Handshake With Sam
While Wal-Mart’s founder, Sam Walton, steered his company’s growth over its first thirty years, he never let anyone forget that with such tremendous success come certain moral responsibilities. He led by example, and he did business with a handshake.
Today’s Wal-Mart has lost Sam’s way. That’s why we’ve proposed a new contract with Wal-Mart’s current leadership—to help Wal-Mart take its place as a responsible business leader for the new century.
A Wal-Mart Fourth of July
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt
Feel like celebrating America this weekend? A trip to Wal-Mart isn’t the way to do it. The retailer has been damaging American jobs and American communities for decades, and this Fourth of July isn’t any different.
Exporting Manufacturing Jobs. Jobs that were once the backbone of the American economy have been exported to countries where labor is cheaper and standards are lower. Wal-Mart has played a critical role in this process, using its size and market share to force manufacturers overseas.
Damaging U.S. Communities Wal-Mart makes a lot of promises when it builds a new store. Town councils are often dazzled by the company’s promises of more jobs and increased revenue, but these promises rarely pan out. The retailer drains municipal resources by forcing its employees on state-sponsored health care, getting subsidies from local governments and frequently undercutting its property and income taxes. Read more about Wal-Mart’s impact on communities >>
Devaluing Retail Sector Jobs. Wal-Mart often woos communities with promises of more jobs, but what communities frequently don’t take in to account is the quality of these jobs. Wal-Mart pays bare minimum wages, and even lowers the overall employment rate of an area by shutting down competing businesses. Just last year, Chicago refused Wal-Mart’s request to build a store on the south side of the city, citing the company’s low wages as the reason. Read more about Wal-Mart’s wages and labor policies >>
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Consumerist’s Worst Company In America: Semi-Finals
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt
Voting is now open in Consumerist’s “Worst Company in America” semi-finals! Wal-Mart is facing formidable competition from subprime mortgage king Countrywide, so make sure you vote! Use our handy tool below to weigh in on the Worst Company in America.
Wal-Mart’s Unofficial Logo Redesign Contest
Posted by Media Team
Wal-Mart rolled out a new logo this week to help fix its sinking public image, but the new look falls short. Not only does the new logo fail to address the real problems with Wal-Mart, but it just doesn’t look very good, either. In fact, we think YOU could do a much better job designing a new logo than Wal-Mart’s multimillion-dollar marketing company did. Not only would it look better, but it would truly reflect Wal-Mart’s poor business decisions.
Design your own Wal-Mart logo in our Wal-Mart Logo Redesign Contest. The top 10 submissions will win a custom printed t-shirt, and maybe even catch Wal-Mart’s eye. Click here to submit your design.
We’re not sure how Wal-Mart’s new logo is supposed to represent the company. It doesn’t reflect the company’s poor treatment of its workers, dismal environmental policies, or detrimental impact on American communities. Nor does it reflect Wal-Mart’s poor health care plan, the toxic toys for sale on its shelves, or the company’s continued use of sweatshop labor.
Let Wal-Mart know what you really think of the company by designing your own logo. We’ll display the top submissions on our web site and make t-shirts featuring the best one. The designers of the top 10 logos will win one of the shirts, as well as the pride of seeing their anti-logo prominently displayed on our website.
Wal-Mart Faces Massive Wage & Hour Suit in Minnesota
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt
You gotta hand it to Wal-Mart: when that company does something, it does it all the way. While most companies couldn’t break the law two million times if they tried, Wal-Mart has managed to do just that - and that’s in Minnesota alone. A recent case found that Wal-Mart has violated Minnesota state labor law two million times by forcing employees to work without breaks and without full pay.
The judge in the case called Wal-Mart’s labor policies “dehumanizing and reprehensible,” reinforcing what labor activists have long maintained about working conditions in the company’s stores. As details of the case come to light, Wal-Mart’s mechanized stinginess leaves little room for sympathy and instead reveal just how coldly calculating the retailer can be. Reporters, labor activists and bloggers weigh in.
Always Low Motives. Always. [Condé Nast Portfolio]
A million violations here, a million violations there: Pretty soon they being to add up. What they’ve added up to for Wal-Mart is at least $6.5 million in damages—and potentially much, much more…
Even worse for Wal-Mart: This is only one of 70 similar cases pending in courts across the country.
King, for one, sounded unsympathetic. “Wal-Mart’s failure to compensate plaintiffs was willful,” he wrote in a 150-page decision. “Wal-Mart was on notice from numerous sources of the wage and hour violations at issue and failed to correct the problem.”
More after the jump.
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Wal-Mart All Star Collectible Cards: Susan Chambers
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt
Wal-Mart found itself embroiled in a massive wage & hour lawsuit in Minnesota this week. Minnesota District Court found that Wal-Mart violated state labor law two million times, and could award plaintiffs in the case a maximum of $2 billion in damages. In honor of the case, we decided to release our second Wal-Mart All Stars Collectible Trading Card: the woman who started it all, Susan Chambers.
Susan Chambers first came to Wal-Mart in 1999 after 14 years at Hallmark Cards, Inc. From 2003 to 2007, Chambers served as Executive Vice President, Risk Management, Insurance and Benefits. It was in this position that she issued a now-infamous memo encouraging Wal-Mart to get rid of senior employees - who cost the company money both in salary and health benefits - and shift to a younger, cheaper workforce (PDF). Chambers made a number of specific suggestions for implementing this plan, including denying cashiers stools to sit on and forcing all employees to push carts around the parking lot for exercise.
In 2007, Chambers was promoted to Executive Vice President of the People Division where “she is responsible for managing, attracting and retaining the nation’s largest private workforce.” Well Susan, we gotta say, we’ve always thought paying people for the hours they work is a great way to retain employees. We know Wal-Mart’s always looking for ways to save money, but forcing employees to work off the clock and altering time sheets just doesn’t seem like it’s going to help those folks “live better.” And that’s what Wal-Mart’s all about these days, isn’t it?
Take a cue from international labor law: pay your employees fairly! We think you’ll find your job just that much easier if you do.
Notable stats:
- Ms. Chambers is the highest ranking female employee at Wal-Mart. And of the 10 executives who report directly to CEO Lee Scott, Susan Chambers is the lone woman. Maybe that’s why she didn’t get fired after “Chambers Memo” was leaked to the press - Wal-Mart would have had to fire its entire female senior executive staff!
- Ms. Chambers is on the Kansas State University Business Advisory Board, the Center for Women’s Business Research Advisory Council, and serves on the Leadership Council of the New America Foundation. [New America Foundation]
- “She is a firm believer that human resources issues – like training, compensation and opportunity – are issues with a real social, financial and economic impact.” [Cite] She also like puppies.
Vote in Corporate Accountability’s Corporate Hall of Shame
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt
If there were a Hall of Shame for corporations, Wal-Mart would certainly belong in it. Luckily, such a Hall exists. Corporate Accountability International, a membership organization that challenges abusive corporations, is already tallying the votes for 2008 inductions into the Corporate Hall of Shame.
The Hall of Shame exposes some of the most abusive, manipulative and harmful corporations — and this year Wal-Mart is one of eight possible inductees. Voting is open now - click here to vote and help us make sure Wal-Mart gets inducted. From the Hall of Shame’s summary about the retailer:
Wal-Mart’s ascendance into a world of stratospheric profits has been remarkable. But perhaps what is more remarkable is that taxpayers continue footing the bill for an enterprise that takes most of its profits out of the communities in which they operate.
Left in the wake are flailing small businesses that can’t compete with a price-slashing, subsidized behemoth. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart is increasingly leaning on part-time workers, which means that more of them wind up depending on public dollars for health care coverage. Part-time employees must wait a full year before receiving benefits, and since the majority of workers are short-term, most do not get covered by Wal-Mart.
Click here to vote on Corporate Accountability’s website.
Reading Between the Lines: Walmart’s “Refreshed” Logo
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt
Rolling out a new logo can be a delicate time for brands - it’s a time of self-questioning and transition all-too-reminiscent of middle school. Sometimes companies (and their PR teams) say one thing, but really have a lot more on their mind. Portfolio.com’s Business Spin blog provides this helpful, insightful analysis of Wal-Mart’s new logo roll-out. The bottom line? “Don’t worry, we’re not abandoning our roots. We’ll still squeeze our suppliers like soggy dishrags.”
Parsing Walmart: This Is Not a Reaction [Portfolio.com’s Business Spin Blog]
After the news leaked over the weekend, Walmart confirmed that it will roll out a new de-hyphenated logo.
While most companies flog their make-overs, Walmart’s overly restrained release seems intended to tamp down any speculation that the company is struggling to find a new sweet spot, as competitors get increasingly efficient and Target’s model continues to pick up steam. Here’s the parse.
Walmart: Walmart U.S. Refreshes Stores’ Logo
Translation: We’re not changing our logo. We’re refreshing it.Walmart: For the past two years, a customer focused transformation has been taking place in Walmart’s U.S. business.
Translation: We’ve pushed the price-as-the-only-differentiator model as far as it can go.Walmart: Walmart’s U.S. locations will update store logos as part of an ongoing evolution of its overall brand…
Translation: It’s an evolution. The revolution didn’t turn out too well. And it’s definitely not a reaction to Target.
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Will a New Logo Change People’s Minds About Wal-Mart?
Posted by Media Team
Wal-Mart spends millions on PR campaigns and re-branding efforts to fix its public image - money that could be spent on better wages and health care for its employees, stronger product safety standards or more environmentally friendly practices.
Instead of improving its behavior, Wal-Mart is introducing new logo that doesn’t change anything. Giving its employees new uniforms is not the same as giving them better health coverage. Changing color schemes is not the same as changing its impact on the environment. And a friendlier logo is not the same as a friendlier company. Do you think Wal-Mart's new logo will change people's minds about the company?