My brain is on Spring Break already (whether this means I’ll write more or no posts next week I have yet to determine), so I’m outsourcing this analysis to Wake-Up Wal-Mart: Today, Walmart announced that they would pay around $2 billion to their hourly workers through direct bonuses, merchandise discounts, contributions to 401(k) retirement plans [...]

Just a taste from Facing South: Labor advocates point out that the passage of the EFCA could have a huge impact on improving wages in the South and play a vital role in the region’s economic recovery from the current downturn. Indeed leading economists have explained that pro-worker labor reform should be a key component [...]

I bet you thought Walmart’s worst nightmare was the Employee Free Choice Act. Nosiree, Walmart’s worst nightmare is happening right now. This is a new press release from the United Food and Commercial Workers union (via Wal-Mart Watch): Yesterday, after nearly a decade of legal maneuverings and circumventions of federal law, Wal-Mart was finally forced [...]

From Dow Jones: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) feels certain that Congress will not pass the pro-union bill introduced this week, a Wal-Mart executive said Thursday. “In the end, we are confident that Congress will get it right and it will be defeated,” Wal-Mart Treasurer Charles Holley said at a Bank of America/Merrill Lynch consumer conference [...]

Speaking of financial genius, the militant capitalists at CNBC give us more of that Citibank analyst’s call about how the big, bad unions are going to kill Walmart: “The bill would greatly simplify the process of union formation, limit the ability of employers to caution employees against unionization, [Ed: "Use caution when deciding whether to [...]

If Citibank says sell, I’d buy (assuming, of course, I wanted to make money off human misery). Because after all, Citibank has been doing so well lately. PS I know Citi is up today, but really, isn’t that kind of thinking what got the economy into trouble in the first place?

The Wall Street Journal: The [Employee Free Choice Act] would “effectively eliminate freedom of choice and the right to a secret-ballot election,” said Daphne Moore, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. “We believe every associate or employee should have the right to make a private and informed decision regarding union representation.” Really? Let’s go to [...]

I realize that this is just a summary from a business magazine rather than what Walmart actually said. I’m sure the Wal-Flack who said it was much more subtle, but you know that’s what they’re thinking: The Arkansas-based discount giant, which operates a single Chicago store, says it can bring thousands of jobs to the [...]

Politico explains how Walmart can single-handedly stop needed labor law reform that could put money in the pockets of its own customers: Card check passed the House in March 2007 and narrowly failed in the Senate. Only one Senate Republican, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, broke party ranks to support cloture. Now, labor unions are hopeful [...]

Barack Obama, 1/15/09: You know, now if the business community’s argument against the Employee Free Choice Act is simply that it will make it easier for people to join unions and we think that is damaging to the economy then they probably won’t get too far with me. If their arguments are we think there [...]

We don’t usually get into discussions of outright lies by members of the press since there are a number of other sites devoted to that, but this example seems particularly outrageous. Forbes on Fox featured all-out assault on Employee Free Choice Act During a segment in which Forbes national editor Mike Ozanian declared that the [...]

Via the AFL-CIO Blog, I see that former Labor Secretary Robert Reich had a very nice editorial on the Employee Free Choice Act in the LA Times a few days ago. It debunks the usual lies, but it’s also got all the statistics in it that only an expert like him would have handy: Although [...]

There’s a diary up this morning that purports to be a birdseye view from inside one of Walmart’s anti-EFCA, anti-Obama meetings from last year. I’ll go further than commentator TocqueDeville does. I actually think this story is a complete fabrication. [Indeed, I was thinking this way long before I read the comments.] Here’s why: 1. [...]