Sunday, December 30, 2007
Lawsuits, Fines and Exploitation, Oh My!
Here's a quick round up of news.
From Minnesota: Hastings residents involved in lawsuit against Wal-Mart - more illegal wage shaving and abuse.
From California: Air board fines Wal-Mart $250,000 for noncompliant gas cans for the fourth time in the last few years.
From New York: Wal-Mart vigil protests wages, health benefits in that, this is a company that makes billions of dollars per year but refuses to pay for health care for its workers.
From Arizona: Group: Ornaments made in sweatshop in China, naturally. The National Labor Committiee said employees included children who were forced to work 16-hour shifts and were paid below the Chinese minimum wage.
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, lawsuit, wage+abuse, healthcare
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Wallyworld Whimpers Away from Video Download Service
From Minnesota: Hastings residents involved in lawsuit against Wal-Mart - more illegal wage shaving and abuse.
From California: Air board fines Wal-Mart $250,000 for noncompliant gas cans for the fourth time in the last few years.
From New York: Wal-Mart vigil protests wages, health benefits in that, this is a company that makes billions of dollars per year but refuses to pay for health care for its workers.
From Arizona: Group: Ornaments made in sweatshop in China, naturally. The National Labor Committiee said employees included children who were forced to work 16-hour shifts and were paid below the Chinese minimum wage.
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, lawsuit, wage+abuse, healthcare
Labels: healthcare, lawsuit, wage abuse
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Del.icio.us It
Digg It!Wallyworld Whimpers Away from Video Download Service
� Wal-Mart Quietly Drops Video Download Service because, well, it sucked and nobody used it. But, so long as your computer never dies, you are able to watch the movies you have purchased forever. But you can't transfer them to another machine or a portable player. And we all know hard drives never, ever fail, right?
Wal-Mart's attempted foray into video downloading was poorly conceived, poorly executed and has now been poorly canned.
We can only hope the rest of Wal-Mart's initiatives fail in similar fashion.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Wal-Mart Depresses Wages, Study Finds
Wal-Mart's attempted foray into video downloading was poorly conceived, poorly executed and has now been poorly canned.
We can only hope the rest of Wal-Mart's initiatives fail in similar fashion.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Wal-Mart Depresses Wages, Study Finds
The Hometown Advantage - Wal-Mart Depresses Wages, Study FindsThe study "focuses on stores that opened between 1992 and 2000 and concludes, "Opening a single Wal-Mart store lowers the average retail wage in the surrounding county between 0.5 and 0.9 percent."
Currently, more than of Wal-Mart's employees earn less than $10 an hour.
Think about that for a moment. This is the world's largest company and the majority of its employees earn less than $10 an hour. They made $11.2 billion in profit last year, they can afford to pay a (more) livable wage. They choose not to because it would cut into their profits, which makes them greedheaded jerks.
That is both pitiful and infuriating.
The rest of the article has quite alot of interesing and useful information (among the juicy bits is the breakdown of raising their wages and the effect it would have on consumers, which is to say not much).
I'm not anti-Wal-Mart per se, I'm anti-exploitation and Wal-Mart is the world leader in worker, supplier, locality and consumer exploitation. And they do it on purpose to make every last penny they can for their stockholders.
Monday, December 10, 2007
A Succinct Indictment of Wal-Mart
Currently, more than of Wal-Mart's employees earn less than $10 an hour.
Think about that for a moment. This is the world's largest company and the majority of its employees earn less than $10 an hour. They made $11.2 billion in profit last year, they can afford to pay a (more) livable wage. They choose not to because it would cut into their profits, which makes them greedheaded jerks.
That is both pitiful and infuriating.
The rest of the article has quite alot of interesing and useful information (among the juicy bits is the breakdown of raising their wages and the effect it would have on consumers, which is to say not much).
I'm not anti-Wal-Mart per se, I'm anti-exploitation and Wal-Mart is the world leader in worker, supplier, locality and consumer exploitation. And they do it on purpose to make every last penny they can for their stockholders.
Labels: exploitation, greed, wages, wal-mart, walmart
Monday, December 10, 2007
A Succinct Indictment of Wal-Mart
Co-Op American's Responsible Shopper Profile: Wal-Mart:
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
If It Doesn't Play At Home, Try It in Foreign Countries!
"'Always low prices', always low standards for corporate responsibility. Wal-Mart dominates the U.S., Canadian, and Mexican markets and is currently China's eighth-largest trading partner. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart confines its leadership to the realm of sales and in other areas promotes the attitude that virtually everything--products, workers, or even communities--can be disposable . Wal-Mart may drive prices down, but it drags the quality of life for millions of people down with it. With hundreds of employees dependent on public assistance to meet their basic needs, American taxpayers subsidize Wal-Mart's low prices at the rate of roughly $420,750 a year for every 200-employee store by paying for low-income services. Women working for Wal-Mart have been denied equal opportunities for advancement. Wal-Mart hurts U.S. communities by undercutting local merchants and increasing urban sprawl, and its suppliers have been cited for labor and human rights violations."Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, quality of life, violation
Labels: indictment, quality of life, violation
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
If It Doesn't Play At Home, Try It in Foreign Countries!
Argentina: Wal-Mart Faces Accusations of Anti-union Practices
Not that accusations are anything new to Wal-Mart.
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, Argentina, anti-union, accusation
Not that accusations are anything new to Wal-Mart.
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, Argentina, anti-union, accusation
Labels: anti-union, Argentina