Working Life

So, the Wall Street Journal carried a story yesterday (followed up today by The New York Times) that reports, in part, a claim that Wal-Mart’s vice-chairman Thomas Coughlin had falsified expense reports to hide money he was using for anti-union activities. Coughlin, you may remember, was asked to leave the board after the company uncovered […]

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The Financial Times reported yesterday on a World Bank report that warns that a steep, continued decline in the value of the dollar will hurt developing countries, which have built up large dollar reserves. According to the Bank’s 2005 Global Development Finance Repor, developing countries hold $1.6 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, 70 precent of […]

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It was a hoot last night at the great debate over the question “Is Wal-Mart Good For America?” I’m not a good crowd numbers guesser so if I said there were 400 people, I might be off by fifty, one way or the other. Each combatant got to make an opening statement of 6 minutes […]

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I wasn’t there at the media-fest put on by Wal-Mart in Bentonville yesterday but it seemed like a swell affair, though none of the media accounts said anything about what food was served (C’mon, get to the important stuff!). I’ll leave most of my specific thoughts about the flaws in the company’s defense to tomorrow—after […]

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Just as Wal-Mart opens up its doors to a media-fest in Bentonville, it will get a letter from people living in Inglewood. The letter was just released: April 5, 2005 Mr. Lee Scott CEO Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611 Dear Mr. Scott: One year ago, Wal-Mart tried to deny the people of Inglewood their […]

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It isn’t surprising. Indeed, as predicted with the end of world wide quotas on textiles, China is now annihilating any other country even remotely involved in textiles. The Commerce Department reported on Friday (as reported in today’s New York Times) that imports on textiles and apparel products from China rose more than 63 precent in […]

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Steven Greenhouse reports in today’s NYTimes on the coalition formed to combat Wal-Mart: Led by Wal-Mart’s longtime opponents in organized labor, a new coalition of about 50 groups – including environmentalists, community organizations, state lawmakers and academics – is planning the first coordinated assault intended to press the company to change the way it does […]

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A good morning to thumb through the papers, what with the drenching rain making it look almost like night. Dreary, indeed, are some of the signs: First, we saw the creation of half the number of new jobs that were predicted just one month ago (of course, the stock market went UP initially when that […]

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How about this? The media is doing extensive coverage of a huge labor battle, with the networks sending their anchors down to the site, cameras set up to record the daily struggle; CNN has a full-time correspondent on the scene. Here are the details. For many years, workers having been trying to organize at Smithfield […]

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Today’s Wall Street Journal editorial (subscription required) on Social Security is the usual kooky—but extremely well-written (if only the Left had similar talents)—rant on the mythical power of “Big Labor” (did someone not yet tell the Journal writers that “Big Labor” is below 8 percent in the private sector?). But the editorial, entitled “Pension Fund […]

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