LISSA’S: A Company In Need Of Change

Wal-Mart's dirty laundry is getting more global exposure today just a week after the Debbie Shank story. It has not been a good month for Wal-Mart public relations. To use a sports term, these are turnovers, and they expose the weaknesses of Wal-Mart's high priced image.

Undeniably, over the past three years Wal-Mart has gotten better at hiding the truth from us and from the media usually by obfuscating rather than clarifying the real issues. Their so-called health care reform is just one example. And thanks to the millions they are spending on Edelman Public Relations, they have received some good coverage in the media.

Occasionally though, they fumble the ball and we get to see clearly what is behind the façade. The video of Wal-Mart managers dressed in drag aired on NBC Nightly News last night (April 9, 2008) is a great example.

From Dukes v. Wal-Mart, the largest class-action employment discrimination case in American history, we know that at Wal-Mart, women make up only 37% of Assistant Managers, 21% of Co-Managers, and 15% of Store Managers. In 2001, those women who did become salaried Wal-Mart managers earned about $14,500 less than men per year. So it is no surprise that a gathering of Wal-Mart managers would be rife with sexist undertones.

Wal-Mart might suggest that the performances featured in the footage from this 1995 meeting intended to be funny, but either they value women or they do not and discriminating against women is no joking matter.

http://action.walmartwatch.com/DoAsWeSay

Debbie Shank is another good example of why public relations is not enough to fix Wal-Mart's fundamental problems. Every day Wal-Mart refuses to put enough money forward to adequately fund their employees health care, and associates pay the price. Obviously Debbie Shank is a particularly tragic story but if you talk to Wal-Mart employees, as we do every day, you realize that there are many sad stories of people who have not received the medical care they need because the plan that they can afford from Wal-Mart provides minimalist coverage and the better plans are just too expensive.

Wal-Mart change to its business practices is in the best interest of its employees, its customers, its bottom line and our country. Wal-Mart has pushed back suggesting that our critiques are at best unnecessary and at worst unfair. The videos and the Debbie Shank story have exposed that the leadership of Wal-Mart allows and even encourages a corporate culture of negligence and discrimination. It is not in anyone's best interests for such a culture to continue. Wal-Mart needs to change.

source: The Huffington Post

LISSA’S: Wal-Mart Exposed: Videos You Were Never Meant To See

Wal-Mart Exposed: Videos You Were Never Meant To See

Videos From Inside Wal-Mart’s Corporate Meetings Are For Sale To Willing Buyers

From the tough anti-union talk to the wilder side of men in drag, videos of Wal-Mart corporate meetings are being sold to willing buyers, and the corporate behemoth is not happy about it.

The videos, thousands of them spanning three decades, are in the library of a production company in Lenexa, Kan. Flagler Productions Inc. was hired on a handshake deal by Wal-Mart in the 1970s to produce and film corporate sales meetings and other company events.

After receiving a verbal commitment that Flagler would be used for meetings in the future, Wal-Mart abruptly ended its deal with Flagler in 2006 causing the company to lay off most of their employees, according to Flagler. Representatives from Wal-Mart tried to buy the library in 2007, but Flagler and Wal-Mart could not agree on a price so the sale never happened.

Now, Flagler is offering the tapes to anyone else who might be interested, including the media and plaintiffs’ attorneys.

Wal-Mart is currently defending itself in a lawsuit that claims widespread sex discrimination regarding issues of salary and promotional opportunities on behalf of at least 1.6 million female employees.

The attorney representing the female employees, Joe Sellers, says that some videos show the company acknowledged there was a lack of women in management back in the late 1980s.

"There’s no question these videos capture in a fairly candid way the sentiment of top executives many years ago," Sellers said. "This is not new, and it is not something that top management was unaware of."

Indeed, in one video obtained by ABCNews.com, Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton addresses the issue at a shareholders meeting in 1987. "We know we haven’t gotten as far as we’d like to be advancing women in our company. But we’re very conscious of it," he says. [Watch video.]

Wal-Mart released this statement to ABCNews.com today. "Needless to say, we did not pay Flagler Productions to tape internal meetings with this aftermarket in mind. It’s definitely an unusual business model on their end, and we can’t imagine too many other clients will be eager to pay for this service."

Wal-Mart has also stated previously that it is confident it did not discriminate against female employees.

(ABC News)
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Aside from the serious allegations of discrimination, the videos also show a glimpse of corporate shenanigans, including one meeting at which male employees dressed in ladies lingerie and sang a song, "Walkin’ Round in Women’s Underwear" to the tune of "Walking in a Winter Wonderland." [Watch video.]

Wal-Mart said the act was just for fun. "Over the years these internal meetings included a wide range of messages and activity -- some practical, some inspirational and some just plain silly. Clearly this video falls in the silly category, but having fun is just part of running a business," said a company spokesperson.

In January, ABCNews.com reported on videos dating back to when Hillary Clinton was on the board of directors at Wal-Mart. In her six years on the board, Clinton remained silent as the world’s largest retailer waged a major campaign against labor unions seeking to represent store workers.

Wal-Mart’s anti-union efforts were headed by one of Clinton’s fellow board members, John Tate, a Wal-Mart executive vice president who also served on the board with Clinton for four of her six years.

Tate was fond of repeating, as he did at a managers’ meeting in 2004 after his retirement, what he said was his favorite phrase, "Labor unions are nothing but bloodsucking parasites living off the productive labor of people who work for a living." [Watch video.]

Wal-Mart says Tate’s comments "were his own and do not reflect Wal-Mart’s views."

The Clinton campaign has since stated, "As president, she will fight alongside labor to promote the economic growth of America’s middle class," and that Clinton strongly believes that Wal-Mart employees should be allowed to unionize.

source: ABC News