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Wal-Mart and Apple Battle
for Turf
By Ronald Grover
AUGUST 31, 2006
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The retail behemoth isn't happy about
the iPod maker's plans to offer movie downloads through iTunes. Has
Wal-Mart met its match?
The guy from Bentonville, Ark., surely
isn't on any of Hollywood's leading man lists. A 23-year Wal-Mart Stores
(WMT ) veteran, David Porter is the person at the retail giant who
orders DVDs and slashes prices to move them. But this summer, Porter has
been one of Hollywood's hottest acts, taking meetings with top studio
brass like a producer with a hot script. His pitch: Wal-Mart isn't
happy.
That prospect tends to send shivers
through Hollywood's Gucci-toed corner offices. As the largest seller of
DVDs, Wal-Mart accounts for roughly 40% of the $17 billion in DVDs that
will be sold this year, a financial lifeline to big-spending studios.
But now Wal-Mart's video business faces a potential threat by Steve Jobs
and Apple Computer (AAPL ), which in mid-September, sources tell
BusinessWeek, plans to announce it will start offering movie downloads
from its iTunes store.
The notion of kids running around with
full-length movies on new, wider-screen iPods that Apple is expected to
unveil as well is causing grief in Bentonville, according to Hollywood
executives. The $312 billion a year retailer, they say, wants
concessions that could include lower DVD wholesale prices.
PLAYING THE HEAVY. With Wal-Mart CEO
H. Lee Scott assigning his point man Porter to roam the halls of major
studios, skittish executives have for months delayed giving Jobs the
rights to distribute their movies through his new service. The price
Apple hopes to charge, now set at $14.99 for new releases and $9.99 for
older movies, has risen from Jobs's initial plan to offer new flicks for
$9.99, say industry insiders.
So far, Apple only has one studio
signed on: Walt Disney (DIS ), where Jobs is the largest shareholder
following the entertainment giant's purchase of his Pixar Animation
Studios. News Corp.'s (NWS ) Fox Entertainment Group may join in later,
as might independent Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF ), say Hollywood
sources, but only if other studios come along, too. So far, other large
studios have taken a pass, especially after Wal-Mart earlier this year
threatened not to sell Disney's High School Musical for a time after
Disney released it initially only on iTunes.
What does Wal-Mart want this time to
play nice? Executives who have met with Porter say it wants marketing
help when it launches its own planned download site. And it wants
Hollywood to trim the current $17 wholesale price for DVDs. That would
let Wal-Mart slash its own prices to the same $15 or so that Apple would
charge. (The plan is for Apple to pay a $14 wholesale price for new
releases, say sources, although negotiations continue.) A large
wholesale cut for Wal-Mart, of course, would amount to hundreds of
millions in lost studio revenues each year at a time when DVD sales are
slowing.
LOSING PATIENCE. Wal-Mart isn't the
only issue that's giving some studios pause. Several are concerned about
Apple's rules for using iTunes, which let users watch a film on up to
five different devices. And others worry about letting Jobs set a
download price they can't change, as he has done in music. Still,
studios have embraced the digital concept and accept some "burning" of
movies to DVDs. In addition to Apple, the studios are negotiating
potential download deals with Amazon.com (AMZN ), AT&T (T ), and cable
giant Comcast (CMCSA ).
No doubt Steve Jobs knows how to turn
tiny digital media niches into a mainstream phenomenon. That's what he
did in the music biz. But his patience for all this tiptoeing is wearing
thin. Jobs recently hopped aboard his corporate jet for a little
politicking of his own in Hollywood, and insiders say he called Scott to
express the concern of a vendor who sells tons of iPods and Macs through
Wal-Mart stores.
Jobs would not comment for this story
nor would any studios. Wal-Mart acknowledged that it's talking with
studios about starting its own download service but disputed that it is
"dissuading studios from conducting business with other providers,"
according to Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jolanda Stewart.
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Wal-Mart looks beyond the
aisle
By Jonathan Birchall
Financial Times
Aug 31, 2006
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At Wal-Mart's new supercentre in
Plano, Texas, shoppers can buy upmarket wines and sushi and surf the web
in a Wi-Fi-connected café as part of an experiment by the mass discount
retailer to test its ability to extend its appeal to higher income
customers.
Plano shoppers might notice that the
staff are wearing smart dark blue T-shirts, instead of the usual
Wal-Mart nylon smocks. But they might not be conscious of the fact that
the store's most popular departments – the grocery and health and beauty
sections – have been repositioned next to each other rather than on
opposite sides of the 200,000sq ft store, more than 100 yards apart.
The move, at odds with retail
industry's traditional "get 'em in and keep 'em in" approach, reflects
research done not just by Wal-Mart itself, but by Saatchi & Saatchi X,
its "in-store" marketing agency.
"The core thing we're trying to do is
for the customer to spend less time searching and more time shopping,"
says Andy Murray, chief executive of Saatchi X, based in Springdale,
Arkansas, a few miles from Wal-Mart's Bentonville headquarters.
"In Plano, we really tried to
understand the total store experience, and to look at things such as
adjacencies, how intuitive is the navigation, can it communicate more
quickly, and can it make areas of the store feel different – if you're
in the baby department, and it feels like the laundry detergent section,
that's not good."
Wal-Mart has worked before with
Saatchi X and its predecessor, ThompsonMurray, which the advertising
agency Saatchi & Saatchi bought in 2004 in a move that illustrated the
growing interest of the marketing industry and its clients in in-store,
or "at retail", marketing.
The retailer has now reinforced its
relationship with Saatchi X by declaring it to be its "agency of record"
for "shopper, in-store and associate [employee] communications" – the
first time a retailer has awarded an in-store agency this status, which
gives it involvement in higher-level strategic marketing decisions.
Saatchi X focuses on everything from
store layout to product packaging, shelving and the creation of in-store
promotions – an area of increasing importance for consumer goods
marketing as the traditional mass media channels of television and
newspapers decline.
"It's a recognition from Wal-Mart's
point of view that the store is a focal point for the shopping
experience," says Mr Murray. "Most other retailers don't have the
in-store shopping environment brought together at a strategic level. So
it's a recognition for Wal-Mart that this space is important."
Under John Fleming, who took over as
marketing officer last year, the retailer has stepped up its efforts to
improve the look and feel of its stores.
"The new paradigm for retail is that
the store is a brand," Stephen Quinn, Wal-Mart's senior vice-president
of marketing told investors this year, laying out the focus on reducing
store clutter and making shopping at the retailer easier.
Laura Davis-Taylor, founder and
principal of Atlanta-based Retail Media Consulting, says the elevation
of Saatchi X reflects one of the biggest challenges facing retailers as
they strive to manage the proliferating opportunities created by the
expansion of interest in in-store media.
"The biggest challenge is that no one
owns the store; someone in marketing owns the internet, and someone else
owns the external marketing. But no one owns the store, so it's very
difficult to act upon this whole idea of customer-centricity."
But Ms Davis-Taylor also points out
the challenges facing Wal-Mart as it seeks to co-ordinate the competing
demands of its store department managers, who have traditionally
arranged in-store promotions directly with the brand suppliers – often
without input from the marketing department.
Mr Murray argues that being nominated
as agency of record gives the Saatchi X more influence in the
decision-making process – the appointment of his agency also reflects
the influence of Mr Fleming's marketing team.
The rise of Saatchi X is also
emblematic of the impact of in-store marketing on the relationship
between the two giants of the consumer universe – Wal-Mart and Procter &
Gamble.
Mr Murray himself worked for nine
years at P&G, including three years at its Wal-Mart liaison office in
Springdale, Arkansas, before he went off on his own and eventually set
up ThompsonMurray.
Saatchi & Saatchi itself numbers
several P&G brands among its most important clients, including its
Pampers childcare line. Mr Murray's team has worked with other
companies, too – including Novartis, the pharmaceutical company, and
American Express.
The agency's stress on the importance
of winning the attention of a customer in the store, and creating an
overall store experience that helps shape customer decisions,
synchronises with P&G's focus on what it calls the "first moment of
truth" – winning a consumer's attention in store within an estimated
three to seven seconds.
Saatchi X argues that there might be
even less time than that. Using proprietary eye-tracking technology, it
estimates that shoppers only notice 50 per cent of what they look at,
even standing in front of a shelf, and that the retailer has a mere
two-and-a-half seconds to make an impact.
P&G's current focus on the in-store
experience also reflects its collaborative relationship with Wal-Mart.
The two companies have been sharing shopping data since the late 1980s,
and Dina Howell, the head of P&G's global "first moment of truth" team,
headed the company's Wal-Mart research and marketing office in
Springdale from 1996 to 2004. She was also one of Mr Murray's first
major clients after he set up on his own in 1997.
Much of the agency's work at Wal-Mart,
however, has concentrated on trying to make shopping more convenient –
helping the retailer to pursue its goal of focusing on offering
"solutions" and "value", in place of its previous focus on selling the
cheapest items.
"A shopper might spend 21 minutes in a
store on average, but of that only six minutes involves shopping, and
the rest of the time she's trying to find stuff, and that is really not
driving the value of the shopping basket," he says. "Most in-store
experiences have ignored the factor of time."
That has led to in-store "multibrand"
efforts co-ordinated by Saatchi X, in which the objective is to provide
single-location groupings of disparate products – such as a promotion
last year presenting a range of products linked to the annual ritual of
the US high school senior year prom dance.
"Typical retailers concentrate on
product placement – such as putting the bananas near the cereal, rather
than trying to inspire, through multibrand campaigns that are really
connected to consumers," says Mr Murray.
He also argues that retailers need to
change their approach to in-store marketing – away from the traditional
focus on design, point-of-sale promotions or navigating around the
store, towards a more holistic approach that looks at the store from the
point of view of the customer.
"Our centre of gravity is the shopper,
and not the retail space. We need to understand the shopping cycle that
starts at home and then goes on through to the store."
Intimacy, mystery and sensuality
Andy Murray, head of Saatchi & Saatchi
X, believes successful retailers should try to address three aspects of
customers' experience in stores. In The Lovemarks Effect , a book to be
published in November, he describes three "attention zones": one
associated with the need to create an air of "mystery", another
"intimacy" and a third "sensuality".
The first attention zone operates at a
distance of 30ft from the shopper, and requires the retailer to use "a
combination of sound, colour, scent and motion" to attract potential
buyers – ideally by creating a sense of mystery and delight.
At 10ft the retailer's task changes,
as "placement on the shelf and the ability of the brand to stand out
from its competitors is at stake".
At 3ft the consumer is either holding
their potential choice or reaching out for it. "It is the look, feel,
and design of the object that will turn her from shopper to buyer."
The agency also identifies three
layers of shopping communication within a store – navigation,
inspiration and education – and notes that most retailers spend most of
their time on navigation, guiding customers around their stores.
In spite of the current enthusiasm for
in-store television and digital signage, Mr Murray argues that the
biggest technological revolution in stores will come through mobile
phones: customers will use mobiles to compare prices or download
recipes, film clips or product ingredients.
"The screens are going to be on the
shoppers as much as on the shelves . . . that's the place where things
are going to move really fast," he says.
© 2006 MSNBC.com
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Marubeni eyeing
linkup with Aeon or Wal-Mart
By Business Desk
The Daily Yomiuri
31-08-2006
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Marubeni Corp, the largest shareholder
in Daiei Inc, will soon enter into separate negotiations with Aeon Co
and Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the U.S. retail chain operator that has Seiyu
Co under its umbrella, to choose a partner to assist in the
rehabilitation of Daiei, industry sources said on Wednesday (August 30).
Marubeni plans to make a final
decision following negotiations with other major retail chain operators,
but Aeon is seen as a prime candidate because of its expertise in
developing goods and outlets, the sources said.
If Daiei and Aeon join hands it would
create the nation's largest retail business alliance, with more than 6
trillion yen (US$51.1 billion) in sales.
Marubeni, currently holding a 44.6 per
cent stake in Daiei, will sell up to 20 percentage points of its
ownership to the rehabilitation partner, forming a partnership in
October.
The partner will become Daiei's
third-largest shareholder after Marubeni and Advantage Partners LLP, an
investment fund holding a 23.5 percent stake.
Aeon President Motoya Okada told
reporters: "We're interested in Daiei. We'll talk with them after
collecting information for two or three days."
On August 4, Marubeni gained an
additional 33.6 per cent stake in Daiei for 69.8 billion yen (US$595
billion) from the Industrial Revitalisation Corporation of Japan, and
thus became the largest shareholder in Daiei.
Copyright @ 2002 ASIA NEWS NETWORK All
rights reserved.
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Tell Wal-Mart to Stick to Low Prices, Not Homosexual Activism
Family Research Council
August 30, 2006
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It is certainly not news that Wal-Mart
has a history of providing American consumers with good products for
reasonable prices. But what you may not know is that for some time
Wal-Mart has come under assault from the far left questioning how they
provide such an affordable service to the American public. Even Hillary
Clinton - former Wal-Mart board member and 2008 presidential hopeful -
has turned against the company by returning $5,000 in political
contributions.
In an apparent concession to the heat
from the radical left, Wal-Mart has entered into a new partnership with
the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC). While the
NGLCC professes to promote the "interests of the LGBT business
community," this is not all they have done. Recently, they described
efforts to defend traditional marriage as an attempt to "write
discrimination into the Constitution..." The NGLCC also advocated
attaching a pro-homosexual "hate crimes" amendment to legislation
intended to protect children from violent sex offenders. Their advocacy
delayed the legislation for several months.
It is unfortunate that Wal-Mart has
joined forces with an organization whose mission opposes many of the
values shared by rural and small-town America. It is precisely the
interests of average Americans that Wal-Mart has prided itself in
promoting. Now, by surrendering to the radical homosexual lobby,
Wal-Mart has entered the political arena with no economic benefit to
their company or their customers.
While it appears to be a done deal,
it's never too late to express your disappointment with this recent
decision by Wal-Mart executives. Please download the flier and deliver
it to your local Wal-Mart Customer Service Desk. Doing so will allow
you, a patron of their stores, to convey your desire that Wal-Mart stick
to business, not politics.
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Wal-Mart's 'Gay' Partnership Risks Conservative 'Rollback'
By Randy Hall
CNSNews.com
August 29, 2006
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(CNSNews.com) - After months of
criticism from union-backed groups over its employee pay and health care
practices, Wal-Mart now faces a potential "rollback" of support from
conservatives because of the retail giant's partnership with a
homosexual business coalition.
"I don't think this is something that
will sell on Main Street America, where most Wal-Mart stores are
located," said Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family
Research Council (FRC). "I don't think cheap prices on goods from China
will be enough to stop a rollback in their customer base if they choose
to go down this aisle."
Joining the FRC in criticizing
Wal-Mart's new alliance with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of
Commerce (NGLCC) is Americans for Truth, which describes itself as "the
only national organization devoted exclusively to exposing and
countering the homosexual activist agenda."
"Wal-Mart has always been a favorite
of God-fearing Middle American customers who hold traditional family
values," said Peter LaBarbera, the group's founder and president. "I'm
very surprised that Wal-Mart would now bite the hand that feeds it and
thumb its nose at those very customers.
"It seems to me that Wal-Mart should
reconsider its unsavory alliance with these extremist homosexual
activists in today's heated and polarizing culture war," LaBarbera
added.
However, Bob McAdam, vice president of
corporate affairs with Wal-Mart, told Cybercast News Service that the
world's largest retail company joined the NGLCC "just like we have
joined a number of other groups representing all parts of the spectrum
of our customers" - including women's organizations and minority groups.
The conflict began on Aug. 21, when
the NGLCC issued a news release announcing "a partnership with Wal-Mart
Stores, Inc., as part of the company's ongoing commitment to advancing
diversity among all of its associate, supplier and customer bases."
As part of that agreement, Wal-Mart
will pay $25,000 to NGLCC - "the largest LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual
and Transgender] business development and economic advocacy organization
in the world" - and has agreed to sponsor two of NGLCC's annual
conferences.
"We are honored to have Wal-Mart's
support of the NGLCC," said the group's co-founder and president, Justin
Nelson. "Our partnership will not only provide more opportunities for
the Chamber, but the business community as a whole."
When asked by reporters why Wal-Mart
had not issued a statement on the new partnership, Nelson said that it's
"normal procedure" for the NGLCC to handle such announcements.
Since then, conservative organizations
have become increasingly vocal in their criticism of the new
partnership.
Robert Knight, director of the Culture
and Family Institute at Concerned Women for America, said that by
joining forces with the NGLCC, Wal-Mart is "validating the idea that
homosexual activists have the right to shake down corporations out of
fear of being called bigots."
Perkins called the alliance "an odd
new domestic partnership." He's asking FRC's supporters to download a
flyer from the group's website that asks why the retail chain is
supporting homosexual activism and place a copy of it at the customer
service desk of the nearest Wal-Mart.
As Cybercast News Service previously
reported, the retail giant has been no stranger to controversy over the
past year when union-sponsored groups such as WakeUpWal-Mart.com and
Wal-Mart Watch have charged the corporation with needing to meet "higher
expectations" and being unsafe for shoppers.
McAdam said he expects the popularity
of the company - which has about 3,900 outlets in the United States
alone - will trump any criticism from either side of the political
aisle, just as when Wal-Mart added homosexuals to its non-discrimination
policy two years ago.
"I think our attraction to Americans
in general speaks for itself, and that's why comments from either side
of the political spectrum or whatever philosophical debate are less
important than the daily approval we see from our customers," McAdam
said.
"Wal-Mart continues to serve the vast
majority of Americans regardless of their political persuasion or their
personal beliefs," McAdam noted. "Last year, about 85 percent of
Americans bought something at Wal-Mart. We have more than 138 million
customers a week at Wal-Mart.
"With numbers of that size, we're
dealing with just about everybody, and to that extent, we want to be as
welcoming as we can to every part of the spectrum, and we will continue
to be broad in our outreach," he added. "We welcome people of all
persuasions and all philosophies."
Not all homosexual activists are
pleased with the new arrangement, though.
"Our community is a smart community,
and we can see a shameless marketing opportunity when it comes," Jeremy
Bishop, program director of the "Pride at Work" subsidiary of the
AFL-CIO, told Cox Newspapers.
"For us, it's a matter of social and
economic justice," Bishop added, "and Wal-Mart has a long record of not
treating its employees - gay or straight - with equity and dignity."
[back to top]
New
Wal-Mart TV Ads Promote Company Transformation
30 and 60 Second
Spots Highlight Values, Health Care, Savings, and Philanthropy
PRNewswire-FirstCall
[back to top]
BENTONVILLE, Ark., Aug. 29 --
Wal-Mart today announced that it is airing two television advertisements
as part of a continued effort to inform the public about the
transformation underway at the company.
The spots highlight the company's
positive impact on communities, including its core values, affordable
health care, customer savings, and charitable contributions. The ads
will initially be launched in two markets - - Tucson, Ariz. and Omaha,
Neb.
"This is part of Wal-Mart's ongoing
effort to talk about our commitment to the men and women who work for
us, to the customers who shop at our stores, and to the communities we
serve," said Bob McAdam, vice president of Corporate Affairs. "The more
people learn about who we are and how we strive to do better every day,
the more they know that we are good for America's working families."
Wal-Mart associates featured in the
advertisements speak to the company's values and facts about its
transformation:
* Wal-Mart's low prices save the
average working family more than $2,300 a year; * Wal-Mart creates tens
of thousands of jobs per year; * Wal-Mart offers eligible associates
health insurance for less than a dollar a day ($23 per month); *
Wal-Mart moved more than 150,000 uninsured Americans into a company-
sponsored insurance plan; * Wal-Mart is one of the largest corporate
contributors to local charities in America.
At the June shareholder's meeting,
Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott called the company's transformation, "Wal-Mart
Out In Front." It is an effort to remain true to the values that built
Wal-Mart over the last 44 years, while also changing to be an even
stronger business and an even better company.
The new ads can be viewed online at
http://www.walmartfacts.com .
About Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates
Wal-Mart discount stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and SAM'S
CLUB locations in the United States. The company has operations in
Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Germany,
Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, South Korea
and the United Kingdom. The company's securities are listed on the New
York Stock Exchange and NYSE Arca, formerly the Pacific Stock Exchange,
under the symbol WMT.
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Judge dismisses racketeering counts in Wal-Mart lawsuit
By JEFFREY GOLD
AP Business
August 29, 2006
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NEWARK, N.J. -- A federal judge has
dismissed two racketeering charges in a lawsuit brought by illegal
immigrants who worked as Wal-Mart janitors, finding that they failed to
explain how any violations of U.S. immigration law by the retailer
caused them economic harm.
The lawsuit's other charges, including
failure to pay overtime and minimum wages, still stand, but no trial has
been scheduled.
"Obviously, the plaintiffs are
disappointed in the ruling. We feel it's at odds with the law in the
area and we are exploring options," a lawyer for the janitors, James L.
Linsey, said Tuesday.
John Simley, a spokesman for Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. at its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., said the company
was pleased with the decision.
The lawsuit, filed in Newark nearly
three years ago, seeks class-action status for the janitors. It claimed
that Wal-Mart conspired with contractors to violate the Racketeering
Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO, by systematically
depriving the workers of legal protections.
U.S. District Judge Joseph A.
Greenaway Jr., however, found that the janitors failed to link any
immigration violations by the company to their claimed injuries.
"As to the RICO claims for immigration
violations and money laundering, the path from wrongdoing to injury is
too indirect to meet the proximate cause requirement," Greenaway wrote
in a 17-page opinion issued Monday.
As part of the litigation, the
janitors obtained a 2003 affidavit by U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement. In the affidavit, investigators said testimony and taped
conversations from 2003 showed two executives at Wal-Mart headquarters
knew that contractors and subcontractors cleaning its stores in several
states employed illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe and elsewhere.
The lawsuit charged that Wal-Mart
executives conspired with several contractors to hire the illegal
immigrants, who were paid $1,500 a month or less to clean stores seven
days a week, with no overtime or benefits.
Wal-Mart agreed last year to pay $11
million to end a federal probe into the use of illegal immigrants at
stores in 21 states, including New Jersey.
Shares in Wal-Mart rose 6 cents to
close at $44.49 in trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. It
has traded from $42.31 to $50.87 over the past year.
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New Wal-Mart opens Wednesday
By JOHN MORGAN
Star-Tribune
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
[back to top]
The new, west-side Wal-Mart store
opens Wednesday morning, after a year and a half of planning,
construction and debate.
"In every community, there are people
who are anti-Wal-Mart," Mayor Renee Burgess said Monday. "I think it
will balance Casper's growth and help to remind people that life is
about choices. People can choose not to shop there.
"Not everybody has to support
Wal-Mart," she said. "We don't all go to every new bar or every new
restaurant in any community. This is the same thing, just on a much
larger magnitude. For the most part, all the controversy has been
greatly blown out of proportion."
Last fall, a citizens group tried to
block the new store, but failed to get enough signatures in time to
submit a referendum petition. Wal-Mart currently has a store on Casper's
east side. The east side also has the mall and a bustling business
community, while the west side has seen little growth until recently.
"Wal-Mart will provide a tremendous
anchor on the west side and revitalize the business area," Burgess said.
"It's been a real painful growth experience, but I think the community
as a whole will support it."
The new store will open at 8 a.m.
Wednesday. There will be a special ceremony at 7:30 a.m. to give $36,000
in donations to several area organizations.
The store is Wal-Mart's latest design,
a supercenter that includes clothing, household products, lawn and
garden supplies, jewelry, crafts, and expanded electronics and toy
departments. The store will also feature a Tire & Lube Express station,
a Subway restaurant, a family fun center, one-hour photo lab, a vision
center, pharmacy, SmartStyle hair salon, Regal Nails salon, wireless
phone center and a full-service liquor store.
The supercenter will include a grocery
area with a bakery, deli, dry and frozen goods, and an organic food
section.
"Our associates are very excited and
looking forward to getting down to the day-to-day business," said store
manager Ken Braun. "Having a new supercenter in this still
underdeveloped area of town will help Casper to really flourish. I think
the public is excited and will take advantage of not having to drive
across town."
Despite having to halt construction
briefly in March and again in May due to undocumented workers and
struggling to find enough workers in Casper's tight job market, Braun
said the store has been able to overcome difficulties and open on
schedule.
"We have a large enough staff to make
the store open," he said, adding that while not yet fully staffed, the
store currently has more than 260 workers ready to start Wednesday. "We
are still looking for good employees and are still interviewing people."
The Wyoming Department of
Transportation will activate the new traffic signal on the highway in
front of the store this afternoon, according to WyDOT public involvement
specialist Jim Nations.
The 206,640-square-foot supercenter is
located at 4255 CY Avenue and will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a
week.
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After
German Failure, Wal-Mart Is All Smiles In China
homeworldbusiness.com
Monday, August 28, 2006
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NEW YORK— If you were surprised by
Wal-Mart throwing in the towel and selling off its German stores,
stranger still was its more recent decision to cooperate with China’s
state-sanctioned labor group to create unions at its 60 stores in that
country.
Actually, none of it is strange if you
look inside these developments.
American pundits from the outside are
performing flips trying to figure it out. I’ve read so many analyses of
Wal-Mart’s German failure— some cite the company’s alleged human
resources policies disallowing employee fraternization; others argue
that German consumers didn’t like Wal-Mart clerks packaging their
groceries.
But the most uninformed one yet was
from a know-it-all who compared Wal-Mart’s failure to “invaders” in WWII
and Germany proving to be a bridge too far.
Where do I start with that one? For
starters, this analysis had the wrong country (operation Market Garden
was in 1944 in Holland, not Germany). It compared a retailer’s
multi-national expansion to invaders, when it was the Allies trying to
liberate an occupied country from the Nazis. And, finally, I took this
editor’s comparison as an insult to the brave allied soldiers in this
daring raid who gave their lives for freedom.
Wal-Mart failed in Germany for a host
of reasons, but insiders say a key element was out-of-stocks. This
company’s strength always has been its efficient distribution system.
Wal-Mart’s German competitor, Aldi, does a much better job of being in
stock for advertised and off-the-shelf items.
Several insiders told me that the
intolerance of German consumers to out-of-stocks was an important issue.
If Wal-Mart advertised a product and it wasn’t on the shelf, German
consumers were turned off. Some didn’t come back.
One anecdote I heard was that German
logic and American retailing simply didn’t dovetail. For example, if one
multi-pack of a product being promoted was out of stock, Germans simply
couldn’t understand why they were not allowed to buy two lower-count
packs instead as a substitute? Logically, two smaller count packs that
added up to the larger one not available should be offered instead,
right? Not according to a rigid Wal-Mart. And Germans couldn’t
understand it.
Issues like this one seem small, but
took their toll. How ironic that Wal-Mart strengths— distribution and
in-stock positioning— were part of its
Achilles heel in Germany.
And, most intriguing, several vendors
now report that just weeks after the announcement of the sell-off of the
German stores, Wal-Mart in the U.S. notified suppliers that it was
invoking sharp new penalties for companies that do not maintain 99% in
stock positions of their goods at store level.
The vendors complained that
maintaining this almost-perfect in-stock position level was difficult,
considering the complexities of getting goods through the distribution
network to the sales floor. And most shipments are precision-timed to
distribution centers, not allowed too early or late.
What happens to these goods once they
reach that far is really out of the vendor’s hands. But, evidently, 99%
at store level it is. A lesson learned by Wal-Mart from failures in
Germany? Or a closely timed coincidence?
In China, where Wal-Mart is betting
much of its international expansion, it seems there is nothing this
retailer wouldn’t do to keep it friendly and growing. Joe Hatfield,
who’s been heading Wal-Mart’s operations there since the retailer landed
there (invaded?) in 1996, said Wal-Mart is hoping its relationship with
the All-China Federation of Trade Unions is “prosperous for our
associates and for the growth of our business.” The ACFTU is seeking to
organize some 28,000 Chinese employees of Wal-Mart.
Can you imagine what Sam Walton
himself would have thought of all this? He was adamant in his stand
against unionization of Wal-Mart stores. And his organization has
carried that standard to this day, battling to break into New York City
and Chicago, but against activists who seek unionization of stores in
these urban centers.
So, while Wal-Mart resists union
activity at home, it’s all smiles in Shenzhen and Beijing, where
Wal-Mart says it now will be helpful with the ACFTU in helping to create
worker unions at its already-open 60 stores and, presumably, for
Wal-Mart stores to be opened in the future in China.
Wal-Mart really doesn’t have a choice
in China. Either it cooperates, or China could become unfriendly very
quickly to its expansion plans.
I once met with Hatfield in China in
the company’s Shenzhen store, one of its first in China, and he took
pains to explain to me floor-by-floor in this multilevel unit how
Wal-Mart had adapted its product assortment to the Chinese culture.
A reason for its success in China was
its elasticity in merchandising, its willingness to be a fast learner—
and also to cooperate with local community groups.
Many of you have walked Wal-Mart
stores in China and have seen firsthand just how unique they are in
product selection and presentation. Now, if unions are going to be
required, Wal-Mart is in no position to act like this is Chicago or New
York City.
In China, Wal-Mart has to cooperate.
With 60 units open and the promise of hundreds more to come in the
future, Wal-Mart is in a preferred position in China retailing. It can’t
close its doors or say no to growth.
But watch to see how far Wal-Mart will
go in cooperating with union formations of its workers. I say, you’ll be
surprised at how much more cooperative they’ll be in Shanghai than in a
large American city.
Chinese officials know that Wal-Mart
is in no position to be difficult or close stores when workers prefer
the protection of organizations such as the ACFTU.
The upside for Wal-Mart in China is
exciting. But as time progresses, and it opens more stores and generates
a larger portion of its revenues from China, Wal-Mart will find itself
in a weaker and not stronger bargaining position with Chinese
authorities and labor groups.
In a flash moment, China could put up
hurdles to Wal-Mart’s growth there or impose new fees to its profits
there. So, Wal-Mart has every reason to keep it friendly in China.
Watch and see.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart's next battlefield
MARINA STRAUSS
The Globe and Mail
Monday, August 28, 2006 [back to top]
For more than a year, Wal-Mart has
been trying to get into Port Elgin, a burgeoning Ontario town on the
shores of Lake Huron.
The world's biggest retailer likes the
spot and the wider community of Saugeen Shores, with its population of
about 12,500 -- 7,000 in Port Elgin alone and up to 40,000 in summer
when cottagers settle in. The local market is well-heeled, and its
numbers are forecast to jump by about 55 per cent over the next two
decades. The nearby Bruce Power nuclear station is being revived,
attracting hundreds of workers and boosting demand for housing and
retailing in the area.
Best of all, fast-growing Port Elgin
is home to only one supermarket, a Your Independent Grocer owned by
Loblaw Cos. Ltd.
But for Wal-Mart and its Canadian real
estate partner, SmartCentres, that's just where the challenge begins:
Loblaw is opposing SmartCentres' rezoning application, joining a number
of local groups to run its rival out of town.
The company may not be able to keep
Wal-Mart out of Port Elgin forever, but it seems to know that in the
competitive retail market, a battle delayed is a battle not lost.
"The longer the delay, the more the
benefits," says Dennis Wood, a lawyer for SmartCentres. Welcome to the
front lines of Canada's testiest retail war, where Wal-Mart, Loblaw and
Zellers are duking it out over small communities and growing suburbs.
But instead of using price cuts and two-for-one coupons, they're
attacking each other with phalanxes of lawyers, planners and
consultants.
In a handful of towns across Canada,
Wal-Mart's latest ambitious expansion plans -- especially to add grocery
aisles -- have met opposition from the entrenched players who say there
isn't room for more.
"Everyone is trying to protect their
turf, which is a natural thing to do," says John Gray, Mayor of Oshawa,
Ont. where a proposed Wal-Mart expansion is under attack. "If you're in
a good competitive position, why undermine it by letting somebody else
come in?"
For Loblaw, the stakes are especially
high. It is racing to recover from its faltering expansion into non-food
offerings in its bid to take on Wal-Mart.
But Loblaw spokesman Geoffrey Wilson
says the grocer doesn't object just for the sake of objecting. Rather,
it objects to a rezoning application in markets where it operates if it
believes there aren't enough sales opportunities for "supermarket-type
merchandise," he says. Or it objects if there is no food retailing study
accompanying an application.
"We will do that as a matter of course
to protect our business," he says.
Andrew Pelletier, a Wal-Mart Canada
Corp. spokesman, disagrees: "We find it very unfortunate that they would
resort to these tactics to try to maintain what amounts to monopolies in
these markets. They're ultimately trying to limit competition."
In small-town Port Elgin, local
politicians can't get enough of this sort of attention. They're keen to
attract more retailers, and new tax revenues. Townspeople already drive
45 minutes to shop at Wal-Mart stores in nearby towns, says Mayor Mark
Kraemer of Saugeen Shores. While away, the residents are patronizing
other businesses too. "We need the dollars retained in our community,"
he says.
Such logic helped catch the eye of
SmartCentres, which was formerly named First Pro and has been a close
ally of Wal-Mart's since the U.S. giant arrived in Canada 12 years ago.
Sobeys Inc. also sees the opportunities, with plans for its own
supermarket in Port Elgin.
Joshua Kaufman, director of land
development at SmartCentres, spent months in early 2005 studying the
Port Elgin market. He drove around town, browsed its stores and chatted
with local townspeople. He spoke with municipal engineers, planning
officials and the local Chamber of Commerce representative. He observed
people's driving and shopping habits.
He made the inquiries using his own
name, not that of SmartCentres, because he didn't want to attract
attention. SmartCentres is so closely identified with Wal-Mart that just
using the corporate name could raise the bidding price of a property.
"We didn't know who Mr. Kaufman was and who he was representing," says
Ron Brown, Saugeen Shores's chief administrative officer. "That's quite
common. He said he was interested in a big retail development . . . But
we did the research. We assumed it was Wal-Mart."
By April of that year, Mr. Kaufman
sealed a deal for a parcel of land on Highway 21 at the south end of
Port Elgin, at one of its entry points. Then he focused on getting
closer to the community. He contacted town councillors and the mayor. He
joined the Chamber of Commerce.
On Dec. 5, the developer submitted its
formal application for a zoning change to allow for a larger retail
space than was permitted on the site. The application was supported by
five SmartCentres-commissioned studies on the retail market, traffic
patterns, planning issues, public services and an archaeological
assessment.
The developer spends an estimated
$1-million a month just on outside advisers for these types of
applications, observers say. The more opposition it anticipates, the
more consultant reports it orders. Along with that, SmartCentres employs
an in-house team of about 80 specialists who work on applications --
engineers, architects, financial analysts, lawyers, leasing and project
managers.
In Port Elgin, town staff reviewed the
developer's application, asked for some revisions, but were not
concerned about the Wal-Mart store and its food section. Staff
recommended that the project get a green light, and a public meeting was
called for April 6.
Loblaw got into the action weeks
before the meeting. Its lawyer called town officials, gathering
information about the application. On April 3, the lawyer submitted a
letter expressing Loblaw's concerns, and advised that it had hired its
own consultant to review Wal-Mart's market analysis. The consultant,
Hermann Kircher, warned that the town may be setting itself up for an
overabundance of grocery-store uses in the area.
Mr. Kircher argued that Wal-Mart's
consultant had underestimated the potential grocery sales at the
discounter's proposed Port Elgin outlet. Moreover, he said existing
Wal-Mart outlets in three nearby towns could soon be carrying more food.
And he said that Loblaw's own supermarket in town may expand.
Because of the uncertainties, the
municipality should commission an independent study or -- at the very
least -- limit the amount of food that the proposed Wal-Mart could sell,
Eileen Costello, Loblaw's lawyer, said in the letter.
Council members may have anticipated
objections to Wal-Mart from some local residents, but several were taken
aback by Loblaw's stance. "It's unrealistic to presume that you can
retain a monopoly in a community forever," Mayor Kraemer says. "It's
nothing but a delay tactic to keep them [Wal-Mart] out as long as they
can."
Only Councillor Judy Ashbee voted
against the Wal-Mart project, feeling the process had been too rushed.
Loblaw had every right to challenge the proposal, she says, although
"competition is not a reason for developments to be denied." The
community itself is split on the prospect of Wal-Mart coming to town.
But even many anti-Wal-Mart stalwarts would welcome more grocery stores.
"It is true that we need more shopping," says Margaret Grottenthaler, a
Port Elgin cottager who is among those fighting the new development.
Despite the mixed feelings, the town
council approved the zoning changes for the development on April 10 and,
soon after, they were endorsed by the local county. But the final
go-ahead could be months, if not years, away. That's because Loblaw,
along with nine special interest and residents' groups, have appealed
the zoning amendment to the Ontario Municipal Board. No hearing has been
set.
Loblaw isn't alone among competitors
to raise objections. In Oshawa, where SmartCentres has proposed a mall
with a Wal-Mart super centre, two other opponents emerged: Zellers and a
nearby shopping centre, which is owned by landlord heavyweight Ivanhoe
Cambridge. (Loblaw recently withdrew from the fight.) The City of Oshawa
commissioned its own consultant's report on the proposal. It found that
the combined sales of the four Zellers stores in the city fall short of
total sales at the single Wal-Mart at the other end of Oshawa.
David Baffa, director of development
at Ivanhoe Cambridge, says he has to protect his tenants against a
potentially overzealous competitive onslaught. His tenants include
Zellers and the Bay.
"I don't think anyone expects us to
just sit idly and say, 'Great, just keep stretching the amount of retail
space as far as possible,' " Mr. Baffa says. "What we're saying is:
'Control the growth.' "
Retailers square off in Port Elgin
The proposal
Wal-Mart's developer wants to build a
shopping centre anchored by a 120,000-square-foot Wal-Mart on a parcel
of land it recently purchased at the south end of Port Elgin, pictured
above. The store would carry a wide range of groceries, part of the
global discounter's bigger push into food in Canada.
The opposition
Loblaw, the country's largest grocer,
owns the only supermarket in Port Elgin today. It opposes the proposed
Wal-Mart development and has appealed the town's rezoning approval. Its
advisers argue that the town is setting itself up for big headaches --
namely, an excess of food retailing. The community
Port Elgin is on the shores of Lake
Huron, about a 2 1/2-hours drive northwest of Toronto. With a population
of 7,000, it swells to as much as 40,000 in summer when cottagers
arrive. It's a growing town, part of the larger Saugeen Shores,
attracting generally well-off retirees, families and tourists. Some even
call the area the next Muskoka.
The economic engine
Close to Port Elgin, the nuclear plant
is the area's largest employer. It's being revived, hiring hundreds of
workers, many of whom are expected to settle in the area. The new jobs
will create a heightened demand for housing, retailing and other
services, town officials predict.
© The Globe and Mail
[back to top]
Wal-Mart Critics Defend
Campaign
By MARCUS KABEL
AP Business
Monday, Aug. 28, 2006
(AP) - Union-backed Wal-Mart critics
defended their drive to change the world's largest retailer in a letter
Monday to Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee after he called them a "traveling
circus" and refused to sign a communique criticizing the Bentonville
company.
Wal-Mart Watch, a Washington
D.C.-based group formed to pressure Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on issues
including employee pay and benefits, urged Huckabee to reconsider his
support for Wal-Mart and suggested further talks.
"I was surprised that you took issue
with such an open and honest call for a debate on these questions, and I
was disappointed that you offered no answers of your own," the group's
executive director, Andrew Grossman, wrote in a letter to Huckabee which
the group made public.
Grossman cited figures from an
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette report in March that found 3,971 of Wal-Mart's
45,106 employees in Arkansas were on public health care assistance.
Grossman said the average annual cost to Arkansas for each Medicaid
recipient is $4,083 for a maximum cost of $39.6 million.
Huckabee criticized Wal-Mart Watch for
sending its response to The Associated Press, rather than his office.
"It was interesting that you claimed a
desire for 'dialogue,' but I'm not sure you meant a dialogue on the
actual issues, since you were more interested in getting your latest
misled missive to the media than to me," Huckabee wrote to Grossman.
Huckabee, in a response letter on
Monday, questioned why the group is singling out Wal-Mart, when other
employers pay less than the retailer.
"Of course, there may be Wal-Mart
employees who qualify for various levels of our Medicaid program,"
Huckabee wrote. "So do employees of numerous companies. One difference
is that Wal-Mart employees aren't stuck at the bottom. They have real
opportunities to be promoted and grow in responsibility and income."
The back-and-forth between Huckabee
and Wal-Mart Watch began after Huckabee sent a letter to the group on
Aug. 18 criticizing the advocacy group for asking him to take part in a
national campaign against Wal-Mart.
"Your traveling circus of appearances
to single out Wal-Mart will perhaps attract some politicians and even
some maybe in my own state, but please don't hold a seat for me,"
Huckabee wrote.
At the time, Grossman had sent a draft
copy of a letter addressed to Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott and asked
Huckabee to sign onto it. Among other requests, the letter urged
Wal-Mart to enter a voluntary deal to ensure affordable health insurance
and to pay a "family-sustaining wage."
Huckabee told Grossman that he viewed
the letter as an attempt to bash Wal-Mart. Huckabee said Wal-Mart
employs about 46,000 people in Arkansas and pays its hourly workers an
average of $9.64 an hour.
Wal-Mart created more than 240,000 new
U.S. jobs in the past three years and has helped move people off
Medicaid rolls with an expanded range of lower-premium health plans,
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sarah Clark said. About 7 percent of its workers
were on Medicaid before they were hired, dropping to 5 percent after
joining Wal-Mart and 3 percent after two years at the company.
Huckabee, a Republican who is
term-limited, leaves office in January and is considering a 2008
presidential campaign.
Wake Up Wal-Mart, another union-based
group that formed last year to pressure the company to improve wages and
benefits, is holding a monthlong national bus tour that has enlisted
support from several prominent Democrats including the party's Senate
leader, Harry Reid.
Several potential presidential
candidates have also participated, including Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack; Sen.
Evan Bayh, D-Ind.; Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.; Democratic New Mexico Gov.
Bill Richardson; and former North Carolina Democratic Sen. John Edwards.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1994-2006 FindLaw
New Environmental Defense office to coordinate work with Wal-Mart
FACILITIES MANAGEMENT NEWS
August 28, 2006
[back to top]
The national environmental advocacy
group Environmental Defense is adding a new position in Bentonville,
Arkansas, to coordinate the group's work with Wal-Mart. At Wal-Mart's
invitation, Environmental Defense has been advising the company on
environmental issues for about one year.
"Wal-Mart's impact on the national
economy is almost beyond calculation. Every week, 175 million Americans
shop at Wal-Mart. If Environmental Defense can nudge Wal-Mart in the
right direction on the environment, we can have a huge impact," said
David Yarnold, Executive Vice President of Environmental Defense.
Yarnold noted that Wal-Mart has
pledged to dramatically improve its environmental performance and that
"in working with the company over the past year, we've concluded that
Wal-Mart is making a sincere effort to do a better job of protecting the
environment."
Yarnold also noted that "Wal-Mart can
have a ripple effect through the whole economy by demanding better
environmental performance from its suppliers. By challenging itself and
its supply chain, we really believe that Wal-Mart can create a race to
the top for environmental benefits."
[back to top]
Wal-Mart: We save blacks from Jews, Koreans, and Arabs
Cynthia Tucker
Universal Press Syndicate
08.28.06
[back to top]
Unlikely though it may seem, Andrew
Young, the embattled ambassador for social justice, is in a unique
position to push forward a candid, searching conversation about race in
America. Two weeks ago, when he inexplicably meandered into the
territory of vile ethnic stereotypes, he revealed what we all know but
rarely acknowledge publicly: Bigotry is not the exclusive domain of any
race or religion or region. Most of us -- a few saints excluded --
harbor ugly prejudices, unfortunate biases and harsh preconceptions.
Black Americans, too. Civil rights
leaders, too. Preachers, too. Good Christians, especially.
Understanding that -- knowing that
about universal human foibles -- doesn't lessen my disappointment in
Young. Still naive enough to have heroes, I wanted to believe that he
would know better than to wallow in the cheapest of the old canards
about urban shopkeepers. But in one incomprehensible moment, he managed
to insult Jewish, Korean and Arab merchants, claiming they have greedily
exploited poor black consumers.
A paid representative of Wal-Mart,
Young was asked by a California newspaper about the huge retailer's
tendency to force smaller shops out of business. His response was
startling in its wrongheadedness:
"But you see, those are the people who
have been overcharging us -- selling us stale bread and bad meat and
wilted vegetables," he was quoted as saying. "... I think they've ripped
off our communities. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's
Arabs. Very few black people own these stores."
After the comments were published in
the Los Angeles Sentinel, he resigned as chairman of a pro-Wal-Mart
advocacy group, Working Families for Wal-Mart, and he has been
apologizing ever since.
Young's long career in the civil
rights movement is just one reason his crude bigotry is so surprising.
His upbringing was an unlikely incubator for that sort of prejudice.
Young didn't grow up poor; his parents were not limited to shops that
served low-wage consumers.
The son of a New Orleans dentist,
Young grew up in a racially integrated neighborhood. In his memoir, "An
Easy Burden," he wrote of his boyhood:
"Despite the rigid segregation of New
Orleans, our neighborhood was a real jambalaya. ... Delahay Dunn and
Harry Hannan were Irish, Eddie Pontiff was Italian, Ralph Guelfo was
German, Jimmy Ray was Cajun, and Israel Kitt was black."
And, as a lifelong member and, later,
ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, he had opportunities
to meet and mingle with whites that weren't afforded to most black
Americans of his generation. Not only did he attend a predominantly
white seminary, Hartford Seminary, but he also traveled to Europe as a
young seminarian.
As a lieutenant in the civil rights
movement, Young met many progressive whites -- college students,
Catholic priests, Jewish rabbis -- who contributed money, planned
strategy and marched alongside black activists, putting their lives on
the line. He has no excuse for narrow-mindedness.
The worst thing about Young's
offensive utterances was that they have given other black Americans,
ordinary folk without his credibility or influence, an excuse to embrace
bigotry as acceptable, even courageous. "I ask you, if you're over 30
years of age and lived in any urban area in this country and are Black,
does this (Young's remarks) not have the ring of our reality?" wrote
James Welcome, publisher of Newsmakers, a black-interest Web site.
(I'm black and over 30, and this is
what I've noticed: The poor are not well-served by any merchants. In
down-at-the-heels neighborhoods, I've walked into large chain-owned
groceries with filthy floors and spoiled fruit.)
While black Americans are perfectly
capable of a host of prejudices, there has long been an especially
obnoxious strain of anti-Semitism among us. Martin Luther King Jr. was
forceful in attacking it.
"The segregationists and racists make
no fine distinction between the Negro and the Jew," he said. And in a
letter to Jewish leaders, he denounced anti-Semitism "within the Negro
community," saying, "I will continue to oppose it, because it is immoral
and self-destructive."
But there are very few among the
current generation of black activists who expose and criticize the
prejudices that proliferate in black America -- from anti-Semitism to
hostility toward Latino immigrants. We sometimes behave as if the
frailties that plague every other group of human beings, including
bigotry, have somehow passed over us.
Not so, as Young's transgressions have
shown. So it's time to have a conversation in which we, too -- we who
have benefited when others acknowledged their prejudices toward us --
acknowledge our own. When he's finished apologizing, maybe Young will
start that conversation.
(c) 2006, The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution
[back to top]
Wal-Mart Helps Multi-Published Christian Author Spread the Word
Billie Yoder
Sunday, August 27, 2006
[back to top]
ALBUQUERQUE, NM (ANS) -- Wal-Mart is a
big target. Therefore, they are like a bulls-eye for the media. Most
recently the Democratic Party has declared that Wal-Mart is hurting the
middle class. They have been in trouble for immigration violations. The
list could go on.
But for one multi-published Christian
author, Wal-Mart spells success!
Marita Littauer
Marita Littauer wrote her first book
nearly 25 years ago and has 19 published books to date (several written
with bestselling author, her mother, Florence Littauer). While writing
runs in the family, the crowning “Littauer” writing achievement has come
to Marita as a result of Wal-Mart!
The magnum opus of Marita’s career is
a new project published by Regal Books (a division of Gospel Light). The
Wired That Way project includes a trade book, a workbook, a ten lesson
DVD teaching series and the Wired That Way Personality Profile. Wired
That Way book cover
In June, Wal-Mart placed an order for
7500 copies of the Wired That Way tradebook — which Marita did not know
about. One evening Marita was shopping in Wal-Mart and happened to stop
in the book department. There on the top shelf was Wired That Way.
Marita grabbed the book and showed to the only people nearby: a couple
looking at magazines. She waved Wired That Way in front of them and
exclaimed, “I wrote this!” They looked at her as if she had escaped from
a lock-up facility. Marita then called her husband who was away visiting
his mother. She woke him up with her good news.
Marita sent out e-mails encouraging
everyone on her vast e-mail list to go to Wal-Mart to buy Wired That Way
— even telling her public that they could buy if for less at Wal-Mart
than they could from her.
Marita reports, “My own mother had
breakfast by herself one day in the Cathedral City, CA Wal-Mart and
there she found Wired That Way! She was so excited she called to report
to me that not only had she found Wired That Way in Wal-Mart, but she
also rearranged the book department so Wired That Way was the top
shelf—and then she bought one to be sure they had a sale.”
This week (August 22) Regal Books
notified Marita that they were temporarily “out of stock” of Wired That
Way because Wal-Mart had placed a “substantial” second order that
cleaned out the warehouse.
Marita’s books have traditionally been
found in Christian bookstores—and, during the plethora of radio
interviews she has done over the years, Marita always encourages people
to shop at their local Christian bookstore first. Her books can
frequently be found in the chains like Barnes and Noble. However, Wired
That Way is the first of her books to be accessible to the masses though
a discounter like Wal-Mart. This means that the message is reaching a
whole new audience with 7500 books sold through the nationwide chain in
two months.
With its emphasis on understanding
one’s own personality, maximizing strengths and minimizing weaknesses,
and improving relationships with others, Wired That Way is the perfect
book for the Wal-Mart customer. Some of Marita’s other titles such as
Your Spiritual Personality, The Praying Wives Club, and The Journey to
Jesus have a strong Christian message. However, the content in Wired
That Way is what Marita calls “Christian lite.” “Yes,” she says, “it has
some Scripture and it has core Christian values.
But Wired That Way is written in such
a way that a reader could take it to work in the bank and share the
contents with his or her peers without offending anyone. Yet, it is like
a beacon in a dark world as it attractive to those who would not darken
the door of a church. The workbook has a much stronger Christian
emphasis. It is my hope that Wal-Mart customers who may not be
Christians and who may not be familiar with my work will buy Wired That
Way, enjoy it and want more. Maybe they’ll discover The Praying Wives
Club or The Journey to Jesus. You expect that the customers buying my
books in a Christian bookstore probably already have a relationship with
Christ, but Wal-Mart reaches a much wider cross section of people.”
This week Wal-Mart ordered 2500 more
copies of Wired That Way bringing the total sale to Wal-Mart to 10,000.
Total sales of Wired That Way since its release in June are 15,000 —
with 10,000 of those copies as a direct result of the Wal-Mart sale. For
this multi-published author, this constitutes record-breaking sales.
Marita explains, “The second Wal-Mart sale is especially exciting to me
as it means people are buying the book.
Wal-Mart has it in the self-help
section, not the religion section. Readers will receive the subtle
Christian message without realizing it. It is my hope that the message
of Wired That Way: the Comprehensive Personality Plan will improve
relationships and ultimately change lives. My greatest joy would be to
meet someone in heaven who is there because they picked up a copy of
Wired That Way in Wal-Mart and it led them on a journey of spiritual
discovery.”
Note: Marita Littauer is a
professional speaker with more than twenty-five years of experience. She
is the author of 19 books, including Journey to Jesus, But Lord, I Was
Happy Shallow, The Praying Wives Club, and Wired That Way. Marita is the
President of CLASServices Inc., an organization that provides resources,
training and promotion for speakers and authors. She is also the
director of the Glorieta Christian Writers Conference.
[back to top]
China Direct Trading Corp. to File June 30, 2006 Form 10-Q and Intrepid
to Open Health Clinics in Wal-Mart Supercenters
FinancialNewsUSA.com
08/25/2006
[back to top]
City of Industry, CA --Specialty Retail industry news provided by
Financial News USA (OTC: FNWU). China Direct Trading Corp. (OTC BB:CHDTE):
announced recently that it will be filing its Form 10-Q for the quarter
ending June 30, 2006 recently with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission. The filing will eliminate the "e" designation on China
Direct's trading symbol. China Direct has scheduled an investor
teleconference at 10:00 a.m., local Miami time, tomorrow, Friday, August
25, 2006. An Indianapolis resident will receive a Canine Assistants
service dog through a partnership with Milk-Bone and PetSmart (NASDAQ:
PETM). Matthew Griffin, who suffers from a nervous system and muscle
disorder and uses a wheelchair, will be partnered with a canine
companion that will be trained to retrieve dropped objects, turn on and
off lights and open doors.
Shoppers can add health care to the
list of services provided by Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) thanks to a new lease
agreement with Intrepid Holdings Inc. Houston-based Intrepid will open
its Health Access medical clinics in Wal-Mart Supercenters in Texas
starting in the third quarter. More clinics are planned in other markets
following the initial rollout in Texas. The clinics will offer health
care for non-threatening conditions, said Toney Means, president of
Intrepid Healthcare Group. Intrepid Holdings (OTCBB: ITPD) provides
pharmacy, clinic and related health care services to the urban
marketplace. Shares of online auction site eBay Inc. (Nasdaq:EBAY)
slipped Thursday afternoon on worries that buyer activity has slowed, in
spite of the company's efforts to reinvigorate its core business. The
San Jose, Calif.-based company's stock fell $1.20, or 4.4 percent, to
$25.80 on the Nasdaq. Piper Jaffray analyst Safa Rashtchy downgraded the
company to "Underperform" from "Market Perform" and lowered his price
target for the stock to $25 from $30.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart Licks Its Wounds
By Barbara Ehrenreich,
AlterNet
August 25, 2006
[back to top]
Poor Wal-Mart just can't seem to catch
a break. There they are, the monks of Bentonville -- who, according to
company legend, share hotel rooms on business trips rather than drive up
the price of pantyhose -- toiling away to make the good life affordable
to the impecunious masses. And what do they get? Nothing but grief. The
Democrats are running against Wal-Mart in the fall congressional
elections, and not just the wild-eyed progressive ones. Centrist Hillary
Clinton returned a $5,000 donation from the company, citing its
inadequate health benefits, and Joe Biden just attacked it because he
doesn't see "any indication that they care about the fate of
middle-class people."
Then Andrew Young, the former civil
rights leader-turned-Wal-Mart-flack, pulled a Mel Gibson, lashing out at
the company's small business, ethnic, competitors: "I think they've
ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was
Koreans and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores."
Wal-Mart quickly distanced itself from the remark, as did Young himself.
He stepped down from his Wal-Mart job, though he has not yet followed
Mel's example by seeking counseling from leading Korean fruit vendors.
The Young meltdown aside, Wal-Mart
blames its troubles on the unions it has worked so hard to bar from its
stores. They're so touchy, those unions! They take offense just because
the Wal-Mart orientation for new hires includes a 12-minute video on the
evils of unions, portraying them as little better than extortionists.
They get all bent out of shape every time a union sympathizer is fired
by Wal-Mart on some trumped-up charge like using profanity or being
discourteous to customers. They jump up and down when Wal-Mart is caught
making its associates work overtime for no pay, or locking them into the
stores at night.
But the cruelest blow to Bentonville
is a sudden decline in profits -- down 26 percent in the second quarter
of '06 -- the first decline in 10 years. Wal-Mart blames, first, the
failure of its attempted expansion into Germany, where apparently folks
don't cotton to smiley faces and people greeters; and second, high gas
prices in the USA. According to the New York Times, Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee
Scott "hinted that those [gas] costs seemed to be prompting consumers to
shop less frequently." There's one big advantage to the little Jewish-,
Korean- or Arab-owned shop: Usually, you can walk to it.
The profit drop suggests a deep
contradiction in Wal-Mart's seemingly altruistic goal of bringing
abundance to the American working class. According to Wal-Mart
defenders, those low prices hinge, not only on improvements in
productivity, but on the low wages and benefits offered to Wal-Mart's
workers. In other words, you've got to squeeze one part of the working
class -- the 1.3 million Wal-Mart employees -- to fill the shopping
carts of the others. How much the employees are squeezed is hard to
determine: Wal-Mart claims to pay an average of $9.68 an hour, which
doesn't sound all that bad. But Wal-Mart has a record of falsifying data
on employee hours to conceal unpaid overtime work, so why should we
believe them about anything?
There were signs, even before the
recent profit drop, that Wal-Mart was beginning to be priced out of the
reach of its own employees. I was surprised, in my brief stint as a
Wal-Mart associate, that our ladies' wear was too costly for many of my
co-workers. (In Nickel and Dimed, I told the story of a $7 an hour
associate who could not afford a $7 polo shirt of the kind we were
required to wear.) If you earn $7, $8, or even $9 an hour, you're not
buying new clothes anyway; you're going to Goodwill or consignment
stores. As for the offerings of Wal-Mart's Electronics and Lawn and
Garden departments, for my co-workers, these weren't even on the distant
horizon.
Then there are Wal-Mart's sagging
Christmas sales. Christmas is of course a retailer's defining moment,
and in the last two years, Wal-Mart desperately slashed its prices as
the holiday approached. But both in '04 and '05, Wal-Mart's Christmas
take was disappointingly low (Target and Costco did better, as did the
luxury stores like Nordstrom.) Who buys their Christmas presents at
Wal-Mart? It's the $7-$10 an hour crowd that dreams of Christmas
shopping at Wal-Mart, and for the last two years, there hasn't been much
under their trees.
Now of course Wal-Mart associates are
not a special breed of celibates who have taken a vow of poverty. They
are the spouses and live-in grown children of carpenters, home health
aides, baggage-handlers and truck drivers. When Wal-Mart workers can't
afford health insurance or new school clothes, the whole working class
begins to flail. Furthermore, the Wal-Mart business model increasingly
betrays what was once the operating principle of American capitalism, as
explained by Henry Ford the First: You've got to pay your workers enough
so that they can buy your product; that's what keeps the system going.
When the American majority can't buy the very goods they manufacture or
sell, that system is cruising for a bruising.
With their business model crashing
down around them, the monks of Bentonville are already moving on to Plan
B. Forget the working class, which was so ungrateful anyway, and move
up-market. They're redesigning their stores to be more appealing to the
J. Crew and Whole Foods crowd. They've added organic foods and $2,000
flat-screen TVs to their wares. The poor will have to fall back on those
Jews, Koreans and Arabs.
Barbara Ehrenreich is the author of 13
books, most recently "Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the
American Dream." This piece originally appeared on Barbara's blog.
© 2006 Independent Media Institute.
All rights reserved.
[back to top]
A Party branch for
Wal-Mart in China
The Associated Press
August 25, 2006
[back to top]
SHANGHAI Wal-Mart Stores, capitalist
retailer for the masses, now has its own Communist Party branch in
China.
This month, Communist Party and
Communist Youth League branches and a trade union were set up at a Wal-
Mart outlet in the northeastern industrial city of Shenyang, an employee
in the store's communications department said Thursday, confirming
Chinese media reports. The worker, who gave only her surname, Liu,
declined to discuss further details.
Wal-Mart has fought efforts to form
unions elsewhere in its worldwide operations. But in recent weeks it
said it had agreed to work with the state-sanctioned labor federation to
allow unions in its outlets in China, where it has 30,000 employees.
It is not clear how the party branch
will operate or whether it has an office in the Shenyang store.
At Wal-Mart headquarters in
Bentonville, Arkansas, a spokeswoman for the international division,
Beth Keck, said the opening of the party branch was a routine matter.
"It is our understanding that party
members and the party have routinely organized branches in enterprises
in China, and we respect their right to do so," Keck said. She declined
to comment on whether the move was related to a recent spread of
official trade unions at Wal-Mart stores in China, or on what the branch
in Shenyang would actually be doing.
Repeated phone calls to the public
relations department of Wal-Mart's China headquarters in the southern
city of Shenzhen went unanswered.
The All-China Federation of Trade
Unions, reportedly at the behest of President Hu Jintao, has been
campaigning for several years to set up party-controlled unions in
Wal-Mart branches as well as other foreign-invested companies.
Wal-Mart, which has 60 stores in 30
Chinese cities, resisted for two years before employees in the
southeastern city of Quanzhou successfully voted to set up a union in
late July.
The Shenyang Wal-Mart has only 2 party
members and 16 Communist Youth League members out of 389 employees,
according to the official news agency Xinhua. But the Xinhua report
stressed that the branch's function would be to promote better business.
The party and youth league branches
"will encourage members to play an exemplary role in doing a good job,
and that will be helpful to business development," Xinhua quoted Chen
Lie, a Communist Party district leader in Shenyang, as saying.
Chen said the groups would not
interfere with management or operations of the retailer.
Since July, employees of at least 16
other Wal-Mart branches in China also have formed unions, according to
the ACFTU, the umbrella group for unions permitted by the Chinese
government.
Over all, China aims to unionize
employees at 60 percent of its foreign companies by the end of this
year.
In China, unions usually represent the
work force of a single company or outlet, rather than an industry, and
traditionally they have been allied with management.
The communist leadership has sought to
preserve the party's influence in the business sector amid sweeping
capitalist reforms and a huge influx of foreign capital and management.
Once a thriving industrial hub of
China's planned economy, where factory workers enjoyed elite status and
cradle-to-grave benefits, Shenyang has seen massive layoffs in recent
years.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart plan to shrink
Opposition spurs
retailer to agree to trim the size of Crofton store
By Phillip McGowan
Baltimore Sun
August 25, 2006
[back to top]
Amid rising opposition to a proposed
Wal-Mart in Crofton, the discounting retailer will trim the size of the
store by as much as 20 percent, and the state has agreed to hold a
public hearing on the project.
The Maryland Department of the
Environment is not required to hold a forum as part of its consideration
of a crucial license that would allow Wal-Mart to bury wetlands near the
Little Patuxent River, said Julie Oberg, an agency spokeswoman.
"Public interest is driving this
hearing," Oberg said. "We are trying to be very responsive to the
community and elected officials."
Civic leaders said they want to summon
enough opposition over environmental concerns at the forum to kill the
project, a 143,000-square-foot store on 20 acres along Route 3.
Challenging Wal-Mart on environmental grounds, they have said, would
provide their strongest argument.
"This is our opportunity, our golden
egg," said Torrey C. Jacobsen Jr., president of the Greater Crofton
Council, an umbrella organization of western Anne Arundel community
associations. "We want to pack the room, to say the community does not
want this at any size. At all costs, we don't want this built."
Annapolis attorney David M. Plott, a
representative for the retail giant, said this week that company
engineers are working to shrink the size of the store. It wasn't clear
yet exactly how much, he said. Project engineers are awaiting comments
from county planners on the initial plans before any resubmission.
"Any project like this is an evolving
process," he said.
County Council Chairman Edward R.
Reilly, a Crofton Republican, said that Wal-Mart officials informed him
that the store size would drop to 115,000 square feet - a 20 percent
reduction. Reilly said he did not know how the smaller footprint for the
store would affect parking or Wal-Mart's plans to fill in less than a
quarter-acre of wetlands.
"I am encouraged that they are
starting to listen to the citizens," Reilly said of Wal-Mart, although
he remains opposed to the store.
Jacobsen, a Democratic candidate for
state delegate, said Wal-Mart's revisions would help get the project
through the county approval process, but that a smaller store won't mean
fewer cars there.
"The same traffic will go through," he
said.
Wal-Mart announced plans to build a
Crofton store this spring, and the Greater Crofton Council responded
with a petition to oppose the store. The council is supporting a limited
building ban on the state highway until major improvements are made.
State highway officials told The Sun
this month that they expect to receive approvals for a $700 million
overhaul of the Route 3 corridor by the end of the year, and could begin
construction of a boulevard-style highway by 2009.
Prodded by local lawmakers facing
re-election this fall, MDE announced Wednesday its planned public
hearing on Wal-Mart's application for a nontidal wetlands permit. It
will likely be held late next month, although details have yet to be
ironed out.
Oberg said that, as part of the
hearing, Wal-Mart officials would present the project. MDE would hear
public testimony and allow residents to send in written responses for up
to an additional week.
MDE sent out public notice two years
ago when the property owner at the time, William D. Berkshire, submitted
a proposal for a generic big-box store, Oberg said. The agency received
no requests for a hearing and no public comments, and therefore was not
obligated to put out another notice when Wal-Mart took control of the
land, she said.
Reilly said that he broached the topic
of a public hearing last week with MDE Secretary Kendl P. Philbrick at
the Maryland Association of Counties' convention in Ocean City.
"[Residents] want to be heard," Reilly
said. "They don't want this ramrodded down their throat."
Copyright © 2006, The Baltimore Sun
[back to top]
A Wal-Mart Bank? Yes—Sort Of
By Matthew Mogul
Aug. 24, 2006 [back to top]
In the end, Wal-Mart will get the OK
to open a bank of its own, prevailing over the opposition. Approval is
likely to come soon after a six-month moratorium on banks owned by
firms—known as industrial loan companies (ILCs)—expires on Jan. 31. The
hold was imposed by the new head of the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC) to allow time for a study of the issue.
To ease concerns, Wal-Mart vows to
limit the bank's reach, and most consumers won't even know it exists.
The bank won't take deposits, have branches, offer checking accounts or
run its own ATMs. In fact, the Wal-Mart bank has only one purpose—to
process electronic transactions, saving the company millions of dollars
a year in fees. Still, the banking community is fighting the
application, arguing that once Wal-Mart gets a foot in the door, it will
seek to expand into other markets. As evidence, bank industry lobbyists
note that the big retailer recently filed for a charter in Mexico to run
a complete suite of retail banking services out of Wal-Mart stores
there.
But that opposition probably won't
stop the FDIC from giving Wal-Mart the go-ahead. Having given approval
to Target and others, it will be hard to deny Wal-Mart. And the agency
will find it tough to drag its feet by extending the moratorium. General
Motors urgently needs a quick decision so it can go ahead with its
$14-billion sale of its financing arm, GMAC, which is an ILC. Home
Depot, DaimlerChrysler and Blue Cross Blue Shield also need decisions.
Nor will Congress stop it, although
there will be plenty of complaints because many lawmakers, especially
Democrats, see political gain in beating up on Wal-Mart for the low pay
and minimal benefits it gives most workers. A bipartisan effort to stop
the bank is under way, but as long as Republicans control the Senate, no
Wal-Mart banking bill will get past Sen. Bob Bennett, who chairs a key
banking subcommittee and whose home state of Utah has aggressively
courted ILCs. More than half of all ILCs are now located in Utah.
Opponents will keep trying. A
contingent of anti-Wal-Mart organizations, including trade unions, local
banker groups and community activists, will sue to try and prevent it,
arguing that industrial banks aren't supervised as strictly as most
other banks and that they exploit a loophole that allows banking and
commerce to mix unlawfully. They'll also contend that the mega-retailer
and others have an inherent conflict of interest when it comes to making
loans because they can strong-arm suppliers and charge unfavorable rates
to rivals.
States that don't trust Wal-Mart not
to expand would likely take preventive measures, passing legislation to
stop the company from opening in-store branches in their states. Five
have already done so, including Maryland and Missouri, and at least
three other states are considering it.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart supporters criticize downtown Simcoe at OMB
Core berated at Wal-Mart hearing
for not trying hard enough
Monte Sonnenberg
SIMCOE REFORMER
Thursday August 24, 2006
[back to top]
The Simcoe Reformer — The Ontario
Municipal Board was treated to a frank discussion last night about
downtown Simcoe and how a 111,000-square-foot Wal-Mart on the Queensway
East might affect it. Chair Joseph Sniezek presided over a meeting at
the Simcoe Public Library designed to field input from the community
about the proposed development. A surprising number of speakers took the
opportunity to heap criticism on downtown Simcoe. Downtown businesses
were taken to task for high prices, poor selection and poor customer
service. The downtown itself was taken to task several times for being
dirty and appearing run down. Speakers of this persuasion not only want
the choice of shopping at Wal-Mart; they’re convinced the giant retailer
will force downtown merchants to improve. They also believe Wal-Mart
will increase the flow of consumer traffic in the core. “People wonder
why Simcoe is failing,” said Doreen Danton, past owner of a pizzeria on
Colborne Street South. “Well, open your eyes and give people what they
want. I don’t think things are going to change until we get trendy
little stores downtown that are hip and happening.” Under oath, former
Simcoe resident John Weirmier said downtown businesses “have forgotten
how to merchandise.” Weirmier added the downtown “is a dump. What have
you guys done to it?” “Please bring this town back,” he said. “It’s a
town I love.” Sniezek is on Week 2 of a six-week hearing into the
proposed development. Last night’s gathering was considered an
instalment of the quasi-judicial proceeding. Wal-Mart lawyer Mary Bull
was in attendance, as was Toronto lawyer Stan Stein, who represents
appellant Zellers Inc. Hamilton lawyer Peter Tice attended on behalf of
Norfolk County, which approved the development. Mark and Cheryl Halmo,
downtown jewelers who have challenged Wal-Mart’s arrival, also took part
in the proceeding. Sniezek has heard competing testimony in recent days
about the health of the local agricultural economy. Vanessa tobacco
farmer Mark Bannister, 48, vice chair of Tobacco Farmers in Crisis,
swore under oath that the outlook is bleak from one end of the farming
spectrum to the other. Whether it is tobacco, ginseng, grains, oilseeds,
fruits or vegetables, few farmers are making money, Bannister said. A
collapse of the agricultural economy is entirely possible he added,
which in turn would force hundreds of small- and medium-sized businesses
to close. Bannister suspects tobacco farming in Norfolk will collapse
sooner rather than later. His group worries that as many as 1,000
farmers in the tobacco belt could be forced out of business in the near
future. Bannister reported that talks with Ottawa about a total buyout
of remaining growers have stalled. No one knows where they stand and
most farmers are losing ground financially. “We’ve got multinational
corporations making billions,” Bannister said. “We’ve got governments
that are making billions. And we have tobacco growers who are faced with
losing everything.” Dennis Travale of Simcoe, one of two candidates to
replace Rita Kalmbach as mayor of Norfolk, was the first at the podium
last night. He told Sniezek of his door-to-door experiences as a
councillor candidate in Ward 5 during the 2003 municipal election. “I’m
not a cheerleader for Wal-Mart,” Travale said. “But I can tell you,
there was overwhelming support for Wal-Mart becoming part of the retail
mix.” Downtown jeweler Mark Haskett listened in the gallery as Simcoe
residents heaped scorn on their town while speaking rapturously about
the dollars they’ve saved shopping at Wal-Marts in other communities. “I
just wanted to barf,” Haskett said as he left the meeting. “If you were
even remotely accurate that these people downtown aren’t trying, I’d be
on the Wal-Mart bandwagon. “I’m on the fence and I’m still on the fence.
But I’m leaning in favour of Mark Halmo’s view. This is a planning
issue. We haven’t had the population growth to support this kind of
increase in retail space. I’m just glad I’m not selling towels and
drugs.”
[back to top]
No Wal-Mart on
Sankey Tract, Limerick says
By: Lynn Jusinski
08/24/2006
[back to top]
It will be something commercial, but
it won't be a Wal-Mart.
That was the word from Limerick
Township Board of Supervisors at the Aug. 17 meeting, regarding the
Swamp Pike property the retail giant was considering for a new location.
"All those concerned about the Wal-Mart on the Sankey tract, I can tell
you that there's not going to be a date issued for the hearing at this
time. We have to wait for some developments that happened at staff
[meeting] today, but I don't believe that there's any chance that a
Wal-Mart will be on the Sankey Tract," said Supervisors' Chairman David
Kane said. At the June 27 meeting, supervisors voted to approve a
request for a public hearing to rezone the Sankey Tract, a 35-acre
parcel on Swamp Pike, set back from Ridge Pike by 700 feet. The rezoning
hearing was not yet set, and the land is currently zoned for up to three
65,000-square foot box stores. At the June 27 meeting, Attorney Robert
Brant, representing the tract's owner, Mark Quigley, requested a hearing
for a zoning amendment that would eliminate a 65,000-square foot
limitation on retail locations. Since initial word that Wal-Mart has
been eyeing up the site began, residents from the township have come out
to meetings to voice their opposition. Most of the residents protesting
a Wal-Mart on the site hail from Willow Run, an active adult community
located adjacent to the Sankey tract. Kane thanked the residents for
information that they provided the township with and for their
participation in the process, but he cautioned that the tract would
house a commercial development. "It's either three 65,000-square-foot
box stores [or] we can still have a hearing on a zoning change.
Commercial development will occur there. The type of development that
will occur will be up again, in the end, to the applicant," Kane said.
He added what the board hopes to see on the site, as well. "We're hoping
possibly for a town center, something with aesthetics and streetscapes
and appeal that would be more characteristic to the heart of downtown
Limerick," Kane said. He later referred to the tract as "the centerpiece
of our village district." In figuring out just what would happen on the
site, Kane urged residents to continue to be vocal in the process. "What
I want those people who certainly have connections in Willow Run and
those neighboring developments to do, is I want you to begin to educate
folks that it's not a field or a Wal-Mart. We're going to need your
cooperation in processing information, being reasonable," Kane said. He
said that many of the letters he received on the Wal-Mart were fruitful.
Some, however, did not recognize the role of the former landowner in the
process, he said. "I've received a lot of letters that talk about
people's property values and how they bought property. Well so did this
landowner. And Mr. Sankey, who owned this tract, held it and farmed it
for years, and this is his retirement, this is his equity," Kane said.
Kane added that the township has looked into purchasing and preserving
the land, but he said it is not "economically feasible" at this time.
"We'll try to come up with the best possible product," Kane said. Kane
did not take a suggestion to rescind the public hearing that came from
another board member, either. "I still think that there could be a
hearing, it's just not going to be a hearing for a Wal-Mart. It's the
applicant's choice-he's either going to come in as of right, and we
talked with his attorney today, and we let him know that we would be
agreeable to some incentives and changes. We still want road
improvements," Kane said. Kane added that a commercial development on
the site is actually within the best interests of the township, despite
possible reservations residents may have. "That [Wal-Mart] is not
something that will be there, but I want your help in working out the
best possible product. It is going to be commercial. There's going to be
traffic in this township regardless. But what's happening with our
surrounding municipalities-it is this board's responsibility to make
sure that we capture whatever revenue we can for that traffic that's
going to be here, but we'll never eliminate it," Kane said.
©Montgomery Newspapers 2006
[back to top]
Wal-Mart moves to draw
gay shoppers
BY MARILYN GEEWAX
Cox News Service
Thu, Aug. 24, 2006
[back to top]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the retail giant
that grew up in the rural South, is moving to attract gay shoppers as it
expands its presence in urban centers.
By entering into a partnership with
the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce this week, the company
"is making a very sincere effort to reach out to people who are a
significant part of our customer base," Wal-Mart spokesman Bob McAdam
said Wednesday.
"I am proud of that effort," he said.
But Wal-Mart did not issue a news
release about the alliance, leaving the chamber to announce it. And as
news of the partnership trickles out, a backlash is taking shape among
some conservatives.
"I don't think this is something that
will sell on Main Street America, where most Wal-Mart stores are
located," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a
conservative public policy group in Washington. "I don't think cheap
prices on goods from China will be enough to stop a rollback in their
customer base if they choose to go down this aisle."
By partnering with a gay business
group, Wal-Mart is "validating the idea that homosexual activists have
the right to shake down corporations out of fear of being called
bigots," said Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family
Institute at Concerned Women for America, a Washington-based public
policy group.
The alliance with the business group
is not expected to bring a visible influx of gay-oriented merchandise to
Wal-Mart stores. McAdam said the specific purpose of the partnership is
to help Wal-Mart attract and hire a diverse array of suppliers,
including gays and lesbians.
Justin Nelson, co-founder and
president of the 4-year-old gay business coalition, said he was certain
that objections from conservatives would not cause Wal-Mart,
headquartered in Bentonville, Ark., to back away from his organization.
But Nelson said that while Wal-Mart
may start taking flak from the right, he expects it from the left.
Many liberal groups say the company
fails to provide its 1.3 million U.S. workers with adequate wages and
benefits.
Jeremy Bishop, program director of
Pride at Work, a constituency group within the AFL-CIO labor
confederation, said Wal-Mart should not expect the support of gay
shoppers when it does not offer domestic partnership benefits for its
gay workers.
"This community is really social
justice-minded," Bishop said. "It won't be fooled by this."
McAdam said Wal-Mart has an
anti-discrimination policy covering sexual orientation, and is
considering offering domestic partnership benefits.
© 2006 St. Paul Pioneer Press and wire
service sources. All Rights Reserved.
[back to top]
Tell Wal-Mart: Apologize Now
[back to top]
Dear Pat,
We must stop Wal-Mart’s outrageous
behavior now.
As you may remember, late last year
Wal-Mart formed its own right-wing front group to try and defend the
company. Wal-Mart called the group, Working Families for Wal-Mart, even
though it had no working families, was funded directly by Wal-Mart, and
is being run out of the same office as their public relations war room.
Since then, this group has recruited a
cadre of some of the dirtiest and most extreme right-wing operatives
with ties to Karl Rove, the New Hampshire phone jamming scandal and the
Swift Boat Veterans. And, following Karl Rove’s playbook, Wal-Mart’s
operatives immediately launched attacks against leading Democrats and
even launched a website personally attacking WakeUpWalMart.com staff.
But, yesterday, Herman Cain, one of
the steering committee members of Wal-Mart’s front group and a
well-known right-wing commentator, completely crossed the line in a
column he wrote by describing Democrats who are standing up, on behalf
of working families, and asking Wal-Mart to be a responsible corporation
as “Hezbocrats.”
Mr. Cain’s attempts to associate great
leaders like Senator John Edwards, Senator John Kerry, Senator Joe Biden,
and others with Hezbollah is inflammatory, ridiculous and an insult to
every American leader who has stood up and said America’s largest
employer, Wal-Mart, should be responsible and pay a living wage and
provide affordable health care to its employees.
Please join us in calling on Wal-Mart
to immediately apologize to the American people, denounce Mr. Cain’s
remarks as outrageous, and ask Mr. Cain to resign from Wal-Mart’s front
group:
http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/feature/hezbocrats/
Unfortunately, Mr. Cain’s remarks come
right on the heels of another embarrassing incident for Wal-Mart’s front
group when Ambassador Andy Young, the former chairman of Working
Families for Wal-Mart, was forced to resign for using derogatory
statements to defend Wal-Mart’s business practices.
As some of you may recall, Ambassador
Young insulted Asian-Americans, Jewish-Americans and Arab-Americans in
trying to defend Wal-Mart’s business practice of putting small
businesses out of business.
Both Andy Young’s remark and Herman
Cain’s column are a disgusting display of how the politics of personal
destruction now runs rampant through Wal-Mart's right wing war room. The
tactics of Wal-Mart’s steering committee members are unbecoming of the
corporation, leading Wal-Mart down a very dangerous path, and insulting
to every American who believes in affordable health care for all,
corporate responsibility and living wages.
Please join us in immediately calling
on Wal-Mart to apologize to the American people, denounce Mr. Cain’s
remarks as outrageous, and ask Mr. Cain to resign from Wal-Mart’s front
group:
http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/feature/hezbocrats/
The good news is, while Wal-Mart
suffers from these embarrassing incidents and their first profit decline
in more than a decade, our campaign to change Wal-Mart is gaining
tremendous momentum as we travel around the country on our 2006 Change
Wal-Mart, Change America national bus tour. In just the last few weeks,
the tour has been featured on the front page of the New York Times, ABC
World News, the Washington Post and countless other media outlets.
With over 256,000 supporters all
across America, we hope Wal-Mart will use these two incidents as an
opportunity to shut down its pointless attack group, end its association
with these right-wing operatives, stop its misguided attacks against so
many Democratic leaders, and realize that only through real positive
change will Wal-Mart become a better company.
Thank you for all that you do,
Paul Blank
WakeUpWalMart.com
P.S. Here is the New York Times
article talking about how Democrats are unifying around our campaign for
corporate responsibility, health care for all and living wages.
P.P.S. Here is Mr. Cain’s most
outrageous remark, “The Hezbocrats, armed with nothing more than
Katyusha-grade class warfare rhetoric, descended upon Iowa earlier this
month determined to take down Wal-Mart, a company they consider the
nation’s largest capitalistic oppressor of the proletariat.” You can
read the whole insulting and inflammatory article here:
http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/HermanCain/2006/08/22/hezbocrats_attack_wal-mart
[back to top]
Wal-Mart defender Cain lashes out Calls Democratic critics of retailer
'Hezbocrats'
By SHELIA M. POOLE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/24/06
[back to top]
Working Families for Wal-Mart is
feeling the heat again.
This time for a column posted on a
conservative Web site by businessman Herman Cain, a member of the
group's Georgia steering committee, in which he labels some Democrats "Hezbocrats"
in an apparent reference to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
"The Hezbocrats, a roaming band of
militant guerrillas seeking their party's 2008 nomination for president,
have most recently lobbed their rhetorical bombs at Wal-Mart, that cruel
capitalist occupying corporation," Cain writes in the column that
appeared Tuesday on townhall.com.
Among the "Hezbocrats" he targets are
Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.); Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.); and New Mexico Gov.
Bill Richardson. Cain blasts them for slamming Wal-Mart with "Katyusha-grade"
rhetoric and rallies in Iowa earlier this month. Katyushas are the
rockets Hezbollah has used.
He also lashed out at Sen. Hillary
Clinton (D-N.Y.), who returned a $5,000 campaign contribution from
Wal-Mart although she once served on the giant Arkansas-based retailer's
board. Wal-Mart officials did not return a call for comment.
Kevin Sheridan, a spokesman for
Working Families for Wal-Mart, said the organization includes Democrats,
Republicans, independents and others who "believe working families
benefit from the low prices and economic opportunity Wal-Mart provides.
Herman Cain's long-standing weekly column is his own and we do not
endorse his statements as they represent his personal views and
opinions."
Cain, former chairman of Godfather's
Pizza and a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in 2004, could not be
reached for comment. Ericka Pertierra, his chief of staff, said he was
in Houston recovering from surgery for colon and liver cancer. Pertierra
denied Cain was playing the terrorist card or likening those Democrats
to the militant group.
Cain's chief of staff responds
"He was referring to the militant
rhetoric that liberals use against capitalism and the economy," she
said. "The column was basically saying liberals need to be reminded that
we're not at war against American companies that contribute jobs, wages
and fuels our economy."
But that didn't fly with Chris Kofinis,
a spokesman for wakeupwalmart.com, which was launched last year in an
effort to build a grassroots movement to push the giant retailer to be
"a responsible employer."
Kofinis said Cain's statements were
"some of the most outrageous and disgusting comments ever to be used to
describe patriotic Democrats. Wal-Mart should apologize considering he
made these comments on their behalf." Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry also
weighed in on the column, even though he was not specifically mentioned.
In an e-mailed statement, Kerry
accused Cain of "swiftboating" people who ask tough questions of big
business. "Make no mistake, those who push and prod Wal-Mart to be a
decent corporate citizen are standing up for the American worker," Kerry
said. "Decent wages and affordable health care aren't too much to ask
for from the largest employer in the United States."
Young quit after statements
This is the second time in less than a
week that Working Families for Wal-Mart has felt the heat.
Another Wal-Mart supporter, former
Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, resigned last week as head of Working
Families for Wal-Mart's national steering committee after controversial
remarks he made about Jewish, Korean and Arab business owners were
published in a Los Angeles newspaper.
In that incident, Young, who has since
apologized for his comments, was asked if he were concerned that
Wal-Mart caused mom- and pop- businesses to close.
"But you see, those are the people who
have been overcharging us — selling us stale bread and bad meat and
wilted vegetables," he was quoted as saying. "I think they've ripped off
our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now
it's Arabs ..."
[back to top]
China's unions
emboldened by Wal-Mart success
By Candy Zeng
[back to top]
SHENZHEN - Coming off its success in
establishing unions in outlets of militantly non-union Wal-Mart, China's
official All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) has been
emboldened to push for unionization in other foreign-invested
enterprises across the country.
At least 16 of Wal-Mart's 60 outlets
across China have already been organized, while the chain retailer
promises to help all others to establish local unions. And the US-based
retail super-giant is planning to open 20 more mega-stores in China.
According to officials with the ACFTU,
only about 26% of the 150,000-odd foreign-funded enterprises across the
country have so far established trade unions, with a total membership of
4.3 million. The federation has now set an ambitious goal of boosting
the ratio to 50% by the end of this year.
The ice was broken with the
establishment of the first trade union in Wal-Mart's Jinjiang outlet in
Quanzhou in the southeastern province of Fujian on July 29. The
inauguration ceremony took place at 7:30am with none of the management
attending. In contrast, the inauguration of a trade union in a
state-owned enterprise would normally be a solemn affair, attended by
company executives and even senior local party and government officials.
"Our success was no accident. We began
sending union publications and newsletters to its staff since the
Wal-Mart outlet was established in November 2005, after holding
fruitless talks with its management," said Chen Xiongnan, vice director
with the general office of the Quanzhou Federation of Trade Unions.
After repeated rebuffs, Chen and his
fellow union officials approached the outlet's employees directly,
sometimes in the middle of the night. "It was as if we are working
underground," said Chen. So by July 21, some 30 Wal-Mart employees had
handed in applications for unionization to the local authority. But only
25 managed to attend a midnight meeting on July 28 to elect a
seven-member union committee, the minimum requirement for such an
election under China's labor laws.
Wal-Mart is famously anti-union. Not
one of its US stores has a union. It has been known to close stores
rather than accept unions. So the Jinjiang unionists approached their
mission with some trepidation. At first they were concerned that they
would be reprimanded by the company. In addition, they were not sure how
to finance the union's activities. Although China's labor law stipulates
that an employer must set aside 2% of its total payroll to finance union
activities, lack of contributions has been a major obstacle at many
non-unionized private firms.
But soon Wal-Mart's Shenzhen and
Nanjing outlets became unionized, with the inauguration of their trade
unions also taking place at night, after business hours. To sort out the
financial problem, the official Nanjing Federation of Trade Unions
agreed to subsidize the union with 20,000 yuan (US$2,500), according to
the China Youth Daily.
Soon after the debut of Wal-Mart's
Jinjiang union, China's official media openly questioned whether the
company would punish its unionist employees. Possibly under the pressure
of such public sentiment, Wal-Mart held high-level talks with China's
union authority on August 9 and agreed that it would help establish
trade unions at all of its outlets across China.
"I hope to establish good relations
with the ACFTU and its regional branches that would be conducive for our
employees and business development," said Joe Hatfield, president of
Wal-Mart Asia, adding - and quoting the latest Communist Party line -
"it is in line with Chinese government's efforts to build a harmonious
society."
Trade unions in China, it should be
noted, are not the same as those in the West. They are all controlled by
the Communist Party. "Trade unions are not simply about workers'
economic interests, they also have to do with political, cultural and
democratic rights," said Guo Wencai, an ACFTU official in charge of
formation of grassroots unions.
Indeed, China's trade unions are known
for their tameness and obedience to the party. The activities they
organize for the workers are usually no more than social events or
entertainment. They are often criticized as being more like showcases of
corporate culture than organs to protect labor rights.
Be that as it may, the government has
been encouraging unions to bring more foreign companies into the fold.
President Hu Jintao himself has urged the ACFTU to strengthen its union
network among multinational companies. He wrote a directive to the group
in March to "do a better job of building [Communist] Party organizations
and trade unions in foreign-invested enterprises".
The ACFTU now has more than 1.17
million grassroots trade unions across the country. An ACFTU official
disclosed that in the first six months of this year, about 9 million
workers had joined unions, and more than 80,000 new trade unions been
set up.
The Chinese government intends to
counter increasing labor disputes with the help of trade unions,
according to analysts. For example, labor disputes often occur in the
booming Pearl River Delta due to low pay and poor working conditions. As
a result, the region has suffered a labor shortage in recent years.
However, it is still in doubt whether
Chinese trade unions could serve that purpose. According to the survey
by the China's Youth Daily, 71.6% of the respondents believed China's
unions had not fully carried out their tasks as set forth by labor
officials such as Guo.
An online survey by a popular Chinese
Internet portal showed that more than 82% of respondents believed the
unions failed to safeguard labor rights, while only 1.5% thought the
opposite.
Candy Zeng is a freelance write based
in Shenzhen.
Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd.
All rights reserved.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart marks
progress in Japan market
By YURI KAGEYAMA
AP BUSINESS
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
[back to top]
TOKYO -- Wal-Mart's Japanese
subsidiary said Tuesday its first-half losses grew fivefold, but the
unit's chief executive reaffirmed his commitment to Japan even as the
U.S. retailer abandons the German and South Korean markets.
Seiyu reported a 54 billion yen ($465
million) loss for the first six months of the year. The 400-store chain,
which doesn't break down quarterly numbers, had racked up a 10.6 billion
yen loss the same period the previous year. First half sales fell 2.9
percent to 468 billion yen ($4 billion).
But Seiyu Chief Executive Ed
Kolodzieski, who took office in December, said there were clear signs of
progress here in the first half of the year, with comparative store
sales rising 1.4 percent, the first year-on-year gain in 14 years.
Comparative store numbers measure sales after deleting effects from
store openings and closures.
Although sales and profit results for
the first half didn't meet company expectations, Seiyu has reduced costs
and has been busy opening new stores while closing underperforming
stores, Kolodzieski told reporters at a Tokyo hall.
"I am very proud of the
accomplishments of our team," he said, adding that the company remains
"on track" in its strategy to improve profitability, remodel stores,
beef up its supply chain and other efforts.
While operating profitability was
gradually improving, the bigger net loss was due to a one-time write-off
for assets.
Japan, where consumers are notoriously
finicky, has been a challenging market for many foreign retailers.
Carrefour SA of France, the world's No. 2 retailer, abandoned the
Japanese market last year after it failed to woo buyers.
During the first half, food sales were
up 1.7 percent, apparel up 0.8 percent and general merchandise up 3.9
percent on a comparative store basis, he said.
Seiyu kept unchanged its full year
forecast for a group net loss of 54.5 billion yen ($471 million) on 966
billion yen sales ($8.3 billion), but said it expects to swing into
black ink next year.
Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart
Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, arrived in Japan in 2002 and
increased its stake in Seiyu in December to 53 percent from 42 percent.
It has stuck with the Seiyu brand,
familiar to Japanese, instead of using the Wal-Mart name.
Unlike its operations in South Korea
and Germany, Wal-Mart has made significant investments in Japan, the
world's second largest retail market, setting up a distribution
facility, introducing its computerized systems, remodeling stores and
opening large-scale supermarkets, which had been relatively rare here.
Wal-Mart runs more than 6,600 stores
worldwide in 16 nations, including China and Mexico.
But the company announced in May it
was selling its 16 stores in South Korea to that country's top discount
chain Shinsegae Co. for 825 billion won ($882 million), pending approval
by South Korean regulators. Wal-Mart Korea, established in 1998, had
been losing money.
Two months later, Wal-Mart said it was
ending its loss-generating business in Germany, selling its 85 stores
there to rival Metro AG, ending a nearly decade-long effort to crack the
market in Europe's biggest economy. Terms were not disclosed.
Kolodzieski said the move to ditch
Germany and Korea would allow Wal-Mart to focus on markets with growth
potential like Japan.
"There is no doubt in my mind Japan is
a key market and a great growth opportunity," he said.
Seiyu is going in the right direction,
such as opening 24-hour stores to draw shoppers who may have otherwise
gone to convenience stores, but it needs to move quicker to achieve
solid results, Kolodzieski said.
Once a total novelty in Japan, Wal-Mart-style
gigantic stores are becoming gradually more accepted in this nation,
long dominated by mom-and-pop stores. The problem for Wal-Mart is that
Japanese retailers are starting to imitate Wal-Mart methods, setting up
similar large stores.
Wal-Mart Stores, which posted its
first quarterly profit decline in 10 years, has also been fighting some
problems in the U.S., including soaring energy costs and public
criticism that its pay and benefits are too low.
Seiyu shares, which doubled earlier
this year but lost the gains in recent months, closed up 1.4 percent at
224 yen ($2.00) in Tokyo.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart battles variety of
woes
The Associated Press
August 22
[back to top]
BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores
Inc. is fighting battles on multiple fronts after posting its first
quarterly profit decline in 10 years, and analysts question whether the
world's largest retailer can regain the feverish growth rates of its
past.
Wal-Mart's woes include high energy
prices, which hit its lower-income customer base and its own costs,
setbacks in its international strategy, and public relations stumbles,
such as last week's sudden resignation of civil-rights icon Andrew Young
as its public ambassador.
Young quit as head of a pro-Wal-Mart
advocacy group after he was quoted in the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper
as saying inner-city stores that overcharged black customers were run by
"Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs." Wal-Mart, which has made
repeated public commitments this year to diversity, said Young's
comments did not reflect its views.
On the plus side, analysts say,
Wal-Mart has ambitious programs to stock trendier products, remodel most
of its more than 2,000 Supercenter stores and tighten its grip on the
costs of inventory, labor and energy.
Combined with an ongoing public
relations offensive to counter critics who claim its pay and benefits
are skimpy, Wal-Mart is juggling a lot of balls at once, and analysts
say the outcome is still up in the air.
"I think they're in so much transition
right now that it's hard to measure whether or not they're making
progress," said Patricia Edwards, portfolio manager and retail analyst
at Wentworth, Hauser & Violich in Seattle. "It is a lot to handle."
George Whalin of Retail Management
Consultants in San Marcos, Calif., said Wal-Mart has a track record of
handling multiple tasks.
"When you get to be the biggest in the
world, you fight battles on every front sometimes," he said.
Second-quarter results showed the
first profit decline in a decade came at the cost of selling its
loss-making business in Germany. It quit another loss producer, South
Korea, in May, but still operates in 13 countries in Asia, Latin America
and Britain and intends to keep expanding, especially in China.
But the quarter's sales and profit
growth also slowed at Wal-Mart's U.S. stores, its biggest division, as
high fuel prices kept customers away and drove up Wal-Mart's own costs
for a fleet of 7,000 trucks.
Some analysts question whether
Wal-Mart can regain growth rates that made it a darling of Wall Street
in the 1990s.
Edwards said that with nearly 4,000
stores in the U.S., Wal-Mart can maintain past growth rates only by
acquiring more companies overseas or "building a Wal-Mart on every other
street corner in China."
Some analysts are more bullish. Sandra
J. Skrovan, who heads a Wal-Mart research program at consultant Retail
Forward Inc. in Columbus, Ohio, said Wal-Mart is well-positioned to
weather the current gas crunch.
Its Supercenters, which combine a full
grocery section with general merchandise, offer a one-stop shop where
customers will continue to come in for food even if they postpone buying
home electronics or clothes.
"The retailers that are positioned to
provide value and convenience to consumers who are having to tighten
their wallets and having to reduce the number of trips they make are
really in a good position," she said.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart cashiers want
end to threats
By MARGARET CRONIN FISK
AND LAUREN COLEMAN-LOCHNER
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
[back to top]
Cashiers at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the
world's largest retailer, asked a federal judge to order the company to
stop threatening to fire Texas employees who join a lawsuit claiming
unpaid wages.
Workers' lawyers sent out notices Aug.
4 to more than 100,000 current and former Wal-Mart and Sam's Club
cashiers in Texas, inviting them to join the litigation. Wal-Mart
managers asked employees to turn over the notices and sign statements
that they never worked off the clock as the suit claims, according to
court papers.
The cashiers asked U.S. District Judge
Samuel Kent to order Wal-Mart to stop "improper communications" with
workers. A hearing on the request is set for Wednesday.
Wal-Mart's conduct "borderlines on
criminal witness intimidation," the cashiers said in an Aug. 15 request
to Kent. It's illegal under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act "for
Wal-Mart to threaten its current and former associates with adverse
consequences for filing claims under this lawsuit," workers said in the
suit.
The lawsuit is one of more than 70
filed against Wal-Mart in federal and state courts across the U.S.
claiming the company failed to pay hourly wages for all time worked.
California hourly employees won a $172 million verdict in December over
unpaid meal breaks. The company faces similar trials in Philadelphia in
September and Massachusetts in October.
Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley said
the claims have "no merit and we plan to demonstrate that in court on
Wednesday."
Wal-Mart's employees in Texas are
vulnerable to threats, said attorney Russell Lloyd, who represents the
cashiers.
"These people have a lot of power," he
said of Wal-Mart. "In some places, Wal-Mart is the only job in town
because they've run everyone else off."
The company may be legally responsible
if store managers in Texas are attempting to intimidate workers, said
Patricia Edwards of Seattle-based Wentworth, Hauser & Violich, which has
$8 billion in assets, including Wal-Mart shares.
"It's bad if you've got store managers
doing it," she said. "Store managers from Wal-Mart have better things to
do than to thumb through legal filings."
The Wal-Mart workers were sent a
packet including details about the lawsuit and an opt-in form, which
they were told to sign and send in if they wanted to be included in the
lawsuit.
About 1,500 cashiers have opted in so
far, Lloyd said. The deadline for joining is Nov. 3.
Several employees called the attorneys
after receiving the packets, saying they were afraid to participate in
the lawsuit for fear that they would lose their jobs.
One former employee and one current
cashier complained of intimidation, the workers said in the court
filing.
These workers filed affidavits along
with the request for a "temporary restraining order," barring the
practice.
[back to top]
Beyond
Wal-Mart
The superstore has
become a useful poster child for the problems of the modern American
economy. But reforming it would only be a drop in the bucket.
By Robert Kuttner
08.21.06
[back to top]
Wal-Mart is usefully becoming the
symbol of an America where tens of millions of hard-working families
cannot make ends meet.
Its wages and health benefits are so
dismal that in several states Wal-Mart displaces worker healthcare costs
onto tax-supported Medicaid for the poor. Wal-Mart batters down wages
not just in the United States, but in Third World countries, where it
plays foreign suppliers against one another to demand the lowest
possible wholesale price (and wage.
The New York Times reported recently
that Democratic politicians from Senator Joseph Lieberman to his winning
opponent in the Connecticut primary, Ned Lamont, are making Wal-Mart
their nemesis. This focus is certainly helpful in spotlighting one
mega-employer that is symbol and substance of an America where the
middle-class dream is vanishing, but the problems go far beyond
Wal-Mart.
The America of a generation ago had
multiple institutions for enabling worker incomes to rise with their
rising productivity. More industries were regulated. The federal minimum
wage was equal to about half the average wage; today, it is below one -
third. The federal government actually enforced workers' right to
organize a union. Nearly half of U.S. workers were covered by decent,
federally guaranteed pensions, instead of funny-money worker-savings
plans. Wall Street was more tightly regulated, and corporate executives
were not able to grab such an outlandish share of the total pie.
Taxation was progressive, and ordinary workers paid much lower rates. We
did not trade with countries that had something close to slave labor,
like the Chinese factory system.
Since the mid-1970s, under three
Republican presidents and too- often-feeble Democratic ones, this social
compact was blown up. Since the early 1970s, real incomes for the top 1
percent have doubled, while earnings for most Americans have stagnated.
Middle-class Americans have stayed even only thanks to a second
wage-earner -- an average increase of more than 500 annual work hours
per household. This is a disguised loss in living standards, cutting
into leisure and parenting time, and incurring child-care and
transportation costs.
Politicians may legislate special
laws, requiring higher minimum wages for mega-stores (as Chicago has
done) or requiring them to contribute to health coverage (as Maryland
has attempted), but until our political system addresses the larger
problems, even reforming Wal-Mart is a drop in the bucket.
The system is now essentially rigged
so that workers' productivity can rise, but workers' incomes can't. A
study prepared last month for Democrats on the House Financial Services
Committee and released by Representative Barney Frank of Newton showed
that since 2002 annual productivity growth has averaged more than 3
percent, while real wage increases have been under half of 1 percent.
Corporate profits, meanwhile, have risen from 8.5 percent to 14.4
percent of national income.
Whenever wages show signs of rising
with productivity, the Federal Reserve whacks them back down. It shows
no such concern about corporate profits being excessive. Until this
month, when the Federal Reserve announced a "pause" in rate hikes, our
central bank had hiked interest rates 17 times since June 2004, citing
fears of inflation, mainly in rising labor costs. But note the sleight
of hand. If workers' wages are lagging well behind workers' increased
productivity, then rising wages are not a source of inflation. The
rising "total labor costs" include pensions and health insurance.
Doesn't that benefit workers? In fact, the increase in recent employer
contributions to pension plans is mainly to make up for the corporate
looting of plans during the 1990s.
In the stock market euphoria of that
decade, corporations used outlandish assumptions about future stock
market returns to reduce annual contributions they were supposed to make
to pension funds. The replenishing of fund shortfalls in recent years is
not a source of true worker compensation -- and it can hardly be
burdensome given the huge increase in net corporate profits.
The hike in employer health insurance
costs, likewise, is not a true benefit for workers. It reflects a health
system out of control, and excessive charges and profits by health
maintenance organizations and drug companies. Actual health insurance
benefits to workers are being cut back, and not just by Wal-Mart.
Corporations generally are hiking the employee share of premiums, and
plans are increasing deductibles and copayments.
I hope Wal-Mart does become a poster
child for all that's out of whack with the U.S. economy. But we need to
go after a great deal more than Wal-Mart if politicians are serious
about restoring the dream of an America where people who work hard and
play by the rules can aspire to be middle class.
Robert Kuttner is co-editor of The
American Prospect. This column originally appeared in The Boston Globe.
© 2006 by The American Prospect, Inc.
[back to top]
Democrats Criticize Wal-Mart Over Health Benefits, Wages At Rallies
Nationwide
Nagourney/Barbaro,
New York Times
21 Aug 2006
[back to top]
A number of Democrats this week in
Iowa and this month nationwide have criticized Wal-Mart Stores, the
largest private employer in the U.S., "for what they say are substandard
wages and health care benefits," the New York Times reports. According
to the Times, the focus on Wal-Mart "is part of a broader strategy of
addressing what Democrats say is general economic anxiety and a growing
sense that economic gains of recent years have not benefited the middle
class or the working poor," and their criticism of the company
"dovetails with their emphasis in Washington on raising the minimum wage
and doing more to make health insurance affordable." In recent weeks,
Sens. Joe Biden (D-Del.), Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and John Edwards (D-N.C.),
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) and other Democrats have appeared at
rallies in opposition to Wal-Mart. In addition, Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton (D-N.Y.), who previously served as a member of the Wal-Mart
board, last year returned a $5,000 campaign contribution from the
company to protest employee health benefits. Democrats have criticized
Wal-Mart as a "potent symbol of corporate excess," the Times reports.
Wal-Mart reported $11 billion in earnings last year, but fewer than half
of employees in the U.S. receive health insurance through the company.
However, Wal-Mart maintains that more than 150,000 U.S. residents who
previously did not have health insurance currently receive coverage
through the company. Mona Williams, a spokesperson for Wal-Mart, said of
the criticism from Democrats, "There is far more evidence to show that
this short-sighted political strategy will backfire than that it will
actually work"
[back to top]
Indian Food
Trade Lures Reliance, Bars Wal-Mart
By Andy Mukherjee
[back to top]
Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- The demise of
India's fragmented, wasteful and corruption-ridden agricultural market,
and its replacement by a modern supply chain, may well be the most
significant change in the Indian economy over the next decade.
Since the new arrangement will
inevitably see local and multinational companies dealing with farmers
directly in private markets, the change is also controversial.
``Without market regulation,
agribusiness corporations will make profits selling costly seeds, buying
cheap farm produce, and locking farmers in debt,'' says Indian
environmentalist Vandana Shiva in New Delhi.
I would bet on exactly the opposite
outcome: Farmers will earn higher profits, consumers will get food at
cheaper prices, and the economy at large will gain from an increase in
agricultural productivity, the biggest constraint on the purchasing
power of three out of five Indians.
Needless to say, the companies that
are currently at the forefront of building farm-to-store networks will
probably make handsome returns. Investors should pay attention.
Indian agribusiness company ITC Ltd.,
which is almost one- third owned by British American Tobacco Plc, last
month said it would spend $1 billion over the next seven to 10 years to
link up one-sixth of rural India with its digital network.
The Internet-based system, called ``e-Choupal,''
already covers 3.5 million farmers and allows ITC to buy directly from
them, bypassing the inefficient village marketplace.
Other companies, too, are realizing
that investing in exclusive arrangements to obtain farm produce will pay
in the long run. Reliance Industries Ltd., India's biggest non-state
company, announced earlier this month that it has entered into an
agreement with the government of the northern state of Punjab for
setting up 50 of its ``rural business hubs.''
Reliance Retail
The petrochemicals company, controlled
by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, plans to buy 900,000 tons of food grains
and 200,000 tons of horticultural produce a year, apart from 700,000
liters of milk a day.
Reliance's motivation is plain to see.
It is spending $5.4 billion to create a brand-new supermarket chain
across the country. The first Reliance Retail store will open next
month.
Owning the supply chain right down to
the farmer will allow Reliance to establish a clear lead over
international retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Carrefour SA,
which are still awaiting government permission to set up shop in India.
The New Delhi-based Bharti Group,
which runs India's biggest mobile-phone operator, has similar plans.
Bharti Chairman Sunil Mittal proposes
to enter into contracts with farmers so that he has access to as much as
100,000 acres over the next five years for his foray into horticulture.
FieldFresh
In 2004, former investment banker
Evelyn de Rothschild and his wife Lynn Forester teamed up with Mittal to
set up FieldFresh Foods Pvt. The company, which aims to supply Indian
fresh fruit and vegetables to Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle
East, is in talks with ``several global companies'' to set up a retail
venture in India, Mittal said in March this year.
There are some 7,000 markets for
agricultural produce in India. Although they collect 1 percent to 2
percent of the value of the crop as a fee, most of these markets don't
even provide the most basic infrastructure, such as protection from
rains.
After cursory visual inspection,
buyers' agents bid for the crop, which is usually brought to the market
by the farmer the previous night to beat long queues. Once the price is
ascertained, the crop is put in bags -- the farmer pays for the packing
-- and weighed manually. The agent pays only some of the money upfront
and the grower has to come back for the rest.
Using Technology
There is immense scope to improve this
inefficient, high- cost system. Technology has a big role to play.
In ITC's ``e-Choupal'' program, the
Internet allows all farmers to access prevailing soybean prices in
several nearby markets at a computer maintained by one of them -- a
coordinator. The coordinator also quotes an indicative one-day price for
the farmer's crop based on a sample. The farmer can then decide whether
he wants to sell to ITC, in the open market, or wait.
Farmers, who distrust manual weighing
in the open market, have more faith in the accuracy of ITC's electronic
scale. Since the produce doesn't have to be packed in bags to be
weighed, the spillage associated with it can also be avoided.
Even after reimbursing the
transportation cost to the farmer, ITC saves 2.5 percent of what it
would have paid to procure the crop in the open market. The farmer gains
a similar amount, according to a University of Michigan case study.
An efficient supply chain can also
have a salutary effect on agricultural productivity, which has been
stagnant in India for the past several years, especially in wheat and
rice.
A Model for Change
A template for transformation already
exists. By building a network that connects more than 12 million farmers
with consumers in 750 cities and towns, India's milk cooperatives have,
over the past four decades, turned an importing nation into the world's
biggest dairy producer.
Ultimately, the Indian government will
have to reduce its controls on agricultural trade -- some 400 laws
govern trading in commodities, according to research by economist
Raghbendra Jha of the Australian National University in Canberra,
Australia -- in order for a common, nationwide market to emerge.
Two years ago, the federal Indian
government asked states to amend their laws to allow ITC-type private
markets. Some states have already heeded the advice and relaxed their
laws.
``This is a recipe for destroying
local markets, and through market destruction, destroying local
production,'' environmentalist Shiva writes on the ZNet Web site.
It's up to agribusiness to prove her
wrong.
(Andy Mukherjee is a Bloomberg News
columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.)
[back to top]
Industry leader Whole Foods has a challenger in Wal-Mart
The Dallas Morning News
Sunday August/20/2006
[back to top]
PLANO -- Walter Robb studies weekly
sales from every Whole Foods market nationwide, but he's been pulling
Plano store numbers more often since an experimental Wal-Mart
Supercenter opened two miles away. "I'm all over it, and so far I can
tell you the impact is minimal," said Mr. Robb, co-president and chief
operating officer at Austin-based Whole Foods Market Inc., the No. 1
U.S. organic grocer. "And, if you check the prices, we're competitive to
Wal-Mart." The Plano Supercenter has one of Wal-Mart's biggest
selections of organic foods and is where the world's largest retailer
has been learning advanced organics since March. So far, the discount
giant sells organics in 374 select stores nationwide Much attention has
been focused in recent months on Wal-Mart's ambitious plans to bring
organic food to the masses -- and that puts a new spotlight on Whole
Foods. When Wal-Mart enters a category, it usually looks to capture
about a 30 percent market share by both expanding the pie and taking
share from others, said Sandra J. Skrovan, director of Retail Forward
Inc.'s Wal-Mart program. "Wal-Mart is taking this seriously because
mainstream grocery offers organics -- and we all know how well Whole
Foods has been doing," Ms. Skrovan said. "It doesn't make sense for
Wal-Mart to have it in all their stores, but Wal-Mart is indeed looking
to broaden its customer base. They've done their homework and know which
stores have shoppers who demand organics." Organics heavyweight Whole
Foods' performance in recent years has led the grocery industry. The
retailer has posted double-digit sales increases as it's added prepared
foods and other products to its mix. Its new Austin flagship store even
has an organic apparel department. With sales of $4.7 billion last year,
Whole Foods is more than four times the size of the next-largest organic
grocer, Colorado-based Wild Oats Markets. Lehman Brothers analyst
Meredith Adler said she isn't worried for Whole Foods. The analyst wrote
in a recent report that the organics leader has considerable expansion
opportunity with its "large, perishables-oriented stores." And Wal-Mart
will end up expanding the number of growers and processors, she said.
Formidable newcomer Organics is a part of Wal-Mart's new corporate
persona. The chain is promoting itself as environmentally friendly under
a broad corporate sustainability program. It's testing ways to be energy
efficient at another experimental store in McKinney. By some estimates,
Wal-Mart is the largest seller of organic milk and has its own
private-label organic soymilk. It already claims to be the largest buyer
of organic cotton. The company bought out a large organic cotton
producer in Turkey to make its private-label George Organic baby
clothes, which arrived in stores earlier this summer. Some of that fiber
went into an organic cotton yoga outfit for its Sam's Club chain, which
sold out of 190,000 units in 10 weeks. Mr. Robb, the Whole Foods
executive, acknowledged that Wal-Mart's entry proves organics is not a
"fringe category or a fad" and it speaks to the niche's potential size.
Still, he said, organics is just another product category for Wal-Mart.
"For us, it's in our soul," Mr. Robb said. "The issue is: Who can do it
better?"
©Copyright 2006 Copyright Financial
Times Information 2006.
[back to top]
Many challenges for Wal-Mart
By AP
August 20, 2006
[back to top]
BENTONVILLE, Arkansas -- Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is fighting battles on multiple fronts after
posting its first quarterly profit decline in 10 years, and analysts
question whether the world's largest retailer can regain the feverish
growth rates of its past.
Wal-Mart's earnings per share rose
more than 16% per year on average over the past 10 years and sales grew
by annual rates between 12% and 20%. But all that has slowed, with
earnings per share up about 11% last year and sales up just 9.5%.
Wal-Mart's woes range from high energy
prices, which hit its lower-income customer base and its own costs, to
setbacks in its international strategy, to public relations stumbles
like this week's sudden resignation of civil rights icon Andrew Young as
its public ambassador.
On the plus side, analysts say,
Wal-Mart has ambitious programs to stock trendier products, remodel most
of its more than 2,000 supercentre stores and tighten its grip on the
costs of inventory, labour and energy.
Combined with an ongoing public
relations offensive to counter critics who claim its pay and benefits
are skimpy, Wal-Mart is juggling a lot of balls at once and analysts say
the outcome is still up in the air.
"I think they're in so much transition
right now that it's hard to measure whether or not they're making
progress," said Patricia Edwards, portfolio manager and retail analyst
at Wentworth, Hauser & Violich in Seattle, which manages $8.2 billion US
in assets and holds 51,000 Wal-Mart shares. "It is a lot to handle."
George Whalen of Retail Management
Consultants in San Marcos, California, said Wal-Mart has a track record
of handling multiple tasks: "When you get to be the biggest in the
world, you fight battles on every front sometimes."
Sandra Skrovan, who heads a Wal-Mart
research program at consultant Retail Forward Inc. in Columbus, Ohio,
said Wal-Mart is well-positioned to weather the current gas crunch, even
if prices don't decline.
Its supercentres, which combine a full
grocery section with general merchandise, offer a one-stop shop and
customers will continue to come in for food even if they postpone buying
home electronics or clothes.
"The retailers that are positioned to
provide value and convenience to consumers who are having to tighten
their wallets and having to reduce the number of trips they make are
really in a good position," Skrovan said.
[back to top]
19 trade
unions set up in China's Wal-Mart outlets
ChinaEconomic.net
August 19
[back to top]
The world's retail giant Wal-Mart has
established 19 trade unions in its Chinese outlets since late July,
disclosed an official of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU)
on Friday. "The negotiations between Wal-Mart and ACFTU have proved
fruitful. The two sides have agreed to set up trade unions in Wal-Mart
Chinese outlets on a cooperative and harmonious basis and in line with
Chinese laws, " an ACFTU official said on Friday in a Xinhua interview.
The two sides agreed that the
candidates for trade union posts in a Wal-Mart Chinese outlet should be
approved by a higher-level trade union after work staff's nomination.
Then, the work staff will elect, by
secret ballot, a chairman, vice chairpersons and posts in the trade
union committee. The election outcome should be reported to the higher
level trade union for approval, said the official.
The outlet's manager, vice managers,
human resources managers and their family relatives are not entitled to
be trade union chairpersons, vice chairpersons or trade union committee
members, said the official.
Wal-Mart has made commitments to help
China's union authority establish branches in all its stores in China
and strictly perform the duties written in China's Law on Trade Unions.
Wal-Mart opened its first outlet in
China in 1996. Until July 29 this year, no Wal-Mart Chinese outlets had
set up trade unions.
On July 29, its outlet in Jinjiang
City, east China's Fujian Province, set up a trade union. In the
following 20 days, another 18 trade unions were established in
Wal-Mart's outlets in the cities of Shenzhen, Nanjing, Fuzhou, Jinan,
Shenyang, Dalian, Nanchang, Qingdao, Wuhan and Taiyuan.
@ China Economic Net All rights
reserved
[back to top]
Running against Wal-Mart
Does the big-box retailer deserve to be a political target?
By Jeff Greenfield
CNN Senior Analyst
[back to top]
NEW YORK (CNN) -- It may not be the
most noble of notions, but one of the most useful assets for a
politician is the right adversary: illegal immigrants, corporate
polluters, street criminals, lazy bureaucrats, welfare cheats, rich tax
cheats.
But what about a store?
Democrats seem to think one store in
particular will make a fine political target. That's what Sen. Joe Biden
was doing when he attended an anti-Wal-Mart rally in Des Moines, Iowa --
site of the first presidential caucuses, not so incidentally.
Biden declared: "Wal-Mart's formula is
how they can survive a race to the bottom," as he decried their low
wages and the size and nature of their health benefits.
The day before, Sen. Evan Bayh,
another likely presidential candidate, denounced Wal-Mart's wage and
benefit structure as "emblematic" of the middle-class squeeze.
Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards have
also been critical, and Sen. Hillary Clinton, who was on the board of
Wal-Mart back in her former Arkansas home, returned a $5,000 Wal-Mart
campaign contribution.
The targeting of the nation's largest
employer has gone beyond political sound bites.
State and local governments -- New
York City; Maryland; Chicago, Illinois, among others -- have passed
so-called "Big Box" laws requiring huge stores -- often affecting
Wal-Mart and one or two others stores like Wal Mar t-- to provide higher
wages and health benefits to their workers. A judge has struck down
Maryland's law; Mayor Richard Daley has hinted he may veto Chicago's
City Council bill.
Wal-Mart calls these efforts "a
shortsighted political strategy that will backfire," and pointedly notes
that "it is our responsibility to let [our employees] know when a
politician speaks out for or against our company." The company argues
its practices save shoppers an average $2,300 a year, and claim a high
level of employee satisfaction.
So what's going on here? On the one
hand, lower-income shoppers benefit from Wal-Mart's low prices. On the
Friday after Thanksgiving last year, 10 million Americans shopped at
Wal-Mart in just six hours.
On the other hand, Wal-Mart's wage and
benefit structure, its troubles over hiring illegal immigrants, and
charges some workers have been forced to work off the clock have made it
and its 1.3 million workers Target Number One for organized labor.
Unions have seen a sharp decline in their rolls, especially among
private sector workers. And organized labor, in return, remains one of
the key elements of the Democratic Party's financial and voter turnout
base.
As for the Democrats, they've seen a
steady erosion in their blue-collar, working-class support. Once upon a
time, Democratic icons trumpeted their opposition to wealthy interests.
Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed at his 1933 Inaugural "the money changers
have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization..."
And after President Kennedy battled US
Steel over price hikes in 1962, he was asked at a press conference if he
was worried that big business "had him where they wanted."
With a huge grin, he replied: "I can't
believe I'm where big business wants me."
But in recent years, national security
and traditional values issues have changed voter patterns. In 2004, Bush
beat Kerry among blue-collar low- and middle-income whites 54 percent to
46 percent.
This year, Democrats seem to believe
that they can win back many of these voters by hitting basic
bread-and-butter issues like low wages and health care.
And they appear to believe they can
turn a symbol of low prices into a symbol of economic injustice.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart Battling to
Revive Growth
By MARCUS KABEL
Associated Press
Aug 18
[back to top]
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. is fighting battles on multiple fronts after posting its
first quarterly profit decline in 10 years, and analysts question
whether the world's largest retailer can regain the feverish growth
rates of its past.
Wal-Mart's woes range from high energy
prices, which hit its lower-income customer base and its own costs, to
setbacks in its international strategy, to public relations stumbles
like this week's sudden resignation of civil rights icon Andrew Young as
its public ambassador.
Young quit as head of a pro-Wal-Mart
advocacy group after he was quoted in the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper
as saying inner-city stores that overcharged black customers were run by
"Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs." Wal-Mart, which has made
repeated public commitments this year to diversity, said Young's
comments did not reflect its views.
On the plus side, analysts say,
Wal-Mart has ambitious programs to stock trendier products, remodel most
of its more than 2,000 Supercenter stores and tighten its grip on the
costs of inventory, labor and energy.
Combined with an ongoing public
relations offensive to counter critics who claim its pay and benefits
are skimpy, Wal-Mart is juggling a lot of balls at once and analysts say
the outcome is still up in the air.
"I think they're in so much transition
right now that it's hard to measure whether or not they're making
progress," said Patricia Edwards, portfolio manager and retail analyst
at Wentworth, Hauser & Violich in Seattle, which manages $8.2 billion in
assets and holds 51,000 Wal-Mart shares. "It is a lot to handle."
George Whalen of Retail Management
Consultants in San Marcos, Calif., said Wal-Mart has a track record of
handling multiple tasks: "When you get to be the biggest in the world,
you fight battles on every front sometimes."
Second-quarter results showed the
first profit decline in a decade on the cost of selling its loss-making
business in Germany. It quit another loss-maker, South Korea, in May but
still operates in 13 countries in Asia, Latin America and Britain and
intends to keep expanding, especially in China.
But the quarter's sales and profit
growth also slowed at Wal-Mart's U.S. stores, its biggest division, as
high fuel prices kept customers away, cut their spending power and drove
up Wal-Mart's own costs for a fleet of 7,000 trucks.
Some analysts question whether
Wal-Mart can regain growth rates that made it a darling of Wall Street
in the 1990s.
After precipitous gains in the 1980s
and 1990s, the stock peaked at around $70 in January 2000 before losing
steam to linger mainly in the $50-$60 range. It has lost another 3
percent this year to current levels around $45.
Wal-Mart's earnings per share rose
more than 16 percent per year on average over the past 10 years and
sales grew by annual rates between 12 percent and 20 percent. But all
that has slowed, with earnings per share up about 11 percent last year
and sales up just 9.5 percent.
Robert Buchanan, head of retail
analysis at A.G. Edwards & Sons, said a target of 10 percent growth in
annual earnings per share is more realistic from now on, considering
Wal-Mart's size. In a research note, he wrote that "the 'law of large
numbers' has set in with regard to go-forward percentage growth in sales
and EPS."
Edwards said that with nearly 4,000
stores in the U.S., Wal-Mart can only maintain past growth rates by
acquiring more companies overseas or "building a Wal-Mart on every other
street corner in China."
"They are the 900-pound gorilla. The
900-pound gorilla cannot grow as fast as the little company from the
Ozarks," Edwards said.
Some analysts are more bullish, and
Wal-Mart has said it plans to open more than 1,500 stores in the United
States in the coming years. It is opening more than 300 this year alone.
Sandra J. Skrovan, who heads a
Wal-Mart research program at consultant Retail Forward Inc. in Columbus,
Ohio, said Wal-Mart is well-positioned to weather the current gas
crunch, even if prices don't decline. Its Supercenters, which combine a
full grocery section with general merchandise, offer a one-stop shop and
customers will continue to come in for food even if they postpone buying
home electronics or clothes.
"The retailers that are positioned to
provide value and convenience to consumers who are having to tighten
their wallets and having to reduce the number of trips they make are
really in a good position," Skrovan said.
But Skrovan agreed it was too early to
say when Wal-Mart will see an increase in sales from its new
initiatives, which include more organic foods, trendier clothes for
women including a new segment of its George line from designer Mark
Eisen, and flashier home electronics in a remodeled display. Those
changes are meant to compete with rivals like Target Corp. and Best Buy.
"I think it's going to take a while
before we really start to see that bump up," Skrovan said.
©2006 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved.
[back to top]
Andrew Young Resigns
From Wal-Mart Post
By BERNARD McGHEE,
Associated Press
08.18.2006
[back to top]
Civil rights leader Andrew Young, who
was hired to help Wal-Mart Stores Inc. improve its public image, said
early Friday he was resigning from his position as head of an outside
support group amid criticism for remarks seen as racially offensive.
Young, a former Atlanta mayor and U.N.
ambassador, was hired by Working Families for Wal-Mart in February.
"I think I was on the verge of
becoming part of the controversy and I didn't want to become a
distraction from the main issues, so I thought I ought to step down," he
told The Associated Press.
Young, once a close associate of the
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., said his decision followed a report in the
Los Angeles Sentinel, which he said was misread and misinterpreted.
In an interview with the weekly
newspaper, Young was asked whether he was concerned that Wal-Mart causes
smaller, mom-and-pop stores to close.
"Well, I think they should; they ran
the 'mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood," the paper quoted Young
as saying. "But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging
us, selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they
sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our
communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's
Arabs; very few black people own these stores."
Young, who has since apologized for
the remarks, said he decided to end his involvement with Working
Families for Wal-Mart after he started getting calls about the story.
"Things that are matter-of-fact in
Atlanta, in the New York and Los Angeles environment, tend to be a lot
more volatile," he said.
He said working with the group also
was "taking more of my time than I thought."
An after-hours call to Wal-Mart was
not immediately returned. Company spokeswoman Mona Williams told The New
York Times for Thursday's editions that Young's comments did not reflect
Wal-Mart's views.
"Needless to say, we were appalled
when the comments came to our attention," Williams said. "We were also
dismayed that they would come from someone who has worked so hard for so
many years for equal rights in this country."
The remarks also surprised Rabbi
Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los
Angeles, who pointed to Young's reputation of civil rights work.
"If anyone should know that these are
the words of bigotry, anti-Semitism and prejudice, it's him," Hier said.
"I know he apologized, but I would say this ... during his years as a
leader of the national civil rights movement, if anyone would utter
remarks like this about African-Americans his voice would be the first
to rise in indignation."
Young came under fire from the civil
rights community after his company, GoodWorks International, was hired
by the advocacy group to promote the world's largest retailer. Young's
company, which he has headed since 1997, works with corporations and
governments to foster economic development in Africa and the Caribbean.
In an April letter to the General
Synod of the United Church of Christ, Young said it was wrong for the
church and others to blame Wal-Mart for world ills.
"I think we may have erred in not
paying enough attention to the potentially positive role of business and
the corporate multinational community in seeking solutions to the
problems of the poor," Young wrote at the time.
Associated Press Writer Jeremiah
Marquez in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All
rights reserved.
[back to top]
China's president
encouraged Wal-Mart union
Report: Hu Jintao
wants more foreign-company workers to organize
The Associated Press
Aug 18, 2006 [back to top]
BEIJING - An order by President Hu
Jintao prompted China's state-sanctioned labor group to launch a
campaign that led to the creation of Wal-Mart's first Chinese union,
according to a newspaper report.
Such personal involvement by Hu in
dealing with foreign companies is rare, and could help to explain the
All-China Federation of Trade Unions' surprise success in forming a
Wal-Mart union in July after the American retailer resisted organizing
efforts for two years.
In a written order to the ACFTU in
March, Hu said, "Do a better job of building (Communist) Party
organizations and trade unions in foreign-invested enterprises," the
Beijing News reported, citing the group's records.
The ACFTU responded by setting up an
office targeting a Wal-Mart in the southeastern city of Quanzhou, where
employees voted July 29 to form the company's first Chinese union,
according to the newspaper's report Tuesday.
Since then, employees at 16 other Wal-Marts
in China also have formed unions, according to the ACFTU, the umbrella
group for unions permitted by the communist government.
If accurate, the report could presage
sharply increased efforts to organize unions at foreign companies. The
ACFTU says only 26 percent of China's 150,000 foreign companies have
unions.
An ACFTU spokesman, Li Jianhua, would
not say Wednesday whether an order by Hu led to a special effort
targeting Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which employs 30,000 people at its 60
stores in China.
"In recent years, the ACFTU has
consistently put a large share of workers in trade union organizations.
This is important work. The time has come to achieve Wal-Mart unions,"
Li said.
Unions in China usually represent the
workforce of a single company or outlet, rather than a whole industry.
The ACFTU has described the creation
of the Wal-Mart unions as a boost to its campaign to reach a target of
unionizing employees at 60 percent of China's foreign companies this
year.
Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville,
Arkansas, has resisted efforts to form unions elsewhere in its worldwide
operations. But it said this month it would cooperate with the ACFTU to
organize its Chinese employees.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.
All rights reserved.
© 2006 MSNBC.com
[back to top]
Reliance announces start of India's answer to Wal-Mart
TurkishPress.com
08-18-2006 [back to top]
India's biggest private company
Reliance Industries has said it aims to launch its first store next
month as part of a plan to build an Indian version of Wal-Mart, the
world's largest retail chain.
Reliance, whose main business is oil
and petrochemicals, has said it plans to invest nearly six billion
dollars in setting up the store subsidiary covering nearly 1,500 cities
and towns in India.
"We will be opening our first store in
Hyderabad in September and this will be a very large store with food,
vegetables and staples," Reliance Retail president Raghu Pillai told
reporters in the Indian capital Friday, according to the Press Trust of
India.
The retail firm plans to sell a host
of products from food and clothes to consumer durables and will roll out
its business using a mix of neighbourhood convenience stores,
supermarkets, specialty stores and hypermarkets.
Pillai said the company "plans to be
across the country ... as soon as we can" and would quickly reach 100
stores but gave no specific timeframe.
He said Reliance Retail would offer
competitive prices by removing "extra costs from the supply chain."
As part of its drive to cut costs, it
is considering partnering consumer durable companies to procure goods
directly and sourcing items from low-cost manufacturers such as China.
The company has been busy seeking to
set up deals with state governments to establish rural hubs to buy
fruits, vegetables, pulses and dairy goods from farmers.
Pillai also said Reliance was talking
to different international brands to bring them into India but did not
name them.
India has allowed 51 percent foreign
direct investment in retailing by companies which sell only a single
brand like Reebok and Nokia. Global retail chains which offer many
brands such as Wal-Mart are still banned from making direct investments
but can strike franchise deals.
Reliance is a corporate behemoth that
has straddled India's economy for decades with activities in
petrochemicals, oil and gas, refining, power, insurance and
telecommunications.
Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance
Industries, has said he wants to make the retail chain "a Wal-Mart in
India" and has set an annual sales target of 25 billion dollars by 2011.
US retailer Wal-Mart is the largest
retailer in the world, having revolutionised the business through a
super efficient management system overseeing thousands of suppliers.
Ambani says he expects the venture to
create up to one million jobs.
Reliance is seeking to gain critical
mass in the sector before an expected easing of a ban on the entry of
foreign retailers, analysts say. Wal-Mart, France's Carrefour group and
Britain's Tesco Plc. are among the retail giants which have expressed
interest in coming to India.
The Congress government favours
foreign direct investment in the sector and is seeking to develop a
political consensus on the issue in the face of opposition from leftists
who fear global chains would destroy local players.
India's retail market is still
dominated by small mom-and-pop street corner stores but is in a process
of transformation with traditional markets making way for department
stores, hypermarkets and malls.
Organised retail or sales from chain
stores still make up just two percent of the sector reckoned by analysts
to be worth 200 billion dollars a year.
[back to top]
Non-compliance of Bangladesh RMG: ILRF sues Wal-Mart
News_Monitor
Thursday, August 17, 2006
[back to top]
The International Labour Rights Funds
(ILRF) has filed a lawsuit in the US District Court of Central
California against Wal-Mart Corporation, a major importer of Bangladeshi
readymade garment, over non-compliance issue centring the garment
factories of the country....
Non-compliance of Bangladesh RMG: ILRF
sues Wal-Mart Syful Islam
The International Labour Rights Funds
(ILRF) has filed a lawsuit in the US District Court of Central
California against Wal-Mart Corporation, a major importer of Bangladeshi
readymade garment, over non-compliance issue centring the garment
factories of the country.
The global trade union working for the
establishment of human rights filed the case on grounds of violation of
labour rights and deprivation of workers from due benefits in the
Wall-Mart sourcing factories in Bangladesh.
The plaintiff filed the case in
California district court and stated that the judiciary system of
Bangladesh was not trustworthy. They believe that the general workforces
cannot get proper judgement under the Bangladesh’s legal system.
The ILRF referred the recent labour
unrest in and outsides of the export processing zones during filing the
lawsuit in June. According to the organisation Bangladesh’s RMG
factories are non compliant and the working conditions there was very
bad. It mentioned about the workplace environment, low wages, long over
due of payments and deprivation from other benefits.
The month long biggest ever labour
unrest in Bangladesh, the May tragedy, claimed lives of several workers
and damaged a large number of factories which amounted to more than Tk
100 crore in damages.
In the lawsuit the organisation
mentioned, “The supply contracts require that the foreign suppliers
producing goods for Wal-Mart adhere to Wal-Mart’s Standards for
Suppliers Agreement as a direct condition for supplying merchandise to
Wal-Mart. In exchange, Wal-Mart was obligated to ensure supplier
compliance with their Code of Conduct, and adequately monitor working
conditions in the supplier factories.”
Indeed, Wal-Mart represents to the
public at large that it is committed to and, in fact does, strictly
undertake such obligations given the well-documented evidence by public
reports and its own monitoring audits that serious worker rights
violations were notoriously routine in Bangladesh.
However, the Ambassador of Bangladesh
in Washington Shamsher M Chowdhury strongly protested filing of the case
in the US court and some derogatory remarks against Bangladesh’s
judiciary system in a recent letter to the US Assistant Secretary
Richard Boucher.
“The US courts are not the appropriate
forum for negotiating better workplace conditions in foreign countries,”
he said adding, “As a sovereign country we do not feel it appropriate
for a US court to pass a judgement based on one sided and exaggerated
compliant.”
Country's ready-made garment owners,
despite the major labour unrest and the tripartite agreement, still
refuse to accept more than Tk 1,230 as minimum salary for their workers.
On the other hand the trade union
leaders are demanding Tk 3,000 as minimum wages for the workers to cope
with the rising living expenses.
[back to top]
High Springs meets with water district to discuss Wal-Mart site issues
By Christa Jenkins-Desrets
High Springs Herald
[back to top]
HIGH SPRINGS – In their fight to
protect the aquifer from possible contamination by a proposed Alachua
Wal-Mart, High Springs officials must first learn more about the site
before continuing with discussions, City Manager Jim Drumm said after a
Tuesday meeting.
Drumm attended the first of many
possible meetings about the Wal-Mart site with two officials from the
Suwannee River Water Management District, the agency that approved
Wal-Mart’s water permit.
Drumm spoke with Jon Dinges, director
of recourse management with the water district and Steve Minnis, senior
resource development coordinator, about the city’s concerns regarding
the site, which some believe could potentially be harmful to the water
supply.
“It was a very good discussion,” Drumm
said. “There was a lot of information passed back and forth.”
Dinges also said he felt the
discussions went well.
“It was an excellent meeting,” he
said.
The city’s next step, Drumm said, is
working with environmental experts to determine exactly what hazards the
site and other development in the area may pose.
That study would also need to detail
what sort of concessions Wal-Mart would need to make to alleviate
concerns about these dangers, Drumm said.
“We’re looking to take it to a
detailed, more technical level to see what the potential dangers are,”
Drumm said. “We want to dig deeper into the data…On some of these issues
there are different claims.”
No specific decisions were made, Drumm
said, but once the dangers have been determined, the city will be able
to make a better decision on how to handle the issue.
“We’re still hoping that perhaps we’ll
get to the point that after we have some more information then we can
eventually talk to Wal-Mart officials,” he said. “That’s the best thing
to do – to sit down and talk about these issues with the parties at
hand.”
In the meantime, Dinges said, the
Wal-Mart permit remains in effect.
“The only thing that would affect the
status of the permit would be if the Suwannee River Water Management
District found new information that showed that something submitted by
the applicant was incorrect or omitted,” Dinges said. “That’s true of
any permit.”
In such a case, he said, the permit
could be modified based on the new information but Wal-Mart or other
affected parties would then have the option to challenge those
modifications.
A date has not yet been set for the
city’s next meeting with water district officials but could come within
the next couple of weeks, Drumm said.
[back to top]
Adam Werbach:
Eco-Traitor or Wal-Mart Warrior?
by Kiera Butler
August 17, 2006
[back to top]
Back in July, it seemed as if Adam
Werbach, former Sierra Club president and current Wal-Mart
sustainability honcho, was the eco turncoat of the hour. John Sellers
and Barbara Dudley denounced former Werbach’s move in Grist’s “Soapbox”
section, accusing him of “abandoning his principles.”
But this week, in a sprawling piece
called “An Unbelievable Truth,” Amanda Witherell of the San Francisco
Bay Guardian casts Werbach’s move in a much warmer light. The piece has
its problems, not least of which is a tone that sometimes veers toward
the obnoxious:
“Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott these
days sounds like he just got smacked in the face with a copy of 50
Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth. His awe over some really
tired statistics is almost endearing. Last November, in a speech
broadcast to all Wal-Mart facilities he said, ‘Did you know that a
large percent of the 5 billion pounds of pesticides used every year
are used on cotton? Those toxins don't stop at the field but can
leach into the waterways and may eventually find their way into
animals, food, and children.’
Uh, yeah, ever heard of Silent Spring?
Environmentalists have long decried the insidious nature of toxic
chemicals.”
Well, actually, uh, no. Some people
haven’t heard of Silent Spring. And we’re willing to bet that not
everyone in all the Wal-Mart facilities where Scott broadcast his speech
was familiar with that “really tired” cotton statistic. Uh, yeah, SFBG,
ever heard of populism? (see, we can be obnoxious, too!)
The bright side of the piece is a
paragraph in the middle devoted to Werbach’s strategy for working at the
big box:
“Werbach's been tasked with
changing the way Americans think. ‘How do you make sustainability
something people in America want and care about?’ he said — that's
the basic question Wal-Mart is asking. The test pool the company has
given him is a field of associates at eight stores, because the
people who work there are a lot like the 92 percent of Americans
(according to company calculations) who walk through the front doors
steering shopping carts. Through workshops and retreats, Werbach is
sitting down with associates and asking them what their goals are.
Losing weight? Quitting smoking? Spending more time with their
families? Those are real-world challenges that Werbach helps them
see in a broader context and tackle with a tool set that considers
the basic tenets of sustainability. One associate he's worked with
decided to quit eating fast food. That's great for the arteries, but
the action also made him realize he was eating less frozen food,
which meant less resources spent for processing, packaging,
shipping, and refrigeration. He also spent less time idling in the
drive-thru lane, which meant less fuel burned, which saved him
money. That's more sophisticated thinking than even that of the
average Trader Joe's shopper with Amy's Organic heat-and-serve
enchiladas in the cart. ‘They're showing me things. I'm not trying
to convince them of something,’ Werbach said of the associates who
wield the tools he gives them in creative ways. He cites the problem
of smoking. Yes, it's a health issue, but associates are telling him
it's an environmental issue too. That's not something you hear from
the typical save-the-trees organization. Smoking is not their
problem; saving the redwoods is their problem.”
If Werbach is to be believed, it would
seem that he’s listening to what people tell him. This is good. Let’s
hope Wal-Mart, in turn, listens to him.
[back to top]
Top Democrats
line up to take aim at Wal-Mart
By Adam Nagourney
and Michael Barbaro
The New York Times
August 17, 2006
[back to top]
DES MOINES, Iowa Senator Joseph Biden
Jr. of Delaware, a likely Democratic presidential candidate in 2008,
delivered a 15-minute, blistering attack to warm applause from Democrats
and union organizers here Wednesday.
But Biden's main target was not
Republicans in Washington, or even his prospective presidential rivals.
It was Wal-Mart, the largest private
employer in the United States.
Among Democrats, Biden is not alone.
Across Iowa this week and across much of the country this month,
Democratic leaders have found a new rallying cry that many of them say
could prove powerful in the midterm elections and into 2008: denouncing
Wal-Mart for what they say are substandard wages and health care
benefits.
Six Democratic presidential contenders
have appeared at rallies like the one Biden headlined, along with some
Democratic candidates for Congress in some of the toughest-fought races
in the country, including in Ohio.
"My problem with Wal-Mart is that I
don't see any indication that they care about the fate of middle-class
people," Biden said, standing on the sweltering rooftop of the State
Historical Society Building here.
"They talk about paying them $10 an
hour. That's true. How can you live a middle-class life on that?"
The focus on Wal-Mart is part of a
broader strategy of addressing what Democrats say is economic anxiety
and a growing sense that economic gains of recent years have not
benefited the middle class or the working poor.
Their alliance with the anti-Wal- Mart
campaign dovetails with their emphasis in Washington on raising the
minimum wage and doing more to make health insurance affordable. It also
suggests they will go into the midterm congressional elections in the
fall and the 2008 presidential race striking a populist tone.
What has been striking about this
campaign is the ideological breadth of the Democrats who have joined in,
including moderates who in the past have warned the party against
appearing hostile to business interests.
Senator Hillary Clinton of New York,
who served on the Wal-Mart board when she lived in Arkansas, the
corporation's home state, returned a $5,000 campaign contribution from
the company at the end of last year in protest against its health care
benefits.
"It's not anti-business," said Senator
Evan Bayh of Indiana, a former head of the moderate Democratic
Leadership Council, who appeared at a Wal-Mart rally Tuesday. "Wal-Mart
has become emblematic of the anxiety around the country, and the
middle-class squeeze."
Yet there are clear risks for
Democrats, not least in alienating Wal-Mart employees and customers.
Wal-Mart itself is beginning a strong
counterattack. In interviews Wednesday, company executives warned that
they would alert their 1.3 million U.S. employees to the anti-Wal-Mart
campaign.
"There is far more evidence to show
that this shortsighted political strategy will backfire than that it
will actually work," said Mona Williams, a company spokeswoman.
Democrats say the giant retailer has
become a symbol of corporate excess: Wal-Mart earned $11 billion in
profit last year; fewer than half of its 1.3 million U.S. employees are
covered by the company's health care plan, and the average worker earns
less than $20,000 a year.
Wal-Mart has been the target of
political attacks before, but the ongoing cross-country bus tour
organized by Wake Up Wal-Mart, which includes news conferences with
elected leaders in 19 states, may be the most ambitious tactic to date.
Democratic candidates joining the
group's rallies include candidates in Senate races in Ohio and Maryland,
and the governor's race in Maryland, where Wal-Mart's employment
practices have been the subject of a legislative battle.
Still, so far, the events have
attracted the most interest from prospective presidential candidates.
Williams of Wal-Mart said the rallies
were unlikely to resonate with voters. "There is not a swing vote in
sight," she said. Democrats "are preaching to the choir."
DES MOINES, Iowa Senator Joseph Biden
Jr. of Delaware, a likely Democratic presidential candidate in 2008,
delivered a 15-minute, blistering attack to warm applause from Democrats
and union organizers here Wednesday.
But Biden's main target was not
Republicans in Washington, or even his prospective presidential rivals.
It was Wal-Mart, the largest private
employer in the United States.
Among Democrats, Biden is not alone.
Across Iowa this week and across much of the country this month,
Democratic leaders have found a new rallying cry that many of them say
could prove powerful in the midterm elections and into 2008: denouncing
Wal-Mart for what they say are substandard wages and health care
benefits.
Six Democratic presidential contenders
have appeared at rallies like the one Biden headlined, along with some
Democratic candidates for Congress in some of the toughest-fought races
in the country, including in Ohio.
"My problem with Wal-Mart is that I
don't see any indication that they care about the fate of middle-class
people," Biden said, standing on the sweltering rooftop of the State
Historical Society Building here.
"They talk about paying them $10 an
hour. That's true. How can you live a middle-class life on that?"
The focus on Wal-Mart is part of a
broader strategy of addressing what Democrats say is economic anxiety
and a growing sense that economic gains of recent years have not
benefited the middle class or the working poor.
Their alliance with the anti-Wal- Mart
campaign dovetails with their emphasis in Washington on raising the
minimum wage and doing more to make health insurance affordable. It also
suggests they will go into the midterm congressional elections in the
fall and the 2008 presidential race striking a populist tone.
What has been striking about this
campaign is the ideological breadth of the Democrats who have joined in,
including moderates who in the past have warned the party against
appearing hostile to business interests.
Senator Hillary Clinton of New York,
who served on the Wal-Mart board when she lived in Arkansas, the
corporation's home state, returned a $5,000 campaign contribution from
the company at the end of last year in protest against its health care
benefits.
"It's not anti-business," said Senator
Evan Bayh of Indiana, a former head of the moderate Democratic
Leadership Council, who appeared at a Wal-Mart rally Tuesday. "Wal-Mart
has become emblematic of the anxiety around the country, and the
middle-class squeeze."
Yet there are clear risks for
Democrats, not least in alienating Wal-Mart employees and customers.
Wal-Mart itself is beginning a strong
counterattack. In interviews Wednesday, company executives warned that
they would alert their 1.3 million U.S. employees to the anti-Wal-Mart
campaign.
"There is far more evidence to show
that this shortsighted political strategy will backfire than that it
will actually work," said Mona Williams, a company spokeswoman.
Democrats say the giant retailer has
become a symbol of corporate excess: Wal-Mart earned $11 billion in
profit last year; fewer than half of its 1.3 million U.S. employees are
covered by the company's health care plan, and the average worker earns
less than $20,000 a year.
Wal-Mart has been the target of
political attacks before, but the ongoing cross-country bus tour
organized by Wake Up Wal-Mart, which includes news conferences with
elected leaders in 19 states, may be the most ambitious tactic to date.
Democratic candidates joining the
group's rallies include candidates in Senate races in Ohio and Maryland,
and the governor's race in Maryland, where Wal-Mart's employment
practices have been the subject of a legislative battle.
Still, so far, the events have
attracted the most interest from prospective presidential candidates.
Williams of Wal-Mart said the rallies
were unlikely to resonate with voters. "There is not a swing vote in
sight," she said. Democrats "are preaching to the choir."
[back to top]
Wal-Mart Begins Voter Education Program to Its 18,000 Iowa Associates
iowapolitics.com
8/16/2006
[back to top]
BENTONVILLE, Ark., Aug. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/
-- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) today released the attached letter
to its roughly 18,000 Iowa associates regarding the decision of a few
elected leaders and candidates for office to attack the company at
union-funded publicity events this month in Iowa. This is the first step
in an ongoing effort to educate the company's associates about
candidates' remarks and the factual errors they may make in talking
about Wal-Mart. In another attached letter, the company also invites
candidates to tour stores and meet associates to learn the truth about
Wal-Mart.
"The paid critics and the politicians
who join them at these publicity stops are attacking the wrong company
and should stop telling working families where to shop and work," said
Wal-Mart vice president of corporate communications, Bob McAdam. "We're
disappointed that these politicians are speaking out without paying
attention to the facts and will be sure to inform our associates across
Iowa and in other key states that these candidates are not telling the
truth about Wal-Mart. We certainly hope these political leaders will
accept our invitation to tour our stores, to talk with our associates,
and to learn first-hand the truth about our company."
Wal-Mart creates tens of thousands of
jobs every year, many in neighborhoods that desperately need jobs. In
the last three years alone, Wal-Mart has created 240,000 jobs
nationwide, with an average full-time, hourly wage of $10.11 -- and it's
even higher in urban areas. Wal-Mart offers health coverage to both full
and part-time associates, something uncommon among many retail
employers. Wal-Mart's health plans start at just $11 per month in some
areas and just 30 cents more per day for children. Today, more than 1
million people are covered under Wal-Mart plans.
"We plan to make all of our roughly
18,000 associates in Iowa aware of the misguided attacks aimed at
scoring special-interest political points by playing politics with our
company," McAdam continued. "We think elected officials should spend
their time on real solutions to real challenges. That's why we hope they
are open to learning the facts about our company and what we are doing
to make the lives of working families even better."
More than 127 million customers visit
Wal-Mart stores across America every week, more than the total number of
votes cast in the 2004 presidential election. As a result of findings
from a recent survey for Working Families for Wal-Mart, Democratic
pollster Thomas Riehle explained how "Democrats Make Wal-Mart an Issue
at Their Peril." According to Riehle's omnibus poll taken for the
respected Cook Political Report, 62% of respondents disapproved, and
only 21% approved of "Democratic candidates making Wal-Mart an issue in
November's elections." Even a majority of union households opposed this
strategy. Overall, 40% of registered voters would vote against an anti-
Wal-Mart Democratic candidate, while just 18% would vote for such a
candidate.
"It's surprising to see candidates
take part in attacks that are rejected even by the base voters they need
to win," McAdam said. "We believe that playing to a small, increasingly
special-interest audience at the expense of working families will prove
to be a failed strategy."
Wal-Mart said it will soon begin
sending "fact check" letters to its associates in other key states,
including more than 8,000 associates in New Hampshire, nearly 27,000 in
South Carolina, and more than 12,000 associates in Nevada.
Wal-Mart also made the following
materials available to the candidates: Fact Sheets on the company's
economic benefits, sustainability efforts, health care benefits, and
diversity. A copy of pollster Thomas Riehle's memo also was provided.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 15, 2006
The Honorable Evan Bayh
463 Russell Senate Office Bldg
Washington DC 20510
Delivered to fax: 202-228-1377
Dear Senator Bayh,
It is our understanding that you will
be taking part in a bus tour being organized by the union-funded groups
attacking our company. As a leader who advocates on behalf of working
families, we hope that you will be open to learning more about Wal-Mart.
We believe strongly that our company is a positive force for the working
men and women of this country.
Every year, Wal-Mart creates tens of
thousands of jobs in the United States. And those are good jobs. We pay
competitive wages and offer opportunities to advance. In fact, more than
three-quarters of our store managers started as hourly associates.
We also offer affordable and
accessible health benefits to our associates. This isn't the norm in
retail, but every Wal-Mart associate -- both full-time and part-time --
can become eligible for our health plans. They are available for as
little as $11 in some areas and $23 anywhere in America. They also come
with $3 co-pays on some prescription drugs that treat common illnesses.
At the same time, we are committed
throughout the Wal-Mart family to being good stewards of the
environment. We are taking environmentally-friendly actions to reduce
waste and conserve energy. For example, by wrapping fresh food in
corn-based packaging, we will save 800,000 gallons of gasoline and
prevent more than 11 million pounds of greenhouse gases from polluting
our environment. We are also offering working families organic products
-- like fruits and vegetables -- at prices they can afford.
The stop on the bus tour that you will
be joining is in Iowa. Let me share with you some facts about what
Wal-Mart means to the working families of this state. This year,
Wal-Mart will spend nearly $956 million on merchandise and services with
1,041 suppliers in Iowa. As a result of these relationships, we support
56,784 supplier jobs in the state. Our company also paid more than $26.1
million in state and local taxes. Clearly, Wal-Mart has a positive
impact on Iowa.
On behalf of the 17,464 Wal-Mart
associates in Iowa, I would like to extend to you a personal invitation
to come meet us and tour one of our stores. We don't want this to be
about politics -- the union-funded groups are already doing enough of
that for the both of us.
We'd like to meet with you personally
-- without the fanfare of media or staff or supporters.
You have dedicated your professional
life to helping Americans, fighting for social and economic justice for
all. You have made a difference, and that's commendable. We know we make
a difference too -- whether it is by saving the average American
household more than $2,300 per year or having donated more than $245
million to charities last year alone.
We hope that you will keep an open
mind about our company and learn about the positive impact we have on
the working families of America. If you would like to accept our offer,
please contact me at (479) 273-4222 or through email at tjunder@wal-mart.com.
Sincerely,
Tom Underwood
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 15, 2006
Dear Associate,
This month, union-funded groups who do
not know Wal-Mart are funding a bus tour around the country attacking
your company. Along the way, political candidates for a variety of
elected offices are joining the protests and joining in the attacks.
According to published schedules for the next few days, U.S. Senators
Evan Bayh of Indiana and Joseph Biden of Delaware, and Governors Bill
Richardson of New Mexico and Tom Vilsack of Iowa will be taking part in
events throughout Iowa.
We believe it's wrong for these
political candidates to attack Wal-Mart and the transformation underway
at our company. We would never suggest to you how to vote, but we have
an obligation to tell you when politicians are saying something about
your company that isn't true. After all, you are Wal-Mart. We know you
take pride in your company and the work you do every day to generate the
economic opportunities that so many working families in this country
need right now.
We want you to know that your voice
matters when these political candidates attack your company. We urge you
to talk with you friends, your family and your neighbors about the good
Wal-Mart does. And we hope to be able to give you the same opportunity
with some of these political candidates. We're inviting them to tour our
stores and learn more about who we are, and what we stand for.
We will continue to keep you informed
about who accepts our invitation to learn about your Wal-Mart. And we
will also keep you informed about what these political candidates are
saying about your company while on the campaign trail.
As you know, working families are who
we are, who we serve, and who make us a success. Every year, we create
tens of thousands of jobs, often in neighborhoods that desperately need
them. Our stores save the average America household more than $2,300 per
year. And our affordable health plans have helped move more than 150,000
uninsured Americans into company-sponsored insurance plans.
The fact is, the challenges facing
America's working families won't be solved by publicity stunts or false
attacks from political candidates. Those challenges will be solved by
civil and honest conversation and working together toward common goals
and aspirations.
Sincerely,
Tom Underwood
RGM, Region 7
[back to top]
Wal-Mart's quarterly profit declines -- for the first time in 12 years
Roland Waite
Wed, 16 Aug 2006
[back to top]
NEW YORK: Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the
world's largest retailer, reported a decline in its profits for the
first time in more than a decade Tuesday with net income for the second
quarter dropping 26 per cent to $2.08 billion, compared with $2.8
billion a year earlier. The company's revenue rose 11 per cent to $85.4
billion, less than market expectations.
The retailer had paid a huge price --
$863 million -- to exit its loss-making operations in Germany, while at
home high energy prices affected its sales and added costs. And its Asda
unit in the U.K. has been struggling against competition from market
leader Tesco.
The firm said sales at stores open
more than a year rose 1.7 per cent during the quarter, which is the
slowest in six quarters. Sales at stores in the U.S., which were open at
least a year, were up 1.5 per cent during the quarter, compared to 3.8
per cent in the first quarter and 3.6 per cent a year ago.
Chief executive Lee Scott admitted
sales had been disappointing at the company's U.S. outlets, which is its
largest division. This has been largely on account of customers'
reluctance to move out because of the higher energy costs, he said.
Chief financial officer Tom Schoewe
said the company's domestic profit margins have also been affected by
factors like higher transportation costs and more sales of lower-margin
products. Food sales grew faster than general merchandise, but this put
pressure on margins as groceries are less profitable than items like
apparel, home furnishings or electronics.
The company, however, reiterated its
guidance for the year. It forecast third-quarter earnings between 59
cents and 63 cents per share, compared with the average analyst estimate
of 63 cents. It also said its full year forecast stands at $2.88 to
$2.95 per share, while analysts were predicting $2.92 per share.
The last time Wal-Mart's quarterly
profits had fallen was in 1996.
The retailer had exited Germany in
July and South Korea in May after making losses in these units. The
company now intends to put its resources in more profitable overseas
markets like China and Latin America.
The company has not come out with
sales in the German and South Korean operations for the period under
review. Excluding these, its income from continuing operations grew 5
per cent to $2.98 billion from $2.85 billion a year ago.
The firm said it is remodeling some
1,800 U.S. stores and this could affect its sales to some extent. The
work on 1,200 of these stores should be over by the end of the third
quarter and the company would take a break during the shopping
[back to top]
Hu Order Led to Wal-Mart
Unions
Order by President
Hu Led to China's Wal-Mart Union Campaign
By JOE McDONALD
The Associated Press
[back to top]
BEIJING - An order by President Hu
Jintao prompted China's state-sanctioned labor group to launch a
campaign that led to the creation of Wal-Mart's first Chinese union,
according to a newspaper report.
Such personal involvement by Hu in
dealing with foreign companies is rare, and could help to explain the
All-China Federation of Trade Unions' surprise success in forming a
Wal-Mart union in July after the world's largest retailer resisted
organizing efforts for two years.
In a written order to the ACFTU in
March, Hu said, "Do a better job of building (Communist) Party
organizations and trade unions in foreign-invested enterprises," the
Beijing News reported, citing the group's records.
The ACFTU responded by setting up an
office targeting a Wal-Mart in the southeastern city of Quanzhou, where
employees voted July 29 to form the company's first Chinese union,
according to the newspaper's report Tuesday.
Since then, employees at 16 other Wal-Marts
in China also have formed unions, according to the ACFTU, the umbrella
group for unions permitted by the communist government.
If accurate, the report could presage
sharply increased efforts to organize unions at foreign companies. The
ACFTU says only 26 percent of China's 150,000 foreign companies have
unions.
An ACFTU spokesman, Li Jianhua, would
not say Wednesday whether an order by Hu led to a special effort
targeting Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which employs 30,000 people at its 60
stores in China.
"In recent years, the ACFTU has
consistently put a large share of workers in trade union organizations.
This is important work. The time has come to achieve Wal-Mart unions,"
Li said.
Unions in China usually represent the
workforce of a single company or outlet, rather than a whole industry.
The ACFTU has described the creation
of the Wal-Mart unions as a boost to its campaign to reach a target of
unionizing employees at 60 percent of China's foreign companies this
year.
Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark.,
has resisted efforts to form unions elsewhere in its worldwide
operations. But it said this month it would cooperate with the ACFTU to
organize its Chinese employees.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet
Ventures
[back to top]
Wal-Mart's Policy Letter
NPR
August 16, 2006
[back to top]
Wal-Mart Stores released a letter that
it sent to its 18,000 Iowa workers this week. The letter warns that some
local politicians are wrongly criticizing Wal-Mart's health and wage
policies, but the company insists it's not trying to influence voting.
Alex talks with Marketplace's Amy Scott.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart warns workers of attacks from White House hopefuls
Associated Press
Wed, Aug. 16, 2006 [back to top]
DES MOINES, Iowa - Wal-Mart Stores
Inc. is accusing several potential presidential candidates of dealing
"misguided attacks" against the retail giant in events across Iowa this
week.
The company released a letter Tuesday
to its 18,000 Iowa employees, claiming several politicians and elected
leaders are wrong to criticize Wal-Mart's wages and health benefits.
"We would never suggest to you how to
vote, but we have an obligation to tell you when politicians are saying
something about your company that isn't true," the letter reads.
"We urge you to talk with you(r)
friends, your family and your neighbors about the good Wal-Mart does."
Wake Up Wal-Mart, a union-based group
that formed last year to pressure the company to improve wages and
benefits, is holding a weeklong bus tour across the state this week.
Several potential presidential candidates have said they will
participate, including Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.,
Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., and Democratic New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards has joined the tour in other
states.
Wake Up Wal-Mart claims that by paying
low wages and offering few benefits, Wal-Mart indirectly receives
government subsidies since its workers are eligible for programs such as
Medicaid and food stamps.
Bob McAdam, Wal-Mart's vice president
of corporate communications, said he has invited the candidates to tour
Wal-Mart's stores and meet employees to "learn the truth about our
company."
"The paid critics and the politicians
who join them at these publicity stops are attacking the wrong company
and should stop telling working families where to shop and work," McAdam
said. "We're disappointed that these politicians are speaking out
without paying attention to the facts."
Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark.,
claims it has created 240,000 jobs nationwide in the last three years
with an average full-time hourly wage of $10.11. Wal-Mart officials said
they offer health coverage to all employees, with health plans starting
at $11 per month in some areas.
"We plan to make all of our roughly
18,000 associates in Iowa aware of the misguided attacks aimed at
scoring special-interest political points by playing politics with our
company," McAdam said. "We think elected officials should spend their
time on real solutions to real challenges."
Wal-Mart said it will begin sending
"fact check" letters to its employees in other states, including more
than 8,000 in New Hampshire, nearly 27,000 in South Carolina and more
than 12,000 employees in Nevada.
© 2006 AP Wire and wire service
sources. All Rights Reserved.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart takes the
fight to its critics
By Jonathan Birchall
and Holly Yeager
Financial Times
Aug 16, 2006
[back to top]
John Edwards, Democratic
vice-presidential candidate in 2004, was in Pittsburgh this month doing
his bit for the party ahead of November's midterm elections to the US
Congress. His agenda included addressing a rally against the
shortcomings not of the Bush administration but of Wal-Mart, the
country's biggest retailer and largest private-sector employer.
"Wal-Mart needs to be a more
responsible employer, by offering decent wages," Mr Edwards told a crowd
who had turned out to support Wake Up Wal-Mart, a campaigning group
funded by the UFCW grocery workers' union that, along with others, the
company staunchly refuses to recognise. Mr Edwards also attacked the
company's record on health benefits, arguing that the dependence of some
Wal-Mart employees on state-funded Medicare programmes meant the chain
was being unfairly subsidised.
"Every consumer should know when they
walk into Wal-Mart their tax dollars are going to provide healthcare for
Wal-Mart workers . . . while the people who own Wal-Mart are making
billions of dollars," he proclaimed. The retailer struck back
immediately. A Wal-Mart official denounced the Pittsburgh event as part
of "a union-funded publicity stunt that's more about politics than
anything else".
Then Working Families for Wal-Mart,
officially a non-profit lobbying group, hit even harder, pointing out
that the former senator's family had previously held Wal-Mart shares.
"Now he and other political candidates are telling working men and women
that they can't save money or take jobs at Wal-Mart? This is all about
special-interest politics. And that's sad," said a spokeswoman for
Working Families.
This is the world of Wal-Mart, the
political retailer.
Under Lee Scott, chief executive, the
company has in the past year expanded beyond the usual realm of
corporate lobbying to wage a fully-fledged campaign in the mainstream of
American politics. "When a company is as large as ours, we're certainly
going to have a lot of interaction with both politics and government,"
says Bob McAdam, vice-president of corporate affairs.
On Tuesday it sent 18,000 "voter
education" letters to its employees in Iowa, pointing out what it said
were factual errors made by politicians who had attacked the company.
The group is to despatch similar letters to its staff in other states.
But Wal-Mart's embrace of some of the
darker arts of US politics – it has set up a campaign-style "war room"
at its Bentonville, Arkansas headquarters – also attests to the success
its critics have had in turning the "big-box" retailer into a political
issue at local, state and, increasingly, national level.
In January, Maryland passed a law
aimed at making Wal-Mart increase the amount it spends on its workers'
health benefits – a move that has led to similar legislation being
proposed elsewhere. In July, in an initiative aimed at large national
retailers including Wal-Mart, Chicago's city council passed an ordinance
intended to raise the minimum wage for retail workers.
John Kerry, to whom Mr Edwards was
running-mate, cited Wal-Mart and the family of founder Sam Walton in a
speech this month on the failings of the US healthcare system. "It's
unconscionable and it is unacceptable that five of the 10 richest people
in America are Wal-Mart stockholders from the same family – worth
double-digit billions each – but they can't find the money to secure
health coverage for their own workers and their families," he
complained.
Senator Byron Dorgan in his new book,
Take This Job and Ship It , uses the company to illustrate what he sees
as bad consequences of globalisation. He devotes a chapter to Wal-Mart's
business practices in China, which he calls "the most obvious example of
what has gone terribly amiss on the way to a healthy and truly free
market".
For Wal-Mart, all this raises an
unwelcome possibility – that it will become a focus of debate during the
2008 presidential election campaign as well, something that its union
critics are eager to bring about. "It's going to be so important in the
presidential cycle," says Chris Kofinis, of the Wake Up Wal-Mart
campaign. "Everyone is going to talk about this issue . . . about where
you stand on corporations that make $11bn a year in profits and say they
can't afford to pay for healthcare for their workers."
Wal-Mart's evolving political
strategy, shaped with advice and support from Edelman, the public
relations consultancy, has been twofold. First, it has attacked its
critics – arguing that it is the victim of an unholy alliance between
Democrat lawmakers and the unions they rely on to deliver votes and
campaign financing. Second, it is seeking to make the argument that the
company is good for America.
It is doing this by mobilising its own
political constituency, seeking alliances with local community leaders
and businesses – in particular, black and Hispanic groups – that accept
Wal-Mart's argument that the company helps low-income Americans by
offering low prices and jobs with the prospect of advancement.
Working Families for Wal-Mart, funded
mainly by the retailer, is part of both strategies. Operating with more
personal animosity than might be appropriate from the company itself, it
is attacking the store chain's critics. For instance, it has just
launched a website called PaidCritics.com, aimed at exposing what it
says are special-interest links between the anti-Wal-Mart campaign, the
unions and politicians in the Democratic party (Wake Up Wal-Mart struck
back with its own site –
Abunchofgreedyrightwingliarswhoworkforwalmart.com).
Working Families has also set out to
mobilise support. It is chaired by Andrew Young, the pro-business former
mayor of Atlanta who served as the first black US ambassador to the
United Nations. Its board includes Hispanic business figures, while its
recently created state organising groups include leading black clergy.
"There's a large majority of people
out there who support Wal-Mart and who have had no vehicle to voice
their opinions on what they see as Wal-Mart's positive impact on their
lives and on the economy," says Kevin Sheridan, Working Families
campaign director and a former spokesman for the Republican National
Committee.
At the same time, Wal-Mart has
reorganised its own community relations operations and has announced
plans for "Wal-Mart jobs and opportunity zones" in inner-city areas,
aimed in part at encouraging businesses owned by people from ethnic
minorities.
In an indication of the strategy's
potential, the black caucus on Chicago's city council was evenly split
on the move to set a minimum wage for workers in the city's big stores –
with opponents saying depressed inner-city areas needed Wal-Mart's
investment and tax revenues.
The vote in Chicago also highlights
the risk to the Democrats of trying to use Wal-Mart's record to
galvanise support in the run-up to 2008. While Mr Kerry and Mr Edwards
might see Wal-Mart's low-paying jobs and healthcare record as a rallying
point for voters who feel left out of the American dream, other elements
of the party will take a different view – including New York's Senator
Hillary Clinton, who in 1986-92 served on the board of the retailer
based in Arkansas, her home state.
John Zogby, the pollster, argues that
focusing too much on Wal-Mart "means no net gain", because union voters
already favour the Democrats and the party must seek other support if it
is to recapture the White House in 2008. "When are the Democrats going
to talk to Wal-Mart shoppers?" he asks (see below left). Mr Zogby, who
has done some polling work for Wake Up Wal-Mart, says Democrats still
lack "a strategy that deals with Joe and Mary Middle America – and Joe
and Mary Middle America are at Wal-Mart".
Polling shows that people who shop at
Wal-Mart do care about human rights and worker healthcare, he adds.
Democrats therefore need a more subtle message "about trouble in
paradise, without carpet-bombing paradise. There are too many people who
shop there".
Mr McAdam counters that the recent
criticisms from the Democrats are instead tied to the party's own
battles in the primaries. To win union support, candidates are prepared
to deliver an anti-Wal-Mart message that will often not be carried
through in the coming midterm campaign.
"There's abundant survey data that
says that attacking Wal-Mart for the population as a whole is
detrimental," he argues. "So if they persist in doing this as the
general election approaches, they may find themselves doing more harm
than good."
Wal-Mart is meanwhile taking no
chances. It is pursuing a broad effort to enhance its public image,
including its record on environmental sustainability. That might drive a
wedge in an alliance between its union critics and environmental groups
such as the Sierra Club, which have faulted the company on issues
ranging from waste water management to its stores' impact on urban
sprawl.
In a sign that political Wal-Mart is
here to stay, Leslie Dach, a former political adviser to Al Gore's
failed 2000 presidential campaign, this month becomes head of its
government relations and corporate communications. Mr Dach, who will
serve on the company's powerful executive committee, joins Wal-Mart from
Edelman, where he became the retailer's top politics tutor.
His appointment shows just how far the
chain has come, with its small army of consultants and political
advisers, from the days when Sam Walton argued that if you gave the
customers low prices and good service, everything else would look after
itself.
Mr McAdam, who will work for Mr Dach,
argues that the retailer had no choice. "I think any company that is
faced by the kind of campaign-style attacks would be naive not to
respond in kind. It became clear to us that, to maintain our ability to
do our business, we needed to have a similar style of response."
Copyright The Financial Times Ltd. All
rights reserved.
[back to top]
Chamber maintains neutral stance as curiosity over potential WalMart
grows
Angela Anderson
Cochrane Times
Wednesday August 16, 2006
[back to top]
In keeping with its neutral position
on the issue of a big box store being allowed for in Cochrane, the
Cochrane and District Chamber of Commerce is holding an information
session for residents and businesses at the Cochrane RancheHouse
theatre. At 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 26, the chamber will be host to both
sides of the issue. "Our members are neutral, they are split right down
the middle," said Chamber of Commerce president Adamo Cocuzzoli. He said
the Chamber believes it's important to present both sides of the issue
so the town can make a proper decision on the matter. "This is just to
present information to educate the people who want to make a
presentation to council at the public hearing," he added. Information
that will be presented at the session will cover the Downtown Area
Redevelopment by-law amendment process, under which a request by a
developer has been made to allow for big box stores inside town limits.
Also, people attending will hear presentations from speakers on the
effects that a big box store has had on their communities. "The
information that will be presented will be unbiased, as concerns for and
against big box stores will be presented," said a release from the
Chamber announcing the information session. Attendees to the meeting are
being asked to hold their questions and concerns because they will not
be addressed. "Forms will be handed out to the participants in which
they can ask any questions they may have and the chamber will endeavor
to answer them at a later time," said the release. The Chamber is asking
people to register, in case the meeting prompts an overwhelming
response, in which case a second session will be scheduled.
Springwood Development currently has an option on a large parcel of land
on Railway Street, known as the old Domtar site. That land has been
contaminated and not used since the 1980s. If Springwood develops on
that land, it is believed that they will likely take responsibility for
cleaning it up as well. While president of the company Bill Butler said
in an earlier interview with the Times that they have some possible
clients in mind to occupy the land, he said the company hopes to work
with the community to determine what would work well for local
businesses and residents. He said a big box store is likely what they
would want to build, and to have that happen, amendments to the Downtown
Area Redevelopment Plan are key, as the plan currently doesn't allow for
big box stores. A public hearing on possible amendments to the Downtown
Area Redevelopment Plan is going to be help Sept. 13 in council
chambers.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart
charge hurts profit; forecast maintained
By Emily Kaiser
Tue Aug 15, 2006
[back to top]
CHICAGO, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. <WMT.N> on Tuesday reported a 26 percent drop in quarterly
profit -- its first earnings decline in more than 10 years -- because of
a charge for selling its German stores to a rival, but it maintained its
full-year profit forecast.
Excluding the $863 million loss on the
sale of the German stores, second-quarter earnings per share met Wall
Street expectations.
But analysts raised concerns about
falling margins at Wal-Mart's key U.S. discount stores, by far its
biggest division. Wal-Mart's shares slipped 1 percent in opening trading
on the New York Stock Exchange.
"The quality of Wal-Mart's
second-quarter earnings was low," J.P. Morgan analyst Charles Grom wrote
in a note to clients, pointing out that margins declined 24 basis points
at the U.S. discount stores because of rising utility expenses and
maintenance costs from remodeling stores.
Net income fell to $2.08 billion, or
50 cents per share, in the second quarter that ended July 31, from $2.8
billion, or 67 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding the loss on the sale of the
German stores to Metro AG <MEOG.DE>, earnings per share were 72 cents in
the latest period, in line with the average forecast of analysts polled
by Reuters Estimates.
Grom noted that Wal-Mart's earnings
were boosted by 3 cents per share because the retailer classified the
stores it is selling as "discontinued" operations. Earnings would have
been a weaker-than-expected 69 cents per share had those operations been
included in the core operations, he said.
SALES GROWTH SLOWS
Lee Scott, Wal-Mart's chief executive,
said the company was disappointed with U.S. sales for the second
quarter, which were up 6.9 percent at the Wal-Mart discount stores. A
year earlier, the retailer posted a 10.4 percent sales increase at the
U.S. Wal-Mart stores.
"Customers tell us that they're most
concerned about gas prices," Scott said on a prerecorded call.
Wal-Mart, the world's biggest
retailer, caters to lower-income shoppers, who have been hit especially
hard by rising gasoline prices. The average price per gallon of gasoline
was $3 last week, up 45 cents from a year earlier, according to a
government report released on Monday.
Quarterly sales rose 11.3 percent to
$84.52 billion.
Wal-Mart has been adding more upscale
merchandise, such as trendy clothing and organic food, to try to get
wealthier shoppers to buy more high-margin items.
The retailer is also in the process of
remodeling hundreds of stores, and some analysts have questioned whether
those efforts have caused disruption and hurt sales.
Wal-Mart's last decline in quarterly
profit came in the fourth quarter that ended Jan. 31, 1996. That had
been its first drop in profit since becoming a publicly traded company
in 1970.
The retailer said it still expects
full-year profit in the range of $2.88 to $2.95 per share, excluding the
loss from selling the German stores. Analysts, on average, expected
$2.92, according to Reuters Estimates, and some on Wall Street had
worried that Wal-Mart would lower its forecast.
For the third quarter, Wal-Mart
expects earnings of 59 cents to 63 cents per share. Analysts expected 63
cents.
The company's shares are down about
4.5 percent this year on lackluster sales growth at its stores. The
stock trades at about 13.5 times analysts' profit forecasts for next
year, compared with 13.6 times for rival Target Corp. <TGT.N>.
The shares fell 44 cents to $44.56 in
early NYSE trading.
© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart may
resume buybacks by fiscal year-end
By Emily Kaiser
Tue Aug 15, 2006
[back to top]
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores
Inc. <WMT.N> hopes to resume share repurchases by the end of the current
fiscal year if the share price remains around current levels, Chief
Financial Officer Tom Schoewe told Reuters on Tuesday.
The world's biggest retailer has not
bought back any stock in the first half of the year, which ended on July
31, because its debt load is heavier than it would like.
Wal-Mart aims for a debt-to-capital
ratio of about 40 percent. As of July 31, that figure stood at 41.8
percent, Schoewe said.
"Certainly between now and the end of
the fiscal year we'll be back in line with our 40-percent target, and if
the stock continues to be the value it is today, it wouldn't surprise me
to see us in the market," he said in a telephone interview.
Wal-Mart's stock price is down about
4.5 percent in the year-to-date, hurt by disappointing sales growth and
concerns about rising costs for utilities and transportation. The shares
are off some 24 percent over the past five years.
Earlier on Tuesday, Wal-Mart posted a
26-percent drop in quarterly profit because of an $863 million loss on
the sale of its German stores, marking its first quarterly earnings
decline in more than 10 years and only the second since becoming a
publicly traded company in 1970.
Analysts have raised concerns about
sluggish growth and disappointing margins at its key U.S. discount
stores, which account for about two-thirds of the company's total sales.
The world's biggest retailer is
remodeling hundreds of stores as it tries to make them more attractive
to shoppers. Schoewe acknowledged that those remodeling efforts have
been disruptive, but said the retailer was taking steps to ease the
transition.
"It's not like we haven't done this
before," he said. "We plan ahead for these things, try to (increase
staffing) to make sure we can handle it, but at the end of the day you
are going to disrupt your customer," he said.
Wal-Mart hopes to complete the
remodeling efforts by the middle of the next fiscal year, which would be
around July 2007.
Wal-Mart's stock was off 53 cents, or
1.2 percent, at $44.47 in early New York Stock Exchange trading.
© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart deepens India focus
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 2006
[back to top]
KOLKATA: Wal-Mart is becoming more
serious about its India game plans. The retail behemoth, which has
decided to pull out of German and South Korea markets to concentrate on
core markets, has identified China and India as its future growth
drivers.
As the Arkansas headquarters of
Wal-Mart gears up to fine-tune its India entry plans, Amy Wyatt,
international corporate affairs spokesperson, Wal-Mart Stores, confirmed
the development to ET.
In an email interview, Ms Wyatt said:
“The divestitures will allow us to focus on our core markets and to
search for new opportunities in growing consumer markets such as India.
It will enable us to improve the overall financial position of our
international business and focus on our continued growth.”
This comes in the wake of Wal-Mart
getting the Union government approval to set-up a liaison office in
Bangalore. The company will undertake its Indian market research from
here.
While India and China have been
identified as the future growth drivers for the company, the core
markets identified are the countries of Latin America, Central America,
Mexico, Japan, Canada and the UK. “Certainly China is one of the markets
where we will focus on continued growth. We have plans to open 20 new
stores in China this year.
India is an emerging retail market, in
which also we have a high interest,” Ms Wyatt said Incidentally,
Wal-Mart had announced its plans to exit Germany about a fortnight back
and South Korea in May this year. Retail industry analysts have
acclaimed Wal-Mart’s move to quit these markets.
Love Goel, chairman & CEO, Growth
Ventures Group, an US-based investment firm with interests in the retail
sector, told ET from Minnesota in US: “Wal-Mart has made a brilliant
move to withdraw from Germany and Korea to focus on India. The Indian
market is much less competitive than Germany and Korea and its middle
class is hungry for modern retailing practices and products sold by
western retailers like Wal-Mart.”
However, Ms Wyatt refused to comment
on several rumours in the market about Wal-Mart entering into
partnership with an Indian company. “We are still in the research phase
in India and monitoring the Indian government’s policy on FDI,” she
said.
Recent reports in the Indian media
have, however, suggested that Wal-Mart has initiated discussions with
companies like DLF, Bharti, Mahindra & Mahindra and Reliance Industries
for possible tie-ups. Ms Wyatt, however, did not confirm this.
[back to top]
The Flip Side of
Wal-Mart's Pay Hikes
The world's largest
retailer has won kudos for raising starting pay. But some workers have
seen their wages capped
By Pallavi Gogoi
AUGUST 14, 2006
[back to top]
Wal-Mart (WMT ) made headlines with
its Aug. 8 announcement of pay hikes for some employees. The company,
one of the largest private employers in the country, said it is raising
the starting pay for employees at 1,200 of its Wal-Mart and Sam's Club
stores by 6% (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/9/06, "Wal-Mart's About-Face").
But the real story is more complex.
Interviews with workers and officials at the company as well as outside
experts reveal that many employees will see their pay capped because of
the retailer's new compensation plan.
The company is instituting new pay
ranges for each job category and limiting wages in each category. Once
employees hit the top of their pay range, their hourly rate will be
frozen, with no cost-of-living adjustments. "There's no talk here about
any raises, and no one here has gotten a raise. All they've talked about
are the caps," says Rosetta Brown, who works at Sam's Club, the
warehouse club division of Wal-Mart Stores, in Cicero, Ill.
NOT MUCH ROOM. Wal-Mart acknowledges
that more than 30,000 of its employees are already at or above the cap
for their job category. The company says that associates who want to
move beyond their pay maximum may apply for a new job within the
company.
No associate's salary will be reduced
as long as the associate remains in his or her current job. "The wage
caps give current associates an incentive to move up to higher positions
if they want to make more money," says John Simley, spokesman for
Wal-Mart. The retailer is the largest in the country, ahead of rivals
Target (TGT ) and Costco Wholesale (COST ).
Brown is not happy with the new
compensation plan. She has worked at Sam's Club for eight years and is
now a store clerk, checking shoppers' purchases at the door. She makes
$12.24 an hour and says that she's probably has not hit the cap for her
job description.
Still, she doesn't believe there's
lots of room for advancement. The store she works at has fewer managers
today, 8, than the 13 it had a few years ago, she says. "There are
people who have worked here for 13 or 14 years and haven't been
promoted," she says.
Wal-Mart is not releasing the details
of what the new salary bands are. Brown doesn't know the specifics for
her job category. She says her manager is at a gathering in Kansas City,
and she expects to find out more on Aug. 19.
BUS TOUR. Chris Kofinis, spokesman for
WakeUpWalMart.com, an activist group started last year by the United
Food & Commercial Workers Union, points out that despite the positive
headlines, Wal-Mart workers don't benefit from the pay hikes because
they're only for new employees. "Not a single Wal-Mart employee has
received a raise," he says. In fact, the number of new employees who
benefit from the pay raise may very well be smaller than the number who
see their pay capped under the company's new plan.
Wal-Mart's announcement of pay hikes
comes as it faces pressure to improve wages and health benefits. The
city of Chicago recently passed an ordinance to raise the minimum wage
at big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Costco to $10 an
hour. On Aug. 1, WakeUpWalMart.com kicked off a nationwide 35-city bus
tour from New York to Seattle, aimed at pressuring Wal-Mart to increase
wages and provide better health care to its employees (see
BusinessWeek.com, 8/2/06, "Wal-Mart Foes Hop A Bandwagon").
Kofinis says Wal-Mart may end up
lowering compensation overall because its new pay plan could frustrate
more experienced employees, who tend to earn higher pay. "Wal-Mart is
creating conditions that will push out loyal workers who have worked
there full-time for many years," says Kofinis. "I say why doesn't
[Wal-Mart Chief Executive] Lee Scott have a salary cap?"
Wal-Mart's Simley counters that
executives at Wal-Mart do have a salary cap. "Two years ago, Wal-Mart
established pay ranges for all management and salaried positions," he
says. Simley didn't provide any details on what the salary caps for top
executives are. Scott's compensation in Wal-Mart's fiscal year ended
January, 2006, was $10.6 million, up 23% from the previous year. In the
same period, Wal-Mart's stock fell 13%.
Simley also notes that there are many
openings for assistant manger positions around the country and says that
Wal-Mart has added middle-management positions. However, when pressed
for the total number of managers that Wal-Mart has today, vs. three to
five years ago, Simley declined to provide details.
Copyright 2000- 2006 by The
McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart May Post First Profit Drop in 10 Years on German Exit
Lauren Coleman-Lochner
Bloomberg
Aug. 14
[back to top]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's
biggest retailer, tomorrow may report its first profit decline in 10
years on the cost of last month's decision to pull out of Germany.
Second-quarter net income probably
fell 23 percent to $2.15 billion, or 51 cents a share, said Deborah
Weinswig of Citigroup Inc., Institutional Investor's top-ranked
retailing analyst for 2005. Sales for the fiscal quarter ended July 28
may have risen 14 percent to $87.8 billion as shoppers bought school
supplies and uniforms, she said.
Wal-Mart's failure in Germany and its
exit from South Korea in May show the difficulty the low-price retailer
faces as it looks abroad to counter slower growth at home. Abandoning
Germany, where it was thwarted by native discounters Aldi Group and Lidl,
cost Wal-Mart $1 billion before taxes in the quarter.
``The concept did not translate
well,'' said Patricia Edwards, a Seattle-based money manager at
Wentworth Hauser & Violich, which has $8.2 billion in assets including
Wal-Mart shares. ``Every market has got somebody who's already in there
selling stuff cheap.''
Excluding the German charge,
Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart probably earned $3 billion, or 72
cents a share, in the quarter, Weinswig said. Wal-Mart said last month
it is selling its 85 German stores to Metro AG.
Overseas Goals
Wal-Mart announced the German pullout
two months after it said it would sell its 16 South Korean supercenters
to Shinsegae Co., the country's largest discounter. Wal-Mart hasn't said
if the South Korea decision would hurt profit for the quarter.
Leaving Germany and South Korea
suggests Wal-Mart is further from its target of getting a third of its
sales and profit growth overseas. In the fiscal year ended last January,
its sales increase abroad accounted for 24 percent of the total gain.
About 20 percent of Wal-Mart's $312.4 billion in sales came from outside
the U.S.
Wal-Mart Chief Executive Officer H.
Lee Scott wants to expand abroad because the retailer isn't growing as
rapidly at home as it once did. Comparable-store sales growth in the
U.S. from February through July averaged 2.9 percent, down from 3.4
percent in the year through January.
Wal-Mart shares fell 20 cents, or 0.5
percent, to $44.69 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading Aug. 11.
The stock dropped 3.2 percent in the quarter, compared with a 1.1
percent decline by the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Of the 24 Wal-Mart analysts tracked by
Bloomberg, 16 rate Wal-Mart shares ``buy,'' and eight say ``hold.''
Pursuing Fashion
With U.S. sales growth trailing that
of Target Corp., the second-largest U.S. discounter, Wal-Mart also is
trying to persuade affluent U.S. shoppers to buy pricier and more-
profitable items. During the quarter, Wal-Mart introduced a clothing
line aimed at fashion-conscious young men called Exsto.
Wal-Mart is ``trying to introduce more
fresh merchandise, getting some designer exclusives, taking a page out
of Target's book,'' said Lori Wachs, a portfolio manager at Delaware
Investments in Philadelphia, with $100 billion in assets including
Wal-Mart shares.
At the same time, Wal-Mart lowered
prices to entice shoppers coping with the rising cost of gasoline. A
gallon of regular gasoline averaged $2.92 in the quarter, up 33 percent
from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The
company cut prices on 500 items at cut rates in June, Chief Financial
Officer Tom Schoewe said July 6.
Target's Gains
Wal-Mart customers, with average
household incomes of about $35,000, are hurt more by higher fuel prices,
said Rick Rubin, an analyst at Baltimore-based Mercantile Bankshares
Corp., which has $22 billion in assets including Wal-Mart and Target
shares. He estimates the average income for Target customers at $55,000.
Target has outpaced Wal-Mart in growth
at stores open more than a year by offering clothing and housewares by
designers such as Isaac Mizrahi and Cynthia Rowley. The
Minneapolis-based company's comparable-store sales rose 5.6 percent last
year. Target doesn't have stores outside the U.S.
Target on Aug. 10 said second-quarter
profit increased 13 percent to $609 million, or 70 cents a share.
Revenue climbed 11 percent to $13.3 billion. Same-store sales gained 4.6
percent.
Scott, 57, earned $15.7 million in
salary, stock options and bonus last year. Wal-Mart's net income rose
9.4 percent for the year, the smallest increase since 2001. The company
said Scott also was awarded restricted shares tied to revenue growth.
Margin Threats
Wal-Mart faces threats to its U.S.
profit margins from attempts to regulate what the retailer pays workers.
Chicago last month passed a bill that requires workers at stores larger
than 90,000 square feet, like Wal-Mart's, to pay at least $9.25 an hour
plus $1.50 in benefits. Other cities, including New York, have passed
minimum levels for wages or benefits as Wal-Mart seeks to expand into
urban areas.
In China last week, the company agreed
to allow employees of its 60 stores there to unionize, which it hasn't
allowed U.S. employees to do. That decision may increase pressure from
unions and community groups that have been pushing the company to raise
wages and benefits in the U.S.
[back to top]
Past Wal-Mart
executive gets home detention
China Economic Net
Aug 14 2006 [back to top]
Thomas M. Coughlin, the former vice
chairman at Wal-Mart Stores Inc, was sentenced to 27 months' home
detention, avoiding prison after admitting he falsified expense reports
to buy liquor, care for his dogs and upgrade his truck, Bloomberg News
reported.
US District Judge Robert T. Dawson in
Fort Smith, Arkansas, took into consideration Coughlin's fragile health
in sentencing him to home detention, five years probation and a
US$50,000 fine. Coughlin, 57, will also pay US$411,218 in restitution to
Wal-Mart and the US government. Prosecutors asked Dawson to sentence
Coughlin to up to a year in prison.
"I think it's clear Mr Coughlin is an
exemplary citizen who has risen to the top, but he has had a pretty
spectacular fall," Dawson said before announcing the sentence in a
hearing on Friday. "Considering the worldwide ridicule and
embarrassment, the worst punishment may have already been administered."
Wal-Mart, the world's biggest
retailer, has accused Coughlin in a civil suit of wrongly claiming
reimbursement for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of items
including hunting gear, dog food, underwear, beef jerky and a stuffed
wild boar. Coughlin, a friend of the late Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton,
was head of theft prevention when he joined the company in 1978.
In January, Coughlin pleaded guilty to
five counts of wire fraud and a single count of failing to report income
from the fraud on his 2000 federal tax return. At the time of Coughlin's
guilty plea, Wal-Mart called the case "embarrassing and painful."
Coughlin was the retailer's
second-ranking executive before he retired in January 2005. Coughlin's
salary and bonus amounted to US$3.9 million in 2005 and 2004, US$3.2
million in 2003 and US$1.8 million in 2002, according to data compiled
by Bloomberg.
Prosecutors said Coughlin committed
his thefts with the help of Robert E. Hey Jr, Wal-Mart's director of
operations development. Hey pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud
in November and was sentenced to six months probation and a US$3,300
fine.
Source:Shanghai Daily
@ China Economic Net All rights reserved
[back to top]
Minn Human Rights Dept Backs Bias Claim Against
Wal-Mart
Dow Jones Newswires
08-13-06
[back to top]
ST. PAUL (AP)--The Minnesota
Department of Human Rights is backing an Eagan woman in her claim of
racial discrimination by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT).
Employees of the Eagan Wal-Mart store
had accused Gayle Bryant of using a bad check into buy about $93 worth
of bottled water and household goods.
They called police, who waited for her
to leave the store and then stopped her for questioning. The check was
good, however.
The human rights department says it
found probable cause to support Bryant's contention that she was singled
out for being black.
Wal-Mart later offered Bryant $1,000
after blaming the incident on overalertness for fraud. The company has
said the matter was not race-related.
Bryant's attorney said they and
Wal-Mart have a settlement meeting planned for October.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart fills in the gaps
Smaller towns,
bedroom communities attract the giant retailer's attention
Sue Stock
The News & Observer Publishing Company
Aug 11, 2006
[back to top]
There are already 14 Wal-Mart stores
in the Triangle, and the world's No. 1 retailer is making plans for as
many as five more. Although that might seem like overkill to some, the
expansion is part of Wal-Mart's new growth strategy. Nationwide, the
retailer is moving away from markets it has saturated and toward
"secondary markets" such as Holly Springs, where it has little or no
presence, but there is lots of growth potential.
Many of these areas fall between
cities where Wal-Mart already has stores, and the shift in development
philosophy means booming areas such as Holly Springs, Morrisville and
Knightdale are suddenly prime locations.
It also is moving away from the
discount stores that made it famous and is opening supercenters almost
exclusively, because they have full grocery sections and are able to
help the retailer better penetrate a new market.
Wal-Mart is betting on growth when it
chooses new store locations. Recent developments suggest that the
Triangle's smaller markets, such as Holly Springs, are safe bets.
Drug maker Novartis recently selected
Holly Springs for a $267 million manufacturing plant that will create an
estimated 350 jobs over five years. That means more households -- and
more demand for retail stores.
"Wal-Mart can certainly afford to have
a store sit in an up-and-coming community for 10 years," said Marshal
Cohen, chief analyst for research firm The NPD Group. "That's why they
can afford to enter some of these communities that other retailers
cannot."
Wal-Mart is pushing into areas early,
typically getting in before there's significant competition and land
values get too high.
It's doing so rapidly, despite critics
who say Wal-Mart has grown too big already: In July alone, it opened 32
stores, including 25 supercenters.
Right now, Wal-Mart's development plan
for the Triangle includes new stores in Knightdale, Holly Springs and
Morrisville.
In addition, a 72-acre shopping center
proposed near northeast Raleigh's Triangle Town Center could be anchored
by a Wal-Mart, area developers said. A Southeast Raleigh store at the
corner of Rock Quarry and Sunnybrook roads also is proposed.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Tara Stewart
could not confirm a store near the mall but said the company would love
to build in Southeast Raleigh and is awaiting the city council's
approval. That proposal has been referred to the city's comprehensive
planning committee.
Stewart said the reason for Wal-Mart's
rapid expansion in the Triangle is easy to explain.
"We follow the rooftops, of course,"
she said. "We are looking to serve a population right now that we feel
is underserved."
Building several stores simultaneously
helps Wal-Mart maximize its distribution centers and uphold its
reputation for running efficient operations, said Fred Marx, a retail
expert with Marx Layne, a marketing and public relations firm in
Farmington Hills, Mich.
"It means very little to the customer,
but it means everything in the way stores are built," he said. "They can
put out the bids collectively, and it's far more efficient."
Fallout when Wal-Mart comes
The arrival of each new Wal-Mart
Supercenter changes the landscape around it. The stores generate taxes
-- property taxes on the nine Wal-Mart stores in Wake County totaled
more than $1.1 million this year -- and their arrival tends to increase
local land values and attract other retailers.
Look at the supercenter that opened in
2004 on New Bern Avenue in Raleigh: Where once there was just Wal-Mart,
now there is a strip shopping center, complete with an auto repair shop,
restaurants and a Starbucks. That kind of draw makes Wal-Mart a valuable
tenant for city officials and real estate developers.
WRS, a real estate investment firm
based in Aiken, S.C., builds Wal-Mart-anchored shopping centers in the
Southeast.
"It's our livelihood," said Gary
Anthony, WRS' director of leasing. "They're either relocating or
building another store all the time."
WRS, which built a Wal-Mart shopping
center in Wake Forest in 2004, is planning 50,000 square feet of shops
around the planned Wal-Mart in Holly Springs. It's one of nine WRS is
developing in the Southeast right now. In the past, it was more common
for the company to build only five or six Wal-Mart shopping centers at a
time, Anthony said. "We've probably done 25 or 30 in the past year," he
said. "And we're doing more every year."
But just because Wal-Mart will be the
first big retailer in some of these towns doesn't mean Wal-Mart has it
easy.
The Triangle is among the most
competitive grocery markets in the country, with several major chains,
discount warehouse clubs and a growing number of upscale gourmet stores.
Some of the markets Wal-Mart has
selected may have more competition by the time Wal-Mart opens its doors.
The Holly Springs store is planned
near the site where Harris Teeter just announced it will build its
second Holly Springs store.
And as Wal-Mart gets bigger, it also
contends with more negative sentiment about its business practices,
criticism that often surfaces at public meetings related to its new
stores. This year, the state of Maryland tried unsuccessfully to force
Wal-Mart to spend more on employee health insurance.
Wal-Mart has tried to counter
complaints about its wages and health-care benefits with advertising
that touts its commitment to diversity. Just this week, it announced a 6
percent pay raise for employees at 1,200 stores.
Still, the anti-Wal-Mart faction is
another reason for the company to act early to enter markets, before
they are fully developed, said Connell Radcliff, president of Cary's 1st
Carolina Properties.
"It's going to be more difficult later
than it is today to get into that market," he said. "Land costs will go
up, No. 1. But then the people come out of the woodwork who are
anti-Wal-Mart. So if you wait, along with paying more for the property,
you're also having to fight the anti-Wal-Mart movement."
Some of that sentiment surfaced last
year in Chatham County when residents balked at rumors that Wal-Mart was
planning a store on U.S. 15-501. It came up again this summer at
Morrisville's public hearings about its new Wal-Mart. But the town's
board of commissioners granted Wal-Mart the special-use permit it needed
after a three-month review.
Morrisville is trying to balance big
national retailers with residents' desire for a hometown atmosphere,
planning director Ben Hitchings said. Along with courting larger
retailers, Morrisville is trying to develop a town square with smaller,
specialty retail.
"With a rapidly growing community,
retailers are taking notice," Hitchings said. "But we also want to make
sure we offer a full range of retail experiences."
Even with four new stores in the works
-- and a fifth one a possibility -- Wal-Mart isn't finished in the
Triangle. Stewart said the retailer is also interested in more stores in
Cary and in Apex, where it failed in recent years after coming up
against staunch opposition from residents.
Any new store sites will be selected
strategically, she said. "The grocery industry has a profit of only 1 or
2 percent," she said. "And that's 1 or 2 percent on a good day. ... It
has to be very scientific and planned in advance."
(Staff writer Jack Hagel contributed
to this report.)
© Copyright 2006, The News & Observer
Publishing Company A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company
[back to top]
Wal-Mart
agrees to cooperate with unions in China
TaipeiTimes
Friday, Aug 11, 2006
[back to top]
Workers perform the warm-up dance
during the opening ceremony for a new Wal-Mart store in Shanghai on July
28 last year. PHOTO: AP
Wal-Mart Stores Inc said yesterday it
has agreed to cooperate with China's state-sanctioned labor group in
creating unions at its 60 Chinese outlets.
The announcement follows the creation
of unions at five of the company's Chinese stores and is a victory for
the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), the umbrella group for
unions permitted by the communist government. The ACFTU had accused
Wal-Mart of obstructing efforts to organize its 28,000 Chinese
employees.
"Our mutual aim is to establish
grassroots unions within each Wal-Mart store throughout China," a
statement issued by Wal-Mart said.
China doesn't allow independent
unions, and activists are frequently jailed and harassed. The ACFTU
often is regarded not as an advocate for better pay and working
conditions for employees but as an intermediary that represents
employers to workers.
Wal-Mart is preparing to hold talks
with the ACFTU on how to carry out union organizing, said Dong Yuguo, a
spokesman at the company's China headquarters in the southern city of
Shenzhen.
"We will talk about how the Wal-Mart
stores in China will organize unions," Dong said. "We will talk about
how to work with the ACFTU in a more effective and cooperative way."
Dong didn't give any details of when
additional union votes might take place, saying such work "will develop
step-by-step."
Wal-Mart has few unions elsewhere in
its worldwide operations.
The company's statement quoted Joe
Hatfield, president and CEO of Wal-Mart Asia, as saying it hopes its
relationship with the ACFTU is "prosperous for our associates and for
the growth of our business."
In a possible effort to mollify
Chinese officials, Hatfield invoked the phrase used by the government to
describe its current campaign to ease tensions over China's growing gap
between rich and poor.
"We believe this is conducive to
China's effort to build a harmonious society," Hatfield said.
Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville,
Arkansas, opened its first store in China in 1996.
Copyright © 1999-2006 The Taipei
Times. All rights reserved.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart to Help
Create Chinese Unions
By JOE McDONALD
AP
Aug 10
[back to top]
BEIJING (AP) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
said Thursday it has agreed to cooperate with China's state-sanctioned
labor group in creating unions at its 60 Chinese outlets.
The announcement follows the creation
of unions at five of the company's Chinese stores and is a victory for
the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the umbrella group for unions
permitted by the communist government. The ACFTU had accused Wal-Mart of
obstructing efforts to organize its 28,000 Chinese employees.
"Our mutual aim is to establish
grassroots unions within each Wal-Mart store throughout China," said a
statement issued by Wal-Mart.
China doesn't allow independent
unions, and activists are frequently jailed and harassed. The ACFTU
often is regarded not as an advocate for better pay and working
conditions for employees but as an intermediary that represents
employers to workers.
Wal-Mart is preparing to hold talks
with the ACFTU on how to carry out union organizing, said Dong Yuguo, a
spokesman at the company's China headquarters in the southern city of
Shenzhen.
"We will talk about how the Wal-Mart
stores in China will organize unions," Dong said. "We will talk about
how to work with the ACFTU in a more effective and cooperative way."
Dong didn't give any details of when
additional union votes might take place, saying such work "will develop
step-by-step."
Wal-Mart has few unions elsewhere in
its worldwide operations.
The company's statement quoted Joe
Hatfield, president and CEO of Wal-Mart Asia, as saying it hopes its
relationship with the ACFTU is "prosperous for our associates and for
the growth of our business."
In a possible effort to mollify
Chinese officials, Hatfield invoked the phrase used by the government to
describe its current campaign to ease tensions over China's growing gap
between rich and poor.
"We believe this is conducive to
China's effort to build a harmonious society," Hatfield said.
Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville,
Arkansas, opened its first store in China in 1996.
The new Wal-Mart unions are relatively
small, with about 25 to 30 members each. Unions in China represent the
work force of individual companies or stores, rather than a whole
industry. All unions must be affiliated with the ACFTU.
The first union was formed July 29 at
a Wal-Mart in the southeastern city of Quanzhou. Since then, workers
have formed three unions in Shenzhen and one in the eastern city of
Nanjing.
The ACFTU says expanding its presence
in private companies is one of its key goals, and it has expressed hope
that its success with Wal-Mart will boost efforts to organize workers
elsewhere.
About 26 percent of China's 150,000
foreign-financed companies have official labor unions, according to the
ACFTU. The group says it hopes to raise that to 60 percent this year.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All
rights reserved.
[back to top]
Report: Wal-Mart Agency Dropped From Review Chain Store Age
RetailNet
Thursday, August 10, 2006
[back to top]
Wal-Mart Stores dismissed one of its
two longtime creative agencies, Bernstein-Rein Advertising, Inc. in
Kansas City, Mo., by eliminating it from an account review that began in
May, according to a report by The New York Times. Wal-Mart spends more
than $570 million a year on advertising. Bernstein-Rein, which has
worked for Wal-Mart since 1974, has created campaigns that featured the
familiar smiley-face character as well as others focused on Wal-Mart's
low prices. Bernstein-Rein, which said it would continue working for
Wal-Mart through Jan. 31, was among five agencies eliminated from the
review. The others were JWT in New York, part of WPP; Kirshenbaum Bond &
Partners in New York, part of MDC Partners; and two agencies owned by
Publicis, Leo Burnett in Chicago and Publicis Worldwide in New York.
The Times said a final decision in the
review from Wal-Mart executives, who are looking to shake up their
advertising approaches in the face of intensified competition from
retailers like Target, is expected next month.
Wal-Mart spends more than $570 million
a year on advertising.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart opens door to unions
By David Barboza
The New York Times
Published: August 9, 2006
[back to top]
SHANGHAI After years of fighting
unionization efforts at its stores, Wal- Mart the world's largest
retailer, said Wednesday that it would work closely with Chinese
officials to establish labor unions at all of its outlets in the
country.
Saying it wanted to create "an
effective and harmonious way of facilitating the establishment of
grassroots unions," Wal-Mart announced that it would form an alliance
with the government-backed All China Federation of Trade Unions.
The announcement comes less than two
weeks after Wal-Mart employees established their first union in China
with the same government backing.
Four other Wal-Mart stores in China
have also formed unions.
Wal-Mart's decision to allow unions
also follows years of pressure from the All China Federation of Trade
Unions. It is pushing more large foreign companies here to allow
unionization, which is required under Chinese law.
While unions in China do not have the
history of bargaining power that unions in Europe and the United States
have, the Wal-Mart announcement is still an historic and surprising step
here.
The AFL-CIO, the umbrella organization
of the American labor movement, has been trying but has failed to set up
unions at Wal-Mart stores in the United States.
But China has become an increasingly
important market for Wal-Mart, which now has about 60 retail outlets and
30,000 employees in China.
Although Wal-Mart has strongly opposed
unions at its stores around the world, it said under pressure in late
2004 that if workers in China moved to unionize, the company would not
stop them.
With Wal-Mart aggressively expanding
its operations in China's booming retail market, the company issued a
brief statement Wednesday that seemed to echo the Chinese government's
latest propaganda campaign, which promises to build a "harmonious
society."
The company said in the statement,
entitled "Wal-Mart Supports China's Effort to Build a Harmonious
Society," that it would collaborate with the All China Federation
because the two groups had the "mutual aim" to establish grass-roots
unions.
Some experts, however, say that little
is known about how the unions are being formed and who has control of
them.
Liu Kaiming, director of the Institute
of Contemporary Observation, a labor rights organization based in
Shenzhen, applauded the Wal-Mart announcement but questioned whether it
would lead to significant change.
"I don't see any bargaining power in
the unions in China," Liu said. "The function of Chinese unions is to
urge workers to participate in the work, to care about their welfare and
to organize recreational activities for them."
In fact, independent unions are banned
in China. But the All China Federation issued a statement earlier this
week, suggesting that it would be able to contend with one of the
world's biggest companies. "If Wal-Mart union members are subjected to
unfair treatment at work, unions at the national, provincial, city and
district level will strive all out to protect employees' legitimate
rights," the announcement said.
SHANGHAI After years of fighting
unionization efforts at its stores, Wal- Mart the world's largest
retailer, said Wednesday that it would work closely with Chinese
officials to establish labor unions at all of its outlets in the
country.
Saying it wanted to create "an
effective and harmonious way of facilitating the establishment of
grassroots unions," Wal-Mart announced that it would form an alliance
with the government-backed All China Federation of Trade Unions.
The announcement comes less than two
weeks after Wal-Mart employees established their first union in China
with the same government backing.
Four other Wal-Mart stores in China
have also formed unions.
Wal-Mart's decision to allow unions
also follows years of pressure from the All China Federation of Trade
Unions. It is pushing more large foreign companies here to allow
unionization, which is required under Chinese law.
While unions in China do not have the
history of bargaining power that unions in Europe and the United States
have, the Wal-Mart announcement is still an historic and surprising step
here.
The AFL-CIO, the umbrella organization
of the American labor movement, has been trying but has failed to set up
unions at Wal-Mart stores in the United States.
But China has become an increasingly
important market for Wal-Mart, which now has about 60 retail outlets and
30,000 employees in China.
Although Wal-Mart has strongly opposed
unions at its stores around the world, it said under pressure in late
2004 that if workers in China moved to unionize, the company would not
stop them.
With Wal-Mart aggressively expanding
its operations in China's booming retail market, the company issued a
brief statement Wednesday that seemed to echo the Chinese government's
latest propaganda campaign, which promises to build a "harmonious
society."
The company said in the statement,
entitled "Wal-Mart Supports China's Effort to Build a Harmonious
Society," that it would collaborate with the All China Federation
because the two groups had the "mutual aim" to establish grass-roots
unions.
Some experts, however, say that little
is known about how the unions are being formed and who has control of
them.
Liu Kaiming, director of the Institute
of Contemporary Observation, a labor rights organization based in
Shenzhen, applauded the Wal-Mart announcement but questioned whether it
would lead to significant change.
"I don't see any bargaining power in
the unions in China," Liu said. "The function of Chinese unions is to
urge workers to participate in the work, to care about their welfare and
to organize recreational activities for them."
In fact, independent unions are banned
in China. But the All China Federation issued a statement earlier this
week, suggesting that it would be able to contend with one of the
world's biggest companies. "If Wal-Mart union members are subjected to
unfair treatment at work, unions at the national, provincial, city and
district level will strive all out to protect employees' legitimate
rights," the announcement said.
[back to top]
China's
state-backed union warns Wal-Mart
No. 1 retailer told
'not to take revengeful measures' against union members; company
reportedly calls for talks away from news media.
August 9 2006
[back to top]
BEIJING (Reuters) -- Sparring between
China's official trade union and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. intensified
Wednesday, with the union warning the world's largest retailer not to
act against members while the company called for talks.
Guo Wencai, an official from the All
China Federation of Trade Unions, said earlier that the two sides would
meet Wednesday to discuss the federation's campaign to spread official
unions into Wal-Mart that began two weeks ago.
But a deputy president of Wal-Mart
China, Li Chengjie, later told the official Xinhua news agency the
company was waiting for a reply to its request for talks away from news
media. Guo had said media would be present.
Guo warned Wal-Mart "not to take
revengeful measures" against workers who join unions, Xinhua reported
later in the day.
"The federation, led by the Communist
Party of China and backed by the government, will take measures to
protect these workers if Wal-Mart takes revenge against them," Xinhua
cited Guo as saying.
The report made no mention of any such
action by the company.
Wal-Mart resists unions in any of its
operations, while China is determined to introduce trade unions in all
local Wal-Mart stores, Guo said last week.
Two weeks ago, China's official labor
organization established a union at a Wal-Mart store in eastern China's
Fujian province.
Since then, four other unions have
formed at other Chinese Wal-Mart stores, according to Xinhua, which did
not specify their locations. One was established in Shenzhen in far
southern China, and another in Nanjing, capital of eastern China's
Jiangsu province, the federation said on its Web site.
The federation told Wal-Mart not to
interfere in the 31-member-strong Nanjing union.
"If Wal-Mart union members are
subjected to unfair treatment at work, unions at the national,
provincial, city and district level will strive all out to protect
employees' legitimate rights," the announcement said.
In the past, Wal-Mart has said it
listens to the needs of its Chinese workers and does not need the
official trade union to step in. In 2004, Wal-Mart China gave some
ground, issuing a statement that:
"Should associates request the
formation of a union, Wal-Mart China will respect their wishes and honor
its obligations under China's trade union law," Xinhua reported
Wednesday.
In a separate report on state
television, Guo said unionization would not harm Wal-Mart's development
in China. China aimed to establish unions in 60 percent of foreign
companies operating in the country by year's end, he added.
Official Chinese unions are largely
conduits for official policy and rarely encourage workers to strike. The
government opposes labor groups outside its control.
[back to top]
Why Wal-Mart wants to
sell ethanol
E85 is available at
only a tiny fraction of gas stations. But Fortune's Marc Gunther says
the giant retailer is poised to change that.
By Marc Gunther
Fortune
August 9 2006
[back to top]
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- More than 5
million vehicles on U.S. roads today can run on ethanol - a renewable
fuel that comes from corn - as well as gasoline. General Motors
(Charts), Ford (Charts) and DaimlerChrysler (Charts) recently announced
plans to double their annual production of so-called flex fuel vehicles
to two million cars and trucks by 2010.
It's the single largest commitment to
renewable fuels in the history of the auto industry - a good move for
the automakers, and for the planet, too.
Gas stations where you can purchase
ethanol are few and far between today.
The retailing giant is placing bets on
an environmentally friendly future. (more) How America's biggest company
became the world's biggest purchaser of organic cotton Wal-Mart's
unsentimental reasons for promoting sustainable fishing practices
That's because running cars and trucks
on E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, could
turn out to be a cost-effective way to reduce the carbon emissions that
cause global warming and curb our dependence on imported oil.
There's just one big problem.
Only about 800 service stations in the
United States, out of a total of 168,000, pump E85. There's not a single
E85 pump, for example, in all of New England.
You won't be surprised to learn that
the big oil companies are not, as a rule, interested in selling E85.
But Wal-Mart (Charts) is. The giant
retailer is considering selling ethanol at the eight stations that it
operates at Wal-Mart Stores and at about 380 more that it runs as part
of its Sam's Clubs division.
It could also decide to sell ethanol
in a partnership with Murphy Oil Corp. (Charts), which operates about
946 gas stations in Wal-Mart parking lots, and there's no reason why
Wal-Mart couldn't sell E85 - which it calls "America's Fuel" - at the
rest of its 3,000 U.S. stores.
"Our goal would be to make E-85
available across the U.S.," Rich Ezell, senior strategy manager of fuel
at Wal-Mart, said recently.
Why does Wal-Mart want to get into the
transportation fuel business?
Several reasons. First, selling
ethanol could be a new profit center for Wal-Mart, since the retailing
business is wide-open. It's also a way for the company to help its
customers save money; the less money they pour into the tank, the more
they have to spend at Wal-Mart.
Finally, Wal-Mart's interest in
alternative fuels like ethanol comes as part of its sweeping efforts to
adopt business practices that are better for the environment. To guide
its efforts, Wal-Mart has organized more than a dozen "sustainable value
networks" that are composed of suppliers, environmentalists, industry
experts and government officials.
The company brought an impressive
group of movers-and-shakers to the kickoff meeting of its alternative
fuels network in Washington last May. Participants included
representatives of GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler, the National Corn
Growers Association, ethanol-makers such as Cargill, Blue Fire Ethanol
and Iogen, consulting firms Green Strategies, BluSkye and the Rocky
Mountain Institute, and nonprofits Conservation International,
Environmental Defense, the Natural Resources Defense Fund, the World
Wildlife Fund and the Worldwatch Institute. For most of a day, they
discussed how Wal-Mart could help promote alternative fuels.
Afterwards, one longtime ethanol
advocate told me that Wal-Mart - if it agrees to distribute E85 - could
be a catalyst to making ethanol a mainstream alternative to gasoline for
millions of Americans.
"That would be a complete
game-changer," said Reid Detchon, the executive director of the Energy
Future Coalition. "Everybody knows where the local Wal-Mart is. You
would immediately know where to buy E85."
But Wal-Mart isn't ready to commit to
ethanol yet, insiders say.
Before doing so, the company needs to
feel confident that it will have access to ample supplies of ethanol, at
a price competitive with gasoline. That's a complicated matter - prices
for ethanol spiked this summer, even as lots of new supply is coming
into the market. Wal-Mart is also waiting for ethanol dispensers to get
certified by the Underwriters Laboratory, which tests products for
safety.
Some other key issues need to be
resolved before millions of Americans regularly fill their tanks with
ethanol. (For more, see How To Beat the High Cost of Gasoline. Forever!)
Many experts believe that so long as
ethanol comes from corn kernels or sugar cane, using ethanol for fuel
will create stresses on the world's food supply; they favor what's
called cellulosic ethanol, which can be made from prairie switchgrass,
corn husks or other waste products.
Mass production of cellulosic ethanol
isn't expected for a couple of years. Transporting ethanol from farm
country to population centers is another challenge. There's also debate
over the future of a 51-cent a gallon government subsidy for ethanol.
Consumers also need to learn more
about the fuel. The auto industry's working on that. You've probably
seen GM's clever "Live Green, Go Yellow" ad campaign, which can be found
online.
GM's also been trying to help build an
ethanol infrastructure. In California, Texas, Pennsylvania and several
Midwestern states, the automaker has helped bring together ethanol
refiners, governments and independent service stations to sell E85.
Those selling the fuel include Meijer supermarket chains and the Sheetz
convenience store chain.
The National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition
keeps a list of E85 stations online. Philip J. Lampert, the executive
director, says the number of stations has doubled in the past two years.
"It's still just a drop in the bucket, but we're making significant
progress," he says.
All this leaves people like Reid
Detchon - who has worked on ethanol issues since the 1980s, and served
in the energy department in the first Bush administration - feeling like
ethanol's moment may finally be here. Particularly if Wal-Mart gets on
board, Detchon says: "If oil stays at anything like these prices, I
think ethanol will grow as fast as the farmers can produce it. We are on
the cusp of a fundamental change."
[back to top]
Wal-Mart's About-Face
By Pallavi Gogoi
AUGUST 9, 2006
[back to top]
It's not only raising wages but also
updating products and remodeling stores to attract more affluent
shoppers
Wal-Mart is raising wages? The move
came as something of a shocker. After all, the retailing giant is known
for both its low prices and its low wages. So parsimonious is the
company that politicians across the country are turning to legislation
to compel Wal-Mart to pay employees an extra buck or two.
Yet this week, Wal-Mart (WMT ) said it
would raise the starting pay at 1,200 of its Wal-Mart and Sam's Club
stores by an average of 6%. "These start rate changes, combined with our
competitive benefits like affordable health care, 401K and profit
sharing, and annual incentives for our hourly associates, make us an
even more attractive employer, which is why people stand in line to
apply for Wal-Mart jobs," said Susan Chambers, executive vice-president
of the People Division for Wal-Mart Stores, in a statement. A spokesman
for the company said it had conducted a wage survey and found the
increases made sense to "remain competitive as an employer."
FAUX WOOD. The decision is certainly a
deft public relations move. It comes as the city of Chicago is on the
verge of raising the minimum wage for big box retailers like Wal-Mart to
$10 an hour. It also coincides with a month-long bus tour by activists
and politicians to prod the company into raising wages and improving
health-care benefits (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/2/06, "Wal-Mart Foes Hop a
Bandwagon"). "It's really an image thing," says David J. Abella,
portfolio manager at Rochdale Investment Management, which manages more
than $2 billion in assets.
Wal-Mart has fought hard against the
Chicago ordinance and criticized its detractors. The company has argued
that it pays reasonable wages and benefits and that states and
municipalities do not have the right to dictate its employment policies
(see BusinessWeek.com, 7/19/06, "Rollback Ruling Favors Wal-Mart").
But look more closely and the move to
raise wages seems like a key building block for a company in transition.
Wal-Mart studied its customer base closely last year and discovered that
many of its shoppers were quite affluent, not just the lower and middle
income customers it targeted. In a bid to get these affluent shoppers to
linger more in its stores and presumably buy more, higher-margin goods,
Wal-Mart has launched several initiatives in the past few months: It
introduced a trendy line of clothing called Metro7, moved to double the
number of organic products at its stores, and has started remodeling
half of its stores with wider aisles, faux-wood floors, and nicer
restrooms.
SOFT SALES. A higher wage structure
seemed to fit the image of this new Wal-Mart. At least in theory, if
Wal-Mart takes better care of its employees, they in turn will take
better care of the customers, especially the affluent shoppers it is
trying to court. "Wal-Mart finally recognized that retail is not just
about prices," says Patricia Edwards, managing director and portfolio
manager at Seattle-based Wentworth Hauser & Violich, a money manager
with $8.2 billion in assets including Wal-Mart shares. "To be good at
retail you have to have not just good prices but the right shopping
experience; people can be put off by rude clerks, dirty restrooms, and
long lines."
But will raising wages by 60 cents an
hour change employees' behavior? Maybe not enough. "I don't see the
possibility of attracting different types of customers just by raising
wages," says Barry Shaked, chief executive of Retalix, which provides
technology solutions to the retail and food industry. In fact, Shaked
believes that Wal-Mart is making a mistake by trying to go upscale.
"Wal-Mart is trying to have something for everyone and in the process it
will lose its current customer," he warns.
Already Wal-Mart's transition isn't
going as smoothly. According to Virginia Genereux, a Merrill Lynch
analyst, Wal-Mart's newer stores' sales per square foot slipped a little
in June. Considering these are likely the ones with the new store
redesign in place, it's a worrying slip. Charles Grom, an analyst with
J.P. Morgan Securities, says that existing stores could see soft sales
too, because of the extensive remodeling that will go on over the next
few months. "Once the remodels are done, they better be firing on all
cylinders," says Seattle portfolio manager Edwards.
Only time will tell whether the higher
wages will translate into better service at Wal-Mart. But George Rue,
chief investment officer for New Covenant Trust Company, which manages
$1.5 billion and owns Wal-Mart shares, points out that employees will
obviously take any wage increase they can get. "Whatever the motivation,
better wages from one of America's largest employers is always a good
thing," he says.
Copyright 2000- 2006 by The
McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart seeks talks
with China group
By JOE McDONALD
The Associated Press/BEIJING
AUG. 9
[back to top]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has asked to hold
talks with China's state-sanctioned labor group after employees formed
the retailer's first Chinese unions, the labor group and a state news
agency said Wednesday.
No date has been set for a meeting,
said Li Jianming, a spokesman for the All-China Federation of Trade
Unions. He declined to say what Wal-Mart asked to discuss. Phone calls
to spokespeople at Wal-Mart's China headquarters weren't answered.
The official Xinhua News Agency quoted
the vice president of Wal-Mart China, Li Chengjie, as saying it wants to
cooperate with the ACFTU "in a more effective and harmonious way."
The ACFTU is the umbrella group for
unions permitted by the communist government. It has been campaigning
for two years for the formation of unions at all 60 Wal-Marts in China
and had accused the company of blocking its efforts. A letter from
Wal-Mart to the ACFTU requesting talks asked for them to take place with
"no media presence," Xinhua said.
China doesn't allow independent
unions, and activists are frequently jailed and harassed. The ACFTU
often is regarded not as an advocate for better pay and working
conditions for employees but as an intermediary that represents
employers to workers.
Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville,
Arkansas, opened its first store in China in 1996 and has 28,000 Chinese
employees. It has few unions elsewhere in its worldwide operations.
The new Wal-Mart unions are relatively
small, with about 25 to 30 members each. Unions in China represent the
workforce of individual companies or stores, rather than a whole
industry. All unions must be affiliated with the ACFTU.
Three of the Wal-Mart unions are in
Shenzhen, with others in the eastern city of Nanjing and in Quanzhou in
the southeast.
The ACFTU says expanding its presence
in private and foreign companies is one of its key goals. The group's
leaders say they hope the success at Wal-Mart will boost efforts to form
unions at other private companies.
About 26 percent of China's 150,000
foreign-financed companies have official labor unions, according to the
ACFTU.
The group had hoped to raise that to
50 percent this year. But an ACFTU leader quoted Wednesday by state
television said that after the Wal-Mart votes, it was raising that
target to 60 percent.
Copyright 2006, by The Associated
Press. All rights reserved.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart increases starting
wage
By Carlie Kollath,
Drug Store News
Tuesday, August 8, 2006
[back to top]
Wal-Mart announced yesterday that it
has raised the starting rate in more than 1,200 Wal-Mart stores and
Sam's Clubs throughout the country. The move comes on the heels of the
passing in Chicago of a "living-wage" ordinance and mounting criticism
concerning the company's labor policies. The company did not disclose
what the new rates will be, but various published reports are noting
that the wages will go up 6 percent.
The company also is implementing new
pay ranges, with the maximum being near the top of the market in many
regions, according to Wal-Mart. However, it did not disclose specific
numbers for the new ranges.
In addition, Wal-Mart announced that
the company was raising pay increases for associates displaying
"excellent annual performance and customer service." Discretionary
increases will now be reinvested into the annual performance evaluation
process allowing the company to increase the amount of the "above
target" reward, which impacts a larger percentage of associates.
"Wal-Mart pays competitive wages, and
we continue to transform our pay plans as we grow," said Susan Chambers,
executive vice president of the people division for Wal-Mart Stores.
"These start rate changes, combined with our competitive benefits like
affordable health care, 401K and profit sharing and annual incentives
for our hourly associates, make us an even more attractive employer,
which is why people stand in line to apply for Wal-Mart jobs."
Start rates and pay ranges are being
reviewed annually and will be adjusted to respond to changes in each
market, the company noted. Any associate paid below his or her
facility's new start rates will have his or her pay increased to fall
within the new range.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart Raises
Wages, Inserts Wage Caps
By MARCUS KABEL
Associated Press
08.08.2006
[back to top]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said its raising
wages at nearly a third of it's 4,000 U.S. stores and introducing wage
caps at all stores in an effort to remain competitive with other
retailers and meet a need for workers and managers as it continues to
expand.
Workers at more than 1,200 stores will
see their paychecks grow by an average 6 percent, and the world's
largest retailer said it will begin introducing wage caps for the first
time on each type of job in all stores.
The nation's largest private employer
said Monday the changes would help it remain competitive with other
retailers and meet a need for workers and managers as it continues to
expand.
Wal-Mart has more than 1.3 million
U.S. employees, which it refers to as associates.
The announcement comes less than two
weeks after Chicago became the largest city in the nation to require
big-box retailers to pay a "living wage," despite objections from
Wal-Mart and other businesses. Chicago's City Council adopted an
ordinance requiring major retailers to pay at least $10 an hour plus $3
in fringe benefits by mid-2010. Mayor Richard M. Daley could veto the
measure but would need two aldermen to drop their support in order to
avoid having his veto overridden.
Gerald Celente, director of The Trends
Research Institute in Rhinebeck, N.Y., an independent think tank that
follows economic and other trends, said Wal-Mart appeared to be reacting
to negative publicity about its pay following the Chicago ordinance.
"The increase in starting salary is a
very smart thing to do," Celente said.
Wal-Mart denied any connection to the
Chicago vote. The pay increases began before the vote and have taken
effect at more than 1,200 stores spread across the country, Wal-Mart
spokesman John Simley said.
"It's part of a wider effort that's
been under way for more than two years, not related to the Chicago
ordinance," Simley said. He said the pay restructuring started in June
2004 when Wal-Mart introduced new classifications for each type of job.
The retailer's pay and benefits have
been under fire from union-backed critics, who call them skimpy.
Wal-Mart has defended its average full-time hourly wage of $10.11 and
launched lower-cost health plans this year with premiums as low as $11
month in some areas.
"We've created about 240,000 jobs in
the last three years and we are continuing to grow. We need to ensure
that we have the most appropriate classification and pay programs to
meet our growth needs," Simley said.
The changes help in two ways, Simley
said. Higher starting pay makes Wal-Mart more attractive to new workers
and the wage caps give current associates an incentive to move up to
higher positions if they want to make more money.
Some associates are already making
more than the new caps allow for their positions, Wal-Mart said without
providing numbers. But no one will receive a pay cut as long as they are
in that position, the company said in a statement.
Union-funded campaign group
WakeUpWalMart.com called the pay caps an effort to drive out workers who
had been there longer, in order to cut costs.
"Wal-Mart should be ashamed,"
WakeUpWalMart.com spokesman Chris Kofinis said.
Wal-Mart's Simley said the changes
were not aimed at cutting costs and would not impact the company's
earnings.
Retail analyst Don Gher from
Coldstream Capital Management in Bellevue, Wash., which manages about $1
billion in assets including Wal-Mart shares, said both the pay raises
and the pay caps were in line with practices at many other retailers and
in other businesses.
"It is nothing that is ground
breaking. It appears to be something where they continue to tweak their
system," Gher said.
The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer
did not specify the new starting rates or give examples for the new pay
caps. Simley said the numbers vary too much by local market conditions
across the country to provide an accurate average figure.
The new caps come in the form of pay
ranges established for each type of job.
Starting rates will be increased at
more than 1,200 stores, with the average hike about 6 percent, Simley
said.
"This does not translate into an
across the board pay increase for all associates," Simley said.
He said the pay changes would not have
an impact either way on Wal-Mart's personnel costs for the year.
Susan Chambers, executive vice
president of the company's People Division, said in a statement that
Wal-Mart remained competitive with benefits including health care, 401K
plans, profit sharing and annual incentives.
Chambers said that was why "people
stand in line to apply for Wal-Mart jobs."
As of July 31, the company operated
1,146 Wal-Mart discount stores, 2,098 Supercenters that combine a
supermarket with general merchandise, 567 Sam's Clubs warehouse stores
and 107 Neighborhood Market grocery stores.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All
rights reserved.
[back to top]
Fifth Wal-Mart union
set up in China
By JOE McDONALD
Tue, August 8, 2006
[back to top]
BEIJING (AP) -- Employees at a
Wal-Mart store in southern China on Tuesday set up the retailer's fifth
Chinese union in two weeks, amid a quickening official campaign to
unionize the country's 60 Wal-Mart outlets, news reports said.
The latest union is in Shenzhen, the
city where Wal-Mart opened its first mainland Chinese outlet in 1996,
the official Xinhua News Agency and the Workers Daily newspaper said.
Employees at two other Shenzhen Wal-Marts, as well as in the eastern
city of Nanjing and Quanzhou in the southeast, also have set up unions.
The rapid series of votes are a
victory for the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the umbrella group
for unions permitted by the communist government. The ACFTU spent two
years lobbying for the creation of Wal-Mart unions and accused the
company of blocking its efforts.
Xinhua on Tuesday quoted an unnamed
ACFTU official who complained that the latest organizing effort at the
Shenzhen store faced "repeated and various obstacles," though it gave no
details.
Phone calls to Wal-Mart's China
headquarters, also in Shenzhen, weren't answered.
Wal-Mart Inc., based in Bentonville,
Ark., employs 28,000 people in China. It has few unions in the rest of
its worldwide operations.
China doesn't allow independent
unions, and activists are frequently jailed and harassed.
The ACFTU says expanding its presence
in private and foreign companies is one of its key goals. The group
often is regarded not as an advocate for better pay and working
conditions for employees but as an intermediary that represents
employers to workers.
Liang Yaofa, deputy chairman of the
Shenzhen Federation of Trade Unions, said he hoped the new Shenzhen
union would "explore a brand new way for developing union activities in
big transnational companies in China," Xinhua reported.
Labor officials hope Wal-Mart "would
respect their employees' wishes to join trade unions" and provide
"essential conditions" for them to operate, Liang said.
The newest Wal-Mart union in Shenzhen
has 28 members, the Workers Daily said.
The newspaper, published by the ACFTU,
quoted the group's vice president on Monday as expressing hope the votes
would help its campaign to expand its presence to other Wal-Mart
outlets.
"This experience will have great
significance to our doing better at building grassroots unions,
including in foreign-invested enterprises," Xu Deming was quoted as
saying.
About 26 percent of China's 150,000
foreign-financed companies have official labor unions, according to the
ACFTU. It says it hopes to raise that to 50 percent this year.
The president of the ACFTU, Wang
Zhaoguo, who also is a member of China's parliament, reportedly said
last month that he would propose a law making unions mandatory for
foreign companies.
Current Chinese law gives employees
the right to form unions but doesn't say what companies are required to
do.
[back to top]
Number of
Wal-Mart unions rises to four in China
Wanadoo Jordan
07-08-2006
[back to top]
Workers at two more Wal-Mart outlets
in China have unionised to bring the total number of trade unions at its
outlets in the country to four, state media have reported.
Workers clear up the grounds around a
new Walmart store in Beijing © AFP
On Saturday night 31 employees at a
Wal-Mart store in Nanjing, capital of the eastern province of Jiangsu,
convened to announce the establishment of the third trade union in
Wal-Mart's Chinese stores, Xinhua news agency said Monday.
A few hours later 12 employees at a
Wal-Mart outlet in Shenzhen city in the southern province of Guangdong
elected their first trade union committee, according to the agency.
Previously two other unions had been
set up, one of them also in Shenzhen, the other in the southeastern
province of Fujian.
For the past two years the world's
biggest retailer had resisted efforts to set up local unions. These are
all affiliated with the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, which was
established by the ruling Communist Party and claims some 150 million
members.
However Wal-Mart has always maintained
its employees were free to set up unions if they wished and insisted it
was "in total conformity with Chinese law."
Joining the union offers staff no
guarantee against exploitation, with the official trade union often
criticized by international labor rights groups for favoring business
interests over workers' rights.
China's law bans workers from forming
independent unions or organizing collective bargaining outside the
official unions.
Wal-Mart has opened 60 stores in 29
cities and is said to employ more than 30,000 people across the country.
It arrived in China in 1996.
[back to top]
More
trade unions set up in Wal-Mart outlets in China
ShanghaiDaily.com
7/8/2006
[back to top]
World's leading retailer Wal-Mart saw
two more trade unions established in its outlets in China over the
weekend, making the total number hit four just a week after its first
trade union was formed in Fujian Province, Workers Daily reported today.
Saturday night, 31 employees of Wal-Mart's Xinjiekou store in Nanjing,
capital city of east China's Jiangsu Province, convened to announce the
establishment of the third trade union in Wal-Mart's Chinese stores. And
12 employees of Wal-Mart's Qianjinlu store in southern city of Shenzhen
elected their first trade union committee a few hours later in the wee
hours of Sunday. "The rapid development and promising future (of the
trade unions) are heartening," Xu Deming, vice president of the
All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), was quoted as saying.
"We'll draw on their successful experience to push forward the
establishment of grassroots trade union in enterprises including the
transnational ones," Xu said. Wal-Mart's 60 Chinese outlets employ
23,000 people. The first trade union was set up at Wal-Mart's Jinjiang
outlet on July 29 after 30 employees appealed to the local federation of
trade unions. The second was set up last Friday at Wal-Mart's Hujing
store in Shenzhen. Wal-Mart has a tradition of not allowing trade unions
in its outlets. However, with mounting pressure from the ACFTU and the
public, Wal-Mart China has earlier said in a statement that "Should
associates request the formation of a union, Wal-Mart China would
respect their wishes and honor its obligation under China's trade union
law." According to China's trade union law, enterprises or institutions
with 25 employees and above should establish trade unions, and employees
have the right to join the ACFTU.
[back to top]
States' Healthy Approach to Wal-Mart Maryland's law was overturned, but
Massachusetts' wins praise
How states are
tackling the problem of health care for big box retailers
By Howard Gleckman
AUGUST 7, 2006 [back to top]
When a federal judge in July
overturned a Maryland law that would have required Wal-Mart (WMT ) to
offer more generous health insurance to its workers, "a lot of people
were really upset," says Cynthia Murray, who has worked at the retail
giant's Laurel (Md.) store for six years. Murray, who makes $9.47 an
hour, has the option of buying insurance through the company but says
she can't afford the premiums, which cost her and her husband as much as
$109 every two weeks.
The law would have required the
Arkansas retailer to either spend 8% of its Maryland payroll on health
care for its workers in that state or contribute that amount to a state
insurance fund. While the law was written to cover any nongovernment
employer with more than 10,000 workers, Wal-Mart was the only company
that would have had to change its policies as a result. On July 19, U.S.
District Judge J. Frederick Motz ruled that the state law, which was
adopted last January, violated federal employee-benefits rules (see
BusinessWeek.com, 7/19/06, "Rollback Ruling Favors Wal-Mart").
With Washington getting nowhere in its
efforts to insure 44 million Americans who don't now have coverage,
states are where the action is. More than half of the states, and many
municipalities, are considering legislation to prod companies into
providing their workers with some health-care coverage.
"CREATIVE APPROACH" NEEDED. Many
employees and activists have taken the Maryland decision as an
indication that local politicians won't be able to make any progress for
the uninsured. And indeed, if the Maryland ruling stands, legal experts
say it will be tough for states to copy Maryland's scheme of imposing
such a tough mandate on Wal-Mart or other high-profile employers.
But that's not the end of the story.
If Maryland provides an example of what states can't do, Massachusetts
may offer an example of what they can.
The Bay State earlier this year
adopted a landmark law that requires all residents to buy health
insurance and imposes a penalty on employers that do not offer coverage.
While businesses have fought many mandatory health-care plans, this one
has relatively wide support. John Simley, a spokesman for Wal-Mart, says
the company backs the overall thrust of the Massachusetts plan, though
he says it has concerns about some details. "It is a creative approach,"
he says.
THE BAY STATE DIFFERENCE. The law has
several key differences from the Maryland law. It covers nearly all
medium and large employers in Massachusetts, not just a handful. It also
imposes a modest penalty on companies that don't offer coverage—just
$295 per worker, rather than 8% of payroll.
That makes the Massachusetts
legislation look a lot more like a tax, which states can impose without
running afoul of federal law, rather than a mandated health-care policy.
"In Massachusetts, we are simply taxing employers who don't have a
health plan," says Wendy Mariner, a professor of health law at Boston
University, "And [the federal government] doesn't preempt anybody from
raising taxes to cover people who need health care."
The two states provide contrasting
models for politicians and activists around the country who are
wrestling with the complex issues of health-care insurance. Many of the
uninsured have jobs but are either not offered insurance at work or,
like Murray, feel they can't afford the premiums. This is a huge issue
for states, because they often end up footing the bill when these
workers end up on the Medicaid rolls.
ON THE BANDWAGON. At least 30 states
are considering Maryland-type "Fair Share" laws—most aimed at Wal-Mart
and other big box retailers. Benefits lawyers say Motz's decision could
make it much tougher to impose such an insurance mandate on employers.
Although his ruling technically applies only in Maryland, it was written
so broadly that other judges could easily adopt the same reasoning.
"It could have a dampening effect on
Maryland-type proposals," says Alice Burton, director of the State
Coverage Initiatives program of the nonprofit Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation. But, she adds, "I don't think it has a dampening effect on
the sense of urgency states have to solve this problem."
And states are not alone in jumping on
the bandwagon. On July 26 the Chicago city council passed an ordinance
that would require Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and other big retailers to
provide at least $3 an hour in benefits for workers there, as well as
pay a minimum hourly wage of $10—all by 2010. Mayor Richard M. Daley
opposes the measure and has until mid-September to veto it.
If it becomes law, the same coalition
of retailers that challenged the Maryland law is expected to head back
to court to head off this measure. Says Steve Cannon, general counsel of
the Retail Industry Leaders Assn., a business group that challenged the
Maryland measure: "These laws take different approaches, but the intent
and the effect are really the same. They insert the state or the city in
between employers and employees and mandate how that relationship should
exist."
BROADER MAY BE BETTER. These
aggressive new laws are being pushed by unions, who see Wal-Mart as the
poster child of the nation's low-wage, low-benefit employers. "We think
these are good bills," says Paul Blank, campaign director of
WakeUpWalMart.com, a labor-backed advocacy group. "Even if this ruling
is upheld, there are other ways to accomplish the same thing." (See
BusinessWeek.com, 8/2/06, "Wal-Mart Foes Hop a Bandwagon.")
Simley, the Wal-Mart spokesman, agrees
that the battle won't end with Judge Motz. "What they are doing is
political," he says. If the Maryland ruling stands, he predicts,
"they'll try to design [insurance mandates] in a different way."
Legally, at least, states may have
more luck with plans like Massachusetts', broader approaches that don't
just target a handful of high-profile businesses. If state politicians
can structure legislation that looks more like a broad tax, rather than
a narrow, mandated policy, they are likely to fare better in the face of
legal challenges.
They may even end up winning over some
of the businesses that have been opposing their efforts. Wal-Mart's
Simley says that the Massachusetts plan has the benefit of being more
evenhanded than some of those proposed elsewhere. "It strikes a balance
between the private sector, government, and individuals," he says.
[back to top]
Employees unionize at
Chinese Wal-Mart
Reuters
Sat Aug 5, 2006
[back to top]
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Employees of
retail giant Wal-Mart have set up their second trade union in China,
pushing toward the Chinese labor federation's goal of unionizing every
Wal-Mart store in the country.
The second union was established by 42
employees of a Wal-Mart outlet in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, the
official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.
The first was set up late last month
in the southeastern province of Fujian. A senior official of the
state-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions has said the body
will work toward establishing a union in every Wal-Mart outlet.
The U.S. retail chain, which employs
more than 30,000 people at stores across China, has long resisted
pressure to unionize its workers in the United States and elsewhere.
But retail analysts say the Chinese
government appears recently to be placing more emphasis on unionizing
the sector, both to develop the services industry and to assert control
over an increasing number of workers leaving the state sector.
A spokeswoman for Wal-Mart in China
earlier said she had no knowledge of the first union. On Saturday,
Xinhua quoted a Wal-Mart statement as saying, "Should associates request
the formation of a union, Wal-Mart China would respect their wishes and
honor its obligation under China's trade union law."
© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved.
[back to top]
Unions launch bus
tour against Wal-Mart
(The following
report appeared at CNN.com on August 4.)
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen
[back to top]
NEW YORK — WakeupWalmart.com, backed
by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, has
launched a nationwide bus tour to make its case against Wal-Mart's low
wages and restrictive employee benefits.
The "2006 Change Wal-Mart, Change
America" tour is traveling from New York City westward across 19 states,
making 35 stops and culminating in a Labor Day event in Seattle.
"The idea is to build public awareness
and put political pressure on the retailer," said Chris Kofinis,
communications director for WakeupWalmart.com. "Wal-Mart has to realize
[that] its negative impact on our economy and society is not being
ignored."
Wal-Mart (up $0.14 to $44.23, Charts)
questions the motives behind the campaign. "This is a union funded
publicity stunt that's more about politics than anything else," said
David Tovar, spokesman for Wal-Mart. Tovar points out Wal-Mart's $23 a
month health plans offered to employees and its creation of tens of
thousands of jobs a year. "The fact is they're attacking the wrong
company."
WakeupWalmart.com is highlighting the
stores' impact on the communities in which they're located, the
company's use of tax subsidies and the working conditions of other
countries that supply the No.1 retailer with many of its products.
The tour's stops are to include
townhall and community meetings, state fairs, sporting events and public
squares that the group will canvas to sign up new members.
The first stop was at a community
meeting held in a Bronx, New York church on Tuesday. The organizers of
the tour hope to sign up 25,000 new members nationwide.
The United Food and Commercial Workers
International Union is a part of Change to Win, a coalition of unions
that broke off from the AFL-CIO, in the summer of 2005 over differences
about union growth and funding priorities. The AFL-CIO also has efforts
against Wal-Mart's labor practices underway.
The Change to Win coalition includes
the Service Employees International Union (healthcare workers and
service staff), United Farm Workers of America, UNITE HERE (hotel
workers and service workers), International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, and Laborers'
International Union of North America.
© 2006 Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers and Trainmen
[back to top]
Small banks
should not fear Wal-Mart: Stern
By Benno Groeneveld
Fri Aug 4, 2006 [back to top]
ALEXANDRIA, Minnesota (Reuters) -
There is no evidence that a bank proposed by retail giant Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) would crowd out small
community banks, as many such institutions fear, Minneapolis Federal
Reserve President Gary Stern said on Friday.
Stern said his major concern about
Wal-Mart's proposed move into banking was that it would run counter to
his hope that the existing bank savings net could be reigned in over
time.
"In the best of all possible worlds,
we would avoid mixing banking and commerce, but we have to deal with the
world we have," he told the Independent Community Bankers of Minnesota's
annual convention.
Stern, who is not a voting member on
the Federal Open Market Committee in 2006, did not address the economy
or monetary policy in a speech on banking issues.
Legislation to close a loophole that
allows retailers such as Wal-Mart to own a bank was introduced in the
U.S. House of Representatives in July.
Debate centers on industrial loan
companies, or ILCs, and their potential to open branches nationwide.
There are about 60 ILCs chartered in seven states, mostly owned by large
financial services firms.
"By law it might be hard to prevent
Wal-Mart from having an ILC when other large companies do," Stern said.
Yet many community banks have done
well even in the face of competition from much larger banks, he said,
adding that the combination of retailers and banks "has not been
especially successful in the past."
Separately, Stern termed "unwise"
calls to raise the level of deposit insurance for bank accounts provided
by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
The FDIC insures deposits at about
8,800 banks and savings associations, and is the primary federal
regulator of state-chartered banks that are not part of the Federal
Reserve system. The agency insures up to $100,000 in individual bank
deposits and up to $250,000 in retirement accounts.
Few households have anywhere near the
$100,000 FDIC maximum on deposit in banks, Stern said, and raising the
limit would promote excessive risk-taking.
"I wouldn't carry too far the argument
that we have a bunch of unsophisticated consumers who somehow can't deal
with financial affairs ... most people actually do," he said.
The central banker also said that
proposed reforms to mortgage providers Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote,
Profile, Research) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research),
limiting the growth of those companies' mortgage portfolios, were
"necessary but insufficient."
"Society is providing the safety net,
but not getting many of the promised benefits in return" from the
government-backed mortgage companies, Stern said.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart's Mexican
Unit to Launch Bank
FinancialNewsUSA
08/04/2006
[back to top]
City of Industry, CA --The Mexican
unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) has filed for a retail banking
license with local regulators, the latest retailer to enter the realm of
financial services in Mexico in recent years. Wal-Mart de Mexico, or
Walmex, said in a release Wednesday it will make an announcement "the
moment that this process results in the granting of a banking license."
The unit had 818 retail stores and restaurants at the end of June. China
Direct Trading Corp. (OTC BB:CHDT) announces recently that investors
over the past few weeks have been flooding the company with sourcing
business. Investors have realized that China Direct and its many
subsidiaries have the capability to source most items made in China
through its 25 years of relationships with factories and trading
companies throughout China.
[back to top]
Wal-Mart Says Auf Wiedersehen
BusinessWeek
[back to top]
For the world's biggest retailer,
Germany provided an expensive lesson in how not to enter a foreign
market. Wal-Mart (WMT ) underestimated German labor unions and local
competitors such as Aldi. On July 28, after nine years of losses,
Wal-Mart announced it will sell its 85 German stores to Dusseldorf-based
Metro for a price one insider says was tens of millions less than the
value of unsold merchandise and other physical assets. Wal-Mart will
take a $1 billion charge.
[back to top]
Chicago to Wal-Mart:
Pay a living wage
John Bachtell
People's Weekly World Newspaper,
08/03/06
[back to top]
CHICAGO — A packed gallery erupted
into jubilation as the City Council passed an ordinance July 26 making
Chicago the largest city to set minimum wage and benefit standards for
retail giants like Wal-Mart. The measure passed 35-14, despite furious
opposition by Wal-Mart, a unified corporate community and Mayor Richard
M. Daley.
Wal-Mart and Target threatened to
freeze their business plans if the measure passed. They shamelessly
bought off aldermen, religious leaders and the media. They tried to pit
Chicago against the suburbs and especially to split the African American
and poorest communities.
The victory resulted from a massive
two-year campaign by a multiracial, grassroots coalition uniting the
Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL), Jobs with Justice, ACORN, many
grassroots community organizations and religious leaders.
Supporters picketed, rallied, and
swamped aldermen with thousands of phone calls and petitions. A
boisterous rally of 500 people filled the council lobby before the vote
with chants of “Hey, Daley, you know! Seven bucks is far too low!”
CFL President Dennis Gannon remarked,
“Today’s vote sends a message that our elected officials and community
members alike are not interested in the creation of low-paying jobs that
fail to provide a living wage or adequate health care benefits for
working families. The choice between no job and a low-paying job is a
choice between bad and worse.”
Big business nationally is pressing
Daley to veto the ordinance. The big-box retailers vowed to get it
overruled in court. But Alderman Joe Moore, a principal sponsor, told
the World supporters anticipated a court challenge but were confident
the measure would stand. Meanwhile his office has been inundated by
calls from others across the country seeking to emulate the victory.
The ordinance mandates a starting wage
of $9.25 in 2007 in retailers with stores of 90,000 square feet or
greater with at least $1 billion in annual sales. By 2010, that wage
will increase to $10 an hour with automatic cost of living increases
thereafter. Three dollars an hour must be devoted to health care. The
ordinance covers 34 currently operating stores. For three hours the
audience listened with rapt attention as aldermen blasted the greed of
Wal-Mart and other giant corporations. They cheered wildly when a point
was scored and hooted when an alderman tried to justify a “no” vote. It
was an unprecedented debate in the council.
In introducing the ordinance Moore
invoked President Franklin Roosevelt, who declared in signing the Fair
Labor Standards Act 68 years ago, “No business that depends on paying
less than a living wage has the right to exist.”
Moore said, “The same old tired
arguments are being waged against a minimum wage — that it would cost
jobs, drive business away and destroy the economy. They were wrong then
and they are wrong now.”
“Wal-Mart made $11.2 billion in
profits last year, second only to Exxon,” he said. “Our job is not to
safeguard the profits of the world’s largest corporations. It is to
protect the well-being of our constituents.”
Opposing aldermen warned big retailers
would abandon the city, tax revenues would be lost, their constituents
were desperate for jobs at low wages, supporters were racists and the
ordinance was unconstitutional.
To claim their constituents opposed
the measure, they could only cite postcards and “robo-calls” paid for by
Wal-Mart. In fact the ordinance was very popular, including among
African Americans and Latinos, where polls showed 90 percent supporting
the living wage law.
At one point Ald. Bernard Stone
suggested Moore was really Robin Hood and “wants to steal from the rich
and give to the poor.” The audience erupted.
Later Ald. Billy Ocasio remarked,
“People are arguing for businesses that have the largest profits take
from the people who have the least. I would happily become one of Robin
Hood’s merry men.” The audience stood and cheered again.
“For Wal-Mart to grow they have to
enter the urban market. They picked the time and place for this battle,”
said African American Ald. Freddrenna Lyle, also a principal sponsor,
alluding to Wal-Mart’s bluff to abandon the city if the ordinance
passed.
“Is our opposition racist? It’s racist
that they trotted out African American ministers to castigate, threaten
and berate the African American elected officials,” she said. A majority
of African American aldermen supported the ordinance.
Opponents had also charged organized
labor with racism because it would deny jobs to the African American
community. Lyle acknowledged influences of racism in the building
trades. Yes, she said, “every institution has problems. But the face of
commerce is white.”
To the charge that the aldermen were
stooges of the unions, Lyle declared, “Maybe those of us who are voting
for the ordinance are stooges of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who died in
Memphis fighting for a living wage for sanitation workers.
“Without organized labor, there would
be no pension plans and health benefits. No other single institution has
had that empowering impact on the African American community,” she said
to cheers.
Reflecting on the victory, James
Thindwa, director of Chicago Jobs with Justice, told the World,
“Wal-Mart opposed this measure not because they can’t afford it. They
are afraid this will be repeated across the country. The Wal-Mart model
predicated on low wages will collapse. We have drawn a red line around
our values — beginning with dignity for workers.”
[back to top]
A new Wal-Mart
greeting: checking or savings?
BY SUSAN HARRIGAN
Newsday
August 2, 2006
[back to top]
As the parking lot began to fill up
outside the Wal-Mart store in Valley Stream one morning last week,
Josephine Dimarzo was wandering through the store's maze of shelves
stacked with clothing, furniture, diapers, cameras, toys, televisions,
pet food and other paraphernalia of everyday life.
Dimarzo, 83, said she had come to
Wal-Mart to look for thread. At the moment, however, her attention had
been caught by a rack of socks beneath one of the store's ubiquitous
"Always Low Prices" signs. The Valley Stream resident was considering
buying two pairs.
One of many bankers' worst nightmares
is that sometime soon, Wal-Mart browsers such as Dimarzo might be able
to consider buying another type of good -- Wal-Mart-brand checking and
savings accounts, home mortgages and other financial wares that provide
banks' bread-and-butter business.
Using a loophole in the nation's
banking laws, the world's largest retailer is seeking to open a bank
with limited powers known as an industrial loan company, or ILC.
Although Wal-Mart says it will use the new company sole
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