Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in walmartauthor's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, September 18th, 2005
11:46 am	Press release Walmart Workers Association will hold a meeting for all Walmart associates in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on October 5, 2005 location to be determined by response. Please Contact Julie Pierce at 225-273-4354 or at juliejpjersey@aol.com for details. Meetings are being scheduled nationwide as interest in this non union association flurishes throughout the nation. All information on where and when can be obtained by contacting Julie who is working with the Chief Organizer Wade Rathke on this. Media and reporters, please contact Julie for information on attending the meetings. ### (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, August 25th, 2005
12:25 pm	Unionize Walmart. Unionize Walmart. I know how, but will anyone listen? The long time attempt to unionize Walmart has repeatedly failed. There is a way to get through, a way to organize and to touch the average Walmart Associate and their families. There is a way to get the average associate to consider signing a union card. There is a way to talk and a way to lead, a way to break through and lead a wonderful bunch of people to better things, better lives. I have it. For information call Julie Pierce At 225-273-4354 Or Email me At juliejpjersey@aol.com "The Walmart Way" Not Sam's Way Walmart XIII AD By JD Pierce 225-273-4354 (Comment on this)
Saturday, August 13th, 2005
12:08 pm	This story is written from inside the Walmart stores and dedicated to Walmart Associates across the This story is written from inside the Walmart stores and dedicated to Walmart Associates across the United States that inspired it. Walmart, an opportunity, an experience, a lifestyle that can only truly be accessed from the store level and has not been covered by the media in this way. Walmart associates across the United States have a view of what Walmart really is and in this book, written from the inside, the experiences of the associates are revealed and documented. Walmart associates from the east to west coasts have read this in its original form and agree with its contents. (Comments supplied upon request) Communication with more than thirty-five Walmart executive and corporate officers including CEO; Lee Scott tell of conversations, situations, and meetings that show what the company really is like to work for and how the corporate offices will twist the truth to its advantage. The people behind the success of this retailer are the associates, dedicated at times to the point of living “The Walmart Way” and being part of a cult. Through the Public Relations Department the media coverage of the company promotes the illusion of clean while the associates continue to work for a company that is no longer what its founder intended it to be. The book shows what it is like to live life today, “The Walmart Way” Not Sam’s Way. My Walmart Career was seven years long in four states, three regions, six, districts within ten stores for twelve store managers. While working for Walmart as a field manager in New Hampshire, all adults in our family worked for Walmart in different stores and locations with thousands of Walmart associates. My total retail and food service experience includes thirty years in numerous positions both in union and non union shops for retail chains and restaurants, proprietor of a restaurant and banquet facility in Oklahoma and as a franchise owner in three locations in the Florida Gulf Coast. The book is fifteen chapters the last of which is being written and titled “Withdrawal and Recovery”. It includes information that will be of interest to Walmart associates and their families, to stockholders and retailers everywhere. (Comment on this)
Sunday, July 24th, 2005
12:32 pm	Almost daily, there is mention of Walmart somewhere in the media. Walmart finds itself up against mo Almost daily, there is mention of Walmart somewhere in the media. Walmart finds itself up against more lawsuits then ever before and activists are at top of the list of problems that continue to plague Walmart. From attempts to block the opening of new Super Centers to the individual and group lawsuits that are filed against the corporation, it will be the people, customers and the company’s very own associates who will determine the fate of the aging retailer. Attempts at redeeming itself publicly and attempts at improving its image are a new way of handling the perception people have of the company. In the past public relations and the media were areas that the company avoided unless there was an extremely negative situation had to answered through the media in some way. Now the corporate offices have decided to defend the company to the extent of taking out full page ads in different areas of the country and designing a web site called Walmartfacts to allow the public access to its’ own view of the wonderful world of Walmart. A corporation, a company, the as big as life retail behemoth whose founder Sam Walton, is looked at and remembered by many in different ways. Sam was a man who is quoted almost continuously by an assortment of different people and associates. Opinions vary and views on the man and his legacy continue. The book” The Walmart Decade” by Robert Slater looks at not only the Walmart of today but also has many references to Sam Walton and the way it was. The book “Made in America” by Sam Walton and John Huey is a look at a man that seemed to genuinely care about the people that he more than once said “should be treated as partners;” his associates; his company’s employees who are no longer protected by the founder and his way of “respecting the individual.” A new book titled The Walmart Way by Don Soderqist. It is supposed to be about the Walmart executives. It talks of the Judeo-Christian culture and although it is from the inside of the corporate and executive offices it is not from inside the stores and I am sure will not deal with the same things I am addressing in this book. The corporate officers, the directors and the executive officers of the company are business people running a corporation, not Sam Walton. Anyone attempting to find a company, or a corporation to work for that would appreciate hard work could at one time find it here. A person could take a look at “The Walmart Culture” and that person would be easy to convince that Walmart has it all and will give it all to you if you work hard and treat the customer as number one, according to Sam Walton. It seems, from the inside to be getting further away from that kind of respect and inclusiveness each day. Today we have “The Walmart Decade “By Robert Slater “How a New Generation of Leaders Turned Sam Walton's Legacy into the World's #1 company” You really need to read between the lines. You would need to understand that Mr. Slater received his information as it is listed at the end of the book. He did not work in the stores and did not really have access to or the ability to really touch the average associate. I did. The largest retailer in the country and the world is more than just a retailer, employer and a stock on Wall Street. America’s most admired company is a large part of day-to-day living for the typical American family. It is a very large part of the day-to-day life of Walmart Associates. From the outside of the stores, there is more than one opinion of the company, its’ suppliers and its’ worth. From inside there is also more than one opinion, and depending on many factors that determine your position in the Walmart order of things an opinion can be valid as far as Walmart is concerned or an opinion can be an expression of possible hostile aggressive behavior the way Walmart is today. Among the many files, policies and trade secrets of the number one retailer in our nation and in the world are the people. These people work in the stores. The people that greet the customers and the people that keep the shelves stocked. In many cases, this book reflects the very lives of the people that this company will forever be connected to, like it or not. This is the warehouse, the truck driver and the system that keeps count on all of it. This is the story that includes a factory in a foreign country that produces the clothing that hangs on the racks in the softlines departments. This book is a written view from the inside of the stores. It takes an in depth look at the associates, individual stores, salaried management and the executive offices of this company that is listed on tickers of the New York Stock Exchange as wmt. (Comment on this)
Monday, July 18th, 2005
1:14 pm	Terrorism Is... Our President Thank God is Strong and putting up a good fight for our country and against the terrorists that exist in this world. Against the explosives and the suicidal maniacs out there who many seem to think would be better served by therapists offering up reasoning and love. The frustration continues and many years later I have no choice but to open my eyes to the reality that our country is not what it should be. It is not much different than it was in the seventies and eighties except the actual working poor have gathered resources and our family is no different. Sure over the years we could have split up and went out there on our own and I have serious doubts that we would be as well off as we are, even though there are still problems. Our government, the politicians dabble in things like health care, labor, laws and actually not much of anything changes. In my lifetime I have seen things and I have ignored what did not hit home. Can any of our elected officials see more or attempt to do more with situations that they have not lived through? In my lifetime I have been in situations that only by the grace of God I was allowed to take care of. In my lifetime I have been able to take care of the most important things that our family had to deal with but did nothing to make it better for anyone else and it is now coming back, oh so quietly and reminding me that nothing has changed. I tire of seeing the world look at the US as something it really isn’t. I tire of the old fashioned red tape that allows some to cut it and others to be strangled by it. I tire of the waste of time, energy and see that the priorities that our government should look at are being ignored while our politicians argue over cover operatives that were not covert. I sincerely feel down because there is no one to do the research and work and as tired as I am have no idea of what the answer is. Terrorism lives everywhere. It is down the street. It is in other countries. It is a Muslim extremist and it is a sexual predator. Terrorism is not being able to find health care, and watching your children make the attempt to find it without getting government assistance. Terrorism is allowing your grandchild to walk down the street unattended. Terrorism is getting no answer to any relevant question you have. Terrorism is the politicians wasting their time and spending the money that could have paid the doctor. Terrorism is the media and the repeated issue of all of it with no one actually seeing what is going on. Terrorism is the email auto response that only means that no one will see the message. If the message is read it will be answered by someone who is only doing so to justify a pay check. No one cares. Fighting anything is a timely matter that the average wage earner hasn’t the time or energy to continue fighting. The losses are the children and their children continuing to survive through all of it only when someone somewhere takes pity on their plight. Seriously, if you can’t get it into the media forget it and if you do you had better stay with it, pound on it, and not let up or they will forget it. Our politicians have become media entertainment for the privileged few who have the time and money to watch. It is all one big joke. I just didn’t realize it was going on for all this time. It really hasn’t changed a bit. For some reason as your income grows in the smallest way, you tend to forget the way it was. It hasn’t changed. I changed and even though it was a small change it was enough to allow me to forget. I can only hope that it doesn’t happen to me again. (Comment on this)
Thursday, July 14th, 2005
1:09 pm	Sexual Predators Thank you for your comment t Julie, If you will give me your street address, I can tell you who your senator is and that will be a good place to start. Please send me your address. Thanks, Annette Rayborn Legisltive Assistant -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Hatty, Jenna On Behalf Of websen Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 12:35 PM To: Senate Members (District Office) Subject: FW: Okay, call me anything you want. I have no idea of where to start. Who, what Senator, This message was received from the Senate email address. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Jenna M. Hatty Louisiana Senate Legislative Services (225) 342-0346 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: JULIEJPJERSEY@aol.com [mailto:JULIEJPJERSEY@aol.com] Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 11:30 AM To: websen Subject: Okay, call me anything you want. I have no idea of where to start. Who, what Okay, call me anything you want. I have no idea of where to start. Who, what, when, where the whole thing. I see no response. I see no effort. I would like to know the addresses and the people and places I need to go to in order to let them know this is not going away. Huntergreen, Vitter is it actually really Durbin....? I hope not...going to look on the web...that thought scares me.... Julie Pierce 225-273-4354 o the Louisiana State Senate. Your message has been forwarded to the Senator. Jenna M. Hatty Louisiana Senate Legislative Services -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: JULIEJPJERSEY@aol.com [mailto:JULIEJPJERSEY@aol.com] Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 11:30 AM To: websen Subject: Okay, call me anything you want. I have no idea of where to start. Who, what Okay, call me anything you want. I have no idea of where to start. Who, what, when, where the whole thing. I see no response. I see no effort. I would like to know the addresses and the people and places I need to go to in order to let them know this is not going away. Huntergreen, Vitter is it actually really Durbin....? I hope not...going to look on the web...that thought scares me.... Julie Pierce 225-273-4354 Thank you for your comment to the Louisiana State Senate. Your message has been forwarded to the Senator. Jenna M. Hatty Louisiana Senate Legislative Services -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: JULIEJPJERSEY@aol.com [mailto:JULIEJPJERSEY@aol.com] Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 11:30 AM To: websen Subject: Okay, call me anything you want. I have no idea of where to start. Who, what Okay, call me anything you want. I have no idea of where to start. Who, what, when, where the whole thing. I see no response. I see no effort. I would like to know the addresses and the people and places I need to go to in order to let them know this is not going away. Huntergreen, Vitter is it actually really Durbin....? I hope not...going to look on the web...that thought scares me.... Julie Pierce 225-273-4354 Thank you for your comment to the Louisiana State Senate. Which senator(s) would you like this message forwarded to? Jenna M. Hatty Louisiana Senate Legislative Services -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: JULIEJPJERSEY@aol.com [mailto:JULIEJPJERSEY@aol.com] Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 11:30 AM To: websen Subject: Okay, call me anything you want. I have no idea of where to start. Who, what Okay, call me anything you want. I have no idea of where to start. Who, what, when, where the whole thing. I see no response. I see no effort. I would like to know the addresses and the people and places I need to go to in order to let them know this is not going away. Huntergreen, Vitter is it actually really Durbin....? I hope not...going to look on the web...that thought scares me.... Julie Pierce 225-273-4354 I already know that information...I want more done immediately. I have tracked everyone in Louisiana. I want nationwide coverage and am publishing what I can on the web. Someone anyone today now...not next year... Thanks anyway. I am sure you are only doing your job. Now the United States Government needs to do it's job instead of sitting on their hands and dealing with bashing each other...I am sure this is a subject that can be agreed upon. Today, I they will not call I can't make them. If they want to the children that suffer will be on their mind when they attempt to rest. It should have been done years ago. Jessica's Law Plus MORE Thanks, But this is too important to wait on it. Julie Pierce, 225-273-4254 www.thewalmartwaynotsamsway.blogspot.com www.unitedstatesdailynews.blogspot.com www.walmartnews.blogspot.com www.walmartassociatescentral.com And anyone who will post this. (Comment on this)
Monday, July 11th, 2005
12:08 pm	I am at www.thewalmartwaynotsamsway.blogspot.com www.walmartnews.blogspot.com www.unitedstatesdailynews.com (Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 28th, 2005
11:46 am	Our Deepest Sympathy...A Legacy is? My feelings are that I have so much more. It is one thing to have billions of dollars to leave as a legacy and to your family. It is wonderful to have been able to do so many things that are good. Still, even with the loss of what I at one time felt I had I am at a loss to compare what I have to what they have. Billions of dollars, whether in cash, stocks, company holdings it’s money and money can be a comfort in a time of loss as it can be at any other time. Still, the continuation of ignoring the people that helped to compile that money is something that makes a person wonder when money becomes the real God. Too much time to think and is it what you use time thinking about. The itch to go back, to start all over again only because that is the norm for you and the way it has been for a lifetime. The feeling of guilt that can run unchecked and make an average person of any age feel that they have to do because they are categorized as a have not. What would I use my time on if I had the money to do all of the things that I think of now, especially considering I do not have it. Money rules the mind and the heart and although some of the most wondrous lives have been ruled by money, many others have gone beyond the need for it and even without it have done wonderful things. How do you? At a time when I seriously thought I was finished with new employment beginnings, at a time when life is more than paying the bills and decisions really mean something because if nothing more I need to stand for something I can truly believe in. If I leave nothing else behind I must leave what I believe in. I feel that even if no one else can, I must write the words that I truly believe. I could have continued to act as if the way things were, what I saw was unimportant and would have been allowed to continue to work or not work…my decision for a company that was not what it seemed to be when I came across it in 1998. I could decide, they were right, I was wrong. Even now, I wonder and I hold inside the reasoning that allows me to justify the monetary losses that my family will endure because I bucked the system and even though it looks like my fault to see it on paper, I know and my family knows better. I know what it may look like. I have accepted that. I also know that proving any of it without the help that could actually say, actually verify, it will always look like something it is not. I also have the temporary thought that giving up is easier. Starting over is easier. Why? Because there is no interest as far as the media is concerned as to why it is the way it is. Because for some reason, yes I would love to make money doing it, yes I would love to be able to show, prove what I say is true. No one will look at any of it, even if I offer it for free. A few of the people I made promises to understand. Few, very few of the numbers of hard working Americans actually have verified to me that I am not wrong for the way I feel. I was very tired of the continued attempt to get the entire situation into the open while working hours posted on a wall by another who is only interested in the monetary value of their time and nothing else. If I could lie to myself and others I could have done it. If I could lie to my family and anyone else who presented the questions that no one would answer I could have done it. As mom instilled in me, somewhere along the way, I can only feel that I once again made the mistake of looking at the entire company as what it was in a small piece of it by comparison very small. The illusion of clean…it looks that way but I knew better within no time at all and at that time I continued to work there, I continued to accept something that was not right with the belief that the company would somehow redeem itself. At a time in my life when I felt fairly down due to the loss of my business and any additional amount of feeling inadequate because those with money could win by default I was looking for something that could in some way make up for it and it didn’t work. If I had been truly concerned I would have admitted to myself and others in 1998 that they were not even then what they seemed to be. I accepted the status quo. I accepted that being a female was just that being a female and made the attempt to be one of them until the baggage that came with it became too heavy to carry. As a woman and as one that has worked most of my life I accepted the status quo. I accepted many times in my work life that as a woman I could only achieve so much when it came to business. It could have happened anywhere, for any company. It just happened that at that time of my life it was this company and that along with the good, there was bad. (To be continued) (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 26th, 2005
9:08 am	Lee Lee Sorry that because you and the rest of the corporate officers at Walmart have all the answers that you couldn’t give me a chance to explain or to suggest. At least I know that I tried. Seriously, Walmart was to me a company that I would do just about anything for until I started to realize that it was the blind leading the blind in many situations and that the corporate officers would not, could not see the simplicity of what was destroying the company. It wasn’t as if I were a public relations expert looking to contract my services to the company. Possibly if I were someone would have given me the time of day. I was a dedicated employee trying to help not only set the record straight but making the attempt to remind the people running the company of the kind of things that made it great. I was only met with an unusual amount of animosity and treated as if I had no intelligence what so ever. The frustration level of trying to get anyone to actually listen was so high that by the time your offices terminated me it was probably a God send. It may have saved my life. To balance the scales at this time is not easy the good and the bad and I have yet to make a list of it all and see what will win in the end. Even now, after being treated as a criminal I do not force myself to look at all of it in a negative way. I tend to look at it as a situation where those who put themselves above the rest, will not, cannot grow enough to accept that they could have missed something, could be wrong. As frustrating as it is, considering I would not make the attempt alone to do what my logic tells me I should, I will continue to write and communicate with anyone interested to let the world know that what I wanted to offer, what I wanted to give was thrown aside because there was no one who would take the time. No one who could use it would seriously listen to the things that I knew to be true to see it from where I gathered the information and the real grass roots perception of associates and customers. Documentation of what I see and what I saw even if never published into the mainstream press will eventually, one day be looked at as what could have saved the company. I know it, like the back of my hand typing the words that make every attempt to explain. Seriously now, I would not do it for free anyway. Why not? Because when it was free it was turned down. Someday, I may be dead and buried. My kids, my grandson will look at it and know. Someday, someone will see it and understand that the company could not, would not take the time, put in the effort to save what Sam founded. My children may not benefit from my sense of knowing the answers, but knowing I made the attempt is enough for me. The frustration of watching the company decline into the same situation Kmart had is enough to make me wonder why no one sees it or understands it. The busy day of a CEO and the way the company has to defend itself on any number of lawsuits that will go no where is beyond me. Attorneys who will not venture into suing unless the pay off will be greater than the pay their lifetime will bring without a law suit against Walmart. I never wanted a lawsuit, I feel most of them are nothing more than someone trying to get over it and most of them are the product of a person somewhere in the system who should not have been there to begin with. The typical person, the typical associate would never sue. The Sam Walton associate should not want to sue. A long process of talking to, and really listening has brought the knowledge to me that no one thinks is important but it is more important than all the lawsuits that are filed and all of the lawsuits that will be filed and if not understood from the level they are coming from all of it will continue to go on and on. I seriously do not know if at this time any of the information, answers or trends that are hurting Walmart apply to other companies. I do know that I am right to believe and understand what is turning a company of this size and possibilities to self destruct. Lee, you have to realize that there are many people out there who look at the corporate officers with the view that there is no care about the workers only because they do know that if the company suffers the corporate officers are already well taken care of. Lee, you have to realize that promoting the illusion of clean will work for a while but not forever. Mr. Scott, as important as the media finding out about any number of situations where the facts are blurred and can be taken one way or another, wouldn’t it be easier to repair the damage done before it becomes worthy of more attention? Or do you have a plan? Obviously you must have a plan unless your plan is to allow this once wonder company to implode due to a lack of the ability to realize somehow, you are missing something. I could be wrong, possibly the company already understands and in that case I wish you well with the repairs that will take a bit of time to show. I seriously hope that in the world of Walmart Corporate, the officers of the company are not blind to the simplicity that can destroy Walmart if not seriously worked on. Even if all you ever care about is your paycheck, you hold the future of many in your hands. If there is good somewhere please do step up and make it right. I know it will take time. I know that Walmart can be greater than it ever was with the right leadership. I am sorry that I could not find a way to show this without being tossed aside as a problem. Possibly I wanted it too much. Possibly I am not able to communicate the importance of it all. Possibly I only want to believe in something that never existed. Sincerely, Julie Pierce Current Mood: sad Current Music: fox news is on (Comment on this)
Friday, June 24th, 2005
5:31 pm	The Illussion of Clean......Walmart....Thanks, Mom! It is something that I am sure is and was inspired by my Mom. I am not even sure that I ever remember her saying it. Possibly it is only something I started saying to the kids while they were growing and I was working more than one job at a time. Something that we used to say. Something we used to do. Give the house, a cleaning. At least give it the illussion of clean. More later. (Comment on this)
5:05 pm	That's Life.... All of it in one way or another a part of my lifetime and not an analytical study of the way that business has changed but a comparison that is not at all hard to follow or see. What happened to our country now seems to be subtle changes that occurred as the years passed by. Always a reason behind a wage difference always because of the area of the country or because of the actual company I was working for. Basically it has all boiled down to the ultimate understanding that it was just the standard of living country wide had taken a turn for the worse and no one, definitely not me…wanted to admit it or look at it. Yes, beyond my capability to actually crunch numbers and really see what was happening somehow the American way of life has changed and it is harder than ever to do what needs to be done financially. Beyond my want to know at all of what has really happened, and understand it. Because the country that I grew up in, the country that was so fair to all was slowly changing. So much that it wasn’t really noticeable immediately and if you were too busy trying to make ends meet possibly you didn’t even think about it or find it unusual or sad. It really is sad, but real. Unions can’t make it anymore. Why? Because we as Americans will not pay the price of labor unions and don’t have to because unions no longer make a difference. Our government says that we can unionize and yet it will allow the companies that have had unions for many years to bail out on pensions that were part of union agreements and contracts. What good is unionizing when it means nothing? What once was not the norm is now. Women have worked for decades at destroying the American family as it once was and now just as men did before us we compete with one another and with them too. We for the most part took the original American Dream and turned it into a self serving egotistical attitude and had no real idea of when we had it all. We as women went past the wife and mother aspect of being female and ran to the far side of the businesses and corporate offices out of some depraved kind of jealousy and why I have no idea. I know that at this point we are far beyond being able to turn around and go back. I know that many would without a second thought throw me to the dogs for even mentioning it. Still there was a better time and place for all of us and it isn’t going to be easy to find a place like that in the future. Families that always relied on each other for emotional support now rely on each other to make ends meet. Families that had a bond of love that nurtured our young people to great achievements and discoveries have turned into families that have a bond that is produced by basic needs. The college graduate of today is now in a situation many times of having to look back at a generation that seriously lived beyond its means. At the same time there are those who for one reason or another found a place in society that allowed them to enter a comfort zone that is now turning into a place of uncertainty and the worry of yesterday coming back to haunt the future is real. Generations that lived through the Great Depression knew how to live without. Our government for how many years now has told us that there is no recession, no depression and that our country is on a firm footing. In my lifetime I remember someone…saying that we would retire in our fifties, that we would have more time to spend at home…a four day work week. Is it my imagination or part of a novel I read in my school days? It did not happen and no one seems to know why. A time when there was a bread winner in a family and one person could financially support a family. Did we use it all up? Did we somehow over do it? What went wrong with the country and where did all of the dreams of retirement, educational superiority of our country and the research and discovery so important to our country and our tomorrows die? The comfort zone is fading away and now the political arena challenges anyone who listens to find a side and take the walk to the extremes that are a regular part of the country that I grew up in. If not for the belief that something bigger than all of us is out there I would say that there is no hope that it will get better. Doom and gloom is a terrible thing especially for the privileged who have no idea of what it is to do without. Has our generation primed our children to believe that there will never be a time when we will live through another time in this country where more will be living in poverty than during the Great Depression? I remember someone…way back saying that the United States was on the top. Have we thought seriously of how it would be if history were to repeat itself and another depression fell upon us? Life has been good for many. Life has been hard at times and rewarding at other times. Many of my generation grew to be far wealthier than their parents could have imagined and yet is that wealth a temporary haven that will dissolve and turn into nothing more than a memory of what was? Is it our government, our society, our morals or the cycle of life that will return us to where we came from? Julie Pierce has worked in the retail sector for more than thirty years. She has been a union member of the UCFW Union and the afl-cio more than once and has worked for more than one large retailer during the course of her career. She attended Gulf Coast Community College, Panama City Beach, Florida, in the nineties in the pursuit of a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications. Some of her work has been published during the eighties and nineties in various editorial pages of newspapers in the state of New Jersey and Florida. She also did some work as a community reporter for a weekly newspaper in Panama City Florida. (Comment on this)
Thursday, June 16th, 2005
11:27 am	Walmart Exit Interview is Revealing A copy of my Walmart Exit Interview Arrived today. I think I will frame it. It could be interpreted different ways but it basically says that one of the reasons I was terminated was because I did not finish the "interview" with the DM and Loss Prevention. It was not an interview, it was an interrogation and I requested that if it were to continue I would like an attorney present. They told me I could leave. So the lies continue and the culture is definitely dead. It said I made negative comments about the company to outside parties, members of management and hourly associates. I wonder if Sam would have talked to me about my concerns instead of terminating me? Julie Doering Pierce..."The Walmart Way" Not Sam's Way...Walmart XIII AD 225.273.4354 Current Mood: amused Current Music: fox news is on (Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 8th, 2005
11:28 am	Liars...no better than Walmart The Greenwald clan is no better than Walmart. Seriously, they are the ones that used my name with no release. They are the ones that put me in the hot seat and caused my eventual termination. Greenwald is obviously a liberal elite and is only looking for fame out of his upcoming bash Walmart Story. The reason they came out was because of what happened to me. They will not admit to anyone that I (and possibly others) were terminated due to the way one of his producers was dropping names looking for access to more. If anyone in Louisiana is missing items that the production company promised to return I probably have it. I recieved a box about a month ago, most of it isn't mine. (Comment on this)
Monday, June 6th, 2005
12:48 pm	Robert Greenwald...Carolina Productions...Brave...Walmart Documentary Caution to all Walmart Associates…There was an article that stated that Walmart would not terminate associates that worked with Robert Greenwald on his documentary. Please think before you do anything with Greenwald or any of his people. In February, although I was told anything that we were doing was off the record and even thought I refused to sign a release I was used. One of the people working for Greenwald used my name to gain access to Walmart associates and I was interrogated by Loss Prevention about it and eventually they found a way to terminate me. The morning of February 28th everything was fine and I was to go back to work at my store on March 2nd after my day off. Later on February 28th my store manager called me back and said that he had been directed to terminate me. Even though anything that happened through the interrogations was considered okay once the information went higher up it changed. No one is going to be able to stop them from terminating you if they want to do it they will find a way and Robert Greenwald will not be there if you fall. Please be careful. If you don’t care about your job it is fine. But remember that once they have your name it depends on their integrity not to use it unless you allow them to. They didn’t abide by my wishes. Loss Prevention said that my name was on the top of a list connected to Carolina Productions which is the other Production Company that Greenwald runs. I refused to release my information. I asked to have the release re written in a form where my work on a book and the information I had was cover as mine so there would not be a problem later with the copyright. The said that they would re write it but never did and I never signed anything. I did lose my job because someone used my name. Greenwald has never contacted me aside from sending a box from California with a couple of items I let them borrow and a bunch of other people’s stuff. I have no idea of who it belongs to but I am thinking about taking out some ads to find the owners of it. I have been told that Walmart said they will not terminate the people that work with him and his people but I would be careful. I will supply a link on my journal and web pages so you can look at the article. I will also post this every where I can. I have been censored by the Huffington Post. All of my posts have been taken off the site and any site I go to that is even remotely associated with Greenwald will not allow my information to be published on their sites. Please do be careful Current Mood: aggravated Current Music: tv is on Fox news (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 5th, 2005
9:01 am	More on Walmart From ReclaimDemocracy.org among others... Home About Us Primers Contact Us Donate Search Articles, Studies and Resources on Wal-Mart ReclaimDemocracy.org is devoted to restoring citizen authority over corporations, rather than addressing the harms caused by individual corporations. So why do we compile such a vast collection of information on one company? Simply because Wal-Mart is perhaps the most visible symptom of the disease -- runaway corporate power -- that we work to cure. We hope this page will serve as an entry point for deepening readers' awareness of corporate personhood, other systemic problems, and, most importantly, solutions. Our work directly related to Wal-Mart includes: * helping communities to pro-actively pass laws that guide or limit big box stores; * revoke corporations' power to override local decision-making authority; * agitate for enforcement of laws that protect workers' rights and safety; * stop the massive subsidies that flow to major corporate chains, unfairly handicapping independent businesses and precluding true market competition. Our Independent Business and Corporate Accountability pages are two places to learn more about our work in these realms. Index Articles on Wal-Mart Studies and Reports Bumper Stickers Related Articles of Interest Related Websites and Organizations Internal Company Documents on Stopping Unions (separate page) Anti-Walmart and Pro-Walmart Links (separate page) Articles on Wal-Mart June 2005 Wal-Mart's Latest PR Ploy: "Reality" TV (NY Times) May 2005 Is Wal-Mart Good for Minority Communities? Colorlines Magazine May 2005 Wal-Mart Group Compares Zoning Advocates to Nazis (Arizona Daily Sun) May 2005 Can Christians Shop at Wal-Mart in Good Conscience? (Christianity Today) May 2005 Evaluating Wal-Mart's Health Insurance Program (Christianity Today) Apr 2005 "Acres for America," Wal-Mart's Cynical New Greenwashing Campaign (New Rules Project) Apr 2005 Wal-Mart Thrives on Government Coercion, Not "Free Trade" (TomPaine.com) Apr 2005 Walton Family Funds GOP, Lobbying to Repeal Estate Taxes (USA Today) Mar 2005 New Bill Would Take $37 Million from U.S. Taxpayers to Subsidize Wal-Mart HQ Access Road (Associated Press) Mar 2005 Bush Administration Gives Wal-Mart a Pass on Multiple Violations of Labor Laws (New York Times) with response by Ben Price Mar 2005 Wal-Mart Lawyers Claim Class-Action Suit Would Violate Corporation's "Civil Rights" (Business Week) Mar 2005 Don't Blame Wal-Mart (New York Times) + a response by Stacy Mitchell of the New Rules Project Feb 2005 Wal-Mart Drops Plan to Enter NY City (New York Times) Feb 2005 Charges of Child Labor Violations Settled with Miniscule Fine (New York Times) Feb 2005 Will Wal-Mart Take New York? (New York Times) Feb 2005 Wal-Mart Escalates War on Workers (Canadian Press) Jan 2005 Wal-Bank? Wal-Mart Moves Into Banking and Finance (Business Week) Jan 2005 National Newspaper Association Chief Lashes Out at Freeloading Wal-Mart (NNA) Jan 2005 Ill Wind for Wal-Mart (Kansas City Star) Jan 2005 One of Every Four Tennessee Wal-Mart Workers Requires Public Assistance (Memphis Commercial Appeal) Jan 2005 Wal-Mart Launches Massive PR Campaign to Bolster Image (Forbes.com) Go to 2004 Wal-Mart Articles Go to Pre-2004 Articles Reports and Economic Impact Studies Apr 2005 Comparing Pay of Wal-Mart Executives to Workers (Institute for Policy Studies) Nov 2004 PBS' Frontline produced the documentary "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" and many informative articles to accompany it. Oct 2004 Wal-Mart and County-Wide Poverty (16 pp. pdf) is a study produced by Penn State U. Aug 2004 The Hidden Cost of Wal-Mart Jobs (16 pp. pdf). This study from the U. of California, Berkeley, Labor Center adds up costs to taxpayers that result from Wal-Mart employees needing various forms of welfare. Note that the Center is unabashedly pro-union. See also this Response to Criticisms by Wal-Mart. and media coverage of the report. May 2004 Shopping for Subsidies (65 pp. pdf) a report from Good Jobs First on more than $1 billion in subsidies to Wal-Mart from communities and states around the U.S. Press release (pdf). Feb 2004 "Everyday Low Wages," (25 pp. pdf). A report by staff of U.S. Rep. George Miller and Democratic staff of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Jan 2004 Supercenters and the Transformation of the Bay Area Grocery Industry: Issues, Trends, and Impacts. This study (108 pp. pdf) by the Bay Area Economic Forum has the most thorough data we've seen on wages, prices, and numerous other issues. Though the analysis is regional, most data is national. Jan 2004 "Wal-Mart Supercenters, What's in Store for Southern California?" (45 pp. pdf) Released only with the client's (Wal-Mart) input and approval, this uniquely rosy report is suspect due to some glaring holes, such as ignoring employee benefits in its economic calculations. Jan 2004 Job Creation or Destruction? Labor-Market Effects of Wal-Mart Expansion (34 pp. pdf) (U. of Missouri). Oct 2003 "Final Report on Research for Big Box Retail/Superstore Ordinance," (61 pp. pdf) Pt one, Pt. 2. Brief summary. Study by Rodino Associates, commissioned by the City of Los Angeles to help decide whether to ban supercenters. July 2001 A PBS special, "Store Wars," explored the battle over Wal-Mart's entry in a small town. Accompanying online resources include a teacher's guide for helping students evaluate the issue. Sep 1999 The Impact of Big Box Grocers on Southern California is a study commissioned by the Orange County Business Council and performed by researchers at UCLA and UC, Irvine (119 pp. pdf). Feb 1997 The Shils Report. This huge study from Dr. Edward Shils at U. of Pennsylvania's Wharton School has a wealth of information on big box retail impacts, predatory pricing, and much more. 1997 Impact of the Wal-Mart Phenomenon on Rural Communities (Dr. Ken Stone, U. of Iowa, 27 pp. pdf). Graph on page 14 is a stunning summary of how huge Wal-Mart's impact in rural America has been. Web pages from the American Independent Business Alliance and the New Rules Project link many other useful studies on Wal-Mart and big box development. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These 3" X 11" bumper stickers can be ordered on our Merchandise Page Related Features Dec 2004 Cities Use Eminent Domain To Clear Lots for Big-Box Stores (Wall Street Journal) April 2004 Lawsuit Reform Initiative by California Corporations Overreaches (Los Angeles Times) Mar 2004 Who Needs Chains When You've Got Community? (New Rules Project) Dec 2003 Waking Up from the American Dream: low wage America (Business Week) Oct 2003 Mom and Pops Are Tops (ReclaimDemocracy.org) May 2003 Local Ownership Pays Off for Communities (ReclaimDemocracy.org) Mar 2001 Bigger Banks Mean Bigger Fees (ReclaimDemocracy.org) Other Useful Websites on Wal-Mart & Related Issues Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. corporate website keeps up-to-date information about store numbers, profits, and much more. Links to numerous other company websites can be found here. The New Rules Project This group offers dozens of models for rules encouraging community empowerment and decentralization, limiting big box stores, and more. American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) Communities don't have to sit by and watch chains displace local independent businesses. They can work proactively to maintain community-owned businesses through IBAs. The Community & Environmental Defense Services produces the useful and free guide, "How to Win Land Development Issues." For links to anti and pro- Wal-Mart sites, click here We welcome your suggestions for especially informative articles and studies, including well-argued pro-Wal-Mart articles and websites. Our next additoon to this page will be fact sheets on several sub-topics. Please contact us if you would like to volunteer your help on this project. We can offer expert assistance, speakers, and tools for communities battling corporate subsidies, eminent domain abuses, unwanted big box stores, etc. Contact us here. We cannot help with addressing individual complaints or lawsuits against Wal-Mart or any other companies. Important! If you value the work we've done to compile this array of information and our organizing to revoke illegitimate corporate power, please make a tax-deductible donation to support ReclaimDemocracy.org today! We depend almost entirely on individual supporters like you to keep us working. Go To Home Page Subscribe to Our Monthly E-mail Update. Email AKAL ARAZ CACO CTDC DEFL GAHI IAID ILIN KSKY LAMA MDME MIMN MOMS MTNC NDNE NHNJ NMNV NYOH OKOR PARI SCSD TNTX UTVA VTWA WIWV WY ---- AAAE AFAB BCMB NBNF NSNT ONPE PQSK YKPR we do not sell or share e-mail addresses View Sample send us your comments or questions © 2005 ReclaimDemocracy.org 222 South Black Ave.* Bozeman * MT * 59715 * 406-582-1224ISSUES Civil Rights Corporate Accountability Corporate Personhood Globalization Independent Business Transforming Politics More Topics RESOURCES Local Groups Merchandise Presentations Newsletter Forum Campaigns Volunteer Recommended Resources Links Search this site Powered by Google (Comment on this)
8:58 am	Christianity Today Home About Us Primers Contact Us Donate Search Evaluating Wal-Mart's Health Insurance Benefits Corporation's plan is only slightly worse than its chain competitors Print-friendly Page By Jeff M. Sellers Published by the Christianity Today, May 2005 issue Wal-Mart's critics are often appalled by the company's health insurance coverage, but the facts don't always justify the rants directed against the company. Detractors point out that Wal-Mart covers only 48 percent of its employees. But according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, in the retail sector overall only 45 percent of workers receive health coverage from their own employer. Still, why do more than half of Wal-Mart's employees opt out of the company's health insurance? For one thing, part-time workers who make up 25 percent of Wal-Mart's workforce are not eligible until after two years. Then there is the cost. Wal-Mart pays 67 percent of the cost of health insurance for employees, about equal to the retail industry average of 68 percent for family coverage—but, for individual health insurance, far below the 77 percent that retailers contribute on average. Many employees opt out because they are otherwise covered. The company says that two-thirds of its employees are second-income providers, college students, and senior citizens. Many of these have health insurance through their spouse's employer, parent's plan, or retirement and Medicare programs. Thus about 40 percent of the company's workers are covered apart from Wal-Mart's plan. Hence the company asserts that close to 90 percent of its employees have health insurance by one means or another. Deductibles are $1,000 for a plan with a low premium, which does not include routine treatments such as flu shots and child vaccinations. Wal-Mart's health insurance emphasizes protection for catastrophic health expenses such as cancer treatment. Health-care premiums for U.S. employer plans increased 11.2 percent in 2004, the fourth consecutive year of double-digit increases. Wal-Mart's coverage seems to reflect a company facing spiraling health-care costs for more than 1.5 million employees. © 2005 Christianity Today Also by this author: Can Christians Shop at Wal-Mart in Good Conscience? Visit our Merchandise Page to see these stickers, buttons, and more. See our huge collection of articles, studies, internal documents and more on Wal-Mart and big box stores. Please help support this work -- make a tax-deductible donation to ReclaimDemocracy.org today! Go to Home Page Email this page to a friendEach week we review dozens of articles and essays from both corporate and independent media sources and choose one that we believe brings you unique or important information or perspectives on issues of democracy and corporate power. Opinions presented do not necessarily reflect those of ReclaimDemocracy.org.Index of past features Fair Use Notice This site occasionally reprints copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We make such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of issues. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is available without profit. For more information go to : http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Subscribe to Our Monthly E-mail Update. Email AKAL ARAZ CACO CTDC DEFL GAHI IAID ILIN KSKY LAMA MDME MIMN MOMS MTNC NDNE NHNJ NMNV NYOH OKOR PARI SCSD TNTX UTVA VTWA WIWV WY ---- AAAE AFAB BCMB NBNF NSNT ONPE PQSK YKPR we do not sell or share e-mail addresses View Sample send us your comments or questions © 2005 ReclaimDemocracy.org 222 South Black Ave.* Bozeman * MT * 59715 * 406-582-1224ISSUES Civil Rights Corporate Accountability Corporate Personhood Globalization Independent Business Transforming Politics More Topics RESOURCES Local Groups Merchandise Presentations Newsletter Forum Campaigns Volunteer Recommended Resources Links Search this site Powered by Google (Comment on this)
8:56 am	Walmart Christianity Today Can Christians Shop at Wal-Mart in Good Conscience? Print-friendly Page By Jeff M. Sellers Published by Christianity Today, April 22, 2005 The cavernous hallway outside Chicago City Council chambers is echoing with the sound of 150 people chanting, "We're fed up, we won't take it no mo'!" The lady with the megaphone is leading a mix of union workers and community reform activists shouting slogans against the world's largest retailer. One of the protesters, Ella Hereth of the advocacy group Jobs with Justice, tells Christianity Today (CT) that Wal-Mart is the "poster boy for corporate exploitation." She ticks off the complaints: low pay, scant benefits, race and sex discrimination, and profiting from mistreated workers in foreign "sweatshops." Before the Chicago City Council votes to block one store but allow another, aldermen label Wal-Mart "the worst company in America" and an "evildoer." As it has grown into a powerhouse with sales of $256.3 billion—more than the sales of Microsoft and retail competitors Home Depot, Kroger, Target, and Costco combined —Wal-Mart has become a lightning rod nationwide in local tempests of moral outrage. Church leaders (primarily mainline, liberal, and Roman Catholic) have joined grassroots activists fearful that mindless global market factors will steamroll human dignity. "Wal-Mart's practices are immoral and unfair," says Reginald Williams Jr., associate pastor for justice ministries at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Pastors at the 8,500-member Trinity United and eight other African American congregations in Chicago called for a boycott of Wal-Mart. Such anger perplexes other Christians who think of Wal-Mart as a family-friendly place and a company founded on the biblical values of respect, service, and sacrifice. Founder Sam Walton's autobiography indicates he taught Sunday school in his church, prayed with his children, and had a strong sense of calling to better people's lives. With the Protestant values of respect for the individual, thrift, and hard work, Walton was eager to improve customers' living standards through low prices. "Is Wal-Mart a Christian company? No," said former Wal-Mart executive Don Soderquist at a recent prayer breakfast. "But the basis of our decisions was the values of Scripture." Indeed, based in the Bible Belt town of Bentonville, Arkansas, Wal-Mart has a tradition of tailoring its service to churchgoing customers. It sells only the sanitized versions of hip-hop cds bearing warnings of objectionable content. Responding to a campaign by the largest evangelical mutual fund group, The Timothy Plan, to keep Cosmopolitan magazine covers out of view of Wal-Mart customers, the company slapped plastic sheathes over suggestive women's periodicals and banned "lad mags" such as Maxim. Wal-Mart knows its churchgoing, Middle America market. When Target Corp., a top competitor, refused to allow Salvation Army bell-ringers in front of its stores last Christmas, Bentonville seized the public-relations moment. Wal-Mart pledged to match the amount that Salvation Army bell-ringers collected at its stores. In addition, according to Forbes magazine, Wal-Mart has become the largest retailer of Christian-themed merchandise, with well over $1 billion in sales of such items as VeggieTales videos and The Purpose-Driven Life books. Some Christians may be thankful for the values behind the Wal-Mart phenomenon, but others are voicing some of the unprecedented hostility toward the company. A biblical look at the retailer's labor issues may help Christians, among the one-third of Americans who visit Wal-Mart at least once a week, to discern whether they honor God in purchases and investments in the company. Wages of Sin? A common charge against Wal-Mart is that it doesn't pay a "livable wage." Wal-Mart officials say the company's full-time hourly workers average $9.68 an hour, with a new, inexperienced worker beginning at $7 to $8 per hour. Wal-Mart's average hourly wage produces an annual income of $20,134.40, which is slightly more than the federal poverty level for a family of four ($19,350). Given that many "full-time" Wal-Mart employees work 34-hour weeks, though, the resulting average annual income of $17,114.24 falls well short of that standard for a family of four. Are Wal-Mart wages sinfully low? Especially in the 19th century, Protestant and Catholic leaders made the theological case for livable worker wages. The industrial economy of the era was a human-rights disaster, prompting Calvinist theologian and politician Abraham Kuyper to follow Pope Leo XIII's example and help spark Christian labor union movements. In the 1891 Rerum Novarum, Leo XIII argued that just wages should be determined not by the market but by that which is required to sustain family life. Pope John Paul II echoed that position in his 1991 Centesimus Annus. As Kuyper put it, "God has not willed that one should drudge hard and yet have no bread for himself and his family." But does this mean that all jobs (flipping burgers, stocking shelves, etc.) should pay enough to support a family of four? Not necessarily. Theologians emerging in modern economies tend to emphasize merit as the primary grounds for pay, more amenable to market realities. In Biblical Principles and Business: The Foundations , Francis A. Schaeffer disciple Udo Middelmann notes that scriptural emphases on personal effort, contribution, and merit model the primary biblical bases for just pay. Middelmann complains that "a world where choices do not have effects, and where different intellectual and material contributions lead to equal distribution of resulting wealth, is a world unknown to man." That is, God creates all humanity equal, and we strive to provide equal opportunity to all, but Scripture does not command equal outcomes. Though Methodist theologian J. Philip Wogaman believes that human need should ultimately determine income, he says in Economics and Ethics: A Christian Inquiry (Fortress Press, 1986) that "in some respects this is a naïve doctrine, since it does not face up to the problem of how an employer could pay different workers different wages for the same kind of work." Economist Thomas Sowell has shown that wages artificially elevated by government or unions lead to unemployment—to survive, employers simply make do with fewer workers. And theologians from liberal-leaning Miroslav Volf to the conservative Michael Novak agree that unemployment is among the gravest affronts to human dignity. The devastating spiritual effect of unemployment is one reason the authors of Christian Ethics in the Workplace (Concordia Publishing House, 2001) argue that business owners have a moral responsibility to control expenses and to succeed. Raymond L. Hilgert, Philip H. Lochhaas, and James L. Truesdell (business professor, Lutheran minister, and businessman, respectively) add, however, that Christian ethics require employers to consider: whether employees have options to work elsewhere (a "semblance of equal bargaining power"); whether the wage is significantly below the market for similar jobs of similar skills; whether the employer regards workers as human beings or as tools; whether the employer offers the employee a sense of partnership in the enterprise; whether the employer is treating the worker according to the Golden Rule. Historically, service jobs have not been the basis for making a living. Fully two-thirds of Wal-Mart employees, according to the company, are senior citizens, college students, or second-income providers unlikely to rely on these jobs as their only means of sustenance. Critics say Wal-Mart is so dominant that it drives down retail wages everywhere, but service sector jobs paid low wages long before the retailer's ascent. "Front-line service sector employees have never made livable wages," says Jim Hoopes, professor of business ethics at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, "or at least they have always been among the most poorly paid." Hoopes is quick to point out that such jobs form an increasing share of the U.S. economy. But that trend is much larger than Wal-Mart. Cheating Your Associates Low wages are one thing, unpaid overtime another. In Malachi 3:5 the Lord rebukes "those who defraud laborers of their wages," and those who have "failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields" are denounced in James 5 . A federal jury found in 2002 that Wal-Mart had forced employees in its Oregon stores to work overtime without pay. Two years later, a jury found 83 of these workers were entitled to back pay. Wal-Mart's Christi Gallagher says the Oregon verdict does not indicate widespread refusal to pay overtime, though lawsuits alleging just that are pending in at least 28 states. "Since the plaintiffs recovered only 840 hours of the total alleged 72,000 hours," Gallagher says of the Oregon verdict, "these alleged practices are clearly not systematic, not widespread, and are highly individualized." A class-action suit settled in 2000 accused Wal-Mart of cheating 69,000 Colorado employees of overtime pay. Wal-Mart reportedly paid $50 million to settle the case. Gallagher says that figure is "wildly inflated and inaccurate." She declined, however, to reveal the settlement amount. A class-action suit in Massachusetts filed on behalf of 55,000 Wal-Mart employees, according to the Boston Herald, cites a computer expert alleging to have found 7,000 cases of Wal-Mart managers deleting large blocks of time from their employee payroll records. Wal-Mart officials deny the charges. The Oregon lawsuit charged that some supervisors locked employees in after closing to force the overtime work. Wal-Mart's Gallagher declined to comment on this charge. Wal-Mart policies forbid such "off-the-clock" practices. But David Batstone notes in Saving the Corporate Soul & (Who Knows?) Maybe Your Own (Jossey-Bass, 2003) that store managers come under such heavy pressure from Bentonville to avoid paying overtime that they see no option but to demand off-the-clock labor. "A senior Wal-Mart payroll executive revealed under court deposition that every store has to send corporate headquarters a daily report noting whether the store had exceeded its payroll limit," Batstone writes. "Store managers who fail to minimize overtime pay can be reprimanded or fired." Sticky Sweatshop Issues The issue of "defrauding laborers" extends beyond U.S. borders. Shareholders and socially screened investment funds have long protested that the company relies on foreign factories routinely violating their countries' labor laws—"sweatshops" that employ underage workers, pay below minimum wage, or force employees to work beyond legal hours. Sweatshop does not accurately describe many developing country factories, and activist shareholders avoid the term, especially since factory jobs are the lifeblood of the poor. Often the workers' only alternatives are unemployment or prostitution. Still, ever since Wal-Mart was embarrassed on the December 22, 1992, broadcast of Dateline NBC showing children as young as 9 years old making its private-label shirts at a factory in Saraka, Bangladesh, the issue has surfaced periodically. Most recently, the National Labor Committee (NLC) reported in February 2004 that workers making plastic toys for Wal-Mart in Chang Ping township in Guangdong province, China, were paid less than the legal minimum and worked longer hours than local labor laws allowed. Employees worked for up to 20 hours a day, sometimes 7 days a week, for an average of 16.5 cents per hour; the legal minimum is 31 cents an hour. Shareholders in Wal-Mart such as the United Methodist Church, whose pension fund invests in the company, have successfully pressured the company to set standards for such factories-Wal-Mart's "vendor code of conduct." Enforcing that code is another matter. The NLC reported that Chinese factory managers trained and paid workers to "correctly" answer questions they knew Wal-Mart inspectors would ask—and that inspectors played along, fully aware that the employees were lying about conditions. Wal-Mart officials responded that the company has veteran inspectors who adhere to established standards, and that if such practices did occur they would violate its vendor code of conduct. Wal-Mart spokesman William Wertz declined to comment to CT about whether the company has investigated NLC concerns over the Chang Ping factory. Vidette Bullock Mixon, director of corporate relations and social concern for the United Methodist Church's pension fund, has urged Wal-Mart for several years to better monitor conditions of its foreign suppliers. "I think they're finding some things, and the factories are agreeing that they will fix them," she says. "And it appears they're fixed for the moment, but then they go back to their habits of doing things that are not consistent with the code of conduct." Shareholder and other groups have long pressured Wal-Mart to use independent inspectors to monitor its foreign factories. Charles Kernaghan of the NLC says only about half of the inspectors of Wal-Mart's suppliers in Guangdong province are independent—but they are for-profit auditors based in developed countries paid by the factories themselves. Shareholder groups encourage Wal-Mart to use human-rights organizations or other nongovernmental organizations to monitor conditions. Nike, for example, relies not only on its own monitors but on inspectors from the Fair Labor Association. Wal-Mart's policy is to work with managers of foreign factories violating its code of conduct, giving them a period of weeks to achieve compliance. If the supplier makes no progress, Wal-Mart withdraws its business. According to a report by the China-based worker-rights organization China Labor Watch, Wal-Mart has ended contracts with hundreds of Chinese suppliers because of excessive work hours. It also has blacklisted at least 72 factories for employing child labor. Improving conditions in Chinese factories is especially urgent as the United States began phasing out quotas for Chinese textile imports in January, Kernaghan says. That is expected to lead to a dramatic increase in multinational companies relying on goods produced in China, where labor laws are essentially meaningless. In the end, Kernaghan says "transparency"—disclosure of the locations of Wal-Mart's factories so journalists and others can verify company reports—is even more important than independent monitors. Most companies refuse to divulge the locations of foreign suppliers. Wal-Mart officials say they will not do so for competitive reasons. Kernaghan scoffs at this, saying competitors already know about each other's foreign suppliers, as several retailers often have their labels produced in the same factories. Counting the Cost Discerning Christians with varying social/theological priorities will differ on whether to open their wallets to Wal-Mart. Its impact on local communities and on the environment, as well its treatment of minorities and women, also must be examined. But even with this initial look at labor issues, what conclusions can we draw? Because of Wal-Mart's low wages, critics accuse executives of "hoarding" wealth, the same charge leveled at unjust employers in James 5:3. But it would be hard to make this charge stick against Wal-Mart, whose gross profit margin (profit as a percentage of total revenues) of 22.5 percent equals the discount retail industry average. And Wal-Mart has long offered profit sharing and discounted stock purchase plans to employees. Thus the savings from low wages and various cost-cutting innovations are not stockpiled for exorbitant profits or fat executive salaries. They are passed on to consumers in reduced prices (Walton's gospel). The Walton heirs occupying places four through eight on Forbes 's list of richest people did not attain their fortunes from drawing salaries at Wal-Mart. As for a livable wage, it's hard to show that markets, governments, or Christian ethics obligate businesses to pay shelf stockers enough to support a family of four. If this be evil, then it is the free market that is evil. Wal-Mart is merely the touchstone for the unwelcome macro-trend of low-paying service jobs replacing manufacturing work. As the ranks of the working poor swell, though, we do well to contemplate our complicity in the global drive toward offering—and getting—the lowest prices. In the matter of unpaid overtime, many lawsuits are still pending and it is premature to make sweeping assertions. Still, the number of lawsuits in process suggests that Wal-Mart is struggling to follow its own policies against off-the-clock work. Finally, the company shares responsibility with the foreign factories that supply it with dirt-cheap goods, especially since Wal-Mart routinely threatens to withdraw orders unless factories find cheaper ways to produce them. This too is a global practice involving many companies besides Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has taken steps to improve monitoring of such abuses and has distanced itself from violators, but activists would like to see greater efforts to bring factories into compliance rather than pulling orders—which can leave hundreds of poor workers unemployed. Sam Walton, apart from his philanthropy, had a habit of ignoring matters that didn't contribute directly to the bottom line. Wal-Mart executives have begun to see that the old ways will no longer do. There are signs that Wal-Mart is beginning to listen to criticisms, but the one thing it hears above all else is the soft rustle of wallets opening—or, even louder, the absence of them from their stores. (Comment on this)
8:56 am	Walmart Article number three Wal-Mart Group's Ad Equates Opponents With Nazis Corporation admits ad was "reviewed and approved by Wal-Mart," then issues apology after uproar Print-friendly Page By Rachel Peterson First published by the Arizona Daily Sun, May 12, 2005 Click here to view the ad and text (pdf) After Wal-Mart initially denied knowledge of the ad, public relations person Daphne Moore admitted it was "reviewed and approved by Wal-Mart, but we did not know what the photo was from." Even ignoring the Nazi imagery, it's remarkable for a corporation which regularly censors books (including the latest by George Carlin and John Stewart), music and magazines disfavored by its executives to accuse critics of censorship. On May 18, 2005, Wal-Mart defeated a ballot question that would have limited new big box stores to 75,000 square feet (about twice the size of a typical chain supermarket) after outspending opponents by a 5:1 margin, Wal-Mart forces won 51% of the vote. Campaign ads bankrolled by Wal-Mart and depicting a Nazi-era book burning are offensive and backhanded, say some Flagstaff citizens and veterans. Backers contend they are a justified reminder of the need to protect freedoms. The newspaper ads contend that Proposition 100's restrictions on big-box retailers are an infringement of constitutional freedoms. The message has been conveyed through a blurred photo of a Nazi book-burning taken from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum archives and a close-up of a person's mouth covered with tape. Accompanying the ads is the statement: "Freedoms worth keeping," and references to the proposition as limiting choice. The ad offended some local veterans, many of whom are requesting an apology from the campaign committee. "There was just the observance of the 60th anniversary of when the death camps were liberated," said Frank Brandt, a former Air Force Lieutenant and co-chair for YesforFlagstaff.com, a committee that supports the ballot measure. "Are they culturally insensitive?" Brandt, also a member of the American Civil Liberties Union, said comparing shopping choices with the freedoms soldiers have fought for is a "slap in the face." "We fought for freedom and democracy, not corporate greed," he said. "The No campaign is trivializing these ideals." Tom Farley, a consultant for Protect Flagstaff's Future, the campaign that sponsored the ads, said they will continue because they "make people think." "If people are talking about the ads, they're doing a good job. People are giving up a freedom if they vote yes on Prop. 100. What will they be asked to give up next?" Although the ads have generated heat from the Yes campaign, Farley said they've been well-received by No supporters and have helped sway some undecided voters. The committee has plans for some new ads in the next week to continue to drive up voter turnout, he said. While this type of "shock-and-awe" campaign tactic has been used successfully on a national level, it's a "perversion of the electoral process," said Alexis Johnson, a Flagstaff attorney who litigates state and local constitutional questions across the nation. When the deciding body is the voters, publishing such ads is "curiously misleading and terribly backhanded," he said. "Prop 100 is a vote of the people. The people are telling themselves what they want to do by the vote itself," he said. "What this (advertising) means to someone like me is votes of the people are dangerous." With campaign contributions topping $280,000 from Wal-Mart and $50,000 from the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99, this campaign has lost sight of the issues and voice of the people, Johnson said. "Measures like this are increasingly attracting the attention of consultants from outside the community," Johnson said. "The people often end up in the gun sights on these measures ... and that is now apparently a style of the American electoral process. I think America's due now to revisit the necessity and vitality of allowing campaign contributions from entities that don't vote." Wal-Mart regional community affairs director Pete Kanelos said his company is involved because "Wal-Mart is adamantly opposed to any ordinance that would restrict consumer choice." The comment comes after Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott announced the company would not try to sidestep local politicians after criticism for winning a repeal of a anti-Wal-Mart ordinance in Inglewood, Calif. "This is actually an ordinance that is different from Inglewood ... That is why we have funded the No on Prop 100 campaign." Kanelos said. "In Inglewood, they repealed the (big-box limitation) ordinance because we collected twice the number of signatures needed." In Arizona, the option to repeal by signatures alone is not available, and the issue must go to the voters. The promise Scott made was with reference to a large project initiative, which included Wal-Mart, that was taken directly to the voters before presenting it to the city council first, Kanelos said. Campaign involvement was not part of the equation, he said, adding that Wal-Mart's involvement is merely funding, and the corporation doesn't participate at a grassroots level. Because of this, Kanelos is unaware of the controversial campaign ads or whether Wal-Mart would support a campaign that used them. "I can't comment on the ad. I haven't seen it," he said. "We donate to the campaign committee." Farley, who has earned at least $20,000 from the Wal-Mart-backed committee, said his campaign isn't about enabling corporate control but allowing choice. "I don't think the shoppers view it as corporate America," Farley said. "I think they just view it as what's being taken away from them." What is Proposition 100? Proposition 100 is a ballot item before Flagstaff citizens to decide the fate of a big-box limitation ordinance. If supported by voters, the big-box ordinance will require a conditional use permit for retailers building larger than 75,000 square feet, with a cap of 125,000 square feet. It will also impose an 8 percent cap on the amount of floor space a retail store could devote to nontaxable grocery items. The ordinance, if in place, would limit the possibility of a Wal-Mart Supercenter , which uses 30 to 40 percent of its floor space for grocery items, moving into Flagstaff . Those stores average 186,000 square feet. For comparison, Flagstaff 's current Wal-Mart store is 105,000 square feet. A yes vote supports the ordinance; a no vote overturns it. © 2005 Arizona Daily Sun (Comment on this)
8:54 am	Another Article in Los Angeles as a boon for a hurting local economy, insisting that it would create jobs for people of color who lived nearby. A 450-foot-tall Marriott hotel is going up on 125th Street in Harlem, and Ikea is planning to open its biggest U.S. furniture store in Brooklyn. All make the same argument: they are helping poor people of color. Amidst this urban gold rush for developers, communities of color are forced to choose between the very real need for jobs and having a voice in economic development. Lessons from Inglewood Willie Cole, a middle-aged black mother, knows firsthand the economic hardships that face the poor neighborhoods of Los Angeles. She was unemployed for two years until she landed a cashier job at a Wal-Mart that opened in Crenshaw in 2003. Although her position typically pays less than $20,000 annually, she stuck with it and was promoted into a management-training program a year later. Cole represents Wal-Mart's best public relations argument for opening stores in poor urban areas. In fact, the company featured her in a television commercial promoting its contributions to these communities. "When Wal-Mart came in," she says in the ad, dressed in her store uniform and standing near Crenshaw High School, "they let us know that they cared." The spot has been broadcast nationally, and it received heavy airplay in Inglewood leading up to a special election there in April 2004. Wal-Mart had collected signatures for a local ballot initiative that would have exempted the company from the standard environmental reviews and public hearings required to open a store. In Inglewood, where 47 percent of the residents are black and 46 percent are Latino, Wal-Mart claimed it would create several hundred much-needed jobs. That was attractive to a small city with an official unemployment rate that was approaching double digits. What the massive retail chain failed to mention was that its entrance has been blocked in over 200 so-called "site fights" in states such as Virginia, Vermont and Oregon. Critics, led forcefully by labor unions, denounce the company for paying low wages, providing inadequate health care benefits, displacing local businesses and contributing to undesirable sprawl. The average Wal-Mart salary is at the federal poverty level for a family of four. A study at the University of California, Berkeley estimates that California pays $86 million in public benefits to Wal-Mart employees whose low incomes qualify them for food stamps, health care and subsidized housing--programs that are funded by taxpayers. Recent studies have identified Wal-Mart as the leading employer of workers receiving public health benefits in Alabama, Connecticut , Georgia, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia . When the company gathered the necessary signatures to force a special election in Inglewood, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) formed the Coalition for a Better Inglewood with labor, religious and community allies. "We began organizing grocery workers and local small business owners to present the case against Wal-Mart to community leaders," says Tracy Gray-Barkan, senior research analyst at LAANE. The community-based organization already had some experience with local economic development issues. In 2001, it helped broker a deal with the Staples Center , getting the developers to sign a Community Benefits Agreement that required them to hire local residents, provide living-wage jobs and construct parks. Organizers in Inglewood walked into a tough fight with Wal-Mart. Just a month before the April 2004 election, polling showed residents supporting Wal-Mart's plan by a two-to-one margin, and one of its most prominent supporters was the town's black mayor, Roosevelt Dorn. Over the following weeks, the Coalition for a Better Inglewood reached out to community residents with information on the quality of Wal-Mart jobs and its effect on local business. In this heavily black and Latino city, the groups brought attention to allegations of racial discrimination in hiring by Wal-Mart, as well as a gender discrimination lawsuit that had been filed against the company, covering 1.6 million female Wal-Mart employees. Although black Congresswoman Maxine Waters and the Rev. Jesse Jackson both lashed out against Wal-Mart's labor practices, many traditional civil rights groups stayed away. John Mack, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Urban League, which received $65,000 over two years from Wal-Mart, told the Los Angeles Times , "I'd rather have a person on somebody's payroll--even if it isn't at the highest wage--than on the unemployment roll." Wal-Mart, by its own account, has made donations to the NAACP, National Council of La Raza, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Organization of Chinese Americans and the League of United Latin American Citizens. Despite over $10 million spent on the initiative by Wal-Mart, including a newspaper advertisement that publicized its financial support of black and Latino organizations, Inglewood voters rejected the initiative 61 percent to 39 percent. The store would have been the first Wal-Mart Supercenter in a major urban area. Ultimately, it may have been Wal-Mart's own brashness that helped organizers. The debate in Inglewood was not simply over whether Wal-Mart jobs are good or bad. The company was asking to skip the standard review procedures that normally require the city to consider the impacts of a development project. By bringing attention to Wal-Mart's attempt to circumvent the development process,organizers also framed the fight around the principles of how decisions in Inglewood are made about economic development. "The issue was about community control and community voice," says Gray-Barkan of LAANE. The Inglewood initiative provided a spark for the Los Angeles City Council to consider an ordinance proposed by a coalition of labor groups, clergy and community organizations. In August 2004, the Council passed the ordinance, which requires a study of the economic impacts of any proposed superstore and allows the community to weigh the potential benefits and costs of the project. Whereas the Inglewood fight was a reaction to a plan initiated by Wal-Mart, "the Los Angeles City Council ordinance is a proactive process for residents to have a say in what gets developed in their communities," says Gray-Barkan. A Harder Challenge in Chicago Last May, just two weeks after the special election in Inglewood, the Chicago City Council met to discuss proposed zoning changes that would allow the construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter on the South Side and another on the West Side. It was a heated debate since Wal-Mart employed many of the same tactics it had used in Inglewood. "It brought the same seductive claims of jobs and low prices to black communities," explains Dorian Warren, an expert on race and organized labor who is currently a postdoctoral fellow with University of Chicago's School of Public Policy . Just as it had done in Southern California, the company appealed to black church leaders and city council members. "Any job is better than no job," the Rev. Ronald Wilks said at the time. While the City Council debated, a coalition formed, led by Jobs With Justice, a national workers' rights organization. It included unions and progressive black church leaders who decided that it might not be politically feasible to ban Wal-Mart from Chicago, given how much residents needed jobs. Instead, the groups began pushing for a Community Benefits Agreement that would require Wal-Mart to pay higher wages and hire local residents. To promote its position, Wal-Mart organized a town-hall meeting with religious leaders in the Austin neighborhood, the potential site of the South Side store, and flew out a black executive from its Arkansas headquarters. The ministers presented a demand that surprised the company: hire ex-offenders, a growing population on the West and South Sides that are excluded from employment opportunities. While Wal-Mart promoted its jobs as valuable opportunities for local residents, it made no promises to hire ex-offenders. Instead, Wes Gillespie, the black executive, presented himself to the church leaders as an example of the opportunities provided by Wal-Mart. And Alton Murphy, a black Wal-Mart district manager, quoted from the Bible when asked about the quality of Wal-Mart jobs. "Whatever you do," he recited from Colossans 3:23, "work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." Despite the company's efforts to build support, not all of the ministers were sold on the plan. The 8,500-member Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side became a center of opposition to Wal-Mart, and its leaders directly linked the store's attractive low prices to its low-paying jobs. "Whenever price means more to you than principle," wrote Trinity's pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, in the church newsletter, "you have defined yourself as a prostitute." Wright charged that Wal-Mart's backers among the City Council and the black religious community were "pimping" black residents and their economic hardships. While Wal-Mart was reaching out to the black community, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 881 could not easily build a coalition across race lines. According to Chicago labor expert Warren, "a few unions--particularly in the building trades--had historically excluded black men from well-paying union jobs by keeping them out of apprenticeship programs." In the minds of many black leaders, the rapid deindustrialization of the inner city combined with the racism of some building trades unions was largely responsible for the severe joblessness on the South and West Sides. So when the union spoke of fighting Wal-Mart, it only stirred more resentment. "Some of these same unions never say a thing about the lack of African Americans in the trades," Alderman Isaac Carothers of the West Side complained at a City Council meeting. Organizers opposing Wal-Mart also faced a more difficult challenge than in Inglewood . Where the company had asked to circumvent the standard review process in Inglewood, in Chicago the debate was over whether Wal-Mart was a good or bad option for residents. More importantly, perhaps, the two Chicago neighborhoods where Wal-Mart proposed its stores and whose residents are more than 90 percent African-American, face an employment crisis even worse than Inglewood. And organizers in Chicago did not have the benefit of taking the issue directly to local residents, since it was not an initiative to be decided by the voters. It was a city council vote, and that made the fight over Wal-Mart vulnerable to council members who historically do not vote against an economic development proposal in another member's district if that alderman is in favor of the project (the practice is so prevalent that it's known as "aldermanic perogative"). As it did during the Inglewood fight, Wal-Mart made contributions to the local NAACP and gave a $5,000 contribution to City Council member Emma Mitts, who loudly voiced support for the construction of a Wal-Mart in her West Side district. In what was apparently an attempt to demonstrate its support of the community, the company donated 50 calculators to Austin High School in the district. The morning after Rev. Kyles asked residents to pray for the approval of the two Wal-Mart stores, the city council gave a split decision. It rejected the South Side location and approved the proposed store on the West Side. The approval of one store and the rejection of the other had much to do with the politics among members of the city council, but it also reflected the tensions between the real need to create any jobs and the demand that these actually be good jobs. In what had been described as the most controversial city council issue in two decades, all but two black aldermen supported the West Side Wal-Mart. After the vote, a coalition of labor, religious and community groups began pushing for a local ordinance that would attach certain standards to the jobs at large stores like Wal-Mart. It would require so-called "big-box stores" to pay a $10 living wage, provide health benefits and remain neutral in efforts by its workers to form a union. The ordinance, which is still being debated by the city council, is "a way to regulate the terms on which these stores will come in to the community," explains Chirag Mehta, a researcher at the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In response, the Reverend James Demus, director of the Chicago Southside's NAACP that received a donation from Wal-Mart, testified against the ordinance in early hearings. Unfinished Business While Martin Luther King's 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech is the most familiar refrain of the civil rights movement, the full title of the rally was the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom." That is, King viewed the struggle for civil rights as linked to economic justice. In many ways, the enduring racial economic inequality since then is the unfinished business of the civil rights movement. "It has been one of the weak links of racial justice organizing over the last three decades," says Warren, the University of Chicago expert on race and labor. "We have been unable to answer what our fundamental demands are around economic justice," he adds, "and how they relate to racial justice." Since the rhetoric of race is being used strategically by developers, economic development is now the only area of urban policy that emphasizes issues of race--however hollow that talk may be. There is no similar discussion from local politicians when discussing education or health disparities. All the economic development plans underway in New York, for example, require buy-in from poor communities of color. Developers are even going to absurd lengths to use race as a selling point. One proposal for the redevelopment of the Victoria Theater --a few doors down from the legendary Apollo Theater--includes a "Harlem-themed restaurant" with a menu that includes such items as a "Zora Neale Hurston salad ... Miles Davis omelette and a Denzel burger." For now, Wal-Mart has lost in New York City. Following the battles in Inglewood and Chicago, Wal-Mart's urban strategy continued east to Queens, N.Y. The proposed site there would have given Wal-Mart a store in nine of the ten largest U.S. urban markets. (The only city being left out is Detroit, which has been dealing with its own economic devastation.) But early reports of Wal-Mart's plans to open in Queens provoked an immediate outcry from labor groups that made a difference in a city where labor still yields power. By the end of February, the developer had dropped the Wal-Mart store from its proposal. Recognizing that the promise of low-wage jobs is often being promoted to win the support of communities of color, New York City Councilman Charles Barron explains, "We need to distinguish between economic development and economic exploitation." In Barron's district, which includes some of the poorest sections of Brooklyn , a cinema complex recently opened with the promise of jobs for community residents. "All we got was a bunch of popcorn-selling jobs," says Barron. Pitching proposals to poor communities who are desperate for jobs, private developers are able to exploit the failure of public policy to create jobs in these communities. "There are plenty of other ways to create jobs," says Councilman Barron, who argues for increased investment in public infrastructure such as hospitals and schools to revitalize poor areas like his Brooklyn district. "Private developers," he continues, "manipulate the race question for their financial gain." In response to Wal-Mart and other development projects, groups in urban communities around the country are using a variety of tools to broker deals that also address other vital areas of economic development, such as housing. Some organizations are pushing for "inclusionary zoning," a regulation that requires developers to set aside residential units in a new development as affordable housing. Other community groups, including ones in New York , want to attach standards to jobs at Wal-Mart if it does open a store somewhere else in the city. Besides its low wages, the lack of adequate health care provided to workers places an unfair burden on the public health care system, many critics charge. A coalition of labor, community groups and responsible employers has sponsored a bill in the city council called the Health Care Security Act, which would require businesses in certain industries to either provide health coverage to their workers or pay fees that the city would use to provide public care to the workers. If passed, the bill would cover any Wal-Mart Superstores that would open in the city. Organizers view Community Benefits Agreements and related tools as a critical first step in laying the groundwork for a long-term goal of redefining the terms of economic development. "As long as private developers set the agenda and groups respond by asking for Community Benefits Agreements or inclusionary zoning," says Dorian Warren, the expert on race and labor from the University of Chicago, "we may just be trying to get a piece of the pie. We need to ask, 'What does a different pie look like?'" Anmol Chaddha is a policy researcher at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. (Comment on this)
8:52 am	Series of article on Walmart....from various sources all sources addressed in posted articles Home About Us Primers Contact Us Donate Search Wal-Mart's Latest PR Tactic: "Reality" TV The ultimate merger of commercials with programming Print-friendly Page By Stuart Elliot Published by the New York Times, June 3, 2005 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., seeking additional ways to burnish its tarnished image, is turning to a new realm: reality TV. For the first time, Wal-Mart Stores is becoming a major sponsor of a reality television show, by signing a branded-entertainment agreement with ABC for "The Scholar," a summer series that begins a six-week run on Monday night. Wal-Mart will be woven into the plots of episodes of the show, which is centered on a competition among 10 high school seniors from across the country for a grand prize of a full college scholarship, valued at $250,000, covering tuition and expenses. The students will compete in a variety of academic, creative and social tasks, including team challenges, oral exams and defending themselves before a scholarship committee. In one challenge, the five members of the winning team each receive a $2,000 Wal-Mart gift card to outfit their dormitory rooms. And Wal-Mart is underwriting the cost of the scholarships for the nine runners-up, totaling $300,000. (The Broad Foundation in Los Angeles is donating the grand prize.) There will also be commercials during the show promoting the Wal-Mart and Sam's Club Foundation's long-running program offering scholarships to students in towns where it operates stores and distribution centers. The foundation said yesterday that it would provide more than $6.9 million in scholarships this year to more than 6,700 students through the Sam M. Walton Community Scholarship Program, named after the company's founder. "We don't usually do sponsorships of any show, no matter what the format is," said Betsy Reithemeyer, executive director of the foundation and vice president for corporate affairs at Wal-Mart in Bentonville, Ark. But "The Scholar" was "different from anything brought to us before," she added, because it is "a unique way to get out the message on national television that we're supporting education." Wal-Mart has been under intensifying attack on a variety of issues, ranging from how much it pays its workers to how much merchandise it buys abroad to how much its big stores affect small businesses. The company has been increasing its efforts to counter those critics by taking steps like running issue-oriented advertising campaigns, providing more access to reporters who cover the retail industry and assigning a spokeswoman to be responsible for what is called reputation management. "In the battleground Wal-Mart is now part of, they're recognizing it's time they speak up for themselves," said Wendy Liebmann, president of WSL Strategic Retail, a consulting company in New York. "They have to tell their own story, or otherwise people will tell it for them." Ms. Liebmann praised Wal-Mart's strategy of getting out the word about its scholarship program through "The Scholar" sponsorship rather than "the more typical 'Aren't we good citizens?' speech." "That way, you're not hitting people over the head," she said. "You let the program speak for you and you get the good rub off. I call it 'the company we keep' approach." Wal-Mart and ABC declined to discuss the financial details of the deal, but Wal-Mart said it was paying "well above six figures" for its participation in "The Scholar." Payments by marketers for branded-entertainment deals in reality TV series can range from less than $100,000 to as much as $4 million. The deal between Wal-Mart and ABC, part of the Walt Disney Company, is indicative of the growing appetite among blue-chip marketers to become intrinsically involved in the content of entertainment programming. Their goal is to counter the growing appetite among television viewers to zip, zap and otherwise avoid traditional commercials that interrupt the shows they want to watch. "The Scholar" is also an example of a trend among the producers of reality TV shows to play down their previous emphasis on hard-edge competition shows, in arenas like athletics, romance and relationships, in favor of so-called feel-good topics that viewers deem more inspiring - or, at least, less time-wasting. For example, a kinder, gentler version of a relationship reality series, "Beauty and the Geek," which WB introduced Wednesday, received positive advance reviews and garnered the best ratings in its time period for the network since February among a core audience, women ages 18 to 34. The feel-good trend was spurred in large part by the success of another ABC reality series, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," which has had a branded-entertainment deal with a primary Wal-Mart competitor, Sears, owned by the Sears Holdings Corporation, since it began as a special in December 2003. "What we like about 'The Scholar' is how it showcases individuals and their efforts to lift themselves up," Ms. Reithemeyer said. "There are 10 kids who overcame difficulties and reached the academic level where they're able to go to college." She acknowledged that Sears's sponsorship role on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" had "given them enormous visibility in that particular show," adding, "I can see where you would see that" the accolades Sears has enjoyed from its sponsorship led Wal-Mart to pursue a branded-entertainment deal of its own. But, Ms. Reithemeyer said, "this outreach is because of this unique show being brought to us." Wal-Mart learned about ABC's efforts to find a sponsor for "The Scholar" from one of its two primary agencies, Bernstein-Rein Advertising in Kansas City, Mo., which shares general-marketing assignments for the retailer with GSD&M in Austin, Tex., part of the Omnicom Group. Bernstein-Rein's duties include national broadcast media buying and creating ads promoting Wal-Mart's prices and convenience, its electronics merchandise and the foundation. "Over the last six months, we evaluated a lot of proposals," said Joe Myers, vice president and group account director at Bernstein-Rein, "but we didn't want to miss out on this one." "We felt this one really seemed to do the best job," he added, because "it resonated perfectly with what the foundation wanted to tell the public" and "the 10 students are from every walk of life." As for Wal-Mart delving more deeply into branded entertainment, "We're going to see how this goes," Mr. Myers said, "and see where we go from here." The ABC executives responsible for "The Scholar" have high hopes for the series. "We're not going down the mean-spirited path of reality," said Meredith Momoda, vice president for integrated marketing and promotion at the ABC Television Network unit of ABC in Burbank, Calif., "which is why advertisers are so drawn" to such series. ABC retained creative control of "The Scholar" as it does with all its reality series, she added, and advertisers are generally kept abreast during production. Ms. Momoda said that the popularity of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" "woke up a lot of people to the possibilities of what integrated marketing can do for you," and "not just for products but to showcase corporate image." "Sears gets letters from viewers saying, 'We're going to shop at Sears because you do so much good for people,' " Ms. Momoda said. Imagine how happy Wal-Mart would be to get even a postcard to that effect. © 2005 NY Times Visit our Merchandise Page to see these stickers, buttons, and more. See our huge collection of articles, studies, internal documents and more on Wal-Mart and big box stores. Please help support this work -- make a tax-deductible donation to ReclaimDemocracy.org today! Go to Home Page Email this page to a friendEach week we review dozens of articles and essays from both corporate and independent media sources and choose one that we believe brings you unique or important information or perspectives on issues of democracy and corporate power. Opinions presented do not necessarily reflect those of ReclaimDemocracy.org.Index of past features Fair Use Notice This site occasionally reprints copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We make such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of issues. 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