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RedditFriday was the company's annual meeting, and, as expected, officials had to address the ongoing firestorm of criticism of Wal-Mart's practices, and the well-organized national campaigns [link to wakeupwalmart.com and walmartwatch.com] backed by labor and other social justice groups. Did CEO Lee Scott assure his employees that he was listening, and that Wal-Mart was doing everything it could to make the company a more humane place to work? Did he promise to unveil a compensation plan that would keep workers and their families off welfare? No, Scott, who last week denied reports that his job was in danger, did something even more astonishing: he blamed the workers themselves for the recent spate of public relations disasters. "You better be ready to be better," he told them. In another gem of sage advice, Scott offered that "associates" should be "doing the right things and doing things right."
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Andy Stern: Savior or Sellout?
Liza Featherstone: SEIU President Andy Stern heads one of the strongest unions in the country. Why is he so cozy with corporations?
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The Day the Music Died
Max Fraser: It's the end of the world as we know it: Tower Records, the last great CD emporium, is closing, victim of the iPod and MP3 revolution. As Wal-Mart and other big-box stores pick up the slack, will niche music also perish?
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Ten Reasons Why the Wal-Mart Pundits Are Wrong
John Cavanagh & Sarah Anderson: The conventional wisdom that Wal-Mart is good for American business and good for consumers just doesn't hold up under scrutiny.
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Mean or Green?
Liza Featherstone: Wal-Mart is serious about bringing organic food to the masses, but transportation costs and the retail giant's aggressive competitive ways could end up hurting small farms and the environment.
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Alice Walton's Fig Leaf
Rebecca Solnit: Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton is on a buying spree, filling her Arkansas museum with America's cultural treasures--a fig leaf that seeks to cover Wal-Mart's naked greed and exploitation.
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Five Questions for Robert Greenwald
Sam Graham-Felsen: What motivated director Robert Greenwald to spend a year on a documentary detailing Wal-Mart's impact on American life, culture and commerce?
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Spin Control at Wal-Mart
Liza Featherstone: A hard-hitting documentary, an embarrassing leaked memo on healthcare and abandonment by customers who don't like its politics. It's getting harder these days for Wal-Mart to put on a happy public face.
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Andy Stern: Savior or Sellout?
Liza Featherstone: SEIU President Andy Stern heads one of the strongest unions in the country. Why is he so cozy with corporations?
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Surge for Peace
Liza Featherstone: Thanks to the efforts of the peace movement and a significant shift in public opinion, we can stop this war. But it's not going to be easy.
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Chávez's Citizen Diplomacy
Liza Featherstone: Venezuela's controversial program to provide heating oil to impoverished American communities exposes the inability of the richest nation on earth to meet the needs of its poor.
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Chávez's Citizen Diplomacy
Liza Featherstone: Venezuela's controversial program to provide heating oil to impoverished American communities exposes the inability of the richest nation on earth to meet the needs of its poor.
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A Win for Women
Liza Featherstone: Thanks to a thoughtful grassroots campaign, voters in South Dakota rejected a draconian abortion ban.
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Democracy Worked for SD Abortion Vote
Liza Featherstone: The electoral process worked for pro-choice advocates in South Dakota, overturning an abortion ban with a grassroots appeal to keep the government out of citizens' personal lives.
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Mean or Green?
Liza Featherstone: Wal-Mart is serious about bringing organic food to the masses, but transportation costs and the retail giant's aggressive competitive ways could end up hurting small farms and the environment.
In other news, Wal-Mart is hoping to win back the good will of the American people by...sponsoring a reality show. Admittedly, the strategy has worked for Anna Nicole Smith and Kirstie Alley, both of whom did have some image problems, albeit mild ones: they were has-beens of less-than-svelte girth. Wal-Mart has far more to overcome.
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