In preparation for Higher Expectations Week, 13-19 November, Wal Mart Watch has created and posted eight fact sheets for activists on: Discrimination, The Environment, Expansion, Health Care, Local Economies, Outsourcing, Women and Workers. Jeff Hess: Have Coffee Will Write.

That’s how Jeffrey Winikow, a Los Angeles-based employee-rights lawyer described the recently leaked Wal Mart benefits memo. I’m wondering if Lee Scott is considering asking Patrick Fitzgerald to recommend a good leak investigator. According to the Lakeland, Florida Ledger: Writing to Wal-Mart’s board of directors in advance of their meeting next month, Executive Vice President […]

In a move designed to counter the sales losses resulting from a large segement of its customer base that can no longer afford the gasoline to drive to its super centers, Wal Mart today unveiled its SuperCities. In the bold plan, the Bentonville Behemoth’s big boxes will be transformed into big towers. From a published […]

wal-mart-1 Originally uploaded by Spring Dew. Check out this photo and comments.

From BusinessWeek.com The world’s biggest retailer and largest private employer in the United States, with 1.2 million domestic workers, is also touting a rival DVD release, “Why Wal-Mart Works: And Why That Drives Some People C-R-A-Z-Y”… “We have seen the trailers and some ‘bonus’ footage, and it’s already obvious that Mr. Greenwald has a careless […]

If you haven’t done so yet, make time this weekend to read the entire Chambers’ memo. The New York Times this morning calls the memo: required reading for all legislators, business people and advocates for change in the country’s health and retirement systems. In the editorial, The Times concludes: As a publicly traded company, Wal-Mart […]

It’s here, and it’s pretty lame. My favorite parts include: We’re fortunate that we offer pretty good benefits to begin with – as good as our competitors and, in many cases, even better. Every associate – both full-time and part-time – is eligible or, after a reasonable waiting period, can become eligible for health benefits. […]

The New Republic’s Clay Risen didn’t think any more of Susan Chambers benefits memo than I did. The timing of the memo leak couldn’t have been better, coming, as it did, just before the Bentonville Behemoth;s CEO Lee Scott’s Aren’t We Green speech. The memo rips away the pretty streamers from Scott’s feel-good effort. Writes […]

Julie Larson nails how Wal Mart’s competitors sometimes shoot themselves in the foot. George Nemeth has posted Tom Peter’s Wallop-Walmart-16 advice on how to eat the Bentonville Behemoth’s lunch here before but it bears repeating. All of those small furry mammals out there can run rings around the lumbering dinosaurs. But you have to get […]

This juicy nugget is buried in a Business Week story about Wal-Mart’s already disasterous economic conference: Perhaps the most surprising issue [some economists presenting papers at the conference] raise is whether Wal-Mart actually offers lower prices than its competitors. While this may seem a nonissue for a company that has become the world’s largest retailer […]

On Monday the Wal Mart buzz was the annoucement concerning the revamping of its employee health care plan. Jonathan Rees posted on the broad scope of the plan but wrote that the details weren’t yet available. The one piece that was touted was the $1,000 deductible workers, some making only $19,000 a year, would pay. […]

I ran into today’s story about Wal-Mart supporting an increase in the minimum wage and assumed this had something to do with the company wanting people to believe that it was good to its workers. It turns out I was wrong. From CNN: Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott said he’s urging Congress to consider raising the […]

When I was executive editor of GIE’s Recycling Media Group we used to call this kind of news: Green Washing. The term describes what happens when a company decides to make some pro-environmental move to distract people from the more serious environmental and other issues it is facing. You can usually find a PR flack […]

Walmart: Low Wages sign Originally uploaded by ronco. Gotta love photoshop…

…in Scott Adams’ Weasel Of The Year Awards. And please pay special attention to the Weaseliest Company category where Wal Mart is up against Halliburton, Oil Companies, Fox News and The New York Times. In that crowd the Bentonville Behemoth is head and shoulders above the rest. Jeff Hess: Have Coffee Will Write.