I am delighted to serve as a clergy spokesperson for the Wake Up Wal-Mart Christmas media campaign, and honored to be invited. I have long felt that ministers had a moral obligation before God to speak out for issues of justice and fairness for all people. The Wake Up Wal-Mart initiative gives us a good opportunity to hold this corporate monolith accountable to more progressive and equitable policies for its thousands of employees.

Wal-Mart has become an integral part of the American cultural landscape. They have amassed untold wealth in this great nation of ours, and they should do much better in providing not only decent hourly wages, but also affordable health care coverage for their workers. As the Bible says, "To those whom much is given, much is required."

Furthermore, Wal-Mart overwhelmingly utilizes foreign manufacturers, principly in China, who routinely violate principles of basic human rights for its laborers.

It is very much in Wal-Mart's long-term interest to improve the compensation and benefits of its employees. Fairer policies would boost loyalty and morale, and cultivate a workplace environment marked by positive values of commitment and dedication. This would in turn be translated into productivity and profits for the corporation, a win-win solution for everyone.

The Scriptures are clear about God's intention that provision be extended to all of God's children. The very word "economy" comes from a Greek concept meaning "household," the idea that everyone in the household of God be cared for adequately and fairly. God is displeased when wealth and abundance, which always comes from God, is not widely and fairly distributed.

Opportunity for personal advancement and initiative is a basic American principle, and a living wage is essential for this self-determination. Wal-Mart, of all American companies, knows this. Let them act on it.

Karen King wrote this guest column for the Rock River Times. She is the owner of Choices Natural Market in Rockford, IL. Karen writes that Wal-Mart's expansion into organics could have serious consequences, such as forcing American jobs overseas and lowering standards for organic foods.

Wal-Mart recently announced it will be expanding its organic offerings at stores throughout the country. While I am glad to see more people are buying organic, and it is becoming more mainstream, I am concerned, not just for us, but for the organic farmers, the standards, and the future of the industry. Wal-Mart has a history of doing whatever it takes to get a lower price regardless of how it affects other businesses or their suppliers.

A recent documentary featured several of Wal-Mart’s vendors who stated when they could not meet the price Wal-Mart told them they would pay, Wal-Mart literally told the vendors they needed to ship their manufacturing overseas to lower their labor costs. Think about how many jobs have been lost in Rockford over the past several years. There is a trickle-down effect. When their suppliers are looking to lower their costs to meet Wal-Mart’s demands, they look for the cheapest supplies, whether it is screws or food ingredients. When Wal-Mart is their largest customer, they do what they have to do to stay in business. Their lack of ethics and disregard for local economies was demonstrated by the recent closing of Newell-Rubbermaid in Freeport...

The difference between us and other stores is that we believe in what we are doing and are working to keep organic standards high, unlike Wal-Mart, who has been lobbying Congress for quite some time now to lower the standards. This store has been a dream of ours for nearly a decade. We believe in supporting local farmers and the local economy. We live here, too! We want Rockford to be a better place. It is for this reason we buy our office supplies and most other supplies at locally-owned businesses instead of national chains... We care about having good quality food that is not contaminated with GMOs and is grown on a family farm, not by some corporate behemoth. We want a nice, stable community, now and in the future.

Click here for another perspective on Wal-Mart weakening organic production standards.

Billy Myers and five other WakeUpWalMart.com supporters arrived at the University of Arkansas early this morning to pass out our letter to Wal-Mart shareholders. Billy wrote this entry about his experience:

"We got there at 7am and started handing out our letter to everyone who walked by. We were passing out the materials in front of the Bud Walton Arena, on the sidewalk, right where everyone enters the stadium. It was a steady stream of people, so there wasn’t much time for conversation, but pretty much everyone took the literature and looked it over with interest. I felt good about getting our message out.

Security was very tight. We were there 45 minutes before the police said we couldn’t hand out the literature anymore. They asked us to move to a separate protest area, far from all the people and all the action. We were shocked to hear them say we had to have a permit to peacefully hand out a letter on a sidewalk at a public university. I’ve never heard of that before!

But overall, it was a huge success, as we managed to distribute over 1,700 flyers in 45 minutes. Together, we are getting the word out and holding Wal-Mart accountable.

Our movement is growing. Our movement is unstoppable."

When Wal-Mart recently tried to build a supercenter in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, the community overwhelmingly banded together to say "No!" Over a hundred local residents and business owners voiced their opposition through a downtown rally during a City Council meeting. Afterwards, the Council unanimously voted against an annexation proposal for a new 180,000 square foot supercenter.

Community leader and Working Families Win organizer Jim Riopelle explains how he and fellow activists successfully kept Sturgeon Bay Wal-Mart-free:

The first thing I did was to have conversations about Wal-Mart with people in coffee shops and gas stations. People who are in the people business know what is happening in their cities. I then began to walk up and down the main street of Sturgeon Bay, where most of the businesses are. I talked with people about the things Wal-Mart could do to a city of this size, and I talked with them about Working Families Win.

It was very clear that most of the business owners did not want a Wal-Mart or any big-box retailer in Sturgeon Bay. I asked the owners to call five other owners and tell them to call five other owners. This way I could get the ball rolling quickly and get the community involved with very little effort but make a big splash.

We then planned a meeting where we could get the city involved. This was held at the high school. There was a championship basketball game being played in another city so we didn't know if we would get any people to show up at all.

Well it went great! We had over 2,000 people including the former owner of Palmer Johnson who signed the roster. (Palmer Johnson makes boats.) We then divided into small committees: flyers, walkers and people who will attend rally's and letter stuffers. After that we planned to have regular meetings on Sunday afternoons.

We also made sure as many people as possible were at City Council meetings. We filled the little City Hall with over one hundred people. We also got 2,000 people to sign a petition -- in a city of only 9,876! This is a tribute to all the people of Sturgeon Bay that Working Families can Win!

It has been a great pleasure working with the people of Sturgeon Bay and building a relationship with them and sharing in their success.

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

Last week, former Wal-Mart worker Patricia Wells spoke to over 2,000 people at the Change to Win conference in Las Vegas. Here are her remarks:

I am a proud member of Wal-Mart Workers of America. I want to briefly touch base on the health care issue. I have four children and all four are on Florida State funded health care! As for me, I no longer have health coverage due to Wal-Mart’s Work-Comp not paying me for the month of February, so I could no longer afford to pay the premiums. I spoke out last month as part of the national campaign because I believe that it is my responsibility to stand up for myself, my husband, my four children, all Wal-Mart workers, and for all working people in this country!

Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott recently said on Neil Cavuto that when Wal-Mart is found to be in the wrong that they will right that wrong... Let me tell you about the wrong they haven't righted with me.

Three years ago I began working full time at Wal-Mart’s Distribution Center in Brooksville, Florida to help my husband make ends meet. My husband Ollie has worked there as well for almost four years now.

Allow me to tell you my story -- a story that is far to common for other workers in this country. My experience with Wal-Mart has been one of mistreatment, bullying, harassment, and injustice.

After just over a year at the Wal-Mart Distribution Center, which we call DC's. I was injured at work when I attempted to clear a jam on a conveyer belt. I was initially dragged then was thrown around like a rag doll for approximately 65 feet doing approximately 30 miles per hour. I had rubber embedded on my arms and legs. Honestly, I am lucky to be alive today!

I was taken to the Wal-Mart clinic and given a bag of ice and told to sit out the rest of my shift. After complaining every day for a week about severe pain in my shoulder, I was then told by the head of Loss Prevention that it was company policy to put you on light duty for seven days and then take you to the doctor. It was ten days before I was finally allowed to go to the doctor, which was done during my shift.

Wal-Mart attempted to blame me for the accident. I was told by a manager that the incident could have been prevented if I had followed what is known as the Lock Out/Tag Out procedure. That manager knew that I was never trained to do this procedure in that department! What OSHA found when they fined Wal-Mart $4500 was six serious safety violations for not performing the procedure!

Why, you might ask? Wal-Mart does not perform lock out/tag out because doing so would cause a "loss of Production” for them! Wal-Mart risked my health, my life, my future because it wanted to save money and boost profits. They put profits over people, as they do so many times.

The worst part of my story is that Wal-Mart refuses to admit it was wrong. Refuses to make it right!

I have spent the last year fighting the workers compensation only to have Wal-Mart deny my claim. They continue to blame me for an accident they know they caused!

I am fighting back! And I will continue fighting... for my work-comp, for justice at Wal-Mart, and for people to know the truth!

When my husband Ollie and I spoke at the press conference in Orlando, we were proud of what we were doing because we knew it was the right thing to do. There are many other Wal-Mart workers at our DC and around the country that feel the same way we do- that Wal-Mart needs to change and that we deserve more, we deserve better! I know that had Wal-Mart had a union, I would not be going through this today. My husband and I know that the best thing we can due is join the Workers Association and become involved. We can no longer allow this huge company to bully us and treat us with disrespect.

Only by speaking out can we give other workers in our DC and workers everywhere the courage to speak out as well. And only by continuing to let workers across this country know that there are people who care -- people like all of you in this room, who care and will stand behind them and will be there for them -- will we ever change Wal-Mart!

Some day they will right their wrongs... But only because we stood together!

Thank you.

At the Change to Win conference in Las Vegas today, WakeUpWalMart.com activist Caroline Vernon discussed her involvement in the movement from June 2005 to the present:

June 2005 - Was introduced to Wake-Up Wal-Mart at our Democracy For America June Meet-Up. Both organizations teamed up to promote house parties to raise awareness about Fair Share for Health Care. The party was very fruitful and I adopted the Elmore St Wal-Mart here in Davenport, IA.

July 2005 - Community Demonstration in front of Wal-Mart as a direct result of the June house party.

August 2005 - I participated in the taping of a National radio ad declaring, "Why I won't buy my school supplies from Wal-Mart". The ad ran on Air America radio during the length of the Back to School campaign.

September 2005 - I met UFCW Local 431 members for the first time as we marched in the Labor Day parade. I signed up a lot of supporters for Wake-Up Wal-Mart.

October 2005 – With other citizen activists and local union members, I participated in the "Nothing is Scarier Than Not Having Health Care" Campaign by handing our flyers at the Wal-Mart I adopted. My two boys also participated by dressing up in costume since it was near Halloween; candy was given out in exchange for donations that would go toward Wal-Mart workers’ health care. We received good press on this event.

November 2005 - Higher Expectations week: I organized a showing of Robert Greenwald's, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price". Over 100 people turned out! A group of Black Hawk college students also attended and video taped an interview with me about the Campaign for change.

Also in November, I was the guest on a local radio show that was entirely about Wal-Mart.

Also in November on Black Friday, myself and others handed out flyers to Wal-Mart customers. People were very receptive but it was FREEEEEZING cold that day so we were only able to endure the elements for a short time but we distributed close to 100 flyers within 30 minutes.

December 2005 - I was quoted in the Dec 5th issue of USA Today, speaking as a community activist and a Leader for Change in the Wake-Up Wal-Mart campaign.

Also in December, many of us distributed posters to various community centers, union halls, libraries, churches, car windows, etc., that promoted "Guess Who's Not Shopping at Wal-Mart this Christmas?"

Also, in December, I organized a 2nd showing of the Wal-Mart movie, and have continually circulated 4 DVDs of the movie according to demand. All 4 DVDs are currently being borrowed for the 2nd time around (8 additional showings among smaller groups, primarily around the Christmas holiday).

Feb 2006 – I attended a Health Care Lobby Day in Des Moines with about 50 other activists. We lobbied on 3 key pieces of legislation, including Fair Share Health Care. We found broad bi-partisan support for the bill. We lobbied our legislators once again on these 3 bills at our last legislative forum on Feb 25th (for public consumption). We taped the event and submitted it to local public access television; it has already aired once.

March 2006 – I’m starting a Local Community Group in Davenport to gather Wake-Up Wal-Mart supporters in my area.

Wal-Mart worker Greg Pierce in Ocala, Florida blogged about his experience speaking at the press conference yesterday in Orlando:

I was a little nervous going into the press conference, but as soon as the questions started coming I realized that I was doing the right thing -- not only for myself but for all the Wal-Mart workers who don’t have health care, and for all the single moms who have to pray their kids don’t get sick. There were a lot of cameras and once we got started, I felt good. I felt like we were getting things done.

I told the reporters that Wal-Mart needs to change their health care. That’s the most urgent thing. That would raise workers’ morale so much because they wouldn’t have to worry all day if they’ll get injured or if their children will get sick.

There is a general consensus where I work that if you get hurt or sick, Wal-Mart is not going to take care of you. When employees get sick, they stay home because they can’t afford to get worse. They don’t have health care and can’t afford to go see the doctor. But then they get fired for missing a day. It’s a vicious cycle.

A lot of Wal-Mart workers are afraid to speak out because they fear what could happen – that they could be left out in the cold. But I want other workers to know I felt good about sharing my story publicly. I know the people with WakeUpWalMart.com are really on my side. I know I would be protected if Wal-Mart were to take some sort of action against me for speaking the truth.

The Virginia chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference joined in the Wake-Up Wal-Mart campaign because we are concerned about fair treatment of workers, especially at Wal-Mart. For the past few years the SCLC in Virginia has had various rallies on the Wal-Mart issue and tried to apply some pressure so that employees earn a living wage. Also, some women Wal-Mart workers contacted our organization to discuss their working conditions. They were not getting promoted or getting the hours and benefits they felt they should.

At our candlelight vigil last weekend, I made a statement about our hope that Wal-Mart will wake up and start to share a slice of the economic pie with its workers, so they will no longer work for low wages and insufficient benefits while this company makes billions of dollars.

With hard economic times around the nation and especially in the state of Virginia, people have no choice but to take jobs at Wal-Mart and other companies that do not provide a living wage. Families are being forced to work two or three jobs without benefits. That’s widespread throughout our state and nation. We do not want workers to be exploited in these hard times by corporations that are making billions of dollars but refuse to give a fair share to their employees. People are working hard at Wal-Mart but they’re just inching by, while the company makes billions – we’re just asking that they return some profits to their workers.

- Reverend William Avon Keen of Traynham Grove Church, Virginia

The following was sent in by a representative from "Residents Against A Sellwood/Ardenwald Walmart," a group in Oregon opposing a proposed Wal-Mart in their community:

Plans for the proposed Wal-Mart were stealthily developed. The neighborhood learned of them when city councilor Sam Adams wrote a strongly worded letter to Wal-Mart opposing its development on SE McLoughlin and Tacoma Blvd. The proposal impacts businesses and residents in both the Ardenwald neighborhood (in Milwaukie) and Sellwood neighborhood (in Portland). Howard Dietrich, of Nelson Development, is the owner and leading proponent of the Wal-Mart development.

The proposed Wal-Mart plans parking for 500 cars, all of which will have to travel via Tacoma Blvd from the west or Johnson Creek Blvd. from the east. The increased traffic is expected to deteriorate neighborhoods by being pedestrian-unfriendly, in opposition to neighborhood plans for reduced traffic on Tacoma Blvd (work that is already underway for several years), and require additional traffic controls. Significant traffic clogs could be expected at ramps on the Tacoma overpass and the Sellwood bridge. Additionally, the age and condition of the Sellwood bridge cannot handle the increased traffic.

A neighborhood coalition of businesses and residents has quickly formed to oppose the development. The group is already distributing information to area residents, local events, and other neighborhood associations. Petitions are circulating as neighbors canvass the area and are posted in area businesses. Signs are being posted on lawns, in cars, and on overpasses during drive times.

A web site, www.nosellwoodwalmart.com, has meeting times and locations, contact information, and email signup. Petitions can be downloaded, as well as posters and a sample letter stating opposition. The next meeting is June 30th at 7 PM at the SMILE building on SE Tenino and SE 13th.

Use this as a place to tell us what is going on in your community.

Steve Westly is the State Controller of California and a board member of the California Public Employee Retirement System

When I started at eBay we had twenty folks sitting in lawn chairs dreaming about a new way to do business. We decided our business was about creating communities, giving people a chance to buy and sell responsibly in an environment of trust and respect. As a result eBay has changed the world economy and created economic opportunities for millions of people.

I learned a lot from our experience at eBay. I learned that doing the right thing for workers and for our communities is also the right thing for a bottom line. I learned that free enterprise does not come free of responsibility.

Instead of creating communities Wal-Mart is dropping prices right onto the heads of California taxpayers. A 2004 study by the University of California at Berkeley Labor Center found that Wal-Mart employee's reliance on public assistance programs costs California taxpayers $86 million annually, $32 million in health care costs alone.

At eBay we developed a feedback score where buyers and sellers can rate each other. It helps keep people honest and make sure they treat each other right. Wal-Mart’s feedback score is dropping fast. They need to wake up and listen. That is why I called on Wal-Mart to create a committee of independent directors to examine the accusations regarding exploitation of workers, mishandling of sexual discrimination complaints and breaching child labor laws. Addressing these problems is the right thing to do for Wal-Mart’s workers, communities and investors.

Instead of building trust, Wal-Mart isn’t playing fair. Just last week, the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission fined Wal-Mart $188,000 in a civil rights case involving Krista Carver from Antioch. The commission found that Wal-Mart "willfully and consciously disregarded its obligations as a California employer" when it refused to reinstate Krista after she took maternity leave. Wal-Mart is also currently facing the largest class action law suit in the history of America, with 1.6 million former and current women workers seeking justice on unfair pay and promotion.

At eBay we learned doing the right thing makes sense and it makes money. Wal-Mart could learn a lesson from eBay about how to treat employees and communities. The price of ignoring these issues is too high. Too high for workers. Too high for communities. Too high for California.

Brendan has already told you a little bit about the Dateline NBC report that ran Friday night on a Wal-Mart subcontractor in Bangladesh. As many of you have other things to do and the text of the report is 6 pages long, I thought you might appreciate some excerpts along with analysis.

For me, the heart of the story was when reporter Chris Hansen brought Masuma, a 21 year old Bangladeshi mother, textile worker and center of the story, to a Wal-Mart in Connecticut. There she found the same pants she sewed stripes on back in Bangladesh. While this event was obviously no coincidence, it was undeniably powerful.

[Masuma, through a translator:] “They make us work so hard, and they cheat us so much and we're human beings. I'm not an animal. I'm a human being. Of course I'm angry. This is really shocking.”

Masuma’s angry words come in the Wal-Mart parking lot after she’s learned the retail price of her work. Why is she angry? You can probably guess. She’s not angry because Wal-Mart charges so little per pair, but because they charge $12.84 and she gets the equivalent 17 cents per hour.

Furthermore, Masuma’s working conditions are less than ideal:

Masuma: “I have to sit in front of the machine the whole time. I can't move. I can't even go to the bathroom without my supervisor's permission. After sitting for so long, I feel pain throughout my body.”

[Narrator:] Conditions like these might seem unacceptable to Americans, but they're common in a poor place like Bangladesh. Extreme heat for instance. Factories like Masuma's aren't air conditioned, and even in a well-ventilated factory, we found temperatures can easily exceed 90 degrees.

Masuma says she has a quota: 80 stripes an hour. That means more than one stripe every minute, and they have to be perfectly straight. If she doesn't meet the quota, she says, she has to work extra for no pay.

And her hours are extreme:

[Narrator:] The factory director said his employees work a maximum of 10 hours a day and get out by 7 p.m. But Masuma told us her typical day ends later than that.

Masuma: “Usually I work until at least 8 pm, but often they will keep us and make us work until 10 p.m.”

[Narrator:] And she says she frequently has to work Fridays, the Muslim holy day, which by law is supposed to be a day off. On average, she says she works more than 70 hours a week. At least 10 hours more than allowed by the local law. It's not hard to confirm that many factories exceed that limit.

While many advocates of unfettered globalization such as New York Times columnist Tom Friedman suggest that workers in developing countries are grateful for their jobs, Masuma clearly stands in direct opposition to that argument. A harder question to answer is who is Masuma angry at? Certainly, she has a right to be angry at the people who run her factory. She was probably angry at them before she came to the United States, but her trip to Connecticut has given her another target: Wal-Mart:

She says the price of the pants leaves her feeling taken advantage of. If she was paid 25 cents an hour instead of 17, a 50 percent raise, she says she could lead what she considers a decent life.

Translator: “So these few hundred taka would mean I could have a diet that consisted of more than lentils and rice, I could buy a few good vegetables, fish. I could buy more food products for my daughter.”

Wal-Mart does not employ Masuma, but Wal-Mart has taken on the responsibility of inspecting her factory to make sure that it respects basic human rights and local employment law. Guess what? Wal-Mart admits it inspected Masuma’s factory in 2004 and "identified numerous violations of standards" and "worked with the factory to ensure better performance."

The company says "ensuring proper workplace standards is an ongoing challenge" and it will "discontinue business with factories that will not take corrective action."

It’s been a year and obviously nothing has happened. How long is it going to take, Wal-Mart? Frankly, I’m surprised they found any problems with Masuma’s factory at all, considering this:

[Narrator:] And one man, introduced to us by a local labor group, asked us to protect his identity. He is a supervisor at a large factory in Bangladesh. He says that when American companies send inspectors to check on the codes of conduct, they don't always get the real story because some workers are coached to lie.

Factory Supervisor: “You're supposed to say that this factory is closed on Fridays and that no one works here at night. If anyone tells the buyer otherwise, then the company will fire them.”

[Narrator:] He says they go so far as to make up phony records, including time cards showing a normal 10 hour shift ending at 7 p.m., even though the workers themselves say they were on the job until much later -- something he says they don't want American companies to know.

Factory Supervisor: “They hide the extra overtime from the buyer. The reason is that they want to show the buyer that they treat the workers well and follow all the rules.”

While this charade is undoubtedly true for many American retailers, Wal-Mart’s legendary penny-pinching ways gives it added reason to look the other way when conducting inspections. As one Bangladeshi supplier explained to Dateline:

Executive: “A few years back, I told Wal-Mart, "Give me one cents more a piece, one cent. I will use that money for these poor people.’ He says, ‘No, give us two cents less.’"

Another possible target for Masuma’s anger would have been Wal-Mart’s customers, but the report showed none of that even though they confronted a Wal-Mart shopper right in the store with Masuma’s story. However, in e-mails to Dateline regarding this report, Wal-Mart was more than happy to blame their customers for their actions:

The company also says it considers itself an advocate of lower prices for the customer and makes no apologies for driving a hard bargain with its suppliers.

In much the same vein, the reporter, Chris Hansen, spoke of “the demand we've placed on retailers to keep prices low” at one point in the report.

But is that real what Wal-Mart’s customers want? When shown Masuma’s story, two bargain-loving shoppers told Dateline they would have no trouble paying 25 or 50 cents more for a pair of pants if it made her life better. And that’s an important point about globalization to make. It’s not whether you have unfettered globalization or complete protectionism; it’s exactly how far are we going to let companies go in the pursuit of profit above all other interests?

The National Labor Committee, which collaborated with Dateline on the report, has started a “20 cents more” campaign, to force stores like Wal-Mart to get a living wage to the people who assemble the garments that they sell in their stores. You can read about it here.

In the end, I think Masuma’s trip to a Connecticut Wal-Mart is a lesson in the power of transparency to change the face of globalization. When people can attach a face and a story to the garments they buy, they might be willing to pay more and feel better about where they shop. At the same time, when workers realize what their work is being sold for, they might just stand up and fight for a bigger piece of the pie. Only Wal-Mart benefits by keeping both sides in the dark.

Until we can have an angry Bangladeshi worker in every Wal-Mart, we’ll have to count on programs like Dateline NBC to tell these stories.

- Jonathan Rees

Tomorrow night, June 17, at 8:00 p.m. (ET) NBC Dateline will air an
in-depth, undercover investigation of sweatshop production in Bangladesh for major U.S. retailers like Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart is driving standards down all across the developing world and leaving millions of workers in misery.The National Labor Committee is proud to be working alongside the UFCW and grateful for the UFCW's support in this fight against Wal-Mart, which we consider the greatest sweatshop abuser in the world.

The National Labor Committee worked with NBC Dateline on this
investigation.

Young women in Bangladesh are forced to work 14 hours a day, often seven days a week for wages as low as 13 cents an hour, leaving them trapped in inhuman living conditions. If Wal-Mart and the other giant retailers would pay just 20 more cents per garment, these women and millions of others across the developing world could climb out of misery.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO SPREAD THE WORD--BUILD THE CAMPAIGN--STAY INVOLVED

Alert everyone you know--and ask them to do the same--that the
NBC-Dateline undercover investigation of sweatshop production in
Bangladesh for Wal-Mart will air Friday, June 17 at 8:00 p.m. (ET)

More information on Wal-Mart sweatshops is available at www.nlcnet.org.

-National Labor Committee

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

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

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

- The NoClevelandWalmart.org team

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A local store advertises in the local newspaper.

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

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

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

- Jonathan

Wal-Mart’s 2005 Annual Report is out! You can find it here. While most such reports are dry prose designed for number-crunchers, the Wal-Mart annual report is filled with fascinating company propaganda. Take the gratuitous interview with Rob Walton on pp. 14-15, for example. Like most of Wal-Mart’s company propaganda, it can be easily debunked.

But rather than save this Herculean task entirely for myself, the folks at Wake-Up Wal-Mart and I have put together a little contest. Pick a line from the Wal-Mart Annual Report and note the page number. Then rebut, criticize, fisk or respond in any way in the comments below. The best responses, as picked by Wake-Up Wal-Mart, will become guest posts on the United Food and Commercial Workers’ Wake-Up Wal-Mart blog. (Sorry, no cash prizes as they are using all their money to battle Goliath.) If you’re shy, you can send your entries directly to bbush[at]wakeupwalmart[dot]com.

My entry is below the fold:

On page 6 of their report, the company writes:

“Next year, we project we will create more than 120,000 jobs worldwide, and there’s a very good chance that those who slip into a vest will be with us for a lifetime.”

Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? It’s certainly ominous if you’re a member of any of the many groups of workers who are currently suing Wal-Mart. On pp. 45-46, the company summarizes litigation which “if decided adversely to or settled by the company, may result in liability material to the company’s financial condition or results of operations.” [Go to the links I’ve added below for additional information.]:

First, there’s a series of cases about forced overtime.

Second, there’s the gender discrimination class action suit, Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Everything you need to know about that suit is here.

Then there’s the “dead peasants” life insurance cases.

Then there’s a class action suit called Mauldin v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. This is by female employees seeking the addition of prescription contraception to the employee health plan.

Liza Featherstone has the details:

...a suit filed in Georgia by Lisa Smith Mauldin, a Wal-Mart customer service manager and a 22-year-old divorced mother of two, charges the company with sex discrimination because its health plan does not cover prescription contraceptives (it does cover other prescription drugs, but as the complaint spells out in painstaking legalese, only women get pregnant). Mauldin works thirty-two hours a week and makes $12.14 an hour, so the $30 monthly cost of the Pill is a significant burden for her (and certainly a prohibitive one for many fellow employees, who earn significantly lower wages). In September Mauldin's suit was certified as a class action, demanding reimbursement for all female Wal-Mart employees who have been paying for birth control out of pocket since March 2001, and demanding that Wal-Mart's insurance cover FDA-approved prescription contraceptives in the future.

Then there’s an EEOC case out of Kentucky by female employees who requested transfers. They claim the “company based hiring decisions on gender in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act as amended.”

Read this and the idea that “those who slip into a vest will be with [Wal-Mart] for a lifetime” sounds more like a prison sentence.

JR

My name is Daniel Papasian, and I'm a college student who launched a parody website that made fun of the Wal-Mart Foundation.

I targeted the Foundation's website because I thought that it was appropriate to challenge the idea that Wal-Mart is a big benevolent corporation. They do serious damage wherever they go, and when they work to undo a very small portion of it, they pretend it's charity and we should be grateful to them. I think that idea really insults our intelligence, so I made a parody site that was more honest about the way Wal-Mart operates.

Wal-Mart has tried to shut me down, and the result has been a lot of attention to the case and the site. My hope for the future is that a lot of this attention can get focused on Wal-Mart and the things that Wal-Mart and other large corporations do to the communities they operate in. My site took a couple days of work to launch. The real effort is still to come- and it'll start by convincing people that Wal-Mart is dangerous to communities and working people everywhere.

The other day, Brendan blogged about UFCW International President Joe Hansen’s piece in USA Today. That piece brought forward a letter from Dan Downey of Atlanta which might stand as the quintessential Wal-Mart defense. Indeed, Wal-Mart likes Mr. Downey’s letter so much it has put it up on its web site.

Since Mr. Downey has expressed the basic defense of Wal-Mart in such a short and clear manner, I’d like to post some of Mr. Downey’s letter and examine the basic problems with these arguments.

"Mr. Hansen bemoans the fact that an associate makes $17,114 per year. If an employee wants more money or better benefits, they can go find a better job. Oh, they can’t? Then Wal-Mart is paying the market determined wage. It would be contrary to their fiduciary responsibilities to their stockholders to pay more."

Just because Wal-Mart can pay associates $17k a year doesn’t mean they should pay associates 17k a year. Mr. Downey, like so many businesses in America today, seems to be arguing that the market makes its own morality. If it does, why shouldn’t we abolish the minimum wage? Why don’t we bring back child labor? After all, if the little tykes want to start their entrepreneurial careers early, who are we to stop them?

"Mr. Hansen also complains that Wal-Mart costs the taxpayer $2.5 billion in public assistance. I wonder how much money Wal-Mart saves that same taxpayer each year by virtue of their buying power which results in their low prices? Based on sales of $285 billion, if people save about 10% by shopping at Wal-Mart, the savings could be upwards of $30 billion. Not a bad return on our investment."

I, for one, question whether Wal-Mart’s prices are all that low. But conceding that point for a moment, the problem with this argument is that the alleged low prices at Wal-Mart only benefit Wal-Mart shoppers. If we choose not to shop at Wal-Mart for whatever reason, then our tax dollars might as well be going in a hole in the ground for all the good they do us.

"If Wal-Mart breaks the law, by all means, fine them, prosecute them if necessary. But public companies are not welfare institutions. No one is forcing people to work there or shop there."

Unfortunately Mr. Downey, when Wal-Mart breaks immigration law or child labor law the Bush administration lets them off with a slap on the wrist. You say nobody is forced to work at Wal-Mart, yet Wal-Mart touts its job-creating capacity at every turn in order to justify the handouts it receives from local governments nationwide. Doesn’t the public have the right to decide what kinds of jobs its tax dollars are funding?

And the idea that nobody is forced to shop there would be a joke to people in rural communities across Texas, Oklahoma or any other states that have had Wal-Mart in their midst for 15 or 20 years now, because for them Wal-Mart is the only game in town. That’s if they're lucky and their old store hasn’t been replaced by a supercenter 50 miles away.

Unfortunately, Wal-Mart edited out the most telling part of Mr. Downey’s defense. [I have the paper copy, but have been unable to find the whole letter for free on line, so I guess you’ll have to trust me on this one.] Downey wrote:

"Wal-Mart has two responsibilities:

• It must maximize its return for shareholders.
• It must apply with all applicable laws."

Notice this says nothing about Wal-Mart’s workers, customers or the communities in which the company decides to locate. Wal-Mart’s decision to drop these lines demonstrates that the company won’t admit what its defenders already know.

JR

I am the Production Manager of a sheltered workshop for persons with disabilities located in Southeastern Ohio. We are located in a small rural county with the highest unemployment rate (17%) in Ohio. As you can imagine, it is sometimes a challenge to keep our folks working when a large portion of the local community is already unemployed.

For the past several years, we have been fortunate to have a contract with an Ohio company packaging craft gems (these are small glass "marbles" flat on one side, that you see in flower vases, used in crafts, etc.). The company in turn sold these packaged gems to Wal-Mart and has been doing so for about 10 years. It has been a good contract for us, and has kept our people with disabilities employed for the last few years. At full production we were packaging 20,000 bags per week with an accuracy of 99.8%

In 2004, Wal-Mart gradually switched from purchasing the craft gems from the Ohio Company we package for, to a firm importing Chinese craft gems. As of January 1st, 2005, one entire line of gems we packaged has gone to China. This move put 8 persons with disabilities out of work and rendered useless the $30,000 worth of packaging equipment which our non-profit had invested in to service this contract.

The company who manufactures the gems has already received word that Wal-Mart is looking for a lower priced source for the remainder of the gems they still produce for Wal-Mart. Wal-mart currently marks up the glass gems 300% from the price they pay to the Ohio/American owned firm they get them from, but apparently this is not enough of a profit margin. The firm that imports Chinese craft gems has offered Wal-Mart a price of a few cents cheaper per bag than the bag we currently package for the American Company. This American-owned Company we package for in turn offered the same deal, even though it would mean that the company would lose money on the product.

They did this to try to keep their own people (and ours) working long enough to try to develop other outlets for their product. Wal-Mart declined that offer and on March 3rd, I received notice that we were to stop production immediately, and send all materials back. The result is that 40 out of the 50 people with disabilities at our workshop now have no work. The Ohio Company who produces the craft gems has had to shut down one of their 2 plants that manufactures the gems and has gone from 60 or 70 people running 14 kilns to 4 people running one kiln.

The last time I spoke to the co-owner of the company, he told me that he thought he would be completely out of business by the end of the year. Our local community has sent over 200 letters to Wal-Mart's Corporate Offices, informing them of the consequences of this move to persons with disabilities and asking them to reconsider this decision. There has been absolutely no response from Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart apparently does not care for anything except their own corporate greed.

Scott Roberts,
Production Manager
Mary Hammond Center
McConnelsville, Ohio

When I first went into a Wal-Mart, they were an up and coming regional chain centered around their Arkansas base. They had just broken into food retailing and had ambitious expansion plans. Coming originally from the East Coast, I had never been any place like it before. I decided to follow the chain and learn more about it. And everything I learned about it disturbed me.

If you’ve bothered to scratch the surface of Wal-Mart’s world, you’ve undoubtedly heard of the chain’s well-documented dark side. First it was the sweatshops making goods with Kathi Lee Gifford’s name for exclusive sale at Wal-Mart. Then it was their contribution to ugly suburban sprawl. Now critics have brought up the starvation wages and poor health care that Wal-Mart offers their employees. Others have explained how Wal-Mart encourages outsourcing jobs overseas. Indeed, sometimes it seems that Wal-Mart is nothing but dark side.

As a way to be of service to the online community, I decided to turn my diary at Daily Kos over to Wal-Mart exclusively. My hope was to offer a complete, evolving picture of just how Wal-Mart really is related in some way to all the most import domestic issues of the day.

When the people at Wake-Up Wal-Mart contacted me, I offered them my services for their blog too. I am honored that they accepted. Therefore, you can expect to see my analysis of the Wal-Mart situation pop up here from time to time. Already, my association with Wake-Up Wal-Mart has brought material on Wal-Mart to my attention that I might not otherwise have seen. For example, in the article that Brendan posted Monday, Arkansas Business Journalist Don Elkins explained Wal-Mart’s defense of itself in a nutshell. To me, this says it all about why Wal-Mart matters in today’s political world:

"Scott took pains to explain that we live in a "New World" with a new paradigm where competition and efficiency rule. But, do those "values" as Scott described them exclude humane or even preferential treatment for American workers?"

Indeed, if competition and efficiency rule, where does that leave Wal-Mart’s workers? Paying a living wage and offering adequate health care coverage is inefficient and non-competitive, yet Wal-Mart likes to claim it does both. Respecting federal and state statutes with regard to wages and hours is incredibly inefficient. Does this mean that in this “New World,” Wal-Mart doesn’t have to obey the law. Does Wal-Mart think that its customers couldn’t care less about how its employees are treated?

And Elkins’ point about preferential treatment for American workers is also a good one. Why does Wal-Mart do so much business with Chinese sub-contractors? Why does it actually aid its suppliers when they want to move to China? Does this “New World” make national boarders obsolete? If so, why is Wal-Mart simultaneously so obsessed with wrapping itself in the American flag?

The ultimate problem that Wal-Mart faces going forward is that they are not prepared to answer the obvious questions that its business practices raise.

JR

Today, we—African-American and Latino community leaders from Inglewood, California—challenged Wal-Mart’s CEO Lee Scott. We called on Mr. Scott to commit to actions, not empty words.

As elected officials, church and community leaders, business owners, and residents, we had this to say to Mr. Scott in our open letter to Wal-Mart:

As you know, the voters of Inglewood rejected Wal-Mart’s initiative by a two-to-one margin. We rejected it because your company acted with disrespect for the basic rights of our community. And we rejected it because the people of Inglewood –- like people across America -- have serious concerns about Wal-Mart’s impact on communities.

We are concerned about the impact of poverty wages and inadequate health care on the quality of life of Inglewood families.

We are concerned about maintaining business opportunities for small businesses and Wal-Mart’s track record of driving locally owned and minority businesses out of business.

We are concerned about the unmitigated negative impacts, including increased crime, traffic, noise, and pollution, which result from the development of Wal-Mart projects.

We challenge you to work with communities to address these concerns and agree to mitigate the negative impacts that have resulted from the development of Wal-Mart stores throughout the country.

In the past 12 months, Wal-Mart has spent tens of millions of dollars on a public relations campaign that has attempted to project a positive image of Wal-Mart’s relationship with communities.

We believe that it’s time for Wal-Mart to focus less on image and more on substance.

We believe that the hundreds of millions of dollars your company is investing in public relations would be far better spent on addressing the problems that have damaged America’s communities.

In the coming weeks, Wal-Mart is expected to announce new plans to build a store in Inglewood, on land that your company quietly purchased after last year’s election.

Inglewood needs development, but it must be development that makes our community stronger, not weaker.

Therefore we propose that your company negotiate and sign a Community Benefits Agreement that will make the project work for the people of Inglewood.

This legally binding agreement will protect the rights of our community. It will guarantee living wage jobs, affordable family health care, fair pension benefits, job training and advancement, freedom from retaliation and basic rights on the job. It will also protect the interests of small businesses, and ensure that your project does not increase crime, traffic, noise and pollution in our city.

Many private developers, including some of the largest in the world, have signed Community Benefits Agreements with similar provisions.

Inglewood deserves nothing less.

The people of Inglewood want what every community in America wants: good jobs with affordable health care and fair pension benefits, a diverse mix of small and large businesses with quality products and services, safe neighborhoods and a clean environment.

Mr. Scott, you’ve admitted publicly that Wal-Mart made a mistake in Inglewood. Now you have an opportunity to correct that mistake by showing the people of Inglewood – and the American public – that Wal-Mart is truly committed to strong, healthy communities.

We challenge you to commit yourself through actions, not words.

We are waiting to hear back from Mr. Scott.

Danny Feingold
Communications Director
Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy