Wal-Mart Warns Workers Of Democratic Win

UPDATE: Wal-Mart has issued a statement regarding The Wall Street Journal article outlining how it's warning employees to beware of voting for Democrats. AP has the details. The Wall Street Journal article is excerpted below this excerpt from AP:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, denied a report Friday that it had pressured employees to vote against Democrats in November because of worries that a bill the party supports would make it easier for workers to unionize.

The measure, called the Employee Free Choice Act, would allow labor organizations to unionize workplaces without secret ballot elections. It was co-sponsored by Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate, and opposed by John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee.

The original report from The Wall Street Journal:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they'll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies -- including Wal-Mart.

In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside for workers if stores were to be unionized.

According to about a dozen Wal-Mart employees who attended such meetings in seven states, Wal-Mart executives claim that employees at unionized stores would have to pay hefty union dues while getting nothing in return, and may have to go on strike without compensation. Also, unionization could mean fewer jobs as labor costs rise ...

The Wal-Mart human-resources managers who run the meetings don't specifically tell attendees how to vote in November's election, but make it clear that voting for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama would be tantamount to inviting unions in, according to Wal-Mart employees who attended gatherings in Maryland, Missouri and other states.

"The meeting leader said, 'I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won't have a vote on whether you want a union,'" said a Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri. "I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote," she said.

Comments

[craigjjs]

12:21 PM on 08/05/2008

Bentley Little wrote a great horror novel named "The Store" that takes the Wal-Mart Model to the next level. If you are not a fan of Walmart you will love this book. It is readily available on paperback, but probably not at your neighborhood Walmart.

Craigjjs

[Lagniappe]

10:07 AM on 08/05/2008

The Department of labor,headed by Elaine Chao(wife of Mitch McConnell, )has been a union busting tool since her appointment in 2001. Chao is Chinese,having emigrated here at age 8. WalMart employees in China are unionized. Americans are not allowed to. WalMart and China are partners in expoitation of human rights,here and abroad. This years elections is about bigger issues than just unionizing- yet,once again,WalMart shows its true colors -its all about green-$$$$$-the rest of the issues don't count to them. The poorer we are ,the richer WaMart ,the Waltons and China become.Joan Ireland and Carol Pier have it rught.

[wdw101]

10:12 AM on 08/05/2008

well give Elaine Chao a raise now.....good job

[Lagniappe]

10:22 AM on 08/05/2008

She'l need it to support her husband,Mitch Mc Connell who is going to have his head handed to him this election-- and-she'll be handed hers with the new administration.But who would know the difference once they're headless-haven't they been that way all along-or could we just not see their heads ,hidden away up their a-----s? Or were they up GW's ?

[james809]

09:10 AM on 08/05/2008

Unions had their place in history and helped many lower class incomes become middle class incomes. That said, the economic situation has changed. Linking economic prosperity to union membership is extremely weak, if non-existant. Our productivity has increased since the declinie of unions. Look at the heavy union industries. Airlines, Teachers, Automakers, government. Are any of these leading the world in productivity? Unions killed the auto industry, they are killing the Airline industry. They actually are driving companies overseas. If you are a strong and dependable worker you will create a work history and it is not difficult to find a job even in this economy. The ugly truth is that Unions killed themselves. Advocating seniority over merit raises, an unwillingness to understand current and past economic factors when collective bargaining. Thanks for the history but unions corrosive practice of protecting the least productive has left a bitter taste in most Americans mouths. Thus 18-9% decline in membership the past decades. Thus the phrase "must be a union worker" when you see a consruction worker leaning on his shovel. Article actually makes me want to shop at Wal Mart.

[wdw101]

09:17 AM on 08/05/2008

well stated

[robizio]

10:49 AM on 08/05/2008

Issues with particular union practices are not cause to throw out unions as a whole. Unions did not kill the auto industry. The focus on lobbying to maintain the status quo instead of adapting to changes in the market hurt the US auto industry. Oh, and it's not dead yet. GM is still the largest manufacturer in the world. Ford #3.

"If you are a strong and dependable worker you will create a work history and it is not difficult to find a job even in this economy."

Unions aren't about GETTING jobs, they're about how you are treated at them. Without leverage, if employees are just replaceable single cogs, employers have little incentive to provide anything for their workers. Fair compensation, responsible health and time-off plans, safe/comfortable working conditions, retirement plans, fair and equitable hiring/termination practices all become luxuries that companies can ignore. Especially when so many who keep getting elected to government are dedicated to preventing these conditions rather than encouraging them, Americans only have power in the work force if they are a collective. When employers are holding all the cards, you have to play the game they say.

[wdw101]

10:57 AM on 08/05/2008

If i did not pay my EMPs correctly they would go elsewhere.....I pay above industry standard.....I have very low turnover........no union, I will not tolerate one anymore......

[wdw101]

11:02 AM on 08/05/2008

i give good insurance both for single and married (if married within 10 states)
i give paid vacation
i give paid sick days
5 holidays
shift differential

union comments, union members are not welcome on the work floor.....

[MeanGreenMachine]

12:22 AM on 08/05/2008

THE BEST ECONOMY America ever experienced was when Union Membership was at its HIGHEST!

Corporations are NOT in the business of creating middle class wealth and stability,

THE AMERICAN WORKER,

the producer of EVERYTHING in America,

had to FORCE them to pay decent wages.

STAND UP to CORPORATE GREED!!!! BOYCOTT AND ORGANIZE!!!!!

[wdw101]

07:47 AM on 08/05/2008

that is why jobs are being sent out of the country........the cost of tolerating the unions

[mssisyphus]

08:32 PM on 08/04/2008

Of course WalMart does not want it's employees to learn more about unions. They might have to actually pay them a living wage, no longer be able to give them 39 hour work weeks, just enough to keep from having to provide any benefits, but oh, wait...I'm sure that whopping 10 % discount they receive more than makes up for any lack of insurance, or any other benefits they DON'T receive.

[wdw101]

07:48 AM on 08/05/2008

there no problem......discounts are good

[armadillious2002]

07:52 PM on 08/04/2008

Time to pull the plug on Walmart people - let's show them whether or not people can live without them!

[wdw101]

10:31 AM on 08/05/2008

where is that plug........

[wdw101]

10:42 AM on 08/05/2008

be gentle when you unplug it.........

[Meggie]

07:22 PM on 08/04/2008

Well, I don't shop there. This type of behavior is nothing new for WalMart.
However, I've taken to BROWSING while wearing my latest T-Shirt that says "VOTE OBAMA" on the front and "VOTE UNION FOR A STRONG USA" on the back.
I'll browse until after the elections.

[athenasword]

07:59 AM on 08/05/2008

Nice strategy!

[wdw101]

07:59 AM on 08/05/2008

you will be asked to leave

[flagold]

02:22 PM on 08/04/2008

Many, many of the poor can't survive without the low prices the distribution system of WalMart brings them.

WalMart does more for the poor by far than the rich Democrats who have become tools for millionaire lawyers. Sad that the Democrat Congress response to high gasoline prices is "let them eat cake" and they go on the vacation millions upon millions can't afford . . .

The truth about Energy, WalMart, and crop production:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAOUw1XQDhI

Congratulations Democrats, Nancy Pelosi is single-handedly wrecking your chances in November:

http://lonestartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/gas-price-votes-1.png

While 75% of the public wants a vote on drilling - she implements HR 1350 to block and drilling vote coming to the floor, and promptly has Congress recess for vacation. She couldn't have done a better job for Republicans . . .

[ctnyc]

11:51 PM on 08/04/2008

a) Watch any of the documentaries about Walmart. They're eye-opening. Walmart's low prices that you claim help the poor are brought about basically by two things: stocking goods from countries that don't pay liveable wages (which takes jobs away from Americans and fosters human rights abuses elsewhere), and driving competition out of business (thereby costing more jobs and destroying local economies). So you're right, they do offer low-cost goods to poor people. But they have more to do with making those poor people poor than any company in the country.

b) 75% of the country wants a vote on drilling because they've been misinformed. They think it will lead to immediate relief in gasoline prices. Nothing could be further from the truth. Oil from offshore drilling wouldn't even get to the market for 7-10 years. The Energy Information Administration estimates that gas prices wouldn't be affected until 2030.

c) Please pick up a newspaper and educate yourself.

p.s. If you really want to talk about going on vacation, check out Bush's vacation days. I think he set the all-time record about 3 years ago.

[wdw101]

02:02 PM on 08/05/2008

the oil drilling would be better if it were started now than later. If indeed 7-10 years is true why wait? Wow, you just called 75% of the US gullible and uneducated.......

[wdw101]

07:57 AM on 08/05/2008

I agree with conservation, wind power, solar power, sea power and drill, drill, drill.....do it all......right now

[snesich]

12:19 PM on 08/04/2008

Why is the Huffington Post accepting ads from Wal-Mart, particularly the very prominent one on your home page that I saw this morning? Shouldn’t there be some standards for the HP? Or are you simply going to accept advertising from any group, however disreputable?

[wdw101]

12:36 PM on 08/04/2008

it is money.........they will not turn it down

[BlackWidowPilot]

10:56 PM on 08/04/2008

So asserts the "nondenominational capitalist" who is "OK with waterboarding."

So tell us, 'wdw101," what does it profit a man to gain all the money in the world, but lose his immortal soul?

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[Lagniappe]

10:15 AM on 08/05/2008

Neither did the NAACP-and look what they've gotten,a corporation coercing employees to vote Republican-I'd guess alot of Walmart employees are black-don't know about the mangers,though.There sure are a ot of WalMart customers who are African-American,though,and I think they have gotten the message loud and clear.

[robizio]

10:24 AM on 08/05/2008

I think I may be able to help you out with that one. I read an explanation of the advertisement policy in the Nation, and I'd imagine that the logic might be the same for Huffington Post.

If I remember correctly, they accept any and all ads for a couple reasons. Rejecting ads on ideological grounds can get you into the issue of ceding the moral high-ground on free speech issues. Also, you may get tied up in trying to explain why you accepted one ad while rejecting another, along with (possibly valid) cries of hypocrisy. Why waste valuable time arguing over whether or not to accept an ad or not when it's not actually your content?--It doesn't speak for you, but for the advertiser.

[Bpeirce]

12:11 PM on 08/04/2008

Sad very sad....Many of Wal-Marts customers are Blue collar Democrates. They must really be afraid of Unions. I'll never shop there again.

[Star2000dancer]

12:27 PM on 08/04/2008

Down with Walmart.and their slave labor. It's a monopoly & should'nt even be allowed to exist.

I want to start a petition for every American to get a receipt when they vote from now on. That's the best way to stop all these recounts, time , money & election fraud.

[wdw101]

12:39 PM on 08/04/2008

how would that help.......you would have to collect the receipts to confirm the vote

[Star2000dancer]

12:37 PM on 08/04/2008

Oh yes, and change to Independent so they do'nt know which way you're voting, but let's get those receipts to prove we voted & who we voted for.

[wdw101]

12:45 PM on 08/04/2008

so you want to play games with your vote? ok

[Chavez08]

11:00 AM on 08/04/2008

Taxpayers have been subsidizing Walmarts success by picking up the costs of healthcare and other crfitical social programs so a handful of lazy, greedy capitalists can brag about paying $3,000 for a toothbrush.

Capitalists are the scum of this planet.

[wdw101]

11:16 AM on 08/04/2008

then cancel all social programs and save the taxes

[MeanGreenMachine]

11:18 AM on 08/04/2008

Tax ALL INCOME over 1M. annually at 90%.

[Chavez08]

10:59 AM on 08/04/2008

END SLAVERY NOW!!

[wdw101]

11:19 AM on 08/04/2008

a slave can not quit........i believe walmart EMPs can quit still......can't they?

[joanireland]

12:22 PM on 08/04/2008

You're confusing historical literal slavery with its modem more insidious less literal but equally demoralizing form...
The reality is people CANNOT quit because they need the low paying jobs to qualify for the supplemental state benefits that will enable them barely to avoid extreme poverty whilst they look for other jobs they may not find . The duality of the welfare / walmart trap results in reliance on their shoddy cheap goods and nutritionally negligible food.
You may scoff and say slavery doesn't exist and everyone has a choice but the reality is they do not and slavery still very much alive and well today.
If the only solution you can offer up is the removal of the few safety nets in place - the only gossamer thread preventing America from descending into complete corporatized dystopia ,keep quiet?
Anyway.. A right to unionize enshrined in law and a living wage for every employee in America please ..:)

[joanireland]

09:46 AM on 08/04/2008

-Addidtionally-
Please stop being meek consumers and start spending ethically.
Walmart maintain artificially low prices because the state have to step in and supplement pathetically paid HARD WORKING walmart employee salaries to give “the largest work force in America” some semblance of a living wage and then of course there's Medicaid.. tally up the amount of tax money rightfully spent on keeping these hard working people covered under some form of health care and you'll realize walmart and their low low prices are a farce
~Joan

[wdw101]

09:54 AM on 08/04/2008

stop the social programs..........then we have no abuse of the tax payers.....

[joanireland]

10:35 AM on 08/04/2008

Great idea ! Whilst we're at it - lets also adopt the misanthropic principles of atlas shrugged on a constitutional level.. and let the everyman and every women, the real hard working undervalued people that keep America afloat and all of the 45 million+ Americans priced out of health care that encompasses die sick and over worked in the gutter so a greedy corporate fascist few can continue to line their pockets with fist fulls of blood money.
Incase it failed to dawn on you I'm being FACETIOUS above..
Typical republican party troll spouting laughably but sadly accurate republican rhetoric. .
Keep it up :) you're doing quite a good job at highlighting the republican parties complete and utter contempt for the average working American everyman/everywomen..

[Chavez08]

10:56 AM on 08/04/2008

Good point! Washington needs to reverse the bailout of the big banks immediately!

Damn Socialists!!

[joanireland]

09:43 AM on 08/04/2008

Ragged trousered Philanthropists : Author: Robert Tressell : First Published 1914
-wikipedia plot summery-
Clearly frustrated at the refusal of his contemporaries to recognize the iniquity of society, Tressell's cast of hypocritical Christians, exploitative capitalists and corrupt councilors provide a backdrop for his main target -- the workers who think that a better life is "not for the likes of them". Hence the title of the book; Tressell paints the workers as "philanthropists" who unselfishly (read: stupidly) throw themselves into back-breaking work for poverty wages in order to generate profit for their masters.
The hero of the book, Frank Owen, is a socialist who believes that the capitalist system is the real source of the poverty he sees all around him. In vain he tries to convince his fellow workers of his world view, but finds that their education has trained them to distrust their own thoughts and to rely on those of their "betters". Much of the book consists of conversations between Owen and the others, or more often of lectures by Owen in the face of their jeering; this was presumably based on Tressell's own experiences.

[wdw101]

08:13 AM on 08/05/2008

great another socialist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you should listen to your betters

[joanireland]

10:47 AM on 08/05/2008

Can I suggest you donot band a word about UNLESS you're fully cognizant of it's meaning?
And if by socialist you mean socially orientated , then yes I'll take that :)
Anything ( mild forms of socialism included ) is preferable to the amoral vacuum that is capitalism in America atm.

[CarolJPier]

09:35 AM on 08/04/2008

Wal-Mart’s reported warning to workers of the dire consequences of voting for supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act is just one of a litany of tactics the company has employed to prevent its workers from exercising their right to organize. In a 2007 report, "Discounting Rights" (http://hrw.org/reports/2007/us0507/), Human Rights Watch documented how Wal-Mart is a case study in what is wrong with US labor laws. The company’s multifaceted strategy to keep out unions has exploited weak US labor laws relentlessly, creating a climate of fear and intimidation that has denied workers their right to choose freely whether a union is right for them. And the company has gone even further in its efforts to keep out unions, using illegal tactics that take advantage of the laws’ “slap-on-the-wrist” penalties and ineffective enforcement. EFCA would be a critical step towards remedying some of the legal shortcomings that facilitate Wal-Mart’s anti-union tactics. It is predictable that the company would vigorously oppose the legislation. It is less predictable that the company would attempt to indoctrinate its employees with a one-sided interpretation of EFCA and implicitly, if not explicitly, suggest that their vote in November should help defeat the bill. Such a blatant attempt to involve its workers in perpetuating the violation of their own basic rights is despicable. Wal-Mart should be ashamed.

[wdw101]

08:19 AM on 08/05/2008

"Wal-Mart should be ashamed." i'll bet they are not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!