As a follow up to last week's post about the Orange County Planning Commission voting on whether to allow Walmart to build near a Civil War battlefield, we have learned that the Planning Commission has approved Walmart's initial plans. The Commission voted five to four to recommend Walmart's plans to the county supervisors, who will hold a public hearing and decide if Walmart will be allowed to build sometime this week.

Of course we think it's a shame that Walmart might be allowed to build a stone's throw away from the protected Civil War battlefield. Not only was the store's location a staging area for Union Troops, but the store will also bring increased traffic to the area, degrading the integrity of the protected battlefield. We hope the county supervisors, who are not held to the Planning Commission's recommendation, take the importance and historical significance of the Wilderness Civil War battlefield in to account and suggest an alternate location for Walmart to build.

Here is some of the coverage of the County Planning Commission vote:

Wal-Mart near Virginia battlefield moves forward [Business Week]

Wal-Mart near Va. battlefield moves forward [Forbes]

Wal-Mart proposal moves to Orange supervisors [Fredericksburg.com]

This week in Walmart news:

A Canadian court rescinded union certification given to Walmart workers, keeping alive a five year old battle between Walmart and the union.

The Orange County Planning Commission will soon vote on whether to allow Walmart to build near an important Civil War battlefield. The controversial store has drawn opposition from historians, politicians, actors and local activists.

It looks like yet another older rock band is going to do an exclusive deal with Walmart. Kiss's Gene Simmons has confirmed that a deal is in the works to sell their upcoming album only at Walmart.

Walmart ended a long review and has hired three PR agencies who will compete against each other for specific projects.

The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus took issue with some of Walmart's ads that claimed a shopper could save more than $700 a year buying groceries in its stores. Walmart responded by defending the claim but pulled the ad off the air anyway.

Walmart opened up a few more walk in medical clinics and the media is still writing about how they failed in their initial attempt to open hundreds of clinics.

Finally, we released a new report this week detailing how Walmart sources its much-touted $4 prescription medications from Ranbaxy, a disgraced Indian drug maker. The report generated quite a bit of media coverage.

I'm not sure about you, but this story seems very strange to us. Essentially a court in Canada has ruled that because labor laws have changed since Walmart workers legally won union representation, those workers are no longer allowed to be represented by a union.

Here's the longer version. Back in April 2004, workers at a Walmart store in Weyburn, Canada voted to allow a union to represent them. Walmart, of course, stalled and threw up every road block they could. Then this year, when it looked like Walmart couldn't stall anymore, they made a desperate last minute attempt to block the union, arguing to the Labor Relations Board that because labor laws had changed the way workers vote on union representation, the certification years earlier should be illegitimate. Let me say that again so it sinks in: Walmart argued that because it had stalled for years and the laws happened to change while it was stalling, the workers should pay the penalty for Walmart dragging its feet. The Labor Relations Board rejected Walmart's absurd argument and granted the workers union representation.

And now, a court ruling has overturned the Labor Relations Board decision. Why, you might ask? Well we're not totally sure. Here's what the article says,

""The board erred in law," in not ordering a vote, Foley said, in his written judgment.

While declaring the certification of the Weyburn union to be void, Foley left the door open to having a union certified at the Weyburn Wal-Mart if a majority of workers support it in a secret ballot.

"The application for certification shall be remitted back to the Board for determination in accordance with the provisions of the Trade Union Act," Foley said."

We're pretty unconvinced by that argument. Why should a perfectly legal unionization drive become void because labor laws changed? It's like saying "well, the laws changed, so Franklin Roosevelt wasn't really the President for four terms...just two like the law says now."

What do you think of the ruling?

It sounds like the county Planning Commission in Orange County, Virginia, will vote for the first time on whether or not to allow Walmart to build on an historical Civil War battlefield. We've been following this particular battle very closely as historians, actors, experts, and local residents weighed in on whether or not Walmart should be allowed to desecrate our national history. As an interesting side note, this story from a local TV station has a poll and nearly 62% who have voted believe the Planning Commission should reject Walmart's proposal.

Here's the story from the Associated Press:

Wal-Mart's proposal to build a Supercenter near a hallowed Civil War battlefield in Virginia is headed to its first vote.

The Orange County Planning Commission is scheduled to take up the retailer's proposal Thursday, with the final decision remaining with the Board of Supervisors.

A who's who of historians and preservation groups have protested the proposed Locust Grove address for the 138,000 square foot store. They have said the store will intrude upon history--the Wilderness Battlefield--where 29,000 Union and Confederate soldiers were killed or injured 145 years ago.

Wal-Mart has said its studies have concluded the store will not actually be on the site of any bloody combat.

Supervisors are not bound by the recommendations of the Planning Commission.

Is Walmart taking unacceptable risks sourcing its prescription drugs?

Today we released a new report detailing how Walmart sources its much-touted $4 prescription medications from Ranbaxy, the disgraced Indian drug maker.

According to the Department of Justice, Walmart's supplier is responsible for introducing potentially "subpotent, superpotent, or adulterated" drugs into the market. Medications used by millions of Walmart shoppers could have contained active ingredients from unapproved sources, in unapproved blends, and in amounts weaker than FDA-approved doses.

Despite the company's shady dealings, Walmart saw fit to award Ranbaxy with its "prestigious" Outstanding Supplier Award. In fact, Walmart continues to source from the embattled Indian manufacturer even today.

Don't let Walmart play games with the health of millions. Help us blow the whistle on Walmart for its customers to medications made by its unscrupulous supplier.

Let your local newspaper know the truth about Walmart's irresponsible drug sourcing.

Despite years of federal warnings concerning "systemic fraudulent conduct," Walmart continues to source cheap drugs from Ranbaxy. This revelation comes on the heels of extensive PR campaigning to brand Walmart as a global health care and ethical sourcing leader.

If Walmart is interested in providing safe products from responsible suppliers, why is it handing out awards to companies under investigation by the FDA and DOJ? It shows, yet again, that Walmart is interested in little more than its own bottom line.

America deserves to know that Walmart has grossly violated the trust of its customers. Help us put Walmart's misconduct into the public eye: read the report and spread the word.

Write a letter to the editor about Walmart's cozy relationship with Ranbaxy.

Don't let Walmart off the hook, take action today.

Thanks for all that you do,

The Team,
WakeUpWalMart.com

We just put out a new report about Walmart's connection to Ranbaxy, an Indian drug supplier that has been investigated by the FDA, DOJ, and had drugs banned from coming in to the United States and Canada. Here's our official press release:

June 23, 2009

EXPOSED: Cheap WalMart Rx Drugs Come from Disreputable Supplier

On Health Care, World’s Largest Retailer Fails Again

Washington, DC – A new report from WakeUpWalMart.com today revealed the truth behind WalMart’s much-touted $4 generic prescription drug program. To keep costs low, the report reveals that WalMart uses a generic drug supplier in India that has been investigated for safety reasons by U.S. authorities and has had its products banned by Canada.

At a time when WalMart has offered up its cheap prescription drug program as evidence of its leadership on health care, the plan calls into question WalMart’s commitment to providing quality and affordable health care to its consumers.

At the center of today’s report is drug manufacturer Ranbaxy Laboratories, LTD. Ranbaxy has been repeatedly investigated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) for “inadequate” safeguards against contamination, falsification of records and submitting false information to the FDA.

As today’s report details, Walmart imports a variety of generic drugs from Ranbaxy that are used to treat bacterial infections, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, allergies, cold sores and acne. Eight months before the FDA cited Ranbaxy for serious violations, WalMart gave the drug supplier an award for being a top performing supplier.

In 2008, the FDA banned importation of drugs manufactured at two of Ranbaxy’s plants, and in 2009, the FDA halted review of applications to import drugs manufactured at the Paonta Sahib plant. Soon thereafter, Canada followed suit and banned importation of drugs manufactured at that facility. Yet Walmart still imports generic drugs made by Ranbaxy at its other Indian facilities.

“WalMart talks a good game on health care, but its rhetoric can’t hide the facts. We’ve known for years that the retailer does not provide affordable coverage for its employees, and we learn today that may be sacrificing the safety of its consumers for the profits of its CEO,” said Meghan Scott, director of WakeUpWalMart.com. “Why is WalMart handing out awards to the same company that the DOJ, FDA and other countries are investigating? WalMart’s customers deserve to know.”

Read today’s report at the following link: http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/feature/ranbaxy/

###

Reuters is reporting that Lee Scott, Walmart's former CEO who gave up his position at the begining of this year, spoke at the World Food Business Summit in New York and had some pretty interesting things to say. In response to questions about what he would have liked to acomplish as CEO, Scott was quoted as saying, "one place I would have liked to have done more is helping people understand that Wal-Mart jobs, retail jobs in general, are good jobs, they pay well and they offer extraordinary opportunities."

Apparently Scott hasn't talked with any actual average associates in a while. Most of the associates we talk to would rate their jobs as something vastly less than 'good'. Of course in this economy, or any economy, having a job is far better than not having a job, and it's great that Walmart employs so many people, but Walmart's jobs aren't about quality.

To start with, despite what Scott says, Walmart's jobs do not pay well. Walmart pays about 16% less than the average retail company, and the average Walmart employee will make under $20,000 a year. Does that sound like a well paid job to you? Second, Walmart offers inadequte benefits and health coverage. While Walmart claims that 94% of their employees have some kind of helath coverage, Walmart only covers 52% of their employees under thier own plan, failing to cover 675,000 employees. Walmart also covers far fewer employees than most the industry as a whole, which covers 65% of employees, which means a large portion of Walmart's employees must rely on Government assistance to cover their medical costs.

Add that to discrimination, cuts in hours, a schedule that can be changed to the drop of a hat, no overtime, and intimidation in the face of union organizing, and Walmart's jobs don't sound like "good jobs" at all. The saddest part about all of this, however, is that Walmart's jobs COULD be good. We've been pushing for high quality jobs at Walmart for years now, to no avail. One way Mr. Scott could have made headway in "helping people understand that Wal-Mart jobs... are good jobs" would have been to offer a living wage, affordable and adequate health coverage, quality benefits, and more respect in general to all of Walmart's associates.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled 16,000 air compressors that were made in China and sold exclusively at Walmart. Apparently there is a piece in the compressor that is supposed to shut the machine off when it gets too hot. The piece can fail, leading to a fire hazard.

While we haven't talked about it recently, this is just a small part of a much larger trend. Walmart pushes its suppliers to cut their prices in their maniacal desire to keep costs and prices low, that they often encourage their suppliers to cut corners on safety. The result is a dangerous air compressor, or lead tainted toys, or poisoned pet food, or countless other dangerous products. In the past year or so, Walmart has had mover 50 products recalled by the CPSC.

Check out some of the past coverage we've had of this issue.

Here's the article with more specific details on the product recall:

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a recall for 16,000 dangerous, Chinese-made air compressors that were imported by Campbell Hausfeld and sold exclusively at Wal-Mart.

According to Campbell Hausfeld, a device within the compressor that is supposed to shut the unit off to avoid overheating can fail, allowing the tool to become dangerously hot. While there is a clear fire risk, the CPSC says no one has been injured from the device so far.

The recall involves the model HU200099AV air compressor with a 20-gallon tank. They were sold at Wal-Mart stores for about $250. Consumers can return the item to Wal-Mart for a full refund.

In the past few days, we've seen a couple of stories about Walmart opening new health clinics. This is nothing new. We knew about a month ago that Walmart was relaunching their walk in clinics. But it's important that these clinics continues to open because Walmart is, as we've noted before, trying to rebrand itself when it comes to health care. They're trying to get their name out of the news for offering notoriously poor health insurance and get their name in the news for offering $4 prescriptions, walk in clinics and the like.

There's just one problem, Walmart still fails to cover more than 48%, or 675,000 of their employees. They insure far fewer employees than your average large business (which insures more than 65% of employees) and forces many thousands of employees to rely on public health insurance like Medicaid which you, the taxpayer, pay for.

Don't let Walmart get away with using flashy PR to short change their workers on health care.

Over the weekend the Associated Press ran an interesting correction. Apparently back in April they ran a story claiming that last year Mike Duke, Walmart's current CEO made $6.49 million in compensation. While that SHOULD sound like a ton of money, by today's absurd standards of executive compensation, it instead sounds like small salary.

Of course the AP fixed the number. Duke did not, in fact, make six and a half million, he made $29.07 million. That's 1,318 times the average Walmart employees wage. To put that another way, an average associate at Walmart would have to work 1,318 years just to make what Mike Duke made last year.

The comparison between the two salaries should highlight not just how little Walmart workers make, but also how much its executives make. It should also highlight how much money Walmart has. If they can pay their top executives (remember Mike Duke wasn't yet CEO when he was making nearly $30 million a year) such an outrageous sum, they can afford to better take care of the associates.