Wake Up Wal-Mart has a new ad that will be up and running today in 7 states across the country. Check out the ad and the release we put out with it below the fold.

Also, digg this and help spread the word!

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 18, 2008

NEW WAKEUPWALMART.COM AD HIGHLIGHTS MCCAIN'S SOLUTION FOR THE ECONOMY: BILLIONS IN TAX BREAKS FOR WAL-MART

WAKEUPWALMART.COM ASKS CONSUMERS IF WAL-MART REALLY NEEDS MORE WASHINGTON GIVEAWAYS

Washington, DC - WakeUpWalMart.com, America's campaign to change Wal-Mart with 433,000 members nationally, today launches a hard-hitting 30-second TV ad-"Part of the Problem"- that highlights John McCain's solution for our failing economy: billions in giveaways for large corporations like Wal-Mart. It asks if McCain's `solution' isn't part of the problem.  (Full script below.)

The ad comes just days after the economy took serious hits as financial institutions like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and American International Group failed amid the worst housing crisis in decades. Despite millions of Americans struggling with a dire economy, Wal-Mart has been making record profits. Indeed their Chief Financial Officer, Tom Schoewe, said that, "tough times are actually a good time for Wal-Mart." The retailer makes $21,000 in profit a minute, and made a record $12 billion in profits last year. Despite their record profits, and the failing Economy, John McCain's economic plan calls for a $1.5 billion tax cut for Wal-Mart, and millions more for their CEO.

The ad will begin airing nationwide today in 7 states: Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. It can be viewed at http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/...

TV AD SCRIPT

If a corporation makes twenty-one-thousand dollars in profit per minute...

If their Chief Financial Officer says "tough times are actually good" for their bottom line...

...do they really need more tax giveaways from Washington?

John McCain's proposed billions in new tax breaks for big corporations like Wal-Mart - one-point-five billion for Wal-Mart alone, millions more for their CEO.

More Bush-style corporate tax breaks - that's McCain's solution for America's economy.

But isn't that part of the problem?

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This is the second entry in a series of posts looking at China as it relates to Wal-Mart in the aftermath of the Olympic games.

Today, we'll take a look at product safety.

Wal-Mart's business model is based on low prices. That means both how much they pay for a product, and how much they sell a product for. In the first post in this series, we looked at how this frenzied urge to reduce labor costs drove manufacturing to China. Today, we look at how Wal-Mart, based on the same desire for cheap goods, is responsible for a myriad of dangerous products.

When Wal-Mart goes looking for the cheapest products, or forces their vendors to do so, they don't consider things like safety, treatment of workers, or labor violations. They are looking for the lowest price, period. And as they pit factories against other factories to get the cheapest price, factories start to cut corners in order to keep their prices down and make an acceptable profit.

This has resulted in an astounding list of unsafe products reaching consumers, often with terrible consequence. Pet food sold at Wal-Mart, for instance, sickened or killed what could be thousands of pets. Wal-Mart had Aqua Dots on their top toys for Christmas list, but it turns out that when kids ate the little plastic pieces they went into a coma. Wal-Mart sold lead laced Christmas lights and Christmas trees and Key Chains. Wal-Mart was also selling salmonella tainted snack food that was made in China. This is just a small sample of the dangerous products sold at Wal-Mart. You can see a full  list of recalled products here.

The problem got so bad that it was announced just a few days ago that the United States would be posting product safety inspectors in three Chinese cities.

This is great news in terms of products coming from China. In the future, products coming from that country will likely be less dangerous. Unfortunately, as mentioned in the last post of this series, China is swiftly becoming a more expensive option for manufacturing, and this will only serve to make it more expensive. That means major companies like Wal-Mart will simply move to other countries with lax guidelines and cheap labor. It means Wal-Mart will continue to put its consumers at risk by manufacturing and selling dangerous goods.

For the last few weeks, all eyes have been on China. They hosted a stunning Olympic games and won tons of gold medals to boot. It is understandable, then, that there would be a renewed focus on China in the media and in the minds of the American people. We thought we'd take a look at China too. Over the next few days, we'll look at China as it relates to Wal-Mart.

Today, we'll look at the role of China in manufacturing.

If you've followed our campaign you undoubtedly know that more than 70% of the goods Wal-Mart sells come from China. If Wal-Mart were a country, it would be China's 8th largest trading partner ahead of Canada, Russia and Australia. They are responsible for roughly a tenth of the US imports from China, and import almost twice as many products from China as any other company.

Wal-Mart has a long history of forcing it's suppliers to accept low prices for its goods. Suppliers typically accept these prices because of the number of products Wal-Mart can sell. But when they aren't making quite as much as they should be, they have to make up the difference somehow, and that means looking for cheap labor. Wal-Mart pits its vendors against one another to look for the cheapest labor, creating a race to the bottom. Recently, looking for cheap labor means going to China, and that is just what many Wal-Mart vendors have done.

But with China's rapidly modernizing economy, there has been quite a bit of speculation recently that China will no longer be the cheapest source of labor anymore. Today's Kansas City Star had an article about manufacturers looking elsewhere for cheap labor and speculating that Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and others were set to become major centers of manufacturing in the future.

As manufacturing shifts from China to other countries, Wal-Mart and its vendors are sure to follow. It is important to remember that it is not China that is the problem. Rather the problem stems from a system that takes advantage of workers to benefit large corporations like Wal-Mart. The labor in these countries is cheap because factories cut corners on safety, and are not regulated and can demand long hours of workers and pay them little.

This morning Wake Up Wal-Mart, along with several other groups, hand delivered an official complaint against Wal-Mart to the FEC. Along with the complaint were 60,000 signatures from our members and concerned citizens demanding that the FEC investigate Wal-Mat's illegal meetings where they intimidated workers and attempted to scare them into voting against Democrats.

Following is our statement:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 14, 2008

WAKEUPWALMART.COM FILES OFFICIAL COMPLAINT AGAINST WAL-MART WITH THE FEC AND CALLS FOR AN INVESTIGATION

WakeUpWalMart.com today, along with American Rights at Work, Change to Win, and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, jointly filed an official complaint with the Federal Election Commission. The groups filed the complaint of unlawful federal election activity against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. after a recent Wall Street Journal article reported that the company had been using mandatory meetings to discuss political issues and candidates.

In the official complaint, WakeUpWalMart.com, and its 430,000 members nationally, call on the Federal Election Commission to "immediately open an investigation to determine whether a violation occurred and, if so, to take all appropriate steps to remedy that violation of federal election law."

Along with the complaint, the groups delivered more than 60,000 petitions signed by citizens who want the FEC to investigate Wal-Mart's illicit behavior.

The following statement can be attributed to Meghan Scott, spokesperson for WakeUpWalMart.com.

"Wal-Mart may be the world's largest retailer, and America's number one private employer, but it is not above the law. Wal-Mart has intimidated its workers and attempted to scare them into voting against a particular party and candidate, and from what workers tell us, these meetings haven't stopped.  This behavior proves that Wal-Mart is willing to go to any lengths to put profits ahead of its workers. These meetings, which left many Wal-Mart workers feeling bullied and intimidated, are not just inappropriate, they are likely in violation of federal election law and the world's largest retailer must be held accountable.

"We hope the FEC will act upon our complaint and open an investigation into Wal-Mart's activities as soon as possible."

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Thanks for all you do, and if you haven't already signed the petition, check out our action page for the FEC petition.

In case you missed it, we just sent out an e-mail to our members asking them to write to the Federal Election Commission and demand an investigation into Wal-Mart's shady tactics. If you haven't heard, the Wall Street Journal broke a story on Friday about mandatory meetings Wal-Mart was having where they were telling their employees not to vote for Democrats. This is, hands down, a disgusting abuse of power, and it may just be illegal too! So take a minute or two to write to the FEC.

Below is the full message that went out to our members, if you didn't get it, you should sign up!

Mandatory political indoctrination, Democrat-bashing, voter intimidation. Yes, it's business as usual at Wal-Mart.

This summer, Wal-Mart has organized mandatory meetings across the country, all with one purpose: to intimidate rank-and-file employees into voting Republican. The company's workers have been forced to attend ideologically-charged, Wal-Mart-sponsored rants against Democrats, Barack Obama, and landmark legislation that would allow workers to vote for or against representation.

We have received several calls from workers, their stories are very similar and similarly unsettling. As one worker put it, "they were telling me how to vote." Another Wal-Mart worker, Beth from Alabama, was told by Wal-Mart management that if she "voted for John McCain, then everything would be okay."

We believe that ideological indoctrination and political scare tactics are completely inappropriate for the workplace. Yet again, Wal-Mart's management has crossed the line, possibly breaking the law in the process. In light of these developments, we are calling for an immediate FEC investigation into Wal-Mart's political bullying at work, but we need your help to make a real impact.

Please tell the FEC to investigate Wal-Mart's mandatory political meetings today.

Outright political intimidation may seem too risqué for a global corporation. Not for Wal-Mart. Stories like the above are actually an emerging part of Bentonville's corporate culture.

Take 2006, when Wal-Mart organized a "voter education program" for employees. The company placed Terry Nelson at the helm: formerly George W. Bush's political director, and later fired for making racist ads about a Democratic politician. Unsurprisingly, Wal-Mart's "education" program amounted to a thin veneer over strident attacks against Democratic candidates nation wide.

Why has Wal-Mart made such an effort to control its workers' voting habits? For one, The company is terrified that Democratic gains will ensure passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. For Wal-Mart, an organized workforce could spell higher wages and better benefits--two things the company has fought tirelessly to avoid.

In the end, Wal-Mart's motives are a moot point. The company has crossed the line, again, and it's time to hold them accountable. You can help us end Wal-Mart's sleazy political schemes by taking a moment to write the FEC today.

Please write the FEC and demand an investigation into Wal-Mart's mandatory employee meetings

Thanks for joining us in support of justice in the workplace, for Wal-Mart workers everywhere,

The Team
WakeUpWalMart.com

Today on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, a story exposed Wal-Mart's shady intimidation of its workers, proving that Wal-Mart is using the same old strong arm tactics that they've always used. What is worse is that they're using these tactics to scare their employees into voting against Democrats. We think it's a disgusting abuse of power, but not terribly surprising. Here's our official statement about the article:

For Immediate Release
August 1, 2008

WAL-MART EXPOSED: RETAILER CAUGHT INTIMIDATING WORKERS AND SCARING THEM INTO VOTING AGAINST DEMOCRATS

Today a Wall Street Journal article revealed that Wal-Mart is using mandatory meetings with its employees to spread its political message, warning them not to vote for Democrats for fear of new legislation that would make it easier to have a union voice on the job to improve wages, benefits and working conditions. According to those who attended these meetings across the country, the message was that voting for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama would be tantamount to inviting unions in.

The following statement is attributed to Meghan Scott, Spokesperson for WakeUpWalMart.com.

"For all its PR moves and gimmicks over the last year, it is still business as usual at Wal-Mart. The retailer has been caught red-handed trying to intimidate workers and scare them into voting against Democrats.

"Wal-Mart has once again been exposed for what it really is: a corporation that will go to any length to put profits ahead of its workers. Wal-Mart has talked a lot about changing its ways on health care, the environment and workers rights, but this article shows that all that talk hasn't translated into action.

"This is a wake-up call for anyone who thought Wal-Mart was somehow new or different."

###

Two stories today highlight a major issue with Walmart's corporate culture and, more importantly, the danger of the corporation to its customers.

The first story comes from Kansas where Renee Smith was assaulted in a Walmart bathroom. Apparently several people saw her purse being stolen, including a Walmart employee, but no one did anything to stop it. The most upsetting part of this story though, is that after the assault, she went to a security officer in the store and pointed out the woman who stole her purse, but they didn't do anything about it. Instead, they simply let the thief leave the store. It is appalling, but it seems pretty clear that Walmart's security don't really care about preventing crime, unless it involves significant monetary loss for the store.

So what exactly does Walmart's security care about? The second story answers that. According to The Morning News, Walmart won a permanent gag order against Bruce Gabbard, a former security employee who spoke to the media after he was fired. He revealed that in his job he spied on reporters, infiltrated groups critical of Walmart (like this one), and spied on employees, vendors, and consultants.

Yes indeed, this is Walmart helping you live better at its best. It is well documented that crime is an issue at Walmart. Walmart stores, and their parking lots in particular are often a hotbed of crime, but Walmart continues to focus not on preventing these crimes (which would be quite easy) but on spying. Getting mugged is apparently Walmart's idea of you living better.

Wal-Mart is at it again. According to Bloomberg.com, Wal-Mart has, once again, been wantonly disrespecting its disabled employees, and they're losing lawsuits to prove it. Patrick Brady, who has cerebral palsy, was hired in 2002 as a Pharmacy Clerk at the Centereach, New York Wal-Mart.  

[He was] transferred on his second day to a job picking up garbage and collecting shopping carts in the parking lot because a manager said he was too slow.

The judge ruled the jury was justified in concluding Wal- Mart recklessly or willfully disregarded the requirements of the law. He said the move to a less prestigious job could be considered a demotion and the initial transfer caused Brady emotional distress.

The judge ruled that Wal-Mart would have to pay $900,000 in damages. This amount is down from a $7.5 million verdict awarded by a jury. A judge cut the $5 million in punitive damages the jury had awarded to the maximum allowable $300,000 under the ADA.

Just last month, we told you about another suit in which Wal-Mart had to pay a pharmacy worker $250,000 for wrongfully firing her because of a gunshot wound. Before that, a man was fired from his Wal-Mart job for nothing less than using his wheelchair at work.

So I guess there are some exceptions when Daphne Moore, Wal-Mart's spokeswoman, says, "We believe in respecting the dignity of every individual and do not tolerate any form of discrimination."