ALEC, Walmart, and Our Communities

Big corporations, like Walmart, are promoting violence in our communities through their support of “Stand your Ground” legislation across the country. As the largest retailer of guns and ammunition in the country, Walmart has a financial interest in gun sales, and as it turns out, was one of the leading supporters of these laws. The fact is, a Walmart executive co-chaired the task force of ALEC – the American Legislative Exchange Council - that endorsed the Stand Your Ground law.

Here's a little background on ALEC:

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a conservative nonprofit that mixes together corporations and legislators. It sounds simple, but ALEC isn’t just a backyard tree house club. Its membership includes an influential list of about 200 corporations and nearly 2,000 state legislators across the country. 1 in 5 ALEC influenced bills become law. ALEC is an expert at creating one-size-fits all legislation and then making it law all across the country. 

The major advantage of ALEC is its ability to mobilize and influence its lawmaker members, a vast majority of which are Republican. If a bill pops up in a state house that puts corporate members at a disadvantage, ALEC, having direct access to its legislative membership, can rework the legislation into more favorable language.  

ALEC supports and creates extreme pieces of legislation with no interest in mind other than that of corporations. It’s a direct threat to our democratic process. It gives the rich preferential access to influence government while everyone else suffers the consequences. Giving corporations paid access to state representatives, just because they can afford it, and then allowing those corporations to craft self-interested legislation has had harmful effects for communities everywhere 

Middle class families have also suffered from ALEC’s influence. This is the organization that has attempted to marginalize the rights of workers nationwide by promoting legislation that strips collective bargaining rights, creates right to work states, and implements paycheck deception. State representatives aren’t supposed to be working for these corporations. They’re supposed to work for the people that elected them and focus on improving the districts they live in.

Walmart’s support for ALEC and Stand your Ground is hurting our communities, and Walmart associates are coming forward to speak out and try to get Walmart to withdraw from ALEC and take a public stand against laws like “Stand Your Ground” and voter ID laws. Join Walmart associate and Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) member Samuel Maxwell in his quest to make his company better by signing his Change.org petition today.

Then be sure to tell your legislators to end their affiliation with ALEC!

UFCW's President Hansen Leads Calls For Investigation into Walmart's Business Practices

In the wake of an explosive New York Times’ report about Walmart's unlawful business practices in Mexico  and elsewhere, UFCW International President Joe Hansen has called for a federal investigation into the company’s conduct.

As President Hansen told ABC about the allegations, "They raised question in my mind about stores approved in the U.S., where zoning laws changed quickly and permits were issued quickly. I think we'll now see people go back and ask questions about that."

Members of Congress have asked for an investigation, and the Department of Justice may already be looking into the company.

In a statement, President Hansen said that: 

The reported cover-up by WalMart executives at the highest levels exposes a core truth: WalMart cannot be taken at its word. A Department of Justice investigation into foreign bribery is an urgently needed first step. Congress should immediately convene hearings to examine whether WalMart is using these unethical business practices in their U.S. operations.

Meanwhile, elected officials in NYC are expressing opposition to Walmart’s potential move into their city. As WNYC is reporting:

Several mayoral hopefuls, from Speaker Christine Quinn and Public Advocate Bill deBlasio to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and City Comptroller John Liu, issued statements citing Walmart's potential violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as evidence that the company could not be trusted here in New York City. 

Follow @UFCW

Bangladeshi Worker Rights Activist Asks Walmart to Protect Her

ABC News's investigative unit has an impressive story up today about an inspiring woman and longtime friend to UFCW: Kalpona Akter, the Bangladeshi labor rights activist who is being persecuted by her government for trying to organize for better working conditions in Bangladeshi factories.

You might remember Kalpona from our story last year about the Walmart Worker Truth Tour, an event that brought together workers from every part of Walamrt's supply chain.

Kalpona and her coworkers have been jailed, beaten, and threatened with the worst, all for speaking out about the conditions in the factories that supply clothing to major American chains like Walmart. Now she's calling on those companies to speak out and pressure the Bangladeshi government to drop the criminal charges against the workers.

"The brands can really play a vital role when we are put in jail," Akter told ABC News. "They are the most powerful, and can put pressure onto the factory owners and the Bangladeshi government to tell them these charges should be dropped."

As ABC reports,

"Tommy Hilfiger -- whose famous label was traced to several of the factories -- acknowledged in an interview that the conditions are 'unacceptable' and 'tragic.' Hilfiger pledged to go to Bangladesh to demand better conditions, and the company that owns his brand, PVH Corp., responded to the ABC News investigation by committing between $1 million and $2 million to make significant improvements."

Check out this video of Kalpona, then be sure to read the full story from ABC.

Support Retail Workers Sticking Together for a Say Over Holiday Scheduling

Black Friday has finally become Black Thanksgiving, leaving retail workers with no time for turkey - or to spend with their families.

Retail workers go above and beyond to provide great service for their customers during the holiday season, and take pride in their work. But with stores like Walmart moving up Black Friday opening times to 10pm on Thanksgiving, and Target calling in workers at 11pm, retail workers will be unable to sit down with their families for Thanksgiving dinner this year.

Click here to sign the petition to stand with Walmart employees and other retail workers who are sticking together to have a say over their schedules during the holidays. 


Concerns over hours and scheduling constantly fall at the top of the list of problems for retail workers. That's why workers should be able to stick together and have a say over their hours and scheduling, and compensation for holiday work. After all, retail jobs are the fastest growing jobs in the country, and millions of retail workers have the power to make these jobs good middle class jobs. That's good for our economy, and good for all Americans. UFCW members who work at stores like Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Modell's, and H&M know the power of sticking together and speaking with one voice. They know that we can improve our jobs and our lives by standing up with one another for what's right. By sticking together in a union, these retail workers earn higher pay for work on holidays.  They also have more control over their schedules.

Retail workers are part of the 99 percent. And it's good to see that people are paying attention to the working conditions facing retail workers in our economy.  We know that when workers speak with one voice to address workplace issues with management as a group, they begin to level the playing field and improve their jobs. When we support workers coming together to make positive changes in the workplace, we all win.

Retail workers and their families deserve respect on the job. Stand with Walmart employees and other retail workers who are sticking together to have a voice over their schedules during the holidays.

President Hansen Letter in New York Times: White House's Decision to Pay Tribute to Walmart was "Misguided"

In the letter, published today, President Hansen pointed out that Walmart has a history of destroying good jobs in communities, rather than creating them:

Instead of honoring Wal-Mart, the White House should laud employers who are creating good jobs with benefits that can support a family and challenge Wal-Mart to do the same.

Read the full letter here.

International worker solidarity gives new meaning to "We Are One" this April 4

Today and all week, at over 1,000 events across America, working families are standing as one to revive Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream for our country and stand up for the middle class. But as American workers come together in the face of unprecedented attacks on our rights, we must also recognize and support workers around the world who are also struggling for their rights and freedoms.

Babul Akhter, worker rights activist at Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, joins DC's We Are One rally

Today, UFCW had the privilege of hearing from three workers representing different parts of Walmart’s supply chain. The workers (Cynthia Murray – current employee in a Laurel, MD, Walmart store; Robert Hines – former employee in Chicago-area warehouse that supplies Walmart stores; and Aleya Akter – Bangladeshi garment factory worker who sews clothes sold in U.S. Walmart stores) are preparing for their last stop on the Walmart Worker Truth Tour. Their shared experiences show just how interconnected workers across insutries, states, and oceans truly are in today's globalized world.

Accompanying Aleya as she shares her story with U.S. workers and consumers are Bangladeshi worker rights advocates Kalpona Akter and Babul Akhter, who have inspiring stories of their own. Kalpona and Babul are respected labor rights leaders from the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) who, in August, were seized in a witch hunt against worker rights advocates and imprisoned on unfounded criminal charges filed by the Nassa Group, a major supplier Walmart. These peaceful labor leaders were targeted as “terrorists” and unjustly jailed and beaten for inciting worker unrest.

Even as they face potential life sentences, or even death, Kalpona and Babul took time out today to stand in solidarity with U.S. workers as we stand in defense of our rights, and of the dream Dr. King was fighting for the day he died. Just hours before the last event in the Walmart Worker Truth Tour, they joined the We Are One rally in Washington, D.C., lending international support and solidarity to workers across the U.S. who are bravely fighting for their rights.

UFCW Stands with South African Workers

Walmart's plans to expand in South Africa have hit another setback after the South African government’s Competition Tribunal ordered a hearing on the proposed merger with Massmart be pushed back for almost two months.

Wal-Mart is currently in the final stages of acquiring a 51 per cent stake in Massmart, whose operations run in Namibia and 13 other African countries. But workers in South Africa are concerned about the impact Walmart will have on their communities and their jobs.

Members of the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU) and of its international ally UNI Global Union, of which the UFCW is a member, have been resisting the merger.



"Wal-Mart employs severe tactics to silence workers and keep them from having a voice on the job,” said UNI deputy general secretary Christy Hoffman. “It also uses its immense market share to make drastic cuts in its supply costs, often pitting local companies in a vicious race to the bottom to provide goods to Wal-Mart at the cheapest prices.”

“We don't want to see the 'Wal-Martisation' of South Africa like we have seen in the US, in Chile, in Argentina, in Mexico and in many other countries around the world,” affirmed head of UNI Commerce Alke Boessiger.



You can follow more news on the merger on the Walmart Watch blog, www.walmartwatch.org.

To Our Soldiers Overseas: Happy Holidays from Walmart

The holidays must be a tough time of year for those separated from their loved ones by military service. But America’s largest retailer is making our soldiers holidays just a little bleaker – by unreasonably and substantially marking up prices to ship to APO and FPO addresses.

According to Stars and Stripes:

On a $120 purchase, Walmart.com charged $10.35 to ship to an APO address, compared with $2.10 to a stateside address. For most items, Amazon.com charged the same to ship to an APO address as a stateside address. And Target offered shipping on a $120 purchase to an APO address for less than to a stateside address.

That’s an almost 5x increase in shipping costs, even though they cost the shipper exactly the same as shipping domestically. That's Department of Defense policy--shipping to an APO/FPO address costs the same as shipping to New York--because DOD picks up the rest of the tab.

It certainly seems like Walmart is overcharging our service men and women overseas just to make a buck. And that's just not right.

All of us at the UFCW would like to thank our service men and women for their service, especially those overseas during these holidays. We wish them a safe and speedy return to their families, and a holiday spent at home next year.

The Senate Free-Rider Provision or: How in trying to reform health care we could end up with a part-time America

Senate, what on earth is up with the Free-Rider provision in the health care bill?

In the spirit of an encouraging friend offering constructive criticism on decisions that could lead to potentially harmful and unintended consequences (like the time in college when my roommate wanted to sink her life-savings into an industrial dump truck on eBay), we think it is about time to sit down, put the kettle on, and have a heart-to-heart.

In a nutshell, the Free-Rider provision states that employers who don’t offer good coverage pay a fine if their workers qualify for subsidies to buy coverage in the insurance exchange.

Now for the problems:

1. Companies don’t have to pay fines for part-time workers
2. Companies don’t have to pay fines for workers eligible for Medicaid
3. Companies only have to pay a fine for workers receiving subsidies to buy coverage the insurance exchange.
4. The standard for “good coverage” that an employer must offer to avoid paying fines is ridiculously low.

Problem #1: Say you are the owner of Spend-A-Lot Stores and you need to cut costs. Health care is a huge expenditure for you, but you find that if you shift more workers to part-time, you can avoid having to pay for good benefits without having to pay fines. Your arch-nemesis, Fantabulousamazing, Inc. believes in investing in its workers and does offer good health plans. Now responsible Fantabulousamazing is at a disadvantage to your unscrupulous business practices, thus defeating the entire purpose of the provision.

Not only that, but workers in the community who were barely getting by on the wages at Spend-A-Lot now can’t get enough hours to pay the bills and are stuck without access to health care.

Problem #2: If workers qualify for Medicaid, Spend-A-Lot doesn’t have to pay fines for not providing good coverage because the workers won’t be buying insurance in the exchange.

Increase the number of workers on Medicaid = decrease health care costs = keep wages low enough for workers to qualify = further erode the middle class jobs offered by Spend-A-Lot.

Problem #3: By hiring workers who would not qualify for subsidies on the exchange, Spend-A-Lot can reduce the amount of fines incurred by not offering quality health coverage.

Workers not eligible for Medicaid who also do not qualify for subsidies would include those who are covered under their parents plans, older workers eligible for Medicare, and married workers whose spouses offer adequate health plans.

Center for American Progress sums it up pretty well:

Thus, counterintuitively, a “free rider” provision would penalize—and thus disincentivize—employers from hiring workers eligible for premium subsidies: low- and moderate-income individuals. This is a great concern for single mothers in particular, who could be penalized as less attractive hires.

Problem #4: If Spend-A-Lot offers really terrible coverage to workers, the definition of adequate coverage in the provision is so loose that a large share of the burden for health care costs can still remain on the workers while Spend-A-Lot doesn’t have to pay any fines at all. Now workers are left unable to qualify in the exchange and with coverage that will stick them with huge medical bills that they can’t afford.

On Tuesday, we released a report examining the impact of the provision on Walmart workers. Granted, we are not fans of Walmart in general because of its history of poor behavior when it comes to workers, but it also happens to be the largest private employer in the U.S.

The results? To maximize profits, the provision creates the incentive for Walmart to shift to part-time and to keep wages low and workers dependent on public programs. If a bad actor as big as Walmart can slip through the loopholes, what does that say about the bill’s ability to bring down health costs nationwide?

Walmart Comes in Last in Online Shopping Comparison

Wall Street Journal columnist James B. Stewart did a little informal comparison shopping to see which online retailers perform best when it comes to price and selection. Amazon came in first, eBay second, and Walmart a trailing third.

Looks like Walmart has a long when to go when it comes to competing online.

New Report and Ad Campaign Reminds Congress Health Care is Everybody’s Responsibility

A new study released by the UFCW examines the Senate health care reform bill, and finds that a provision meant to hold corporations accountable actually encourages companies to duck their fair share of the costs of health care reform.

The report examines the Senate bill by looking at its impact on America’s largest and most irresponsible private employer--Walmart. As written, the employer responsibility provision--"Free Rider"--would provide no overall health care cost savings because it would:

• Incentivize the hiring of a largely part-time workforce, and encourage reducing workers’ hours as a way to eliminate company responsibility for health care costs

• Force low-income Walmart employees into high-deductible, company-provided insurance.

• Make few, if any, Walmart employees eligible for tax credits to purchase better insurance through the health insurance exchange.

• Continue Walmart’s dependence on federal and state subsidies for Medicaid for its employees, and encourage Walmart to have even more employees dependent on Medicaid.

• Provide little or no incentive for Walmart to provide better care to its workers.

The complete report can be viewed online at www.fixthebill.org

These findings have galvanized a broad coalition of working families and their supporters to call on Senators to fix the flawed provision of the bill to ensure that President Barack Obama achieves his goal of quality, affordable health care for every Americans.

And concerned organizations that have signed on to a comprehensive ad campaign include the Communications Workers of America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the United Auto Workers, the United Farm Workers, USAction, and the United Steelworkers. Beginning with full page ads in Capitol Hill publications and a national Web presence, the group will roll out print ads across the country over the next few weeks.

The findings of this report put a bright light on just how critical employer responsibility is to health care reform. With much of America’s job growth expected to be in retail over the next few years, it is clear that not including strong employer responsibility provisions will result in a part-time workforce dependent on already overburdened state programs for health care.

Loose Nukes at Walmart?

Walmart bills itself as the store that has everything--but radioactive tritium? Evidently Walmart uses the material in signs at their stores. We would have never known this--but evidently Walmart didn’t realize that they should KEEP TRACK OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL!

That’s right, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has cited Walmart for failing to keep track of some of their more than 70,000 tritium-containing signs. In addition, Walmart was also cited for failing to dispose of signs properly and failing to dispose of broken or damaged signs properly. All in all – they failed to keep track of or dispose properly of almost 3,000 signs.

According to the article in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, “the NRC requires proper record keeping and disposal of the signs because a damaged or broken one could cause minor radioactive contamination of the immediate vicinity, requiring environmental cleanup.”

Clean up of radioactivity on Aisle 12? H1N1 in the checkout lane?

Good to know I’m at least saving money and living better.

Wal-Mart's Sick Leave Policy Puts Workers at Risk for Spreading H1N1

According to information released by the National Labor Committee, Walmart's punitative sick leave policy puts the employer "on track to on track to be a major spreader of swine flu this fall." The Committee says that Walmart "gives workers demerits and deducts pay for staying home when they are sick or to care for a sick child."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that:

During an influenza pandemic, all sick people should stay home and away from the workplace, hand washing and covering coughs and sneezes should be encouraged, and routine cleaning of commonly touched surfaces should be performed regularly.

But Walmart has, according to the NLC's report, "routinely flouted" the CDC's recommendations. The NLC says that:

[A] Wal-Mart associate told us, “Wal-Mart won't even look at a doctors note. If you are out sick, youre going to get a demerit and lose eight hours wages.”

In fact, when the NLC interviewed Walmart associates across New York State, employees said:

they had no choice but to work sick. One Wal-Mart employee from a supercenter explained: “Plenty of girls are coughing their brains out. But they cannot go home because of points. Everyone comes in sick. You cant stay home and God forbid if you leave early.” “Associates” –including food handlers working in the grocery, meat and even deli departments—are routinely coming to work with the flu, conjunctivitis, fevers, strep throat, diarrhea and vomiting. It is only when an employee is coughing too loudly and violently that he or she will be transferred from the food section to another department, where the sick worker will still be interacting with customers.

When the New York Times interviewed Walmart employee Paul Hotchkiss in Hastings, Minnesota, he said that:

the point system pressured him to report to work two weeks ago even though he had swine flu.

“There are a lot of people who have swine flu right now who are going in because they worry about getting fired for having too many points,” Mr. Hotchkiss said.

His supervisor sent him home because he looked pale, he said, adding that he did not see a doctor because he could not afford the company’s health insurance.

At a time when children and families nationwide are concerned about H1N1, Walmart needs to follow in the footsteps of more responsible employers, and follow the CDC's recommendations. They need to understand that punishing workers for being sick hurts, not helps in combating the H1N1 virus and keeping workers healthy.

Update #2: From a release by Education and Labor Committee:

U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, and Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), chair of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee, announced emergency temporary legislation today that will guarantee five paid sick days for a worker sent home or directed to stay home by their employer for a contagious illness, such as the H1N1 flu virus. The House Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing on the legislation the week of November 16.

“Sick workers advised to stay home by their employers shouldn’t have to choose between their livelihood, and their coworkers’ or customer’s health,” said Miller. “This will not only protect employees, but it will save employers money by ensuring that sick employees don’t spread infection to co-workers and customers, and will relieve the financial burden on our health system swamped by those suffering from H1N1.”

Update #1: Pat Garofolo over at WonkRoom points out this response from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

“The vast majority of employers provide paid leave of some sort,” said Randel K. Johnson, senior vice president for labor at the United States Chamber of Commerce. “The problem is not nearly as great as some people say."

UFCW Director of Organizing, Walmart Workers and Others Talk Walmart Economy with Laura Flanders

How Much For a Worker's Life?

How much would you guess a worker's life is worth? Millions? Hundreds of thousands? Maybe you can't even contemplate a thing like measuring human life in terms of pure monetary value. Maybe, like the credit card commercials say, it's...priceless?

Or what about $7000?

If that last figure seems a little low to you, you'll no doubt be horrified to hear that that's the top rate. The maximum amount that OSHA is allowed to fine companies who've received citations subjecting their workers to preventable hazards that could result in death or serious physical harm.

This is the palty price WalMart has to pay after OSHA

cited Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for inadequate crowd management following the Nov. 28, 2008, death of an employee at its Valley Stream, N.Y., store. The worker died of asphyxiation after he was knocked to the ground and trampled by a crowd of about 2,000 shoppers who surged into the store for its annual "Blitz Friday" pre-holiday sales event.

This is what a worker's life is worth. Less than a fraction of 1 percent of those bonuses paid out to AIG executives.

Doesn't that reflect a problem with our labor laws? As Jason Lefkowitz at CTW Connect points out:

President Barack Obama has brought in a new team at the Department of Labor that is committed to ensuring that every worker has a safe workplace. But they can only do as much as they are empowered to do by the law. And the laws that govern worker protection on the job are shockingly toothless.

Lefkowitz goes on to make the same ask that I'll make here: Please tell Congress to pass the Protecting America’s Workers Act, which is currently before the House of Representatives. It's legislation that would put some teeth in our labor laws and strengthen many protections for employees at their workplaces--including upping the minimum fine for the type of citation WalMart received after their worker's trampling death.

It won't bring workers who've died on the job back to their families and friends. But it would at least give companies pause to think about the consequences of not adequately protecting workers from on-the-job hazards.

Making workers safer on the job? That really would be priceless.

NEW VIDEO: Walmart Workers for Change

Walmart Workers for Change, a new campaign of thousands of Walmart’s 1.3 million associates across the country who are standing up and demanding a voice in the workplace, released a new video today that show the kind of anti-worker tactics they are facing from the world’s largest retailer. "The associates are afraid," said Cynthia Murray, a Walmart associate in Laurel, Maryland:

They’re intimidated, and they are afraid. My family and other families have paid the price for freedom. And when you tell me I can’t talk about a union, you’re taking my freedom from me.

Workers in more than 100 stores in 15 states across the country have joined together and signed union representation cards, citing a lack of respect from the company, as well as poverty-level wages and sub-par benefits as reasons they need a union voice on the job. Even though Walmart’s got a long and well-documented history of anti-worker activities, workers say they Obama's election has inspired them to take action, as has the introduction of the Employee Free Choice Act in Congress. The campaign comes at a time when workers find their wages have stagnated, even as Walmart and the Walton family continue to make record profits. Walmart’s recently released 2009 10K shows the company made $13.4 billion in profits last year. In the new video, which can be viewed at http://www.walmartworkersforchange.org/index.php/pages/articles/walmarts_war_on_workers, 10 workers from coast to coast detail the company’s response to their organizing efforts, including:

Dominique Sloane and Mark Moore, of Dallas, Texas, were told that their store would be closed if workers voted to organize. In Miami, Florida, Cheryl Guzman was interrogated by a manager about who among her colleagues supported a union. Linda Haluska, of Glendale, Illinois, was called into four mandatory meetings in one week, where she and her colleagues were shown anti-union, anti-Employee Free Choice videos.

Walmart Workers for Change is a new campaign made up of thousands of Walmart workers joining together to form a union and negotiate better benefits, higher wages, and more opportunity for a better future.