Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Wal-Mart Bias Case
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal in the
biggest employment discrimination case on record, one
claiming that Wal-Mart discriminated against hundreds of
thousands of women in pay and promotion. The lawsuit seeks
back pay that could amount to billions of dollars.
Wal-Mart objects to the class action in part because the
number of potential claimants would be so large. Lawyers for
the plaintiffs argue that the size of the class is inevitable
because Wal-Mart is such a huge company, and is anyway
legally irrelevant.
Hah! Ya think?
Please indulge us while we use this forum to extend an offer to Mr. Olbermann to have his baby. We promise to raise the baby to be politically astute with a healthy dose of cynicism and wry wit. We will impart these hard-wired qualities from the moment the baby takes its first nip at our breast.
Back to our regularly scheduled hatred of WalMart, who has dropped their pursuit of Debbie Shank's award. Keith Olbermann has regularly featured WalMart as one of his Worst Persons and we thank him for that, as we thank him for breathing, and for gazing at us directly from the TV screen. (Note: The title of the post is a link to a story on ThinkProgress.)
We'd like to think there's redemption even for the bloated retail whore WalMart, but we think it's just a case that there can be such a thing as bad publicity and they finally reached their limit. Whatever. It benefits Ms. Shank and that's really all that matters.
ACKSON, Missouri (CNN) -- Debbie Shank breaks down in tears every time she's told that her 18-year-old son, Jeremy, was killed in Iraq.
Debbie Shank, 52, has severe brain damage after a traffic accident in May 2000.
The 52-year-old mother of three attended her son's funeral, but she continues to ask how he's doing. When her family reminds her that he's dead, she weeps as if hearing the news for the first time.
Shank suffered severe brain damage after a traffic accident nearly eight years ago that robbed her of much of her short-term memory and left her in a wheelchair and living in a nursing home.
It was the beginning of a series of battles -- both personal and legal -- that loomed for Shank and her family. One of their biggest was with Wal-Mart's health plan.
Eight years ago, Shank was stocking shelves for the retail giant and signed up for Wal-Mart's health and benefits plan.
Two years after the accident, Shank and her husband, Jim, were awarded about $1 million in a lawsuit against the trucking company involved in the crash. After legal fees were paid, $417,000 was placed in a trust to pay for Debbie Shank's long-term care.
Wal-Mart had paid out about $470,000 for Shank's medical expenses and later sued for the same amount. However, the court ruled it can only recoup what is left in the family's trust.
The Shanks didn't notice in the fine print of Wal-Mart's health plan policy that the company has the right to recoup medical expenses if an employee collects damages in a lawsuit.
The family's attorney, Maurice Graham, said he informed Wal-Mart about the settlement and believed the Shanks would be allowed to keep the money. 
Watch this couple's story ยป
"We assumed after three years, they [Wal-Mart] had made a decision to let Debbie Shank use this money for what it was intended to," Graham said.
The Shanks lost their suit to Wal-Mart. Last summer, the couple appealed the ruling -- but also lost it. One week later, their son was killed in Iraq.
"They are quite within their rights. But I just wonder if they need it that bad," Jim Shank said.
In 2007, the retail giant reported net sales in the third quarter of $90 billion.
Legal or not, CNN asked Wal-Mart why the company pursued the money.
Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley, who called Debbie Shank's case "unbelievably sad," replied in a statement: "Wal-Mart's plan is bound by very specific rules. ... We wish it could be more flexible in Mrs. Shank's case since her circumstances are clearly extraordinary, but this is done out of fairness to all associates who contribute to, and benefit from, the plan."
Jim Shank said he believes Wal-Mart should make an exception.
"My idea of a win-win is -- you keep the paperwork that says you won and let us keep the money so I can take care of my wife," he said.
The family's situation is so dire that last year Jim Shank divorced Debbie, so she could receive more money from Medicaid.
Jim Shank, 54, is recovering from prostate cancer, works two jobs and struggles to pay the bills. He's afraid he won't be able to send their youngest son to college and pay for his and Debbie's care.
"Who needs the money more? A disabled lady in a wheelchair with no future, whatsoever, or does Wal-Mart need $90 billion, plus $200,000?" he asked.
The family's attorney agrees.
"The recovery that Debbie Shank made was recovery for future lost earnings, for her pain and suffering," Graham said.
"She'll never be able to work again. Never have a relationship with her husband or children again. The damage she recovered was for much more than just medical expenses."
Graham said he believes Wal-Mart should be entitled to only about $100,000. Right now, about $277,000 remains in the trust -- far short of the $470,000 Wal-Mart wants back.
Refusing to give up the fight, the Shanks appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. But just last week, the high court said it would not hear the case.
Graham said the Shanks have exhausted all their resources and there's nothing more they can do but go on with their lives.
Jim Shank said he's disappointed with the Supreme Court's decision not to hear the case -- not for the sake of his family -- but for those who might face similar circumstances.
For now, he said the family will figure out a way to get by and "do the best we can for Debbie."
"Luckily, she's oblivious to everything," he said. "We don't tell her
what's going on because it will just upset her."
Click on the link for the full article. Just one more reason to move to France, as far as I'm concerned. If I had an "I Hate Health Plans" blog, this article could go there too.
JACKSON, Mo. -- A collision with a semi-trailer truck seven years ago left 52-year-old Deborah Shank permanently brain-damaged and in a wheelchair. Her husband, Jim, and three sons found a small source of solace: a $700,000 accident settlement from the trucking company involved. After legal fees and other expenses, the remaining $417,000 was put in a special trust. It was to be used for Mrs. Shank's care.
Instead, all of it is now slated to go to Mrs. Shank's former employer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
![[Above, Deborah and Jim Shank. Right, a photo of the family before the accident.]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-AJ646_Recoup_20071119200001.jpg) |
| Vanessa Fuhrmans, the family |
| Above, Deborah and Jim Shank. Right, a photo of the family before the accident. |
Two years ago, the retail giant's health plan sued the Shanks for the $470,000 it had spent on her medical care. A federal judge ruled last year in Wal-Mart's favor, backed by an appeals-court decision in August. Now, her family has to rely on Medicaid and Mrs. Shank's social-security payments to keep up her round-the-clock care.
"I don't understand why they need to do this," says Mr. Shank on a recent visit to the nursing home, between shifts as a maintenance worker and running a tanning salon. "This girl needs the money more than they do." Mrs. Shank, who needs help with eating and other basic tasks, spends more time alone since Mr. Shank had to let her private caregiver go. At some point, he says, she may have to be moved from a private to a semi-private room in the nursing home where she lives.
The reason is a clause in Wal-Mart's health plan that Mrs. Shank didn't notice when she started stocking shelves at a nearby store eight years ago. Like most company health plans, Wal-Mart's reserves the right to recoup the medical expenses it paid for someone's treatment if the person also collects damages in an injury suit.
National Bank of WalMart?
Fortunately this little fiduciary fuck-fest bit the dust before it ever got past the "gleam in Big Daddy Walton"s eye" stage. The mind reels and retches at the thought of mandatory smiley-face checks and tellers in dreary blue smocks.
This is important
How much worse does it have to get? This was a comment posted by Jolene recently.
This is wrong on so many levels. I have to wonder if Ms Byrd and her boyfriend bought the condoms at WalMart as well. It's my theory that suppliers of merchandise to WalMart will send them less-than-perfect merchandise. Any time I've been foolish enough to buy something at Wal-Mart, such as a hair dryer or a vacuum cleaner, I've had to return it.
Because WalMart muscles its suppliers for such low wholesale prices, it's not hard to imagine that in order to stay profitable, some companies send "B" merchandise to WalMart - merchandise that otherwise wouldn't make it to retail.
If Ms. Byrd and her boyfriend bought the condoms at WalMart, were they substandard, and therefore more prone to break?
Ms. Byrd and her boyfriend were being responsible on several levels. First by purchasing and using the condoms. Then by seeking out Plan B when the condom broke. They're responsible adults and WalMart treated them with derision.
Maybe it's just as well. WalMart's stock of Plan B might have been defective too.
If you're buying toilet paper or trash bags, it doesn't matter all that much if they're substandard. But when it comes to something as important as contraception and medication, maybe it's better to pay a little more. Because saving a few bucks at WalMart for your contraceptive needs could cost you a lifetime of child care and support.
Recently, Tashina Byrd and her boyfriend tried to purchase the emergency contraception Plan B at the Springfield, Ohio Wal-Mart after their condom broke. The pharmacist not only refused to provide emergency contraception to them, but he laughed in their faces and did not get another employee to dispense it.Tell Wal-Mart to improve company policy to require Wal-Mart pharmacies to fulfill requests for Plan B without intimidation, humiliation or delay. Plan B is simply a concentrated dose of ordinary birth-control pills that can prevent unintended pregnancy after sex.Wal-Mart must stop discriminating against women and ensure that their pharmacies guarantee women's access to Plan B. If an individual pharmacist refuses to provide Plan B, Wal-Mart should ensure that another employee provides it immediately.Please speak out now, so that no other woman has to go through the humiliation and anger that Tashina experienced. Sign the petition at: http://go.care2.com/e/R6S8/FNFT/qJ_1Thank you for helping to protect the rights of women nationwide.Truly,Robyn E.Care2 andThePetitionSite Team
Thank you again, commenters
Especially to you, most recent commenter. I wish I could do something for you. I hope you're sending your story to the other WalMart-hating sites, or to the newsmagazines or newspapers or SOMEONE who can publicize this issue more than this modest blog can.
If it's any consolation, most businesses are run by rat bastards and other jobs and companies suck almost as bad as WalMart. And what do you do? You need the job, but you're smart to look around. I call it Plan B.
Courage.
Another way around the benefits issue?
It's bad enough that Walmart has to be forced to pay the legally mandated percentage of benefits in Maryland. But is anyone else aware of the situation this poster is alerting us to?
Love to Commenters
I want to thank any and all who happen upon this little hate-fest. It warms this blogger's heart, I tell you, to think that out there in the ether, my humble blog is found by those similarly inclined. Below, I've quoted some comments from those brave souls who have to face down corporate WalMart every day. I salute you; you guys are really nice to me any time I've been in WalMart and needed help with something. Carry on. Courage.
WalMart Merchandise
As I said, I do occasionally shop at WalMart. Unfortunately, I'm discovering that buying something at WalMart means returning stuff to them. It's like a revolving door. I've bought two space heaters so far this winter that I've had to return. I bought a flat iron that started making weird noises inside of a week. I bought a vacuum cleaner that also started making funny noises after using it only two times. I've never had to return stuff as much as I have buying things from WalMart.
I have to wonder if their practice of muscling their suppliers for such low prices doesn't mean that the suppliers are shipping them sub-standard merchandise.
At any rate, those days are over. It's not worth it. I'd rather pay a few dollars more for something and have it work.
Don't make eye contact, whatever you do
Now, while I hate WalMart, I do occasionally shop there, because I can't see spending good money on things like storage bins or hair dryers.
I was looking at vacuum cleaners and there was a small, portable model on a shelf. An older woman was looking at it as well, and appeared to have some difficulty picking it up. I made a comment to the effect of, "Is it heavy?"
She showed me her hand and I commented that yes, one knuckle definitely was swollen. This somehow opened the door for her to begin telling me about a fall she'd taken recently on the ice, and she fell on her knee and should have gone to the doctor, but she and her husband were on their way somewhere, and it seemed ok, but the next day her hip was terribly sore and it was hard to walk. . .
This kind of thing happens to me a lot, actually.
I walked out of my small rented house that same day, and a woman who lives next door was peering into a trash can with some perplexity. She asked me if I knew who put some trash in there, and I indicated I didn't know, although in fact, I did know, because the trash consisted of some burnt-out holiday lights that I'd thrown in there. I was unaware that trash cans were cause for such proprietary behavior, and wisely, I decided to lie. She was a little, um, "challenged" and I really didn't want to get into a dialogue.
Later that night I threw some more trash in there because my landlord had approriated MY trash can for her own copious trash needs. My landlord is certifiably insane, so I'm just using any trash port in a storm, at least until trash day.
Comments
Well, your intrepid WalMart hater just found out how to publish comments without cutting and pasting.
and right you are "Anonymous"
"WalFart" is being too kind.
"WalMotherFucker" is more what I had in mind.
"WalSuckingTheLifeBloodOuttaTheAmericanEconomy" might be another way to go.
I sense a new party game here. C'mon, try it. It's easy!
No such thing as bad publicity
From another devoted reader:
oh shut up!! Is there not enough crap in the world happening today than to worry about what walmart is doing? WHO cares!! If it wasn't Walmart it would be another taking it's place in due time so it is a never ending circle that will never end. Want to worry about something? How about the ozone layer? One day we may never wake up due to no AIR!!!p.s. I happen to like weatherbug also! goodbye! --Posted by Anonymous to I Hate WalMart at 12/16/2005 02:19:31 AM Well, all I can say is THANK YOU! I mean, you actually found my blog and hated it enough to comment on it.
This is almost as good as when one of my ads I wrote for my former ad agency got bad publicity.
Mom would be so proud.
They missed a few of the heinous hijinks committed by WalMart, but even the most die-hard WalMart hater has a limited online attention span and I imagine the editor has to cut it off somewhere. And as it turns out, I have actually missed a few despicable transgressions. Discrimination against black truck drivers? Where does it end?
I do believe in profit and personal responsibility. But I also believe in corporate morality and why should they be mutually exclusive?
Please do support these champions of truth (Salon.com, not WalMart). It was the best $30 I ever spent. Or at least read the article.
Again, slightly off-topic here, but Wal-Mart is a huge contributor to the Republican party in general. The blog "BuyBlue.org" (linked in the title) will give you a list of contributors to either party. Since the Democratic party appears to be hopelessly inept at gaining ground in Congress, one way consumers can register their dissatisfaction about the Republican Party, the current President and the corporations who support them is to spend your money at businesses who share your values and point of view. Obviously, if you're of a more conservative persuasion, you can use this list to support WalMart and its ilk.
I missed this story back in April. Click on the title for the link to this story in one of the best-regarded political blogs in the business - Daily Kos. The article says it all; I don't need to embellish. I may start a blog devoted to the devious dealings of this monumental embarrassment to the state of Pennsylvania. His appeal to the fanatic Christian right (and his continual re-election, SO FAR), is his anti-abortion stance. Don't get me started; this makes my eyes bleed it makes me so furious. Just wanted to give a short back-story as to why I've included this particular article in my blog. One more reason not to spend at WalMart. If they're chauffering right-wing zealots in their corporate jet, and desecrating Mexican archeological treasures, and attempting to cram a THIRD WalMart in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania (known for spicy meat and mostly bucolic landscapes), how much worse can it get.
Much, I'm sure.
I can't wait for the commercials on this one.
June 27, 2005 | Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart heir John Walton, son of company founder Sam Walton, died Monday in Wyoming plane crash, according to the company.
Walton, 58, was piloting the ultralight that crashed shortly after takeoff from the Jackson Hole Airport in Grand Teton National Park, the company said.
In 2005, Forbes Magazine listed him as 11th on its list of the world's richest people. He was tied with his brother Jim, one place behind his bother Rob and one place ahead of his sister Alice and his mother Helen.
Coming soon
There are two - TWO - planned WalMarts in this area, the thriving metropolis of the Harrisburg-York-Lancaster market and the fights against them are hot and heavy. I will research this in more depth and get back to you, my faithful posse.
I know there's one fight in Lebanon county. When I'm driving to my Krav Maga self-defense class there (you never know when I might run across an actual WalMart executive and have a need for killer hammer fists), there are signs for NO WalMart. I'm not sure how the goodly farmers in Lebanon County will be able to withstand the lobbying and muscle tactics of the WMD (WalMart Demons).
Tales from the Trenches
From "Anonymous:"
I worked for wal mart. they pay less then the minimum wage. I have to pay for all of my benefits. Wal mart is the most evil... I fucking hate walmart.Anonymous, this should be a bumper sticker. I hadn't realized you guys had to pay ALL your benefits. That's what makes me crazy about the Evil Empire of WalMart - all those low prices - most of which are crap anyway except for loss leaders - is at the expense of their employees.
And any time I've actually be in a Wal-Mart, you guys are so nice. (Ok, I'm going to buy an air conditioner at Circuit City?) My hat's off to you. It's a little caplet of white swan feathers and I salute you.
Happy times lately for TWHWM (Those Who Hate Wal-Mart). After receiving a target letter from a grand jury in Pennsylvania (where I currently reside waiting for the first available opportunity to relocate myself to San Francisco), Wal-Mart was the subject of an October 2003 raid spanning 21 states and 60 stores. The raids led to the arrest of 245 allegedly illegal immigrants. To avoid criminal charges, Wal-Mart agreed to pay an $11 million fine. Guess the little happy smiley face will be raising a few prices to pay for this one. Double-knit polyester stretch pants in sizes 2x-5x will increase by $1.
Please be sure to check out the link in the title supplied by one of my hordes of readers (and I'm grateful for all FIVE of you******). Not only has Wal-Mart put thousands of people out of work by muscling its vendors for ridiculous prices, but apparently they are contributing to the end of all time as we know it.
But we knew that.
Robber Barons, Part II
At 12:57 AM, aurora said...
so let me get this straight - they get 15 days warning before an investigation? geez - anyone can clean those sort of violations up in 2 weeks. *rolls eyes*grrrrrr.
Why yes, Aurora, the evil empire of retail gets 15 days warning, courtesy of the Dept. of Labor. Do you think there's any connection between this regulatory heads-up and the fact that Wal-Mart is a major contributor to the Republican party?
Hmmmm, I'll have to ponder this awhile. Maybe for 30 nanoseconds.
I Thought This Went Out With The Robber Barons
Wal-Mart to settle child labor charges
- - - - - - - - - - - -By Siobhan Mcdonough - Salon.com
Feb. 13, 2005 WASHINGTON -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, will pay $135,540 to settle federal charges that it broke child labor laws, the Labor Department said Saturday.
The 24 violations, which occurred at stores in Arkansas, Connecticut and New Hampshire, had to do with teenage workers who used hazardous equipment such as a chain saw, paper balers and fork lifts.
Wal-Mart denied the allegations but agreed to pay the penalty. A spokeswoman for the Bentonville, Ark., company said Wal-Mart was preparing a statement Saturday.
Child labor laws prohibit anyone under 18 from operating hazardous equipment.
The company also agreed to comply with any provisions it violated -- in this case, child labor laws -- in the future, said Victoria Lipnic, assistant secretary for the department's Employment Standards Administration.
In the settlement, Wal-Mart also agreed to continue providing store managers with training on child labor law compliance and provide new managers with similar training.
"This is a fairly standard thing to have an agreement like this," Lipnic said.
The settlement was signed by both sides on Jan. 11. An announcement was not made before Saturday because the department was waiting for the settlement to be paid in full within the 30-day period agreed to, Lipnic said.
The allegations, which occurred between 1998 and 2002, involved one case in New Hampshire where a youth was using a chain saw to trim Christmas trees. A majority of the cases in Connecticut involved children loading paper balers.
Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., was critical of the provision that gives Wal-Mart 15 days notice before the Labor Department investigates wage and hour accusations. He said it could give Wal-Mart the chance to sweep violations under the rug.
"I don't know if the Department of Labor threw in the towel or whether Wal-Mart put enough political pressure on them that they ended up with a sweetheart deal," Miller said, adding that he will ask the department's inspector general this week to review the agreement.
"I don't know if there's anything in Wal-Mart's background with regards to allegations of violations of labor laws that would make any suggestion Wal-Mart has earned the right for this kind of treatment," Miller said.
Wal-Mart has been the target of lawsuits accusing the company of bias against women and not paying employees for all the hours they worked. Wal-Mart has vigorously fought the court actions.
Wal-Mart is the world's largest company as measured by sales. At all its stores, Wal-Mart sales reached $284.8 billion for the year ending Jan. 28.
(C) Salon.com 2005. All rights. reserved.
I haven't watched the news in 5 years ever since King Georgie II was elected president. So I didn't watch the State of the Union address last night either. I watched Tremors for the 3000
th time on cable and come to think of it I noticed many similarities between the monster and Dick Cheney.
ViewAtYourOwnRiskBut the fact that our very own elected Weapon of Mass Destruction, Deviance and Deception (WMD3) was once again reading TelePrompted text and repeating whatever was being fed to him via that box on his back, reminded me of why this blog (and other true believers) exist. Wal-Mart, the insidious innovator of retail wreckage, is a BIG contributor to the freeper party.
Here's a link if you want to know who contributes to what.
http://www.opensecrets.org/
Sure It Was The Weather
January 29, 2005 -- The weasel of Wall Street, (that would be WalMart), has announced that same-store sales growth in January will be at the bottom end of its projected range of 2.5-4%. They blame this on the storms that were experienced in many parts of the country.
Excuse me, oh Rhodes scholars of retailing, but it seems to me that winter storms absorb maybe one day at most out of our lives, and the build-up to the storms, especially in the weeks leading up to February sweeps, are hyped to the point of hysteria by the local TV news, creating a frenzy of shoppers snapping up every last roll of toilet paper, milk which they consume only during winter storms, trashy novels, salt and shovels.
In central Pennsylvania, I was able to hibernate for only a few scant hours on a Saturday night; the roads were cleared enough by Sunday to enable even the most reluctant shopper to slog out to WalMart, if he or she happened to be drawn like a lemming to the edge of socio-economic despair, where only WalMart awaits with recently reduced safety nets.
It seems to me that sales would be just ripping this month, instead of ragged. Let's all stay tuned to CNN-
fn for updates on the sales trends of the mahatma of marketing.
Aurora responds to my thanks to reader comments with a suggestion of sending all four of you a Wal-Mart gift card.
Aurora, do I know you? See, my "real" job is writing copy for an internet ad agency, whose bread & butter is all those FREE gift card ads. Including to WalMart. Don't hate me because I spam you.
Although Wal-Mart is good for some things, like buying trash cans, (and, oddly enough, some great lingerie
[I found these snappy little black and pink mesh things...but I digress] I figured no one reading here would want to support the gagifyingly grotesquerie that is the Wal-Mart caveat emptorium. (Unless you're in the market for trash cans and snappy little pink & mesh lingerie.)Even for free. So I didn't include a link. But, if you see the word FREE*! anywhere on the Net, it was probably one of literary masterpieces. So much for being the next Stan Freberg.
It may seem paradoxical that I
have shopped at Wal-Mart. "Know thy enemy" etc., etc. BUT, it was only twice, once on Thanksgiving when my oil heater blew and then that time I needed trash cans.
But I have other blogs for talking about me, so now back to our regularly scheduled pit viper programming.
FOUR - Count 'em - FOUR Reader Comments
Wow. Four people out in the ether found this little anti-tribute to the anti-christ of retailers, Wal-Mart. Four! Welcome commenters. Maybe I could buy you a little gift or something?
Wal-Mart's CEO, Lee Scott, is on a major PR campaign to tell the "truth" about WMD (WalMart the Despicable) and it's wage and personnel practices, vendor relationships, urban blight strategy and all the really really wonderful things WMD does for communities.
Only problem is, he hasn't said much. He's stated Wal-Mart pays an average of twice the minimum wage. He didn't qualify whether that average included salaries of supervisors, management and executives.
Mostly he denies. Denies that the company health plan is too expensive for most employees to participate. Denies that there is gender discrimination (despite the largest class action suit in history brought against them).
My mother always said to my sister and me, "Don't say anything unless you can back it up with facts." And I've always been skeptical of people, like Mr. Scott, who make broad statements without facts and figures to back it up. Reminds me of George B*** ( I can't bear to write the whole name), Pres*****, and his vigorous statement regarding the WMDs in Iraq. Where soon, I imagine, there will be a WMD of another kind - Wal-Mart the Demonic.
Now this little site (linked in the title) is just a wealth of tasty tidbits about that cadre of cads - WalMart. AND, these tasty bits won't hurt your post-holiday diet one bit. They might help as I frequently felt the urge to vomit in a serial fashion.
Here's one I just loved.
http://www.ufcw135.org/wal/wal_taken_off_fortune012703.htm
Wal-Mart has been kicked off Fortune magazine's list of 100 Best Companies to work for. (It's hard to believe they were on it in the first place.) The reasons? Let us count the ways...
1. Fails to provide affordable health care coverage to its workers. (We knew this.) Most of WalMart's employees forego the coverage because they can't afford it. And they have the gall to air TV ads with employees singing their praises because of the health benefits.
2. We know about the class action gender discrimination suit against the classless
and misogynist retailing mastodon. But we knew this. This link will give you more information in detail.
http://www.walmartclass.com/walmartclass94.pl
3. Now this is a good one: KLP, one of Norway's largest insurance companies, released a list of 27 companies that it refuses to do business with because THEY DO NOT MEET MINIMUM ETHICAL STANDARDS. In Wal-Mart's case, their repeated violations of their employees' right to organize put them on the list of corporations who FAIL TO MEET UNITED NATIONS STANDARDS OF HUMAN AND LABOR RIGHTS. Paging Amnesty International. And I'd like to discuss this
personally with Gabriel Byrne. (no relation)
For the other end of the spectrum, here's a link to the
Fortune list of companies that actually may do one or two things right.:
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/bestcompanies
Thank you (I think) to "PJ" who added this atrocity as a comment to the "WalMart, Family Values and Guns" post, a copy of the article is posted below.
Let's not forget that torturing and killing animals is one of the key behaviors indicative of antisocial personality disorder, exhibited in serial killers, among other sociopaths.
These examples of man's inhumanity to animal are like a wrecking ball careening into my solar plexus and just staying there. I get ill at road kill.
I've been around animals my whole life. I don't necessarily consider humans to be at the top of the evolutionary scale. They're certainly below dolphins and elephants. At home, I have a black & white cat, and an albino cockatiel. We don't make distinctions among species - everyone has an equal voice in what goes on, some voices more shrill and demanding than others.
The title of this post is a link to the original article. Forward it, if you like, to the editor of your local newspaper. In all likelihood, there's a WalMart in your market and it will be fun to see their response, if any.
WriteToWalMart
If that link doesn't work, just go to
www.walmartstores.com and follow links from Company Information to Wal-Mart News, and from there you'll find suggestions for news articles (I'm sure they'll include this in one of their commercials) and a form to contact them and let them know what you think of their Evansville, Indiana employees. I've demanded that they be fired.
As a brief OT, if you're remotely of the persuasion that medical testing on animals, poaching for elephant ivory and other animal parts considered of esoteric value by certain cultures (consider the affinity for Tiger Penis Soup in China - 3 guesses as to what that's for), and other human afflictions inflicted on animals, please, please get the book "When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals" by Jeffrey Masson. His other books, including "Dogs Never Lie About Love" are will make you re-think just where man really belongs on the evolutionary scale.
"WhenElephantsWeep:TheEmotionalLivesOfAnimals"
Wal-Mart Employees Charged With Shooting Cat On Manager's Orders
POSTED: 7:26 am EST December 30, 2004
UPDATED: 7:20 am EST December 31, 2004
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Two Wal-Mart employees have been charged with felony animal cruelty after police said they followed a manager's orders to shoot and kill a stray cat.
The men, both assistant managers at the store, told police the manager ordered them to get rid of the animal that was living in a storage trailer behind their store.
Christopher Anderson, 29, and Jeffrey Hardin, 21, repeatedly shot the cat with a pellet gun from the store until it died the following day, a sheriff's report said.
Wal-Mart conducted an investigation and fired three employees involved in the cat killing. The company did not name the employees who were fired.
"We were sickened by this cruelty," said Kevin D. Miller, regional vice president for the Arkansas-based retailer.
The company plans to donate $10,000 to split between the Vanderburgh County and Warrick County Humane Societies in Indiana.
Anderson and Hardin were arrested and released after a court appearance Wednesday.
A truck driver who reported the incident said he saw store employees placing what he believed to be a dead animal in shrink wrap a day after he heard workers joking about shooting the cat.
Store manager Darrel Weitzel told police he had told some of his employees to get a gun and get rid of the cat after attempts to coax it from the trailer failed, according to a police report.
In another attack on a cat, two 13-year-old girls from New Jersey were charged with animal cruelty after allegedly stomping on a kitten and then burying it up to its neck, killing the animal.
The girls bragged in school about what they had done, said Beverly Greco, an agent for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
"This is beyond sick -- it's evil," she said.
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
We always despise WalMart for its smarmy nod to "family values" all the while putting people out of work with their cutthroat marketing practices (the better to lure the downtrodden into markdown paradise).
However, an ongoing suit against WalMart poses a significant threat to individual privacy, a personal right and value which is fading from existence.
Shayla Stewart, a WalMart employee and a diagnosed, undermedicated schizophrenic/manic-depressive, commited suicide with a gun purchased at WalMart. Her mother is suing WalMart, claiming they should have been more aware of her daughter's problems and never sold her the gun.
This is dangerous territory. Many people already pay for psychiatric care and pharmaceuticals out of their own pockets, to avoid the any potential violation of privacy and/or discrimination from having such treatments on record at an insurance company.
The real issue should be, why is WalMart continuing to sell guns in a country where, in any given year, 25-30,000 people die from gun-related deaths (U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2003). You do
not want to give WalMart, or any other bureacracy access to your personal data. There is no greater good to be derived from any more erosion of individual privacy. But it's unconscionable for a retailer the size of WalMart to be offering guns for sale.
It's a personal theory that the very people most likely to commit a crime with a gun comprise a higher percentage of the WalMart constituency than they do in the general population. WalMart, as usual, is operating solely in its own interests, rather than doing even the most minor ethical or socially responsible thing. It would be interesting to know what percentage of their annual revenue is derived from the sale of firearms. No doubt, that would provide answer to why they sell guns. And once more, WalMart's profit is society's loss.
Ho Ho Humbug
A new despicable commercial from the despicable of despicables. Why, that would be WalMart of course.
It's one of their tear-jerking holiday tripe-fests detailing all the wonderful contributions they make to the communities where they're located (that would be just about ALL, except where they were thwarted by special propositions).
Lest we forget, it's WalMart who has put so many needy people in these communities by virtue of its cut-throat pricing policies inflicted on its vendors.
Have I linked to this fine, fine article before?
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html
It bears repeating and re-reading. Call me Crabby Appleton, but my guess is all those downtrodden types would much rather have their jobs back than accept any largesse from the larcenous leviathan.
Of course I'm not the first to snark on WalMart. I can't believe I was able to get the "I Hate Wal-Mart" name for this blog.
So I need to pay homage to Walmartwatch.com, linked in the title of this post, I hope. I don't know who the brave soldier is in the fight to publish the truth about this naked mole rat of retailers, but if he's single, call me.
In this site you will find much documentation and other links to news articles, commentary and complaints.
Mr. WalMartWatch, wherever you are, I salute you and am proud to add my contributions to the Mart Snarks. We will never stop, until Wal-Mart posts huge annual losses because of discrmination lawsuits, propositions voting NO to resurrecting yet another red, white and blue monstrosity, and declining sales because the very people who shop there probably lost their jobs by way of your bleeding your vendors to the point of outsourcing or bankruptcy.
WalMart and Advertising, Part I of many
I'm unfortunately a television junkie. Always was. I used to monitor the Nielsen ratings when I was a teenager, following the ups and downs of the career of Fred Silverman, rooting for perennial last-place NBC. I've been a Nielsen family three times. The first time was purely random, but the subsequent selections were due, I'm sure, to the beautiful and complete diaries, meticulously completed every 15 minutes. Much of my career was spent as a TV media buyer, and as such, it was important to be glued to the screen, to monitor competition. Of course.
I love advertising. I wanted to be the next Stan Freberg when I was younger and if you know who Stan Freberg is, you know that was a long time ago. And I make my living as a copywriter now.
The WalMart ads are just appalling to me. Even more appalling than banks and insurance companies promoting themselves as more caring organizations than Johns Hopkins Hospital, are the endless paeans to Wal-Mart's "family values" and to what a wonderful place it is to work (if you're not a woman, anyway, maybe it is). And let's not forget the positive impact Wal-Mart has on the urban and suburban landscape.
The commercials generally move as fast as MTV videos, with compressed voiceovers, usually a mother with a Midwestern twang and gaggle of children, all of whom look faintly inbred.
I should probably save this for last, but I have to purge myself of the demon in some way. The worst, absolutely worst ad they put out hasn't been on the air for at least 3 years. This featured a "busy mom" a teacher, mother of 3 daughters, and she "sings with a big band" [Cut to the Midwestern mom attempting a jazz scat, and then collapsing in a big-toothed giggle). This commercial, as in most of them, emphasized how much money you could save at W-M, and "the quality is GReat." I should turn it off, I know. But how often do you turn away from a car wreck? Or a hideous bug? You can't.
Why I Hate WalMart, Pt II
The WalMart You Don't Know. (From Fastcompany.com)
Any so-called economic recovery experienced in recent years has often been attributed to WalMart. The retailing mastodon, after all, is where that great expanse of red states in the middle of the country does most of their shopping. And their advertising (I promise I'll get to snarking on the ads) touts all manner of family values, recited in compressed-for-speed Midwestern twang voice-overs.
But are they contributing to the economy, or costing us jobs? Their strong-arm tactics towards their suppliers to cut prices has resulted, in some cases, companies sending jobs overseas. Who does that help? Anyone working those jobs in India couldn't afford even WalMart.
Read the article linked below and soon you, too, will hate WalMart as much as I do.
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html
Merry Christmas to All Who Hate Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart, along with other discount retailers, experienced "disappointing" sales for Black Friday and the weekend after Thanksgiving. Partly this is a result of revising their "deep discount" strategy from post-Thanksgiving to pre-(two weeks)Christmas. Partly it's that discount shoppers are being more conservative in their spending this year, a result of the "economic recovery" touted by Republican hacks. "Economic recovery" as anyone who is unemployed or marginally employed after being unemployed, is a crock.
But on to more cheerful subjects. As result of the "disappointing" sales performance, the retailing behemoth will be revising its November sales figures DOWNWARD.
I feel a warm, tingly glow all over.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-retail-walmart.html
Why I Hate Wal-Mart, Part 1
There are many reasons to hate Wal-Mart, of course. I want to devote an entire post at some point about their advertising. For now, though, let's focus on their blight-on-the-landscape global strategy.
It's one thing to plunk a Wal-Mart supercenter on the riverfront in south Philadelphia next to Home Depot. It's another thing entirely to desecrate a key archaeological site at Teotihuacan in Mexico.
Teotihuacan means The Place Where Men Become Gods. It was a religious center at about the same time as the beginning of the Christian faith. By the fourth century C.E., it was the 6th largest city in the world.
In a total disregard for Mexican culture and way of life, Wal-Mart will be constructing another blue and red monstrosity, approximately a mile from the Avenue of the Dead, Pyramid of the Sun and the Feathered Serpent Pyramid. What place does a WalMart have in a setting like this?
I have to wonder what's next for this bastion of mediocrity. Wal-Mart Taj Mahal? Don't tell them I said that. I don't want to give them ideas.
HEY, I HATE WAL-MART TOO!!! I BET YOU THAT I HATE THEM MORE THAN YOU, BECAUSE I HAVE WORKED FOR THESE BLOO-HUNGRY LEECHES FOR THE PAST 8 YEARS, AND I AM HERE TO TELL YOU THAT I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!!! I HAVE TRIED TO GET SOME INFORMATION OUT TO THE PUBLIC ABOUT THIS SELFISH PITIFUL COMPANY, BUT SO FAR , MY WORDS HAVE FALLEN ON DEAF EARS!!! I HAVE TRIED TO GET MY LOCAL TELEVISION AND TALK-RADIO STATIONS TO JUMP ON THE BANDWAGON AND GET THE WORD OUT THERE ON THIS STUPID, MONEY-HUNGRY, BIGWIG ONLY , PIECE OF CRAP COMPANY, BUT SO FAR, EVERYONE IS AFRAID OF THEM.
YOU SEE, WAL-MART IS TRYING TO GET RID OF ALL IT'S EMPLOYEES THAT HAVE BEEN WITH THE COMPANY FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME!! THEY WANT TO REPLACE THEM WITH PART-TIME HELP, SO THAT THEY WON'T HAVE TO PAY ANY BENEFITS TO THEM!!! THEY HAVE GOTTEN RID OF THEIR SUPPORT MANAGERS AND THEIR LONG-TIME EMPLOYEES, OR BASICALLY FORCING THEM OUT, BY MAKING THEM TAKE A MANDATORY PAY CUT AND FORCING MANY OF THEM TO EITHER GO TO A JOB THAT IS NOT SUITED TO THEM OR FORCING THEM TO QUIT!! IN OUR STORE IN PARTICULAR, THEY HAVE TOLD 2 DEPARTMENT MANAGERS WHO HAVE OVER 68 YEARS WITH THE COMPANY, THAT THEY CAN EITHER BE DOOR GREETERS OR THEY CAN GO TO WORK IN THE DELI, OR THEY CAN QUIT!!! THT'S THE REAL WAL-MART FOR AMERICA FOR YOU!! THE TWO OVERNIGHT SUPPORT MANAGERS HAVE OVER 30 YEARS WITH THIS POOR EXCUSE OF A COMPANY, AND THEY TOLD THOSE TWO THAT THEY COULD EITHER LOSE UP TO $2800 IN WAGES BY TAKING ANOTHER JOB IN THE COMPANY AND CLASSIFYING IT AS A DEMOTION, EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG, JUST BECAUSE THE BIG-WIGS THINK THAT BY FORCING ALL THESE LONG-TERM ASSOCIATES, TO LOSE PAY OR ELSE LOSE THEIR JOBS, THEY SAY THAT THESE DECISIONS ARE GOING TO "HELP SERVE OUR CUSTOMERS BETTER"!! WHAT GARBAGE!!! INSTEAD OF HAVING RELIABLE ASSOCIATES WHO KNOW THEIR JOBS, THE COMPANY WOULD RATHER PAY SOME SNOT-NOSED KID OR SOME ILLEGAL ALIEN TO TRY TO HELP YOU!!! THEY SAY THAT THEY DON'T HIRE PEOPLE LIKE THAT, BUT WE ALL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND WE HAVE HEARD ABOUT IT IN THE PAST!!! LUCKILY, I AM MOVING ON, AWAY FROM THIS PIECE-OF CRAP, LYING ,SORRY EXCUSE OF A "COMPANY", AND I ADVISE ALL WHO EVER READ THIS TO DO AS I AND ALL WHO I CAN REACH, TO NEVER STEP FOOT IN A WAL-MART AGAIN!!! THE ONLY WAY I WILL , IS WHEN THEY REPLACE THESE SORRY EXCUSES OF HUMAN BEINGS, AND PUT SOME STORES OR A STORE IN IT'S PLACE!!!! MAY WAL-MART ROT IN HELL AND ALL OF IT'S SUPERVISORS HAVE HORRIBLE THINGS HAPPEN TO THEM FOR WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO A LOT OF GOOD, DECENT HUMAN BEINGS, JUST TO PAD THEIR ALREADY OVERFLOWING WALLETS!!!
P.S. THESE HYPOCRITES WHO RUN THE COMPANY SAY THAT THEY DO SO MUCH GOOD FOR THIS COUNTRY, SAID THAT THE STORE THAT I WORKED AT, EVEN THOUGH THEY SOLD $97 MILLION DOLLARS LAST YEAR, THE HOURLY ASSOCIATES COULDN'T RECIEVE A BONUS BECAUSE THEY HAD TOO MANY CUSTOMER ACCIDENTS AND TOO MANY ASSOCIATE ACCIDENTS!!! YES, THE STORE HAD A GRAND WHOPPING TOTAL OF 42 ASSOCIATE ACCIDENTS, RANGING FROM SPRAINED ANKLES TO A BROKEN FOOT! WOW, I'M SURE THE COMPANY LOST SO MUCH MONEY TO THOSE ACCIDENTS!! YET, OF COURSE THE STORE MANAGER, THE ASSISTANTS, AND THE BIGWIGS ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP, OF COURSE , THEY ALL STILL GOT BONUSES!!! THEY GET THEM NO MATTER WHAT!!!! PEOPLE, DON'T LET THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE AT THIS SORRY COMPANY BRAINWASH YOU, LIKE THEY DID ME 8 YEARS AGAO!!! STAY AWAY AND SUPPORT YOUR COMPANIES THAT REALLY CARE ABOUT YOUR COMMUNITIES, NOT JUST SAY THEY DO, AND GIVE ONLY WHEN THE CAMERA IS ROLLING, LIKE WAL-MART DOES!!! PLEASE,PLEASE RESPECT THE HARD-WORKING SOULS WHO HAVE HAD NO CHOICE, BUT TO LEAVE WAL-MART BECAUSE THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT THEIR ASSOCIATES, THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT LINING THEIR POCKETS!!! DON'T SHOP WAL-MART ANYMORE!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!
3:00 PM