Working Life

    Juxtaposed with the rhetoric about changing the political culture is this nugget from the AP: Wal-Mart’s message to America is "Save money. Live better." Its motto in Washington might best be summed up another way: Spend more. Lobby harder. The world’s largest retailer spent nearly $1.8 million in the first six months of 2007 […]

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    Recently, I wrote about the atrocious conditions at facilities in Jordan that churn out product for Victoria’s Secret. On Friday, I got an alert from my friends at the National Labor Committee about a strike that has broken out among workers who work in factories turning out goods for Wal-Mart, Gloria Vanderbilt and GAP […]

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    Recently, I wrote about the atrocious conditions at facilities in Jordan that churn out product for Victoria’s Secret. On Friday, I got an alert from my friends at the National Labor Committee about a strike that has broken out among workers who work in factories turning out goods for Wal-Mart, Gloria Vanderbilt and GAP […]

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This week an appeals court ruled that a lawsuit charging Wal-Mart with paying women less than men, and granting them less promotions, could remain a class-action suit. NY Times/Reuters has this on details: The plaintiffs estimated they could win billions of dollars in lost pay and damages and that as many as two million women […]

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This week an appeals court ruled that a lawsuit charging Wal-Mart with paying women less than men, and granting them less promotions, could remain a class-action suit. NY Times/Reuters has this on details: The plaintiffs estimated they could win billions of dollars in lost pay and damages and that as many as two million women […]

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    A couple of items from the world of the Beast of Bentonville. First, turns out that the Beast is performing pretty badly when it comes to the Human Rights Campaign: The world’s largest retailer set a record this month but not one its managers are likely to be proud of. Wal-Mart has the ignominious […]

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    A couple of items from the world of the Beast of Bentonville. First, turns out that the Beast is performing pretty badly when it comes to the Human Rights Campaign: The world’s largest retailer set a record this month but not one its managers are likely to be proud of. Wal-Mart has the ignominious […]

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    I’m running to the WGA picket line here and have a whole bunch of things on my mind to write about but this will do for now, from today’s Wall Street Journal: A collision with a semi-trailer truck seven years ago left 52-year-old Deborah Shank permanently brain-damaged and in a wheelchair. Her husband, Jim, […]

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    At first blush, when I saw today’s front-page headline in The New York Times entitled "A Health Plan For Wal-Mart: Less Stinginess",  thought…hmmm…what’s up here? The upshot of the story: The company, according to data available for the first time, is offering better coverage to a greater number of workers. Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest […]

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    In another world, this might be called a crime–and maybe it is illegal. But, at least, it’s pretty sleazy and makes you wonder: why would any state really want Wal-Mart? After all, it generates low-paying jobs that keep workers in poverty–not a great way to build your tax base–and, it turns out, the Beast […]

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