Wal-Mart Gets a Free Pass For Bias From the Supreme Court - COLORLINES

Wal-Mart Gets a Free Pass For Bias From the Supreme Court - COLORLINES

The Supreme Court issued its decision in the Dukes v. Wal-Mart sex discrimination case yesterday, a frustrating ruling that doesn’t challenge the existence of bias, but that exempts the company from accountability. The case highlights the difficulty of addressing discrimination at a time when intentional bias is both illegal and socially unacceptable, and yet obvious gender and racial gaps remain. If much, perhaps even most, discrimination is unintentional on a personal level, what responsibility do employers (or our government, or each of us as individuals) have for addressing its institutional consequences?

The court decided 5-4 that up to 1.5 million female employees cannot file suit together as a class. The court’s conservative majority raised questions not just about whether the women were discriminated against through the same mechanisms, but also about the validity of the plaintiffs’ central argument—that the combination of a highly centralized corporate culture and excessive discretion among managers systematically disadvantaged women.

Wal-Mart’s numbers are not in question. Women comprise more than 65 percent of hourly employees, but only 34.5 percent of managers. This is significantly different from similar retail chains, in which women hold 56.5 percent of management jobs. It takes women on average 4.38 years to rise to a management post at Wal-Mart, but takes men only 2.86 years. Of 41 Wal-Mart regional vice presidents, only five are women, and only 9.8 percent of Wal-Mart’s district managers are women. Wal-Mart’s internal documents acknowledge that they are far behind the rest of their field...

Wal-Mart Gets a Free Pass For Bias From the Supreme Court - COLORLINES

Wal-Mart is Essentially the Distribution Arm of the Peoples' Republic of China

   "Wal-mart is essentially the distribution arm of the Peoples' Republic of China."

   I heard this quote the other day. I looked it up and found at least one source that attributed it to Max Fradd Wolff, economist, GPIA New School University.

   I might have to make a bumper sticker.

   I want to know what all the red-blooded, flag-waving, "My country right or wrong", Wal-Mart shoppers feel about this.

Costco

   In discussing the decision to focus our efforts on getting out of debt, the wife and I talked about shopping at Costco more to save money. Once upon a time, we shopped there with some regularity, but as we became more interested in local, organic, and sustainable we found that the annual membership fee was more than what we saved on the few items we actually bought there. Recently, my uncle mentioned that he stopped shopping at Costco because, as a single person living alone, he was tired of throwing out food.

(I talk about Costco rather than Sam's Club for what should be obvious reasons to anyone who has read other posts on this blog. Sam's Club is Wal-Mart, and Wal-Mart is a business to which I can not give my money.)

   We have made a couple trips to Costco since discussing it. Costco hasn't changed a lot, but I found it has changed some. While I have to agree that many items offered at Costco are not really practical for a single person (or even a small family in a lot of cases (no pun intended)), I did find a few items that are going to save us money in the long run. Things like salt, pepper, oil, vinegar, beans, rice, sugar, and flour can be stored for a long time and stocked up on for less money in the long run. We found a five pound block of Tillamook cheese, but agreed that we might not be able to eat that much before having serious mold issues. We could cut it up and freeze it, but then we came across a two and a half pound block that was actually a better deal then the five pound block. Perfect! Non-food items that we use regularly like food-storage bags, plastic wrap, and batteries will also save us money in the long run. I wish they sold canning jars and lids!

   After talking about it, we did decide to compromise on a few items when it comes to local, organic, and sustainable. The process of lessening one's ecological footprint is just that -- a process. We're not perfect, there is still a lot we can do, and if we have to take a small step back to get out of debt, we are willing to do that for now. We'll see how it goes. Things we can't get locally like olives, for example. I have been impressed, however, at the number of organic items Costco carries these days.

   Sure, it isn't cheap the first time out when stocking up on several things at once, but I've already noticed grocery trips being less expensive (not to mention quicker and easier!). We still get our meat from the local butcher and what produce we buy comes from the local produce stand. We also have quite a bit of food that we canned this fall.

   Between the garden, the butcher, the produce stand, canning, and Costco, what we need from the "conventional" grocery store is very little.

Wal-Mart in the News

   Apparently folks in New York aren't too happy about Wal-Mart building a new store there. One report says, "East New York Walmart Foes Look to Albany For Help" while another says, "Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) has angered workers with 'slave wages.'”.

   Council member Charles Barron is quoted in both stories: “Any retailer can give us jobs and lower prices. And we’re not getting lower prices so that you can bring in a plantation and give us slave wages.”

   Go Charles. Good luck -- history shows you're going to need it.

   In related news, Bloomberg just ran this article: "Wal-Mart Raising Toy Prices, Squeezing More Out of Holidays".

"Wal-Mart managers in the U.S. received instructions to mark up an average of 1,800 types of toys per store, according to a company e-mail dated Nov. 30 obtained by Bloomberg News. The e- mail didn’t disclose specific increases. The prices were changed 'to better enable your store and the company to have a successful financial month,' according to the e-mail."

   Not great press for a retail giant whose "Always Low Prices" slogan is now "Save money. Live better." Perhaps they should consider, "Average prices. Slave wages."

   Just a thought.

CDN judges rule against Wal-Mart in two separate union cases

From Money:


A judge in Saskatchewan ruled Walmart employees have the right to union representation Thursday, just days after a Quebec judge ruled the retail giant acted illegally when it closed a unionized store in that province, United Food & Commercial Workers Canada said.

A Saskatchewan Court of Appeal judge upheld a lower court ruling Thursday allowing a UFCW Local 1400 bargaining unit at the Weyburn, Sask. Walmart store.

“This is a victory for workers rights and the principle that no company is above the law,” said Norm Neault, the president of UFCW Canada Local 1400.

UFCW accuses Walmart of doing everything in its power to prevent workers from getting a collective agreement.

“But the time for stalling is over. Let’s get back to the bargaining table and start talking,” Neault said.

Local 1400 first applied to represent Weyburn Walmart workers in 2004.

Earlier this week, a Quebec Supreme Court judge ruled Walmart had acted illegally when it shut a store in Jonquiere, Que. shortly after workers there formed a union.

Some Walmart workers in other parts of the country are working with a union agreement already, including those in Gatineau and Saint-Hyacinthe, Que.

READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Backstory Part III

The third and final installment of the "how I got here" story...

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Before moving to the east coast I had taken an interest in archery and this lead me to bow hunting. While hunting I came face-to-face with the reality of meat and exactly how an animal becomes food. It was also around the time of this move that we started taking a look at the anti-Wal-Mart hype. While we had shopped at Wal-Mart from time to time, I frequently found myself aggravated with the experience. I decided to try and find out why.

While I found books on Wal-Mart and organic foods, my wife was looking into childbirth and the medical industry. When our son started having unexplained seizures at age six, the doctors at the hospital had absolutely no explanation and our motivation for answers grew. It turns out that the over-the-counter allergy medicine we were giving our son each spring causes seizures in a small percent of people; mostly children. None of the doctors to whom we are still paying bills had ever heard of such a thing. Money well spent.

Around this time I had made a complaint among my college friends about how difficult it is to reduce one's carbon footprint even when trying to do so. I was admonished by a vegan friend who suggested that I could do a lot more by simply not eating meat. I decided to really examine this perspective which lead me to more information about Concentrated Animal Feedlot Operations, food transportation, and why eating locally is important. Now I was torn between local and organic and found it seemingly impossible to reconcile the two.

We never did find a local brew shop in Wilmington that could get us anything we couldn't find online from the same origin or closer. We never found a local butcher. Seriously. The local supermarkets would reluctantly hand-cut shipped-in raw meat but did not want to have to clean the slicer for a private order. I ended up buying a meat slicer online because no one in Wilmington that I could find sold such an item (I did not check Wal-Mart).

On top of all of this, we were appalled by both the school food and the local school system. One day we picked our son up from school when he was on the verge of tears. We had to pull from him that the school was having a "McDonald's Day" that Friday and that, while he didn't want to let his class down, he didn't want to eat McDonald's food. Now the school has made me a bad parent for teaching my kid to eat better. When I emailed the principal, I was informed it was not a school program, but a PTA fundraiser, never mind the giant banner in the school entryway and the competition between classrooms for participation. The PTA cashed my enclosed check for the "recommended contribution" plus what an average family might generously spend at McDonald's, but never responded to my letter. Still, that wasn’t the last straw.

My wife was reading articles by John Taylor Gatto and decided it would be a good idea to volunteer at the school library to help out. One afternoon the school went on “lock-down”, which means the lights went off, the shades were pulled, and the kids all got on the floor while police searched the school. Once the police cleared the building, the shades remained closed and no children were allowed outside without an adult escort for the rest of the day. It turns out someone down the street had been shot and the police were looking for the shooter. Now I don’t have a problem with the lock-down procedure, what I have a problem with is that the school did not tell any parents about it. The only reason we knew about it was because my wife happened to be there that day. How do you put kids through something like that and not mention it to the parents? After one year in the local, public school and three and a half months in the local magnet school, we removed our child from compulsory education and started a homeschool, but not without threat of litigation. Schools get money based on attendance now, so every child counts at least as far as the budget is concerned.

We were reading books like Crunchy Cons (Dreher), When Corporations Rule the World (Korten), Deep Economy (McKibben), The Ecology of Commerce (Hawken), The Great Turning (Korten), Choice (Bender & de Gramont), Conscious Conception (Baker & Baker), The Empty Cradle (Longman) (a disturbing book on several levels), and The Wal-Mart Effect (Fishman). We saw documentaries such as Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers, Why We Fight, The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara, The Corporation, and Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. We began to really reconsider how we live and how to live better.

By the time I was able to secure work and move our family back to the northwest, we had become staunch anti-Wal-Mart, anti-industrial, organic-foods, homeschooling, label-reading shoppers. Once again, change seems to be easier when habits change. We now found ourselves closer to home, but in no context with which we were familiar as our habits and priorities had so dramatically shifted. We found that the neighborhood Fred Meyer's (now owned by Kroger) "natural" section closely resembled the co-op we belonged to on the east coast. We were relieved to find a supply of natural and organic products, but we soon discovered a local butcher and several local markets sprinkled about the area. It was as if we had stumbled into the perfect storm of local access and organic options. We were also able to gain access to a much more user-friendly library than we had been to in years. Instead of buying a few books a year I was now able to borrow a few books a week and learn much more about local and sustainable. The book Plan B 3.0 by Lester Brown shook my world all over again. We planted a vegetable garden, started raising chickens, learned canning, freezing, pickling and jam making. I continued homebrewing and making sausage and jerky.

Which brings the whole story up to speed. We are now several years into this journey and we are making progress, but we can always do better. Our worldview has changed some, but what has really changed is how we interact with the world and our environment. We are learning to consume less, produce more, and be more involved with our own lives.

It will be interesting to see what happens next.