Working Life

This is a bit amusing. Turns out that the Beast of Bentonville is now writing copy for bloggers. The New York Times has a story today that reveals that the company has been sending out talking points and other information for pro-Wal-Mart bloggers (I wonder why I didn’t get those emails?). Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest […]

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I meant to write about this when it first surfaced but I wanted to try to figure out the background. Andrew Young, who many people still view as a civil rights leader, has sold his soul to Wal-Mart. He’s made a deal to become the public spokesperson for Working Familes For Wal-Mart. Truly shameful. Young […]

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Wal-Mart is quite adept at the mirage game: create an illusion to mask reality. Once it was the image of Sam Walton, the aw-shucks small town guy–who was actually quite a brutal businessman who had no compunction about destroying local businesses. Then, came the “Buy America” company that could not survive without slave wage labor […]

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A couple of days, I posted about Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott’s blog. Well,if you’re really interested, you can read the complete thoughts of Lee (will Wal-Mart sell the paperback and movie?) from 2004, 2005 and 2006.

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The title “Bully of Bentonville” is not my creation (I prefer Beast, as readers know) but the title of a new book by Business Week writer Anthony Bianco (who I knew back in the day when I toiled at the magazine in the 1980s). The magazine carries an excerpt in its current issue (subscripton required) […]

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…at least in Maryland. This is a snippet from The New York Times article this a.m.: Maryland Sets a Health Cost for Wal-Mart By MICHAEL BARBARO ANNAPOLIS, Md., Jan. 12 – The Maryland legislature passed a law Thursday that would require Wal-Mart Stores to increase spending on employee health insurance, a measure that is expected […]

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Next week, keep an eye on the Maryland state legislature. It looks like it will override the governor’s veto of a bill that would require retailers like Wal-Mart to increase their share of spending on healthcare for its workers. The point of the bill was to lessen the burden on public healthcare programs, where workers […]

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We’re chock full of info on the Beast of Bentonville. First,the Wal-Mart Alliance for Reform Now (WARN) and the Wal-Mart Workers Association just released this report on working conditions for the Beast’s workers in Florida. Surprise, it’s not what the company says. From the conclusions of the report: Even under the most conservative assumptions, it […]

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Last week, we had a fair amount of discussion on the ties between the Democrats and Wal-Mart. My latest column at TomPaine.com is an updated version of the issue, with more info: “The Wal-Mart 22.” And feel free to keep the conversation going. Another reminder: don’t forget to get your own copy here of Robert […]

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My colleague David Sirota (who writes a terrific blog) passed on a couple of useful background pieces from the Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill explaining why so many members of the Congressional Black Caucus seem to be cozy with Wal-Mart. First, the first piece recounts the furor caused by a letter sent by Anna Burger, […]

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