After a great community meeting in Elyria with Congressional Candidate Betty Sutton, we had one of the most touching experiences of the campaign.

When we pulled off the road to grab a bite to eat, a middle aged guy came over to us and asked, "What's this all about?" We explained the tour and he asked if he could hop on board the bus. "I want to talk to you about something personal," he said. When he sat down, he told us his wife had come home crying today from work.

Guess where she worked? You guessed it, Wal-Mart. And, she had just had her in-store meeting to learn that she is now capped out and will never get a raise working at Wal-Mart again. The woman was literally in tears and her husband had come over to the diner to get her some food so she wouldn’t have to cook dinner after such a long day.

Her story is the real Wal-Mart story and it breaks our hearts to hear it. Some of the workers are so upset, despite Wal-Mart’s intimidation tactics, the workers are calling in and coming forward. We appreciate their support, because, when we work together, we can reverse these cruel policies. As always, we promise to keep everything confidential so please keep calling so we can show, not tell, the American public what a heartless company Wal-Mart really is.

By the way, I just got off the phone with a store manager and he was not only upset about the salary changes, but also told me that he hasn’t been allowed to hire a full-time person for months as Wal-Mart tries to replace all of its full-time workers with part-time, lower paid employees.

It’s so disappointing. Wal-Mart may think it’s pulled a fast one on the American people, but the company will not get away with it. First, Wal-Mart supposedly improves its health care spending, but the company says it won’t increase its health care costs one penny. Now, Wal-Mart says it is supposedly increasing its wages, but the company once again says it won’t increase its labor costs one bit. There’s just no way! The numbers don’t add up, because the truth is every single one of Wal-Mart’s changes was designed with two things in mind: 1) cut costs and 2) generate a publicity stunt to try and grab a headline to salvage its declining public image.

That’s the real Wal-Mart story and we will continue to tell it. Stay tuned for more!