But then today the Wall Street Journal reports that Wal-Mart has been sending human resources managers around the country to conduct mandatory meetings with store managers and department heads to inform them that Democratic victories in November could mean more unions, hefty union dues, and fewer jobs:
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 [Ann Zimmerman & Kris Maher, "Wal-Mart Warns of Democratic Win," Wall Street Journal, 2008.08.01, p. A1].
Interesting, given that Wal-Mart has been increasing donations to Dems over the past decade-plus:
Twelve years ago, 98% of Wal-Mart's political donations went to Republicans. Now, as the Democrats seem poised to gain control in Washington, 48% of its $2.2 million in political contributions go to Democrats and 52% to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan organization that tracks political giving [Zimmerman & Maher].
So tell me again (and I'm sure my commenters will): Wal-Mart is a massive corporation with unmatched buyer power plus millions of dollars to spend on lawyers to defend its interests. What does this behemoth have to fear from hourly workers forming an organization of their own to defend their rights?
Walmart may be supporting Dems, but they sure aren't supporting Obama. Interesting article. Makes you wonder....
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why everyone thinks Walmart is so evil. They strive to keep their costs down and deliver a product at the cheapest price possible.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good business to me.
I am not running Walmart down at all. I love Walmart. I just find it interesting that they are so against Obama. I am an undecided voter, and I haven't heard a lot of strong, positive responses about him.
ReplyDeleteI think WalMart is afraid of Barack Obama because his administration might try to put an end to corporate welfare. I'm not sure to what extent Mr. Obama has made promises in that direction, but Hillary Clinton sure did.
ReplyDeleteI heard last week on public radio that WalMart gets a lot of our tax dollars. David Cay Johnston, author of a book called Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense, was speaking, and he was pretty rough on the Waltons.
I have extremely mixed feelings about walmart. On one hand, I absolutely love that it consolidates business into one area and makes it as economically viable as possible. Seriously, the old model of little mom and pop stores needs to end. If you are not actively manufacturing/creating/designing things you are simply a middle man scamming profits off the top. Walmart is able to dramatically reduce the cost of the middle man which benefits us all.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I completely agree with you CAH that walmart in its current form can destroy economic hearts of communities. I hope that walmart morphs over many years into the economic heart of any city it enters.
While painful for small communities and small stores, in the long run it will be good. The transition though, is somewhat agonizing.
Gee, I'd Imagine they have no more to fear than GM or Northwest Airlines had to fear from unions...
ReplyDeleteGranted, Wal-Mart is very strong and it would take a lot of damage before it would ever even drop from it's top spot. But why accept a slow death?