Jul 04-Sep 04

For the past month or so, the news headlines have been decrying what my waggish friend Ian might call "El Wal-Mart del Sol." Been asleep? Here's the quick version. Wal-Mart's (NYSE: WMT) Mexican subsidiary, Bodega Aurrera is building a big-box store near the famous archeological site containing the Temple of the Sun.

How near, how big, and what exactly the impact will be is the subject of some furious controversy, including protests, a big P.R. campaign, and even machete-wielding mobs. Opponents (and The New York Times reporters) call the store ugly, claim it harms important archeological remains, and contend that it will put a local market out of business. Company officials say the facility is being made smaller to fit into the environment, and that archeologists have given the project the all clear.

There appears to be only one point of agreement: that a majority of locals want to see the store because they are convinced it will get them lower prices.

I've questioned Wal-Mart's bogus lip service in the past. The typical line is something like, "We only want to save money for the masses." Please spare me, Comrade Walton. You want to make money. Too often, you've done it at the expense of small-town businesses and local wishes. That's not good.

Issues like local control and fair labor practices are the reason that sometimes I'm down with the PC thing. Heck, I haven't eaten at Yum! Brand's (NYSE: YUM) Taco Bell since I learned what goes on with the folks who pick their tomatoes.

At the same time, I'm a capitalist at heart, and I think it's awfully easy to take swings at the big kid, even when he's not bullying. Do Target (NYSE: TGT), Costco (Nasdaq: COST), or Dollar General (NYSE: DG) get the same kind of flack? Well, OK, Costco did get into a fight in the same Mexican turf, but the point remains, it's easy to be angry at Wal-Mart without looking at all the facts. If everyone wants it and the local market trades in cheap plastic goods -- according to a chief opponent of the project -- what's the harm? Who's protecting whom, and from what?

Unfortunately, the point-counterpoint habits of media reporting tend to emphasize the expanse of the ideological gulf at the expense of true objectivity or truth, if there is such a thing. The middle ground is lost completely.

Whatever the circumstances of this particular dustup, Wal-Mart investors need to keep an eye on public perceptions as the chain becomes ever more prominent around the globe. The example of world whipping boy Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is enough to show that playing the heavy can be unexpectedly expensive.

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) _ Wal-Mart has been sued in federal court by a man who claims the world's largest retailer discriminates against blacks in 12 Southern states from seeking truck-driving jobs.

The plaintiff, Daryal T. Nelson, of Coldwater, Miss., alleges that Wal-Mart rejects and discourages black applicants for truck-driving jobs at the chain's distribution centers in Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

An Equal Employment Opportunity Commission document attached to the complaint found ``reasonable cause'' to believe Nelson, a 22-year veteran of driving trucks, was discriminated against. The EEOC said Wal-Mart hired some white drivers with more serious driving violations and less experience than black applicants.

Gus Whitcomb, a spokesman for Wal-Mart, said Wednesday that he couldn't comment on the lawsuit because he hadn't seen it. However, he said, ``We do not discriminate in our hiring practices.''

September 28, 2004 [back to top]
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
From Chicago Sun-Times

Developers of a proposed, 500,000-square-foot shopping mall in the South Side's Chatham neighborhood have sent a letter to Chicago aldermen assuring them that Wal-Mart "is not now and will not be" part of the development.

Developer Tom Brashler sent copies of the letter to all 50 aldermen in an effort to secure their support at Wednesday's City Council meeting for a zoning change needed to get the project moving on the site of the old Ryerson Steel plant at 83rd and Stewart.

"We are writing to confirm that our contract with Wal-Mart terminated in mid-August. Wal-Mart is not now and will not be a part of our development of the Ryerson site," Brashler wrote.

"Based on this commitment, we are hopeful that you and your colleagues will be able to support the requested retail zoning of the property . . . and allow the project to go forward. We believe that Chatham Market is a wonderful project that will provide vitally needed economic development to the community and to the city."

The Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier this month that Wal-Mart's contract to build a second Chicago store on the South Side had expired and was not renewed amid concern about minimum wage and benefit standards that may be imposed on "big-box" stores. A West Side Wal-Mart that aldermen have already approved is also in jeopardy, the company said.

Planning and Development Commissioner Denise Casalino responded by saying that the zoning change could go ahead. But the $33 million subsidy for environmental clean-up and infrastructure costs would have to wait.

"The project isn't a go if the developer can't make it a go. We're not committing to nothing. . . . He doesn't have a project unless he has two anchor tenants," Casalino said.

Wal-Mart's entry into the Chicago market has been mired in controversy in a battle royal with organized labor.

Earlier this year, a bitterly divided City Council handed Wal-Mart a split decision: zoning approval to build its first Chicago store in the West Side's Austin community and a one-vote defeat in Chatham.

The vote followed an acrimonious debate that saw organized labor's City Council allies throw the kitchen sink at Wal-Mart. They talked about a "predatory pricing" scheme that drives smaller competitors out of business and about a retailing behemoth that provides low-paying jobs with meager benefits and faces lawsuits in 30 different states for allegedly forcing hourly workers to work overtime without pay.

Since then, a pair of ordinances have been introduced aimed at establishing a minimum wage and benefit standard for Wal-Mart and other "big box" retailers.

A federal district judge in San Francisco halted a discrimination lawsuit yesterday against Wal-Mart Stores until an appeals court reviews a ruling that allows 1.6 million female workers to sue as a group.

Wal-Mart had asked Judge Martin Jenkins to temporarily halt the suit, which contends that women who worked for Wal-Mart were paid less than men and offered fewer promotions.

The company is appealing a ruling by Judge Jenkins that allows the suit to be declared a class action, which is more efficient for the plaintiffs and provides leverage for a settlement.

Wal-Mart denies that it discriminated against female employees and has argued in court papers that the class size is "unprecedented, unmanageable and unconstitutional."

The ruling will delay the case for six to nine months, lawyers for the workers said.

"The judge felt that having the case going on in two different forums wasn't appropriate," said Brad Seligman, the plaintiffs' lead lawyer. "There will be a delay, but in the end Wal-Mart will have to face the music."

Mona Williams, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart of Bentonville, Ark., said Judge Jenkins's ruling "stands on its own," and she declined further comment.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. sent an open letter to California residents on Thursday as part of a new campaign by the world's biggest retailer to overcome resistance to its plans for expansion in that state.

Wal-Mart published the letter in 15 newspapers two weeks after Chief Executive Lee Scott told Wall Street analysts the company had failed to repair its reputation and had begun a "culture change."

The retailer has been hit by dozens of discrimination cases, organized labor has charged it with anti-union practices, and opponents in California have complained that the Bentonville, Arkansas-based chain unfairly squeezes out smaller, locally owned businesses.

The letter begins a statewide effort to "set the record straight," said a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, which plans to open up to 40 supercenters in California in the next few years.

"While we are always willing to consider constructive criticism, much of what has been said publicly about Wal-Mart is simply not true," the letter said.

The retailer, whose workers are not represented by a union, said it pays competitive wages and provides employee health benefits, contributes to the California economy by buying the state's goods and services, and supports local organizations.

It said Southern California households can save at least US$589 per year by shopping at the chain once Wal-Mart reaches 20 percent market share. The company did not give its current market share.

Experts said the direct appeal to consumers should help Wal-Mart improve its image.

"The directness of the approach is a good thing," said Wendy Liebmann, president of New York-based retail marketing and consulting firm WSL Strategic Retail.

"They recognize they have to be more proactive in building some kind of consensus in the places where they want to do business."

Oakland City Councilwoman Jane Brunner, who dismissed the letter as "propaganda," said a Wal-Mart supercenter would force rival grocery stores to close and limit the number of places poor consumers can walk to to buy food and other staples.

The Northern California city recently passed an ordinance that would restrict Wal-Mart from opening a supercenter, though the company is already in the process of building one of its traditional stores in Oakland, Brunner said.

In Southern California, voters in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood attracted national attention in March when they rejected a proposed supercenter, which unlike traditional Wal-Mart stores, include full-line grocery departments.

This month, opponents of a plan to build a Wal-Mart in Rosemead, another Los Angeles suburb, said they would lead a campaign to recall the entire city council because it had approved construction of the store. A spokeswoman said Wal-Mart plans to build a traditional store in Rosemead, though the store could be converted to a supercenter down the road.

The Los Angeles City Council last month approved a measure requiring Wal-Mart to pay for an economic impact study to show whether the huge stores would hurt existing businesses.

In last year's 20-week Southern California grocery strike, chains like Albertsons Inc. and Kroger Co. said they needed to cut health benefits to compete with Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart's first California supercenter opened this spring in the desert town of La Quinta, and others are expected to open in Hemet and Stockton next month. The number of traditional Wal-Mart stores in California has grown to 148 since the first one opened in 1990, a spokeswoman said.

Other so-called big box retailers like Home Depot Inc. and Lowe's Cos Inc. have also faced opposition in some California communities where residents feared the impact such stores would have on local businesses.

DEPTFORD, N.J.(AP) _ Residents trying to keep three planned Wal-Marts out of their town have taken the fight to court.

The Concerned Citizens of Deptford has already mounted a protest outside the town hall and mailed flyers to other residents. On Monday, the group filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court hoping to keep the first store from being built.

"We're not looking for anything financial. We're looking to stop these Wal-Marts," Mike Campbell told the Philadelphia Inquirer for its Saturday editions.

Campbell and his fellow protesters contend that the three stores would increase traffic, lower property values and hurt small businesses in the suburb, which is already home to several large shopping centers.

In the lawsuit, the group alleges that the township planning board improperly approved an application for the Wal-Mart during a July vote. The complaint contends officials violated the state Open Public Meetings Act.

Township Manager Joseph Picardi denied the allegations and told the newspaper that the planning board attorney "goes through hoops to make sure we follow the proper procedures."

The store in question is planned for Delsea Drive near Cooper Street. A spot near the Deptford Mall on Clements Bridge Road is under consideration for the second store, while the third location has not been identified.

"We think the market will bear three stores in Deptford," Wal-Mart senior manager Mia Masten told the newspaper. The stores will eventually generate about $1 million in tax revenues for the town as well as 600 new jobs, Masten said.

Store rebuts critics who say it drives rivals out, drives pay down [back to top]

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. began a statewide offensive Thursday to counter widespread criticism of the company's wages and benefits, expansion plans and effects on communities.

The world's largest company ran advertisements in 15 California newspapers, including The Chronicle, in the form of an open letter to the state's residents, referring to criticism as "half-truths and misinformation" from "certain elected officials, competitors and powerful special interest groups."

The letter describes Wal-Mart as a dynamic force that generates $650 million in sales tax in California and supports 4,600 suppliers in the state, such as farmers and technology companies. The ads portray Wal-Mart as a company whose size has made it the victim of unfair attacks.

The dramatic public relations push came two weeks after Wal-Mart Chief Executive Officer Lee Scott told Wall Street analysts in New York that the company had failed to polish its reputation amid a barrage of high-profile lawsuits alleging discrimination against women and minorities and abusive wage- and-hour policies. The company denies any wrongdoing.

In California, Wal-Mart has faced intense opposition in communities where it has sought to build Supercenters -- a format that combines a discount store and supermarket. The most vocal detractors have included unionized grocery giant Safeway Inc. of Pleasanton and United Food and Commercial Workers leaders who represent tens of thousands of the state's supermarket workers.

During the bitter four-and-a-half-month Southern California grocery strike and lockout that ended in February, Safeway and its rivals Kroger Co. and Albertson's Inc. said that increasing competition from Wal-Mart had left them no choice but to slice wages and benefits. The union and supermarkets are negotiating contracts in Northern California affecting 30,000 workers, and competition from Wal-Mart remains a focus.

"While we are always willing to consider constructive criticism, much of what has been said publicly about Wal-Mart in California is simply not true," Wal-Mart said in Thursday's open letter.

Wal-Mart said it offers health care benefits to both full- and part-time workers. More than 40 percent of Wal-Mart workers didn't have medical insurance before joining the company, the ad says.

It also says that Wal-Mart wages, which average $10.37 an hour in California, are competitive with wages paid by comparable retailers. More than 80 percent of workers are full time, the letter added in response to allegations that the discounter purposely maintains a large part-time workforce to keep benefit costs low.

"Wal-Mart as a company has been relatively quiet in how it has responded to some of the criticism out there," Bob McAdam, vice president of corporate communications, said in an interview. "We've certainly responded to news media inquiries, but we haven't been out there telling our story very well."

It's unclear how the message will come across in a diverse state that offers both huge business opportunities as well as challenges to the Bentonville, Ark., discount giant.

"They're putting themselves on the defensive (and) giving fodder to their opponents," said brand-image expert Steven Addis, chief executive of the Addis Group in Berkeley.

"The problem with Wal-Mart is its business practices, not its image," said Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, a frequent critic of the retailer, through a spokesman. "Wal-Mart is putting on a full-court public relations campaign with the hope that the public will ignore its objectionable low-wage and benefit policies."

Ron Lind, a spokesman for eight Northern California grocery workers union locals, strongly disputed Wal-Mart's description of the average $11.08 hourly wage it says it pays Bay Area employees as "very close" to wages earned by unionized grocery workers. Unionized grocery-store cashiers make about $19 an hour, he said.

Safeway spokesman Brian Dowling separately provided the same figure for its Northern California cashiers. Entry-level Safeway workers in the lowest- paid position, grocery baggers, make $8.40 an hour in Northern California, Dowling said. Meat-department employees make an average of $21.95 an hour, he said.

McAdam said that because Wal-Mart doesn't have Supercenters in Northern California, supermarket wages aren't directly comparable. "We believe we're competitive with the marketplace," he said.

The company's ad also notes that California Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores, its membership warehouses, gave more than $11 million to local causes last year. It also repeated that it plans to build 40 Supercenters over the next few years.

Safeway CEO Steve Burd, in a recent interview with The Chronicle, said Wal-Mart is playing down its plans. He said a new, 1.3-million-square-foot distribution center in Southern California is big enough to serve more than 100 Supercenters, and Wal-Mart wouldn't have built such a large facility for only 40 Supercenters.

"I get a little concerned when our competitors are trying to describe our business, and they don't know what they're talking about," McAdam said. "We are not planning to open any more than 40 (Supercenters) at this point in time" in California.

In California, the company has 148 Wal-Mart discount stores, one Supercenter in Southern California and 32 Sam's Clubs. Two Supercenters are scheduled to open next month, in Stockton and Hemet (Riverside County).

Wal-Mart goes on the offensive

By James Temple [back to top]
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Friday, 9/24/04

Wal-Mart went on the public relations offensive Thursday, placing full-page advertisements in major newspapers throughout the state to counter the mounting criticism bogging down its projects and bruising its image.

"There's a lot of misinformation and half-truths about our effects on California, and we thought our associates, customers and suppliers deserve to know the truth about Wal-Mart," regional spokesman Eric Berger said of the ads.

Since Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced plans in 2002 to open 40 grocery-serving Supercenters in the state over the next few years, the volume of criticism has steadily grown louder.

Opponents say Wal-Mart's wages and benefits are scarcely enough to live on, and the low prices afforded by these pay packages elbow out existing businesses or force them to slice their own employees' salaries.

Indeed, Wal-Mart is routinely cited by unionized supermarkets as a driving force behind their push to lower wages and benefits, which occurred in the negotiations that disintegrated into a 41/2-month strike in Southern California and is a factor in the contract talks under way in the Bay Area.

Separately, Wal-Mart's image has been smacked by a slew of lawsuits, class action and otherwise, over alleged gender bias in promotion practices, unpaid overtime hours and hiring of illegal immigrants.

But in the ad Thursday, Wal-Mart said its average California wage is $10.37 per hour, "a rate that is in line with comparable retailers," that it offers medical coverage to both full- and part-time workers, and that two-thirds of its store managers started as hourly employees.

The ad also said Wal-Mart generated more than $650 million in California sales tax revenue last year, and bought more than $8 billion in goods and services from 4,600 state businesses.

Phil Tucker, special project representative for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1179 in Martinez, said the wage figures are inflated, citing a Bay Area Economic Forum study in 2003 that estimated Wal-Mart's nationwide average pay is $9.60 per hour.

The study did not provide Bay Area specific hourly averages, but did estimate Supercenters in the Bay Area would offer $21,000 less in total annual compensation than the wage and benefit package provided by unionized supermarkets here.

Tucker said Wal-Mart is simply employing public relations ploys to secure approval for their new stores rather than making substantive changes to their employee practices.

"They've hired big PR firms, it's a blitzkrieg, and they're going to pour a ton of money in here," he said.

Thursday's newspaper ads are only the most recent example of Wal-Mart, the world's largest company by total revenues, tapping its considerable coffers to launch an offensive in this fight. It plugged $1.7 million into its campaign for Measure L, the ultimately successful March ballot initiative that overturned a Contra Costa County ordinance limiting Supercenters.

Wal-Mart also reportedly spent more than $1 million on an unsuccessful campaign for an initiative that would have allowed a Supercenter in Inglewood without the standard environmental analysis.

Several months ago, the company also began running advertisements highlighting its positive impacts on communities and employees.

Berger said Wal-Mart remains on schedule to open its 40 Supercenters, but the vitriol surrounding the more than 200,000 square-foot stores -- larger than two standard Target outlets -- has dragged out discussions throughout California.

A public outcry, UFCW-sponsored lawsuit and ballot measure have slowed Supercenter plans in, respectively, American Canyon, Gilroy and Tracy.

Meanwhile, San Francisco, Oakland and Martinez each passed measures that effectively outlawed the massive stores, while Los Angeles passed an ordinance last month requiring such stores to pay for an analysis of their economic impact on the community.

Still, Wal-Mart has enjoyed some California success: It's already opened a Supercenter in La Quinta, will open another in Stockton at the end of the month and is under construction in Hemet. It also has secured city approval for grocery-serving discount stores in Palm Springs, Palm Desert and Rosemead.

Wal-Mart has repeatedly said that most citizens appreciate the bargain prices offered by Wal-Mart Supercenters and pointed to the stores' phenomenal sales as proof: Supercenters averaged $25.6 million per store just in grocery sales in 2003, according to the Bay Area Economic Forum study.

Berger said most of the criticism flows from organized labor, which has struggled unsuccessfully for years to unionize Wal-Mart stores in the United States, rather than average Californians.

"They have their own agenda, and that is to increase their membership," he said. "Our agenda is to serve our customers, treat our associates fairly and make a positive impact on communities in California."

James Temple covers consumer issues and the retail industry. Reach him at 925-977-8534 or jtemple@cctimes.com.

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Wal-Mart Sued for Racial Discrimination

Reuters [back to top]
Thursday, September 23, 2004

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is being sued in a federal court by a job applicant who says it discriminates against black employees seeking work as truck drivers, according to court documents filed on Wednesday.

The lawsuit, brought by Daryal T. Nelson of Coldwater, Mississippi, alleges that Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, deters and rejects African-American applicants for truck driving jobs, limiting their employment opportunities.

A Wal-Mart spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

The suit is aimed at Wal-Mart distribution centers in the states of Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia.

Nelson, who is seeking class-action status for his lawsuit, said in the documents that, in addition to truck driving experience, a commercial drivers' license, a good driving record, and a good prior work history, he was told by Wal-Mart that he was required to have a good credit rating to qualify for a position as a truck driver. The suit states that this unwritten work requirement is selectively applied to favor white applicants.

Nelson contends that, after repeatedly applying for a truck driver position in 2002, he was finally granted an interview and a road test and was told that he would be hired as a driver in Searcy, Arkansas.

When he met with a human resources director, however, the director told him that he would have to accept a job as a laborer. The suit alleges that the director used "racial stereotyping" to deny Nelson the truck driving position because of his "gut feeling" that Nelson had falsified his credit and driving records.

The plaintiff filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which said in an attached document that "there is reasonable cause to believe that a violation has occurred." The EEOC also said Nelson has more than 22 years of driving experience and a good record, and that Wal-Mart in 2002 hired white drivers with far less experience and worse driving records.

The lawsuit seeks to prevent Wal-Mart from continuing to discriminate against black job applicants, as well as compensation for African Americans who were rejected or discouraged from applying because of the company's practices.

The suit was filed a day before Wal-Mart sent an open letter to California residents in an effort to overcome resistance to its plans for expansion in the state.

Wal-Mart, whose reputation has been tarnished by dozens of discrimination cases and charges from organized labor of anti-union practices, published the letter in 15 newspapers and said it still plans to open up to 40 of its supercenters in California in the next few years.

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Wal-Mart Denied Location

By First Coast News Staff [back to top]

Created: 9/21/2004 6:54:38 PM
Updated: 9/21/2004 6:56:45 PM

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Governor Jeb Bush makes the final call, saying no to plans for a new Wal-Mart in Jacksonville.

The retail giant was denied permission to build a new store at Atlantic Boulevard and Bartram Road.

The governor agreed with a Florida judge that the planned store does not meet city planning requirements.

Wal-Mart officials want to put a 40,000-square-foot Neighborhood Market at the intersection.

Despite protests from nearby residents, Jacksonville's City Council approved the plans in October. Neighbors then appealed to the state.

Wal-Mart and the city can still appeal the decision.

Edited by Kevin Ronningen, Producer
© 2004 First Coast News Staff. All rights reserved.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (September 21, 2004) - Wal-Mart Stores, Bentonville, Ark., is "well on its way" to achieving its goal of controlling a 30% market share in every category in which it competes, according to a newly released study by Retail Forward, a management consulting and market research firm based here. A survey of Wal-Mart shoppers indicated Wal-Mart is attracting 30% or more of consumer dollars in several core categories, Retail Forward said, including small personal appliances, skin and hair care products, housewares, small kitchen appliances and toys. Several other categories are "inching their way toward the 30% mark." The study also said 50% of all U.S. primary household shoppers visit a Wal-Mart store monthly and 25% shop at a Wal-Mart supercenter weekly, compared with only 20% of shoppers who visited a SuperTarget store in the past six months who indicated they are weekly SuperTarget shoppers. The study also said two-thirds of Wal-Mart supercenter shoppers shop both sides of the store.

Sam Whiting (SF Chronicle) [back to top]
Sunday, September 19, 2004

Litigator Jocelyn Larkin has one advantage in taking on the army of men who serve as Wal-Mart lawyers in Bentonville, Ark. She's taller than they are. At 5 feet, 10 inches, Larkin, 45, is nearly as tall as the stack of
binders marked "Wal-Mart" in her office at the Impact Fund in the Berkeley\Marina.

What is the nut of the Wal-Mart case?
In every store in every job in the country, women are being paid less than men for doing the same exact job.

How much less?
On average, the disparity in pay between men and women doing the same work is 5 [to] 15 percent.

How did the case walk through the door?
Everyone wants an Erin Brockovich story. The true story is that there were two lawyers in New Mexico who had been doing sexual harassment cases against Wal-Mart. They called us, and we spent a year and a half
investigating.

What did you find out?
What we saw was that two-thirds of the hourly workers were female, and by the time you got to store manager, it was fewer than 10 percent. They promoted the men.

How big is the suit?
We estimate it [the class] is 1.6 million women. It will be the largest civil rights case ever.

What is the name attached to the suit?
Betty Dukes is from the Pittsburg store. She's the lead plaintiff in Dukes vs. Wal-Mart stores.

Does Betty Dukes still work at Wal-Mart?
She's a greeter, the person at the door. She's been there 10 years, and until we filed the case, she was making $8.30 an hour. Since we filed the case, they have raised her to about $12 an hour.

What should she be making?
She should be in management making between $40,000 and $60,000 a year.

If you win, what will Betty Dukes be entitled to?
She will be made whole, meaning she will get the pay she should have had, had she not been the victim of discrimination.

What do the Wal-Mart lawyers make of you?
Their entire existence is focused on making money. The fact that the Impact Fund is a nonprofit with nothing monetary to gain is baffling to them.

Have you shopped at Wal-Mart?
Yes. I've had to spend an enormous amount of time in Bentonville, Ark., where Wal-Mart is headquartered.

Do they know you in Bentonville?
I do sort of stand out. I get to the hotel, and the front-desk clerks know me as the woman who brings her own coffee. I pack Peet's. It's a very small town.

A one-hotel town?
Even "hotel" is very generous. Parked right outside my window will be rows of 18-wheelers. You ask people for a good place to eat, and they always say Applebee's.

How long will it take?
My guess is three to five more years. It's like a really long book that doesn't end.

Where do you live?
North Berkeley, about six blocks from where I grew up.

Did that give you a feminist bent?
I'm one of four girls raised by a divorced mother. There was a lot of girl power in the house.

What does your husband do?
He's a lawyer for the University of California. His name is Christopher Patti. His main case is fighting Enron. Neither of us will get any money if we win.

How about your two boys?
They are 10 and 11. Apart from their passion for cars, video games and anything that will explode, they're budding feminists.

How do you know that?
One of them brought an assignment home that said, "Write a sentence about a promotion at Wal-Mart or Kmart." Something like, "Lettuce is 25 cents off." He wrote "Women get fewer promotions at Wal-Mart than do men."

E-mail Sam Whiting at swhiting@sfchronicle.com.
Copyright 2004 SF Chronicle

By Constance L. Hays, New York Times [back to top]
Sunday, September 12, 2004

Wal-Mart, stung by criticism of its labor practices, expansion plans and other business tactics, is turning to public radio, public television and even journalists in training to try to improve its image.

So far this year, the company has become a sponsor on National Public Radio, where recorded messages promote its stores. It has underwritten a popular talk show, "Tavis Smiley," accompanied by similar promotional messages, on a public television station in California.

Wal-Mart announced plans to award $500,000 in scholarships to minority students at journalism programs around the country, including Howard University, University of Southern California and Columbia University.

Wal-Mart has not supported any of those organizations in the past. But as the company outgrows its rural roots and moves into suburbs and cities, it is encountering more resistance from people whose traditions and values may be different from those of Wal-Mart's historic customers.

The company has been faulted for its selective approach toward the publications that it sells, which has included banning three men's magazines and ordering plastic covers to conceal what it considered "uncomfortable" headlines on several women's titles, including Glamour and Redbook.

It has refused to sell music albums with what it deems offensive lyrics, and manufacturers acknowledge producing sanitized versions of popular CDs to maintain a presence in the giant retailer's stores.

Mona Williams, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, said the journalism scholarships were "a first of their kind" for the retailer, and came about because of the recent publicity around its business practices.

"We've really been in the spotlight and I think that's made us especially sensitive to the need for balanced coverage," Williams said. "It doesn't matter if the subject is Wal-Mart or something else. You just aren't going to have that unless different perspectives are represented." Without diversity, she added, "the result can be narrower thinking as news events are presented to the public."

Influencing that presentation may be at the heart of the effort, although Williams said there was "no hidden agenda here" and added that it probably would have been done even if Wal-Mart had not come under scrutiny.

John Siegenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, said, "Wal-Mart is doing what most corporations do: when they feel pain, they try to salve the wound." He predicted that "they may get less out of it than they expect to," but he added that "if it helps minority journalism, I hope they salve it with more than half a million dollars."

As for public radio, Williams said the company sought the demographic that National Public Radio listeners represent. The goal is to "reach community leaders and help them understand the value that we bring to their areas."

A spokeswoman for NPR, Jenny Lawhorn, said its audience consisted of "intelligent and well-educated people" who "tend to be business leaders and tend to be engaged in the civic process." According to a recent survey, about 56 percent of them are Wal-Mart shoppers, she said, compared with 66 percent of the general population.

Wooing community leaders fits well into Wal-Mart's plans. The company has stumbled in recent months against opposition to its stores. In April, its effort to win voter support for a store in the Inglewood was defeated after the company took the unusual step of putting the issue on the ballot. An attempt to build a store in Chicago was rejected, although a second store was approved, while plans to open a store in downtown New Orleans have been slowed by opposition as well.

The company has also been criticized by labor unions, which say Wal-Mart fights their organizing efforts. In California, unionized supermarket workers staged a lengthy strike earlier this year seeking benefits that stores said they could not afford because they needed to compete with Wal-Mart.

Neither Wal-Mart nor NPR would reveal what it pays as an NPR sponsor. The contract began Feb. 16 and extends until January. Total corporate financing is expected to reach $30 million this year, Lawhorn said. As part of its NPR arrangement, Wal-Mart is described several ways when it is mentioned as an underwriter on the air.

The descriptions include the following: "Wal-Mart. Providing jobs and opportunities for millions of Americans of all ages and all walks of life." Another says the company is "bringing communities job opportunities, goods and services and support for neighborhood programs."

NPR has received letters and e-mail messages from listeners since the Wal-Mart underwriting information began to be broadcast. One listener wrote: "What a disappointment! Maybe next it will be Halliburton." The role of Wal-Mart was taken up by NPR's ombudsman, Jeffrey Dvorkin, who wrote in his NPR.org online column, "Wal-Mart symbolizes values that some listeners believe to be antithetical to the values of public radio" and suggested that "one way that NPR could prove that underwriting has no effect on its integrity is for NPR to produce more hard-hitting interviews, more investigative reporting and yes, even more scandalizing satires."

Wal-Mart also underwrites "Tavis Smiley," a talk show on KCET, the public television station in Los Angeles.

The program began in January and Wal-Mart was on board immediately, a spokesman for the show, Joel Brokaw, said.

In late March, Smiley interviewed Wal-Mart's chief executive, H. Lee Scott Jr., who is seldom made available to reporters. After disclosing twice that Wal-Mart sponsored the show, Smiley went on to ask his guest about Wal-Mart's image problems. Brokaw said he did not know how much Wal-Mart paid to be a sponsor.

The journalism plan evolved separately, Williams said. Ten journalism schools will receive $50,000 each, which will be distributed as $2,500 scholarships to four students at each school. The scholarships will be awarded in each student's junior year and can be renewed for the senior year as well.

The recipients chosen include Arizona State University and Syracuse University. Administrators at the universities said the selections came as a complete surprise. In most cases, corporate donations for scholarships are unheard of, the administrators said, unless the corporation is involved in the news business or another communications medium like advertising.

"It's kind of a reach to expect companies that don't see themselves as part of the media world to support journalism education," said Steve Doig, the interim director of the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State, where some scholarships have been provided by newspaper companies like Gannett.

Doig, a former reporter for the Miami Herald, said that he was aware of Wal-Mart's practices with magazines but that did not prevent him from accepting the scholarship money.

"It's not the American Nazi Party," he said. "I don't see Wal-Mart as problematic enough to miss the opportunity they are offering to several of our students."

He added: "Both the banning of certain magazines and the decision to give money to journalism schools are calculated behaviors and not necessarily contrary. I don't support banning newspapers or any particular publication, but a company has the right to decide what it wants to sell."

Wal-Mart also plans to include the scholarship students at next year's annual shareholder meeting, Williams said.

"They will be guests in the audience, and we think that would be a great educational experience for them," she said. They may also have tours of the company's offices in Bentonville, Ark., as well as a warehouse nearby.

Tom Bowers, dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, said the move was "saying to the public, look at the good thing we're doing." North Carolina was not one of the journalism schools designated by Wal-Mart for scholarships, but the university awards about $100,000, some from media companies, to students every year, Bowers said.

"The people who win our scholarships typically don't go to any national meetings and aren't put on display by these corporate donors," he said. "We certainly make sure there is no quid pro quo on these. The only obligation is to write them a letter and thank them for the scholarship. The student isn't expected to do anything for the company."

Of the programs chosen, only the University of Southern California's Annenberg School has received corporate funding from nonmedia companies in the past. A spokesman, Geoffrey Baum, said the school had gotten money from Nissan and General Motors, as well as from Raytheon and Home Depot for public-relations programs. Some journalism programs are in states where Wal-Mart has opened a large number of stores. The University of Florida and the University of Texas made the list; those states have nearly 600 of Wal-Mart's 3,596 stores, according to Wal-Mart.

Jannette L. Dates, dean of Howard University's John H. Johnson School of Communications, hopes that Wal-Mart's scholarship will encourage other nonmedia companies to contribute.

"I'm going to go after some of those others and say 'See, Wal-Mart did this, why don't you?'" she said.

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Demian Bulwa, SF Chronicle Staff Writer [back to top]
Saturday, September 11, 2004

Opponents of a proposed Wal-Mart supercenter that has divided residents of the small Napa County city of American Canyon said Friday they would appeal the city planning commission's approval of the store's design after an emotional six-hour hearing.

In a twist, Wal-Mart said it would appeal the commission's 3-2 approval - - at 1 a.m. Friday -- because it limited the store's hours to 6 a.m. to midnight. Wal-Mart supercenters -- more than 1,600 in all -- are open 24 hours.

The appeals must be filed within 10 days, and the City Council could rule on them next month. Wal-Mart could open the supercenter as soon as late next year.

More than 450 people packed a school gymnasium Thursday for the first public meeting since Wal-Mart signed on to build a 176,000-square-foot supercenter to anchor the Napa Junction development on Highway 29, which will include apartments, a park, a hotel and retail stores. The proposal is the talk of a fast-growing city of about 14,000 people, at times pitting longtime residents eager to finally shop close to home against newcomers who believe Wal-Mart -- and its customers -- will tarnish a relatively affluent city with the slogan "Gateway to the Napa Valley. "

Commissioner Charlie Johnson spoke favorably of Wal-Mart, saying after the hearing, "I've lived here since 1981, and I'm tired of going out of town to shop."

Anthony Quicho, who voted yes along with Michele Castagnola, said American Canyon would be a bad fit for a supercenter "targeted for low-income people." However, he said, the issue before the commission was the store's design, not whether it could come to town.

Neither of the two dissenters, Donald Callison and Pamela Quiroz, spoke of halting Wal-Mart's plans. Rather, Callison said he wanted to give the city more time to work out conditions for Wal-Mart to follow. "There are a lot of things I'd rather see there," he said. "But truth be told, nobody else wanted to play."

The planning commission's approval came with several conditions: Wal-Mart must prohibit overnight RV camping in its parking lot, remove graffiti within 24 hours and keep its vending machines and carts out of sight. City officials said the project's master plan had been approved in December and included having an unnamed big-box retailer anchor it. Wal-Mart was the only one interested, said City Manager Mark Joseph. But opponents said the master plan set aside a 165,000-square-foot retail space that could have been divided into several smaller businesses. The newly formed American Canyon Residents United for Responsible Growth plans to appeal the planning commission approval, said Brett Jolley, a Stockton attorney representing the group.

He said Wal-Mart should be required to apply for a conditional use permit under city law because it offers retail food sales and because of the size of its sign. The impact of the project could then be subject to further environmental review, Jolley said. City officials and developers say no special permit is required.

"The city is not cutting square corners and taking a hard look at this as they are required to do by law," Jolley said.

Wal-Mart's attorney, Judy Davidoff, said the company would appeal the ruling, but she declined further comment.

Opponents say Wal-Mart engages in ruthless cost-cutting that undercuts local businesses, and they criticize the company for its low wages and anti- union stance. They hope to stall the project, and they are following a state Senate bill that would force cities or counties to complete an economic impact report before allowing Wal-Mart-style superstores. The bill is now on the governor's desk.

Supporters in American Canyon say a supercenter would bring needed sales tax revenue -- more than $600,000 a year, according to the city -- to American Canyon. Many say they enjoy shopping at Wal-Mart and are excited by the supercenter's size.

Demian Bulwa - SF Chronicle Staff Writer [back to top]
Thursday, September 9, 2004

Fast-growing American Canyon has long been defined by its proximity to other places.

The Napa County city was founded a half-century ago by military families from nearby Mare Island. Many of its newest homeowners discovered it while cruising Highway 29 on their way to view open houses in Vallejo or Napa. And the city's slogan is "Gateway to the Napa Valley," which hints at its dream of luring wine-tasters to the town center.

But the identity of a city that incorporated 12 years ago is at the center of its biggest political fight, which comes to a head tonight when the planning commission is expected to make American Canyon the second Bay Area city, after Gilroy, to welcome a Wal-Mart supercenter.It has been an emotional battle, at times pitting longtime residents eager for the chance to finally shop close to home against newcomers worried Wal-Mart will tarnish the character of what is becoming an upscale community where the median home price recently hit $481,000.

"It's really a defining moment," said Mike Stanfield, 47, a history professor at the University of San Francisco who two years ago moved with his wife and three kids to American Canyon. "To have Wal-Mart defining my community is something I'd be against."

Wal-Mart's proposed 176,000-square-foot supercenter would anchor the downtown "Napa Junction" project along Highway 29 that includes apartments, a park, a hotel and other stores.

Residents announce their stances on signs in their yards. City Council members are peppered with questions while running errands. And accusations of back-room deals and political opportunism are flying.

Underscoring the contentious debate, tonight's meeting was rescheduled and moved to a gymnasium after more than 250 people packed a school cafeteria last week. Wal-Mart opponents accused the company of padding the crowd, while supporters complained too many opponents were out-of-towners. Stanfield and other opponents of the supercenter blast the retailing giant for reasons that have become rote in the anti-Wal-Mart debate -- its ruthless cost-cutting, its adverse impact on some local businesses and its low wages.

Supporters say the supercenter will bring shoppers and badly needed sales tax revenue, more than $600,000 a year according to the city, to American Canyon. They argue the city has no right to discriminate against a business. Many are simply excited about the prospect of cheap groceries and a store that sells just about everything under one roof.

"Now I can truly have a 'Wal-Mart day' -- that's what my husband calls it," said Suzette Williamson, a 48-year-old probation officer and self- described "shopaholic" who lives just outside American Canyon. "This whole area is growing, and we need more. These people are trying to keep a small- town atmosphere when they're booming."

Earlier this year, Contra Costa County voters defeated a measure to ban supercenters in unincorporated communities. And Wal-Mart could break ground on a 220,000-square-foot supercenter in Gilroy this month, although opponents have filed a lawsuit to stop the project.

Wal-Mart also hopes to open supercenters in Antioch, Tracy, Lodi, Yuba City, Redding, Chico and Red Bluff. A supercenter augments the usual Wal-Mart inventory of general merchandise with groceries. American Canyon is just 3 square miles, hemmed in by hills to the east and the Napa River to the west and bisected by Highway 29. It has filled quickly, its population jumping from roughly 6,000 to 14,000 in the past five years.

In American Canyon, as in other places, Wal-Mart has become a political rallying point. It's the leading issue in a contentious City Council race and has two of the most outspoken candidates, the mayor and the publisher of the local newspaper, trading barbs.

Mayor Lori Luporini, 54, who manages a makeup counter at Macy's, said the backlash against the supe