Here at Wake Up Wal-Mart, we talk to a lot of workers. Both through e-mail and on the phone, Wal-Mart employees get in touch with us because they're being mistreated, they've been unjustly fired, or just because they think Wal-Mart is doing something wrong.

Recently we've been hearing from quite a few associates that Wal-Mart has been calling them in to meetings to inform them, basically, that they are not allowed to say anything bad about Wal-Mart, ever. It is certainly understandable that Wal-Mart doesn't want their employees trash talking the store while on the job, but this is something much more. According to employees, Wal-Mart is suggesting that saying anything negative about the store anywhere, at any time, is a fire-able offense. In other words if you happen to be overheard saying 'man, Wal-Mart sucks, I can't afford their health insurance with the terrible wage they pay me' while you are at home, or out at the mall, you could be fired. Or if you go online to a personal web page, a social networking site, a blog, or a site like this one and criticize Wal-Mart, you could be fired. This is a pretty serious business.

Here's what one employee wrote us (we'll withhold their name because apparently Wal-Mart is watching):

Subject: new WM policy announced at morning meeting!

Chatting about "people" (actually manager means talking about walmart) on the internet will be under scrutiny. "you better have your facts straight when talking about people".

This is a scare tactic! To ward off negative press. Please post this new policy!