Just one more reason to not shop at WalMart

We have the Republican Party to save us from the horrors of unionism-- like the minimum wage and the forty hour work week, for example. And everyone knows what a mess those things made of capitalism.

News like this always makes me long for a few good Wobblies to set things right.

I've guiltily gone back to WalMart even after I found some of their employer practices objectionable. But this is beyond the pale. Won't spend another $ there.

This is a truly depraved and disgusting act by Wal-Mart management. By putting company over country, they have shown a stunning disregard for the most cherished ideals of a democracy, as well as a despotic willingness to abuse their employees (nothing new there, I suppose). Shame on them. Wal-Mart will never see my business again.

I wonder what Hillary said about Wal-Mart's anti-union policies when she was on Wal-Mart's board of directors. Of course she won't talk and Wal-Mart won't release any records so we'll just have to assume she fought the good battle, lost, and kept her own paycheck.

In a recent interview Robert Greenwald was comparing his two documentaries, 'Outfoxed' and 'Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices'. I was surprised to hear him claim that he found the Wal-Mart employees, rather than the Fox newsroom employees, far more fearful of speaking on camera.

One would think that the Fox employees had far more to lose, professionally speaking. And here in New Jersey, being canned by Wal-Mart would be no big deal, what with so many big box department stores in close vicinity to all the Wal-Marts. Not so, Greenwald claimed, in other parts of the country where there simply is no other alternative for miles around.

So now we've reached the point in which hordes of Wal-Mart employees are living under McCarthy-ite conditions of fear and intimidation? Can loyalty oaths be that far away? High-security Wal-mart worker dormitories? Blacklists filed by Blackwater in a national registry?

I have recently begun seeing commercials for this anti-union group. Is it funded by Wal-Mart?

Since Wal-Mart has declared themselves a part of the McCain campaign (as well as a member of the campaigns of all the other Republicans on your local ballots), a Democrat would be a traitor to his or her party by shopping there.

And all those years, I discourage folks from there.

Gotta say it seems a bit counter-productive to tell them that. I mean, if this were a company that didn't do so much to prevent employees from unionizing--and didn't expect them to work after they've punched out--it might make sense to scare employees with the threat of being forced to unionize. As it is, I'd think they're probably unwittingly drumming up support for the Dems.

AT&T, a few years ago, started an employee PAC. You weren't told you "had" to contribute, just that "enrollment lists would be reviewed." The company even made "suggestions" as to how much you should contribute based upon your management level. How did AT&T buy all those congresscritters and get immunity for their law-breaking?

You will see this is my first post under this screen name. I have used a different one at Salon for a couple of years now but it was too descriptive of my real name. I felt I could never mention anything about AT&T because employees were warned that AT&T will fire you if you are found to be writing anything on public blogs/message boards that describes AT&T in anything less than glowing terms.

By the way Alex, I still think you're a hack. :)

If Wal-Mart were like the Service Employess International Union, it would simply try to persuade people in the marketplace of ides. No, if Wal-Mart were the SEIU, it would simply take money from its employees and send it, millions of dollars, to PACs that support its political goals.

Godalmighty, does Alex Koppelman have a clue?

Because you retards are so gullible you'll believe anything.

I don't particularly like to shop there. I find the stores overly bright and depressing. And checkout is a chore, a real chore. But a deal's a deal. If the groundlings who work there don't know the difference between corporate blather and advertising, that's their problem. Maybe when they go home they can read something in El Diario that tells them a different story. Or better yet, let's forbid them from watching TV.

The LA Times ran an article in the last year (damned if I can find it, however) on the increasing frequency of this sort of crypto-campaigning by small employers, using talking points supplied by their state and national Chambers of Commerce. It appears to be a very effective tool in non-union workplaces and is nearly impossible to monitor, much less counter.

Wal-Mart, of course, probably wrote its own stuff, which is why it fixated on its hatred of unions. Wouldn't be surprised if Whole Foods, run by hayekites who hate unions with similar ferocity, had similar chats with its employees.

No, if Wal-Mart were the SEIU, it would simply take money from its employees and send it, millions of dollars, to PACs that support its political goals.

Wal*Mart does take money from its employees and send it, millions of dollars, to PACs that support its political goals. Every time I think you can't be more delusional you post and prove me wrong. Amazing.

In addition, union members aren't employees of the union. The union exists to fight for the employees. Wal*Mart has shown it exists to fight the employees.

"By the way Alex, I still think you're a hack. :)"

Thanks, that's sweet. And thank god for my connections at AT&T, huh? Just kidding...

Just how stupid are those repuglican goons that run wallymart??!!

I once worked for a company run by a bunch of rich repuglican scumbags. Even though the average pay of a "real worker" who actually built products in the dirty, unsafe, un air-conditioned, chemically contaminated factory was about $8.75/hour they thought that was too much of cut for those greedy, unwashed masses and did everything (and I mean everything) in their power, constantly pushing the limits of legality, to make sure the employees got less, and no benefits for more and more work. They actually rationalize that the workers don't deserve decent pay because they are a bunch of chumps and are fundamentally inferior. If they weren't such losers they have their own companies! (The guy who owned the company inherited it by the way. He never did an honest days work in his life).

They did all kinds of ridiculous, borderline illegal and outright illegal stunts to "suggest" that we needed to vote for repuglicans or all kinds of terrible liberal monsters would come out from under our beds at night and take our guns away and make us marry a gay communist Muslim terrorist that hate us for our freedom.

Some examples of their favorite tactics:

-Creepy, vaguely threatening letters attached to our paychecks TELLING us how to vote and what would happen if we didn't... take their "advice". (a fav our CFO)

-Mandatory meeting where the pompous owner of the company would lecture us about voting repuglican. That is when he was not vacationing 4 months out of the year in the Cayman islands (I shit you not!)

-Mandatory meetings where some repuglican candidate would give a speech (your jaw would drop at just how slimey and "in the pocket" of corrupt business owners all of these politicians were. It was clear that if elected they would represent the wishes the business owners not the employees).

So, you rightly ask, why are they so stupid??

Because they never seem to realize that as much as they despised the workers of the company, the workers hated them more! No one except the religious fundamentalists (if you told them that Lucifer was running for president of the united states and that said prince of evil had declared he was "pro-life" they would vote 100% for Lucifer 100% of the time no matter how badly they would be treated under the rule of hell on earth. These people are brain washed and will always vote like their right wing "holy men" tell them to.) would vote for the repuglican clowns.

PS:(every time I hear that some "family owned business" needs help, or is so nice and benevolent because they are "family owned" I want to vomit. The aforementioned company was family owned by a bunch of rich self-centered scumbags that cheated employees, each other, business associates and suppliers. They were all members of the local fundamentalist mega church, (six flags over Jesus the real people call it) that regularly runs repuglican rallies... and some how remains tax exempt... WTF. I've also worked for large corporations and without exception the large corporations, which are jaw dropingly evil in their own right, were more ethical and professionally run than any "small business")