Working Life

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that the Beast from Bentonville (aka Wal-Mart) is running into stiff opposition to its attempt to get into the banking business. The article (subscription required) describes a potent anti-Wal-Mart coalition that has risen up against the proposal. An excerpt: When Wal-Mart Stores Inc. applied 15 months ago to […]

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The long arm of the law–or at least a jury–has caught up again with the law-breakers from Bentonville, also known as the Waltons. As reported by the Associated Press, “the world’s biggest retailer, must pay at least $78.5 million for violating Pennsylvania labor laws by forcing employees to work through rest breaks and off the […]

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As if it wasn’t hard enough to make a living at Wal-Mart, the nice people running the Beast of Bentonville have decided that people make too much money working at their stores–and that the lives of the workers are just too darn focused on things other than Wal-Mart. The New York Times today has a […]

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Over a long period of time, I’ve argued that we need to challenge Democrats who are in the pocket of corporate America and stop simply supporting Democrats simply because they are incumbents. So, I’m heartened by today’s article in The New York Times that seems to indicate, at least towards the end, that some folks […]

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Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago has vetoed the living wage ordinance that was passed largely to require “big box” retailers like Wal-Mart to pay a decent wage. Well, not surprising since the Daley family has always been about protecting powerful interests.

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This isn’t really that shocking: Wal-Mart Finds an Ally in ConservativesBy MICHAEL BARBARO and STEPHANIE STROM As Wal-Mart Stores struggles to rebut criticism from unions and Democratic leaders, the company has discovered a reliable ally: prominent conservative research groups like the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the Manhattan Institute. Though it would have […]

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Sometime ago, I wrote about the phenomena of the ties Democrats have to Wal-Mart. I still believe Democrats have no business cozying up to a company that is doing such damage to our country. But, Wal-Mart certainly isn’t giving up, as The Wall Street Journal reports. I’m reprinting the article, with some cuts (snips), because […]

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Good news on the turning-back-the Beast campaign–Wal-Mart has dropped its plans to open a store on Staten Island. While the real estate company that said it would develop the site claims it dropped the idea because of the costs to remove toxic chemicals, it’s more likely that Wal-Mart did not want to face the coalition […]

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Heck, if Kerry had the brains to attack George Bush’s swiftboat crowd this way, he would be president–after Herman Cain, a member of a Wal-Mart front group, wrote a column for a right wing website likening Democrats to Hezbollah terrorists, Kerry had this to say: “I won’t stand for the ‘Swiftboating’ of working people and […]

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Back in March, I wrote about the recruitment of Andy Young, the noted civil rights leader and former ambassador to the U.N., to the cause of defending Wal-Mart. Lots of people were astonished and I was a bit perplexed by the moral corruption of someone who actually fought for the rights of the oppressed. Today, […]

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