drop in return on its investments. From 2003 to 2005, Wal-Mart's yearly capital spending grew by $4.3 billion, while its operating cash flow grew by just $1.6 billion. In several years previously, growth in operating cash flow exceeded capital spending.

At Target, meanwhile, operating cash flow grew at nearly double the rate of capital spending from 2003 to 2005. Target opens fewer stores each year than Wal-Mart, and it tends to choose densely populated locales because its merchandise appeals more to higher-income urban shoppers than Wal-Mart's.

Returns on capital spending can be measured in many ways, but Wal-Mart's are declining by most. That means the retailer has "picked all the low-hanging fruit" of U.S. store sites, according Morgan Stanley's Mr. Melich. "To the extent that you see cannibalization, that's a hint that more of those [new] stores are coming in the markets where they already have a strong presence."

In the past, Wal-Mart executives have argued that rather than remaining happy with two stores with $100 million in annual sales each in a given market, Wal-Mart would often prefer to add a third store there. That's because, even if the three would then generate only $80 million each in annual sales, the combined sales of $240 million would still exceed the $200 million from the original two stores.

Further, they have said, a cannibalized market's sales and profits will increase with time as the population grows and shorter lines and reduced congestion lure more customers. "It's a near-term hit for a long-term opportunity, basically," says Goldman Sachs analyst Adrianne Shapira.

Consider the situation in and around Wal-Mart's home base of Benton County, Ark. There, the company was operating three stores before adding two last year. Same-store sales at each of the established stores were down an average 7.4% by September. However, the entire cluster of five stores, including the new ones, saw an 18% jump in combined sales, a 9% rise in profit and a 10% increase in operating cash flow in the same span.

Wal-Mart is striving to bolster its returns by buying more goods directly from overseas and paring its inventory costs by billions of dollars. "It is costing us more...per square foot to build these stores," Wal-Mart Treasurer Joseph "Jay" Fitzsimmons said at a Morgan Stanley conference in November. "We compensate for that in part because these stores are more productive. They have a tendency to be in the coastal areas or the urban areas, and we're getting more sales volume out of it. But that doesn't make up for the entire increase in the fixed asset cost."

Eventually, the retailer may conclude that it's time to slow the pace of expansion. "At some point, the returns get so diminished by adding that one more store that...it's not the highest and best use of your dollars," says Patricia Edwards, managing director and retail specialist at investment-management firm Wentworth, Hauser & Violich in Seattle. "The question is how much of a trade-off they're willing to make between return on invested capital and their quest for world domination."

Wentworth Hauser, which manages $6.6 billion, held 1.2 million Wal-Mart shares in 2004 but has since sold the majority and now holds about 59,000.

Wal-Mart has backed out of a plan to move into a vacant retail space in Flushing, Queens. A recent report said the plan for the new store was in its final stages. But yesterday, Wal-Mart representatives blatantly lied to the senior staff of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn when they said they had "no serious plans" for the Flushing site.

From the New York Sun:

Yesterday, representatives from Wal-Mart met with the senior staff of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn at City Hall. According to a spokeswoman for Ms. Quinn, Maria Alvarado, Wal-Mart representatives were asked "point blank" about the Flushing site and said they had no serious plans for it.

When Ms. Quinn later yesterday learned about the Dodge Report on the Flushing project, she asked the Wal-Mart representatives to return to her office with more information.

Ms. Alvarado said Ms. Quinn judged Wal-Mart's nondisclosure of its interest in the Flushing site to be "disingenuous at best," and at worst, "lying."

Ms. Alvarado said Ms. Quinn believes it is "absolutely unacceptable" for Wal-Mart to build a store anywhere in the five boroughs without consulting with the City Council first, even it is not legally required to do so.

Ms. Quinn has expressed concerns about Wal-Mart's purchasing and employment practices and questioned whether the retailer should ever be permitted to open a New York store.

Wal-Mart's attempt to build a supercenter in Yelm, Washington, generated strong grassroots opposition. In an effort to silence the citizens opposing Wal-Mart, the city council banned discussion of Wal-Mart's plan. Now, the Yelm City Council has earned a 2006 Jefferson Muzzle Award for going so far as to ban the words "Wal-Mart" and "big-box stores" at public meetings.

From the Kindred Times:

RICHMOND, Va. - President Bush and the Justice Department are among the winners of the 2006 Jefferson Muzzle awards, given by a free-speech group to those it considers the most egregious First Amendment violators in the past year...

Other winners of the 15th annual awards include the Department of Homeland Security for barring an air marshal from expressing concerns about public safety; the Yelm, Wash., City Council for banning the words "Wal-Mart" and "big-box stores" at public hearings; and students at the University of Connecticut who heckled conservative columnist Ann Coulter.

As in the past, this year‘s winners reflect concern about "the overextension of government authority into areas that clearly affect our lives and chill and inhibit our ability to express views," center director Robert M. O‘Neil told The Associated Press.

In Yelm, Wash., the city council banned discussion of a plan by Wal-Mart to build a super center after many opponents sought to express their views. When that didn‘t squelch opposition, the council voted in June to prohibit citizens from using the terms "Wal-Mart" or "big-box stores" at public meetings.

Click here for the full article.

As part of our first year anniversary celebration, WakeUpWalMart.com released a new 8-minute grassroots video/DVD, entitled, “America’s Campaign to Change Wal-Mart.” Watch it now on our homepage!

The video is a key organizing tool for grassroots supporters. We will continue to use it to launch new monthly, local community meetings called WakeUps to reach out and recruit new supporters.

"America's Campaign to Change Wal-Mart" tells the story of WakeUpWalMart.com – how a movement caught fire and grew an unprecedented 210,000 supporters in its first year. It explains why Wal-Mart must change, and it highlights news clips from thousands of coordinated grassroots actions that have already forced Wal-Mart to respond.

But we have only just begun. WakeUpWalMart.com supporters across the country will keep fighting until Wal-Mart provides affordable health care to its workers, pays a living wage, respects our communities, and sets the standard for a better America.

Click here to watch the video and email it to your family and friends!

From CNNMoney.com:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - When Wal-Mart sneezes, everybody catches a cold, and now some of America's biggest consumer products companies are at risk of getting sick as the world's largest retailer moves to cut back inventories this year.

The discount retailer is already credited with having one of the best inventory management systems in the business as it tries to keep goods flowing to its 3,800 Wal-Mart stores in the United States.

But Wal-Mart (down $0.44 to $45.58) is hoping that by becoming even leaner and ordering "just in time" to meet its merchandise needs, it can further trim costs associated with carrying excess or unsold inventory and invest the funds in bolstering its marketing and merchandising efforts.

Wal-Mart investors, no doubt, would cheer any efforts to improve the company's slowing sales and profit growth and kick start its stagnant stock price.

But investors in the discounter's suppliers may not be quite so happy. Among the consumer products giants that are taking a hit are Procter & Gamble, Clorox, Playtex and Spectrum Brands.

That's because some of these vendors have significant sales exposure to Wal-Mart.

A recent note from Goldman Sachs identified not only P&G, Clorox and Playtex, but Kellogg's, Prestige Brands, a maker of health care products, and beverage supplier Cott Corp. as suppliers that face a greater risk from the inventory reductions at Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart was Procter & Gamble's largest customer in 2005, accounting for 16 percent of its total sales. But some other consumer goods firms count on Wal-Mart for an even larger chunk of their sales, like Chattem, a maker of hot and cold packs for pain relief that gets more than a third of its sales from the discounter.

The casualties are already emerging from this group.

In its mid-quarter update to investors earlier last month, Procter & Gamble lowered the high-end of its third-quarter sales growth forecast to an increase of 5 to 6 percent from an earlier 5 to 7 percent range. The company cited "recent customer inventory reductions" as one of the factors dampening its forecast.

Shares of Spectrum Brands tumbled on Friday after the maker of batteries, shaving and personal care products slashed its second-quarter earnings forecast. The company attributed the shortfall to ongoing challenges in its consumer battery business.

Additionally, the company said that during the second quarter, several of its "largest retail customers implemented or accelerated inventory adjustment initiatives designed to reduce their retail inventory levels, which further impacted sales."

Industry experts say that while Wal-Mart's biggest vendors are likely to experience some short-term pain, vendors and customers could very well benefit in the long term.

"Wal-Mart's strategy all along has been to work closely with its vendors," said Craig Johnson, president of retail consulting group Customer Growth Partners.

"There will be some short-term problems to suppliers as the system adjusts itself but longer-term this will force vendors to become even more efficient in terms of their own manufacturing and shipping processes, and become preferred suppliers not just to Wal-Mart but to other retailers as well."

There could be a big benefit to consumers, too.

"The more costs Wal-Mart can take out of the system, the more it's able to pass a portion of the cost saved on to the customer in the form of lower prices," Johnson said.

Love Goel, CEO of Growth Ventures, an investment firm focused on retailers, agreed.

"The only sustainable competitive advantage for retailers over the next few decades is to build strong customer relationships based on trust and some other value proposition. For Wal-Mart it's price. That's their contract with the customer," Goel said.

He said Wal-Mart may be doing its suppliers a favor by pushing them to become more competitive globally.

"By challenging its suppliers to source and manufacture products more efficiently and improve their own inventory and replenishing systems, Wal-Mart is also helping these companies to eventually compete more effectively with other global suppliers who's prices are even lower than theirs," he said.

Today, Paul Blank, representing WakeUpWalMart.com and over 211,000 grassroots supporters, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH), former Representatives David Bonior (D-MI) representing American Rights at Work, and Thomas Bliley (R-VA) representing the Sound Banking Coalition, together with a coalition of community banks, grassroots organizations, and labor unions will announce their opposition to Wal-Mart’s application for a Utah industrial loan corporation (ILC) charter-a bank called "Wal-Mart Bank."

From the Associated Press:

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Wal-Mart Stores Inc., ever looking for ways to expand its already huge empire, is asking the government for permission to move into an entirely different industry: running its own in-house bank.

The world's largest retailer will ask the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Monday for permission to open a bank that can process millions of checks and credit card payments each month. The company says it's not interested in running a consumer bank as well, but some of its opponents still fear such a step could hurt local banks much like the mom-and-pop stores were during Wal-Mart's rapid expansion.

This is Wal-Mart's fourth bid at running a bank -- and its request unleashed an unprecedented flood of comments to the FDIC. In response, the FDIC scheduled its first public hearings ever on a bank application...

"A Wal-Mart bank not only dangerously mixes commerce and banking, but represents a disturbing concentration of capital in the hands of one single corporation, Wal-Mart," said Paul Blank, director of the union-funded political campaign group WakeUpWalMart.com, in testimony filed in advance with the FDIC.

Click here for the full article.

WakeUpWalMart.com will join over 58 grassroots, business and elected leaders, including Rep. Thomas Bliley (R-VA) and Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH), to oppose Wal-Mart’s application to start providing banking services through an Industrial Loan Corporation (ILC) at public hearings next week before the FDIC.

The FDIC’s hearings are in response to an unprecedented outpouring of public and business opposition to Wal-Mart’s bank application. The hearings will be the first ever public hearings on such an application in the FDIC’s history.

Paul Blank, campaign director for WakeUpWalMart.com, will testify at the FDIC’s hearing on the proposed “Wal-Mart Bank” on behalf of WakeUpWalMart.com’s 211,000 supporters who have joined together to change Wal-Mart into a responsible corporation.

WakeUpWalMart.com will also participate in a joint press conference of elected officials and organizations who will be testifying in opposition to Wal-Mart’s entrance into banking.

In his testimony, Blank will declare, “It is fair to say, given the breadth and scope of public opposition - from all sides of the political spectrum - the American people have spoken loud and clear and America says no to a Wal-Mart bank.”

Highlighting some of the concerns shared by so many public officials and business and community leaders, Mr. Blank adds, “A Wal-Mart bank not only dangerously mixes commerce and banking, but represents a disturbing concentration of capital in the hands of one single corporation … it will create a new modern-day American monopoly with the economic power of Standard Oil and the values of Big Tobacco.”

For more on the Wal-Mart banking issue, check out Camden Fine's column, "Don't Put Stock in Wal-Mart Banking," in today's Atlanta Journal Constitution. Fine is president and CEO of Independent Community Bankers of America.

The Associated Press also writes about next week's battle.

From Bloomberg:

A Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executive who suggested last year that the world's largest retailer should avoid hiring unhealthy workers has been promoted to head its human-resources division.

The world's largest retailer yesterday shifted five executives to new posts, moves that the chain said would help train a new crop of leaders. Wal-Mart, which has a history of shuffling top executives so they can learn how different parts of the business operate, named Susan Chambers executive vice president of the unit that oversees human resources and diversity. She succeeds Lawrence Jackson who was promoted to president and chief executive of global procurement.

In October, advocacy group Wal-Mart Watch leaked an internal company memo from Chambers that said Wal-Mart's healthcare costs were rising faster than sales because its workers are ''sicker than the national population." Labor groups, US lawmakers, and community organizations have accused the company of offering inadequate pay and benefits.

Chambers, who joined Wal-Mart in 1999 from Hallmark Cards, also wrote that Wal-Mart would ''dissuade unhealthy people from coming to work" by requiring physical activity with jobs. This could include requiring cashiers to gather shopping carts, she wrote. Chambers was then executive vice resident for risk management and benefits.

Click here for more about Wal-Mart's secret memo.

From the Associated Press:

FRESNO, Calif. - An appeals court has sided with the Northern California town of Turlock in its bid to block Wal-Mart Stores Inc. from opening a store.

In a ruling published Wednesday, the Fresno-based 5th District Court of Appeal upheld a Stanislaus County Superior Court judge's finding that the city acted legally in banning certain big-box megastores.

The ruling could have nationwide ramifications, said Duke University Law School professor Erwin Chemerinsky.

"It's not a binding precedent outside California, but it certainly will be looked to when other cities make this choice," Chemerinsky said. "And I think other courts will come to the same conclusion because of this long tradition of judicial deference to the political process when it comes to economic regulations."

Wal-Mart spokesman Jim Simley said his company believes the court's ruling was wrong and is deciding whether to appeal to the state Supreme Court.

The Arkansas-based retail giant wants to build 40 "Supercenters," which include grocery departments and pharmacies, in California by 2008. But some local governments, including the city of Inglewood in Southern California, have waged fierce battles against the plans, saying they would put smaller, local stores out of business.

Wal-Mart started talking with Turlock officials in 2002 about building a Supercenter. But after union leaders and grocery store representatives started lobbying against the proposal, the City Council passed a zoning ordinance banning big-box megastores over 100,000 square feet that devoted at least 5 percent of their space to groceries.

Wal-Mart argued the ordinance was illegal because it targeted the retail chain and was approved without any environmental review.

The three-judge appeals court panel found the city's environmental review was sufficient and that the ordinance was aimed at all discount superstores and not just Wal-Mart.

A separate federal court lawsuit that Wal-Mart filed against Turlock has not been decided.

Turlock is 85 miles southeast of San Francisco.

Commentary by John Sweeney in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

The Dubai Ports World battle has trumpeted the gaping holes in our seaports' security systems, but few ask: Why are U.S. ports so poorly protected nearly five years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001? Why has the government spent just $630 million -- less than 4 percent of the $18 billion-plus we have spent since 9/11 on airport security -- to make ports safer?

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said it best: "(While we) talk about having strong homeland security, checking 100 percent of cargo containers. In the end, our commercial interests get ahead of us."

Those commercial interests are led by the world's largest retailer and the United States' biggest importer, Wal-Mart. Hunter let slip what is surely Wal-Mart's dirtiest secret: The company, through its Washington, D.C., lobbyist, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, has time and again since 9/11 opposed new port and supply-chain security rules that might cut into Wal-Mart's record profits. Its mantra is: "Security requirements should not become a barrier to trade."

In the past few years, Wal-Mart has:

Opposed the introduction of anti-terrorist "smart containers" and electronic seals for cargo containers coming into U.S. ports. The retail industry called them "feel good (security) measures."

Opposed independent and regular inspections of supply-chain security practices around the world.

Opposed tougher rules requiring Wal-Mart to let Customs know what it's shipping in and where it comes from.

Opposed new container-handling fees to pay for improved port security.

The corporate lobbyists at RILA boasted in a 2005 lobbying report to Wal-Mart and other retailers about its "continued industry leadership in opposition to ill-advised and onerous port security measures (i.e., cargo fees, increased physical inspections)." In fact, beating back meaningful port security measures topped RILA's agenda.

One of the United States' top port security experts, retired Coast Guard Cmdr. Stephen Flynn, puts the cost of helping protect our ports at 0.2 percent of the value of cargo in the containers. The cost to Wal-Mart would be about $36 million -- less than one-third of 1 percent of the $11.2 billion profit the company raked in last year, or several million dollars less than CEO Lee Scott's pay over the past two years.

Wal-Mart and its corporate lobbyists have instead invested heavily in the members of Congress with the most sway over ports and supply-chain security issues, as well as the Bush administration and the Republican National Committee. Compare Wal-Mart's 2003-04 Washington campaign contributions with those of Target, its chief rival: Wal-Mart spent $2.7 million, putting it third on the list of top corporate contributors. Target spent $295,000, good for 192nd place.

RILA and Wal-Mart insist that making cargo containers and supply-chains secure against terrorist attacks be voluntary. The essence of this policy is "trust, but don't verify" and that's just the way Wal-Mart and RILA want to keep it.

The successes of Wal-Mart are made doubly dangerous by the shift of manufacturing work from the United States to developing countries. Twenty years ago, Wal-Mart bought only 6 percent of its merchandise overseas. Today, "Wal-Mart and China are a joint venture, and both are determined to dominate the U.S. economy as much as they can in a wide range of industries," Duke University professor Gary Geriffi told PBS's "Frontline."

Nearly two-thirds of all Wal-Mart products come from China, Geriffi said. Most of the rest comes from 70 other countries, including Pakistan, the Philippines and Indonesia, where there's a dangerous cocktail of workers' rights abuses and lax enforcement, official corruption and active terrorist organizations.

Here are a few straightforward steps Congress needs to take: Mandate the use of "smart containers"; increase physical container inspections; invest in 100 percent screening of containers using improved technology and require CEOs to pay as much attention to the safety of their supply chains as they do their bottom line. That means requiring CEOs to certify, on pain of criminal prosecution along the lines of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, that their supply chains are secure.

Just as Wal-Mart lays down and ruthlessly enforces its rules for its suppliers, Congress must ensure that the safety of the American people is a non-negotiable issue.

John J. Sweeney is president of the 9 million-member AFL-CIO.

One year ago today, WakeUpWalMart.com launched an unprecedented grassroots effort to unite Americans from all walks of life in a campaign to change Wal-Mart. We started with one simple belief – the American people are the only force powerful enough to change Wal-Mart.

A year later, we are one of the fastest growing, broadest-based social movements in the country with over 210,000 supporters dedicated to changing Wal-Mart.

And change is exactly what we need. We cannot allow Wal-Mart or corporate America to make obscene profits, while not providing health care, driving down wages, shipping our jobs overseas, breaking child labor laws and even lobbying against our own national security. It is wrong and it stops with you.

As we mark our first year anniversary, we are more focused than ever on activating our supporters and coordinating our local actions. To help start this process, we are asking our supporters to host or attend a new community action campaign called “WakeUps.” WakeUps will be monthly meetings held on the first Wednesday of every month in cities across America. We will use the WakeUps to update you on the campaign, inform you about new campaign actions, and to invite members of your community to learn more about why Wal-Mart needs to change.

Tonight, WakeUpWalMart.com supporters will kick off the WakeUps in 14 different cities. Please sign up here to host your very own local WakeUpWalMart.com community group.

Our goal is to have 1 million Americans united to change Wal-Mart by 2008. One million Americans fighting to make Wal-Mart provide affordable health care, pay a living wage, protect American jobs, end child labor, and respect our communities.

We can do it and we have to!

Wal-Mart has combined the economic power of Standard Oil with the values of Big Tobacco and it threatens every middle class job in America. Please join us today in helping us spread our message to every local community in America.

Remember, this is not just a fight to change Wal-Mart, but a fight for what kind of America we want to live in. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for everything you have done this past year and we are inspired, passionate and more enthusiastic than ever about what we can do to change Wal-Mart and build a better America in the years to come.

Happy anniversary!

From MarketWatch.com:

Wal-Mart is likely to come in for a public drubbing next week when the retail giant's opponents line up at a government hearing to blast its plan to open a specialized bank.

Nearly 40 individuals from banking, labor, and other groups will tell the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, why the retailer should or shouldn't get an OK for its plans to open the bank, called an industrial loan company.

Hearings are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Arlington, Va., with a second round to be held in Kansas on April 25.

Wal-Mart is facing considerable opposition from bankers, as well as pending congressional legislation that could jeopardize its plans for an ILC in Utah. While the specialized banks allow companies to offer consumer loans directly to their customers, Wal-Mart says its sole aim is to process transactions from its retail locations. The company insists it's not interested in retail banking -- but that is just what banks fear.

Safety and soundness

Bankers are uneasy about non-financial firms operating banks and suggest Wal-Mart's ambitions don't stop at an industrial-loan bank.

"Wal-Mart's application presents an unprecedented challenge to the settled policy of keeping banking separate from non-financial commerce," says testimony by the American Bankers Association prepared for the hearing.

"There is reason to believe that the current and future plans for banking activities could be expansive," the testimony says. The group and others worry the company has its sights set on retail banking.

Bankers and others are also concerned that Wal-Mart's industrial-loan company -- which would allow the retailer to offer consumer loans and other services to its customers -- could endanger federal deposit insurance funds.

"If Wal-Mart trips, the whole world stumbles," says Terry Jorde, who will testify Monday on behalf of the Independent Community Bankers of America.

But Wal-Mart says its application is very narrow and that it won't open branches or go into retail banking. The aim of opening an industrial bank, says spokesman Martin Hiers, is to process debit, credit and electronic-checking payments.

"We'd like to pay our own bank to do that," he said Tuesday. "We're not going to lend."

Growing industry

There are currently about 60 ILCs in existence, run by companies from General Motors to Wal-Mart rival Target Corp. Assets of ILCs skyrocketed between 1987 and 2004, from $3.8 billion to more than $140 billion, according to a September 2005 Government Accountability Office study. There are about six applications pending at the FDIC.

"We don't reject that many applications," says spokesman David Barr.

Opponents worry that Wal-Mart's status as the world's largest retailer could imperil both the financial system and continue to endanger locally owned businesses.

"Size matters, and Wal-Mart's puts it in a completely different class than any other company engaged in industrial banking," says Jeff Milchen, the co-founder of the American Independent Business Alliance, in testimony prepared for the FDIC hearing.

There's also a risk stemming from the way ILCs are regulated, critics say. State regulators and the FDIC, not the Federal Reserve, oversee ILCs.

"We're concerned about the overall safety and soundness of the banking system when the federal regulator is not allowed -- does not have the power -- to examine the finances of the parent company," says Travis Plunkett of the Consumer Federation of America, who will testify at the Monday hearing. One concern is that a company could use its ILC to hide losses, he said.

The hearings convene as lawmakers are considering bills that would restrict ILCs' activities. "Why should the FDIC go forward when Congress hasn't really spoken on this issue?" asked Patricia Milon, chief legal officer for America's Community Bankers.

Jane Thompson, president of Wal-Mart Financial Services, is scheduled to testify at the hearing Monday. Her testimony wasn't available Tuesday afternoon. But spokesman Hiers emphasized the company's application is focused and specific to processing its own payments.

"We do not plan to branch," he said, "so there's no threat here to the community bankers at all."

Hearings are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Monday.

We are blown away. Speechless. Overwhelmed.

We just received back all of the new data entry from our March Madness grassroots competition. You did not just exceed our goals; you blew them away.

On the eve of our one-year anniversary, we are happy to welcome over 10,000 new WakeUpWalMart.com members to the campaign to change Wal-Mart! We are now over 210,000 members and growing after only one year of organizing.

Our new supporters come from all across the country. Iowa activist Caroline Vernon signed up over 100 people on her own in Davenport, Iowa, for example.

Tomorrow, WakeUpWalMart.com celebrates its first birthday. If you are one of our newest members, we welcome you. Together, we will fight to change Wal-Mart and change America.

Statement About Wal-Mart’s “Jobs and Opportunity Zone” Initiative, by Paul Blank, Campaign Director, WakeUpWalMart.com:

In the face of a faltering public image, Wal-Mart seems determined to launch almost daily public relations stunts that speak loudly about change, but fall terribly short.

What the American people want is for Wal-Mart to start addressing why so many of its employees are paid poverty-level wages, why hundreds of thousands of its workers and families are provided unaffordable health care or left uninsured, and why town after town must struggle with crime, traffic, sprawl, and the loss of both small businesses and good-paying manufacturing jobs. If Wal-Mart really believes in real change, these are the issues which Wal-Mart must first address.

We would hope that in the future Wal-Mart will effectively address the very issues that the American people care about and which have led to Wal-Mart’s poor public image. We can only hope that for the sake of a better America, that day comes sooner rather than later.

Today, Wal-Mart announced plans to build over 50 stores in "struggling communities" over the next two years. Wal-Mart says it will build the stores in neighborhoods with high crime or unemployment rates, on sites that are environmentally contaminated, or in vacant buildings or malls in need of revitalization. Of course, new Wal-Mart stores would violently exacerbate existing problems of crime, poverty, environmental contamination, and urban blight in these areas.

From the Associated Press:

Wal-Mart critics dismissed the new program as a publicity stunt.

"Rather than address the serious issues of unaffordable health care, poverty wages, crime, and sprawl, Wal-Mart's latest and greatest public relations stunt is to try to rebuild a fraction of the very communities and small business it has helped destroy," said Chris Kofinis, spokesman for WakeUpWalMart.com.

Yesterday, Wal-Mart posted same-store sales reports for the month of March. Robin, a blogger for The Writing On The Wal, discussed Wal-Mart's endless excuses for low numbers over the past year:

We’ve heard the cold weather blamed for bad numbers. We’ve heard the weather and Fathers’ Day blamed for the bad numbers. We’ve heard the Fourth of July blamed for the bad numbers. We’ve heard the price of gasoline blamed for the bad numbers. It’s always something - as long as that something has nothing to do with WalMart’s well-deserved reputation as the leading exploiter of the American worker, danger to the American economy and all-around bad actor. This month is no exception.

Sales are down, down, down. What’s to blame? If you guessed a late Easter, rising fuel prices AND the weather, you win the WalMart Trifecta!

Weak WalMart sales are now Jesus’ fault? Well in defense of Catholicism, let me point out that in 2004, Easter fell on April 11, only five days earlier than it does this year and WalMart’s monthly same-store sales figures for that March were 6%.

I can deal with the weather excuse and the Fathers’ Day excuse and the rising gas prices excuse and the our-customers-are-too-poor-to-buy-stuff excuse - even though I have a feeling quite a few of them are finding their way over to Target and CostCo. But shame on you, Walmart, for waging War on Easter. That’s unseemly even for you.

Click here for the whole post.

From News 14 Carolina:

MARVIN, N.C. -- Neighbors in one Union County community are cheering now that a judge has sent plans to build a Wal-Mart Supercenter back to the Union County board of adjustment.

The development is the latest in a four-year fight to keep the discount chain out of Marvin and residents are rallying and collecting signatures in case Wal-Mart requests another hearing.

Once the judge puts his ruling in writing, Wal-Mart will have 30 days to appeal the decision. If Wal-Mart loses the appeal or fails to enter an appeal, the company will have to begin the permit process all over again.