Last week, we noted that Wal-Mart was fighting hard to get away with firing whistleblowers. This weekend, the Associated Press reported that James W. Lynn, of Searcy, Arkansas, is suing the company for just that, charging that he was fired for reporting poor working conditions at Wal-Mart's offices in Honduras and Guatemala. Lynn, who was Wal-Mart's global services manager until his 2002 firing, charges that Moon Chung, the retailer's general manager in Honduras, pressured employees to sanitize internal reports on supplier factory conditions. Lynn also saw serious abuses in Honduran factories making Wal-Mart goods: violations of local wage and hour laws, lack of bathrooms and drinking water and padlocked fire exits. When he told his superiors in Arkansas about these problems, Lynn says, he was fired. Guess Wal-Mart's keeping Baby Scalia busy!
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Out of Reach
Liza Featherstone: As the cost of college hits the stratosphere, students are organizing to bring it down to earth.
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Help Wanted for Green Jobs
Liza Featherstone: It's inspiring to have a president who talks the talk on green-collar jobs. But we need megawatts, not just megawords.
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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?
No matter where they fall in the supply chain, workers are angry at Wal-Mart. On June 24, employees in some Asda distribution centers in Britain--which are owned by Wal-Mart--will go on strike over pay and work conditions and over threatened layoffs affecting roughly 300 workers.
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