Archive for the 'Walmart Woes' Category

Walmart: Is it Really Worth the Savings?

A fabulous article that is a must read for anyone who shops at Walmart or knows someone who shops at Walmart.
How Walmart is Remaking our World by Jim Hightower

Top 10 Wal-Mart Worst Actions

From Walmartwatch.com

  1. A judge fined Wal-Mart $18 million because the company provided incomplete and false evidence in a lawsuit brought by a woman who had been abducted in a Wal-Mart parking lot.
  2. Upholding a $2.3 million verdict awarded to two women sexually harassed by a Wal-Mart manager, the judge said, the manager’s conduct was “outrageous and apparently Wal-Mart was aware of this, since his conduct was witnessed high-level [supervisors].
  3. Federal judges in three states have fined Wal-Mart–as much as $120,000–for destroying evidence, withholding documents, and other violations in cases where Wal-Mart shoppers were either injured or a crime victim at a Wal-Mart store.
  4. A jury found that Wal-Mart fired a white female employee because she was dating a black man, in a 1998 case.
  5. A 14-year Wal-Mart worker was awarded $2.75 million after a jury decided store officials wrongly accused her of stealing.
  6. Three existing community jobs are destroyed for every two new jobs at Wal-Mart.
  7. Wal-Mart, the company that wrapped itself in the American Flag, is so patriotic it runs a Buy Mexican campaign.
  8. Wal-Mart sold fake Tommy Hilfiger apparel to consumers after a judged ordered the company to stop.
  9. Only 38% of Wal-Mart employees have company provided health insurance–compared to a national average that shows 60% of employees are covered by company plans.
  10. After the FTC charged Wal-Mart with not identifying the country of origin on apparel items listed on its Internet sales site, Wal-Mart removed the items, apparently preferring not to disclose where the clothing was made.

More GREAT Articles

The Wal-Mart You Don’t Know
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html

FrontLine’s piece on Walmart
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/

WalMart Watch: A site keeping track of their injustices
http://www.walmartwatch.com/

Another watch dog site;
http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/

Congress report on Walmart
http://www.againstthewal.com/studies/millerwalmartreport.htm

Fox News and Walmart: It’s a Love Story
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/01/14/fox_news_and_walmart_its_a_love_story.php

Healthcare and Walmart
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/507169?src=mp

Do you shop at Wal-Mart? Wouldn’t you like to shop there knowing that Wal-Mart
follows U.S. child labor laws and refuses to profit from overseas child labor abuses?
Unfortunately, this is not the case.
http://go.care2.com/e/R2ZR/b9qg/vDLt

Think Walmart is organic? Think again!
http://cornucopia.org/index.php/wal-mart-white-paper/

Grist’s Blog on Why Walmart is Evil
http://www.grist.org/advice/ask/2004/11/22/umbra-walmart/

Another Reason not to Shop at Walmart

This is yet another reason why we don’t step foot in Walmart. Remember this company profits over 2 billion dollars per quarter. Over 60% of its workers have no health insurance (or get it in other ways). And now taking money away from poor families that need it.

Walmart Sues Permanently Injured Employee

Excerpt:

Employers grab accident victims’ cash

Wal-Mart’s health plan sued an ex-worker, brain-damaged in a crash, to collect money from a settlement she’d received. It’s part of a trend in which companies aggressively try to recoup insurance costs.

By The Wall Street JournalA collision with a tractor-trailer seven years ago left 52-year-old Deborah Shank permanently brain-damaged and in a wheelchair. Her husband, Jim, and three sons found a small source of solace: a $700,000 accident settlement from the trucking company involved.

After legal fees and other expenses, the remaining $417,000 was put in a special trust. It was to be used for Deborah Shank’s care.

Instead, all of it is now slated to go to Deborah’s former employer, Wal-Mart Stores.

Read the above link for more on the story and you can also donate to the family at Walmart Watch.