The Big Box Collaborative is the hub for organizations seeking to fundamentally transform Wal-Mart and the other “big box” retail stores. The Collaborative includes organizations drawn from multiple sectors and focused on a variety of issues. It provides a space where organizations can develop shared demands and coordinate different campaign strategies.

In this update you will find:

U p c o m i n g . E v e n t s

W o r t h . a . L o o k

R e s o u r c e s

G e t . I n v o l v e d & T a k e . A c t i o n

Upcoming Events
The Big Box Campaign Environmental Group Coordinator Job AnnouncementThe Big Box Collaborative seeks an Environmental Group Coordinator for 40 hours a month for July, August, and September, and 20 hours a month for the rest of 2008. The position would entail tracking Big Box environmental campaigns, monitoring target company environmental progress, facilitating coordination among environmental campaign groups, acting as a conduit between outsider and insider groups and as a liaison to other issue groups, as well as prospecting for foundation funding for member groups.

The Big Box Collaborative brings together representatives from labor, environmental and public health groups, consumer advocates, shareholder activists, international trade and labor rights groups, faith-based organizations, communities, and others from around the world in a collaborative approach to transforming the Big Box Retail Industry and, in particular, Wal-Mart.

The coordinator reports to the executive director of Corporate Ethics International and indirectly to the Big Box Collaborative Steering Committee. The position is for an independent contractor. It is virtual with flexible hours. The pay is very competitive.

Duties include:

  • Convening conference calls among big box campaign environmental organizations to discuss strategy and tactics.
  • Acting as a liaison between insider and outsider environmental organizations and facilitating discussions between them.
  • Tracking the 14 sustainability networks that Wal-Mart has created to monitor their progress and identify problem areas.
  • Prospecting for foundations that might be inclined to fund outsider or inside environmental organization efforts.
  • Facilitating involvement of environmental groups in the preparation of an annual Counter Sustainability Report.
  • Acting as a liaison between environmental groups and labor, community, and other issue groups to maximize collaboration and minimize working at cross purposes.
  • Providing a bridge to policy groups within the beltway in an effort to translate gains into national policy.

Skills and attributes include:

– good organization skills
– good facilitation and interpersonal skills, especially over the phone
– excellent writing skills
– familiarity with environmental organizations and issues
– some experience with coalitions and outreach
– availability to travel 4-5 days throughout the rest of 2008
– ability to operate virtually with excellent computer skills
– worked in the environmental movement for at least 2 years

Send cover letter and resume to mmarx@corpethics.org

Are you planning anything?
This space could be filled by something you are working on. Planning to release a report, host an event, or send out an urgent action alert: send an email to trina.tocco@ilrf.org and your info will be added in this weekly email.

Worth a Read

Like Clock Work: Wal-Mart Faces 80 Class-actions, Most From Off-the-clock AllegationsJune 21, 2008
By Kimberly Morrison
The Morning News

Wal-Mart has worked overtime to show its kinder, gentler side, but accusations of workplace misdeeds are surfacing in a slew of class-action lawsuits that continue to challenge the retailers new image.

There are at least 80 class-action lawsuits in 41 states pending against the Bentonville-based retailer, 76 of which stem from wage and off-the-clock issues, according to Wal-Mart’s 10K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

There are more cases against the Bentonville-based retailer than those disclosed in Wal-Mart’s federal filings. Companies are not required to disclose all legal proceedings, just those that may result in “material” financial losses, or more than 10 percent of the current assets of the company.

Among the lawsuits facing Wal-Mart, The Morning News examined five cases. The cases represent potentially the largest judgments or potential financial impact, or the highest number of plaintiffs.

Dukes v. Wal-Mart is a standout. It’s being called a landmark case in employment discrimination. The suit’s 1.6 million plaintiffs, representing all of Wal-Mart’s female employees, makes it the largest sex-bias case in U.S. legal history.

“The company can not reasonably estimate the possible loss or range of loss that may arise from these lawsuits,” Wal-Mart stated in its federal filing with the SEC.
*

There are, however, a few suits from which the retailer might expect to take a blow.

Wal-Mart is facing a $198 million lunch tab from Savaglio v. Wal-Mart, a class-action lawsuit in which employees said they were not provided meal and rest breaks in accordance with California state law.

A similar case in Pennsylvania involved complaints of missed meal and rest breaks and other failures to pay employees for all time worked. That case — Braun/Hummel v. Wal-Mart — resulted in a judgment against Wal-Mart of nearly $188 million.

Wal-Mart has consistently denied wrongdoing in these and other cases.

Both Savaglio and Braun/Hummel cases are tied up in appeals, delaying the payout to 301,000 current and former employees that make up the two lawsuits.

It also means the retailer hasn’t yet footed the combined $251 million bill.

But can any of these lawsuits financially threaten a retailer that made $12.8 billion in net income in its more recent fiscal year?

“It’s not like they wouldn’t be able to pay the light bill if they had a billion dollar settlement,” said Patricia Edwards, fund manager with San Francisco-based Wentworth, Hauser and Violic. “It wouldn’t be good, don’t get me wrong. But the low point in cash last year at quarter end was just short of $5 billion.”

Edwards said Wal-Mart reserves cash for potential future lawsuit payouts so there would be a reduced impact on shareholders in the event of such a case. With Wal-Mart’s ability to absorb some of the impact, a billion dollar payout may show up in earnings as a loss of 5 cents per share, Edwards said.

There’s also consolation, Edwards said, that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of new cases in the pipeline, an indication that Wal-Mart may have changed its ways.

“If you’re dealing with things that happened three to five years ago and you’ve changed and are not doing those things anymore, then you have to look at the company on a go-forward basis rather than what’s happened before,” Edwards said.

But the ghosts of Wal-Mart have yet to haunt the retailer.

The following are summaries and updates of the largest cases facing Wal-Mart.

DUKES V. WAL-MART

Among all the cases facing Wal-Mart, this one is the mother lode.

Dukes v. Wal-Mart represents a whopping 1.6 million female employees and alleges Wal-Mart systematically discriminated against women in promotions, pay, training and job assignments.

“Wal-Mart has strong equal employment opportunity policies, and fosters female leadership both among its associates and in the larger business world,” Daphne Moore, Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said in an e-mail statement. “Wal-Mart has consistently maintained that class certification is inappropriate because the alleged experiences of the six women who brought this suit are not representative of our female associates.”

The case was brought on behalf of all past and present female employees in the company’s U.S. retail stores and warehouse clubs since 1998. Six women, including two who still work at Wal-Mart stores, originally filed the suit in 2001.

Wal-Mart in December lost its second bid to have a federal appeals court in San Francisco reconsider a lower-court decision to grant class-action status.

Wal-Mart is still fighting the court’s decision.

A three-judge panel of the federal appeals court split 2-to-1 in the decision to uphold the class-action status. The retailer on Jan. 8 filed a petition for “rehearing en banc,” or, by the full 15-judge panel.

Both sides are waiting on the Ninth Circuit to set a briefing schedule so they can respond to arguments.

After briefing, the court could still take several months to resolve the panel and “en banc” reviews, said Brad Seligman of Berkeley, Calif.-based The Impact Fund and lead attorney for the eight firms representing the plaintiffs.

“At root, this is not a novel case,” Seligman said. “It is a very straightforward case about whether Wal-Mart is paying women less than men and not promoting them as often as they should.”

The plaintiffs seek, among other things, injunctive relief, front pay, back pay, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees. And the final tally on that, should the plaintiffs win their case, could amount to more than a billion dollars.

“Based on the analysis we presented to the court in 2003, it didn’t take any mental gymnastics to get to the billion dollar range,” Seligman said. “I’m sure it’s more now.”

HALE V. WAL-MART

A case that began in 2002 with five former employees in Missouri has since swelled to more than 200,000.

The plaintiffs, who worked for the company’s stores and discount warehouses between 1996 and 2003, allege systematic understaffing and overtime limits were enforced through the retailer’s corporate policies and a bonus incentive plan for managers based on strict payroll and staffing controls. The understaffing caused employees to miss breaks and work off the clock without compensation, the plaintiffs allege.

The Missouri Court of Appeals last June upheld the suits’ class-action status, originally granted in 2005. A trial has been set for April 6, 2009.

It will be a trial nine years in the making since plaintiffs first filed the suit. But it’s time that Steve Long, lead trial attorney with Denver-based Shughart, Thomson & Kilroy and one of the 12 attorneys representing the plaintiffs, said was well-spent.

“I think the Missouri courts took a long time to make sure they got it right and making sure this was a proper class action,” Long said. “Hopefully it will allow us to avoid a lot of post-trial issues because so much has been decided already.”

Long has gone up against Wal-Mart before. Colorado-based attorneys Gerald Bader and Franklin Azar tapped Long for help representing Wal-Mart workers in Colorado in a similar off-the-clock lawsuit. That case reportedly settled for $50 million.

Long’s career in business litigation spans more than 30 years and 60 jury trials, but said facing off with Wal-Mart is a daunting task.

“Wal-Mart is a formidable defendant,” Long said. “They fight very hard for what they believe, and they fight very hard to protect the way they practice their business in order to preserve their profits. Since they make a lot of money, they can fight very hard.”

BRAUN/HUMMEL v. WAL-MART

The class-action lawsuit initially filed by Michelle Braun in 2002 was soon followed by another lawsuit filed by Dolores Hummel in 2004. The litigants proceeded separately until the estimated 186,000 plaintiffs were consolidated for trial in September 2006, according to court documents.

The plaintiffs alleged that they were forced to miss rest breaks and work off the clock from March 1998 through May 2006.

A three-month, 32-day trial ended in a jury siding with the plaintiffs, and found that Wal-Mart failed to pay workers for all the work they performed and refused to allow workers to take their paid mandatory rest breaks.

The jury awarded damages of $78.8 million.

A Pennsylvania judge later awarded $62.3 million in damages, $10.2 million in interest and $36.5 million in attorney’s fees for the five firms representing the plaintiffs.

The final judgment was $187.6 million.

“The company believes it has substantial factual and legal defenses to the claims at issue,” Wal-Mart said in its federal filing. The company filed a notice of appeal in December.

SAVAGLIO V. WAL-MART

The largest verdict to date against the retailer is Savaglio v. Wal-Mart, which also grabbed the No. 10 spot on The National Law Journal’s list of top verdicts from 2005.

The allegations in this case are like the others — they were not provided meal and rest breaks in accordance with state law. In California, employees working more than 6 hours receive a 30-minute meal break or an additional hour pay. Wal-Mart, the workers allege, did neither.

The 2005 jury trial of the case resulted in a verdict of $57 million in statutory penalties and $115 million in punitive damages. The judge later in 2006 awarded the plaintiffs an additional $26 million in costs and attorney’s fees.

Wal-Mart stated in its federal filing that “the company believes it has substantial factual and legal defenses to the claims at issue.”

The retailer in January filed its notice of appeal.

“We won and Wal-Mart has appealed virtually everything under the sun,” said Michael Christian, attorney with Minneapolis-based Zelle, Hofmann, Voelbel & Gette LLP. “Nothing happens during the pendancy of that appeal. The briefing will be completed within the next months and at that point, the court will likely set an oral argument for some point in the fall.”

Christian is still working with the case, but has since moved to Zelle Hofmann from San Francisco-based The Furth Firm, which maintains control of the case.

BRAUN v. WAL-MART

A verdict is waiting in the wings for a Minnesota class-action suit representing 56,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club employees.

The trial began in January. Over the next two and a half months of trial, attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that Wal-Mart owes employees more than $50 million for unpaid work, including 8 million missed meal and rest breaks, and falsified time cards.

Wal-Mart attorneys have denied the allegations.

“Wal-Mart did not force anybody to do anything,” company attorney Neal Manne said as the trial concluded April 1.

Plaintiffs claimed stores were understaffed and managers were pressured to meet store performance goals. They allege that store managers falsified timecards and asked employees to work before clocking in and after clocking out.

Debbie Simpson, a former employee and original plaintiff in the suit, testified she missed breaks because there was too much work and no one was available to cover for her. She eventually resigned from her position as a department manager.

“Wal-Mart is chronically understaffed and we have a significant amount of evidence showing that — not just ours, but Wal-Mart’s own records,” said Justin Perl, who leads the case for Minneapolis-based Maslon, Edleman, Borman & Brond LLP. “Wal-Mart is now contending that its own time records are inaccurate.”

The workers are seeking back pay to 1998 and as much as $1,000 per violation.

Judge Robert King Jr. said he would issue a decision on liability, back pay and willfulness by July 1. A jury trial would decide damages in a second trial to start Oct. 20, should King rule in favor of Wal-Mart’s employees.

BEYOND THE FIVE

Wal-Mart has argued in the cases that circumstances are individual and not representative of worker’s conditions at its stores, and has vigorously challenged the class-action certifications for every case.

“Wal-Mart is committed to treating its associates fairly and in accordance with the law,” Moore said in an e-mail statement. “It is our policy to pay every associate for every hour worked, and any manager who violates that policy is subject to discipline, up to and including termination. The great majority of courts across the nation have ruled that cases like this are not properly suited for treatment as class actions because every individual’s circumstances are unique.”

Wal-Mart additionally stated in its March 31 federal filing with the SEC that class certification has yet to be addressed in a majority of cases, but where it has, the company’s tally goes like this — certification was denied in nine cases, granted in 11 cases, conditionally granted in three cases, denied in nine cases and in two cases, certification was granted, but the case was subsequently dismissed.

Home Depot Offers Recycling for Compact Fluorescent Bulbs June 24, 2008
By Stephanie Rosenbloom
New York Times

Some big retailers are promoting compact fluorescent light bulbs as a way to save energy. But improper disposal of the bulbs creates a hazard, because they contain small amounts of mercury.

Alan Zale for The New York Times

Paul Fariselli hung a sign Monday at the Home Depot in New Rochelle, N.Y., to promote the recycling program. All United States Home Depots will take part.
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Times Topics: Energy Efficiency
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Alan Zale for The New York Times

Aldo DeRubeis bought compact fluorescent bulbs on Monday at the Home Depot in New Rochelle, N.Y. Sales of compact fluorescents climbed to 75 million last year for the retailer.

Recycling them is about to get easier. Home Depot, the nation’s second-largest retailer, will announce on Tuesday that it will take back old compact fluorescents in all 1,973 of its stores in the United States, creating the nation’s most widespread recycling program for the bulbs.

“We kept hearing from the community that there was a little bit of concern about mercury in the C.F.L.’s,” said Ron Jarvis, Home Depot’s senior vice president for environmental innovation, using the industry abbreviation for the bulbs. “And if the C.F.L.’s were in their house, how could they dispose of them?”

Until now, consumers had to seek out local hazardous waste programs or smaller retail chains willing to collect the bulbs for recycling, like Ikea and True Value. Some consumers have waited for retailers like Wal-Mart to have a designated recycling day. Others bought kits to mail the bulbs to a recycling facility.

The Environmental Protection Agency has been looking into putting bulb drop-off boxes at post offices, said Jim Berlow, director of the agency’s hazardous waste minimization and management division.

But those plans are not final, and across most of the country, recycling the bulbs has been inconvenient at best. Industry professionals estimate that the recycling rate is around 2 percent.

Home Depot’s program, which will accept any maker’s bulbs, will bring relatively convenient recycling within reach of most households. Mr. Jarvis estimated that 75 percent of the nation’s homes are within 10 miles of a Home Depot.

“We’re trying to do the right thing,” he said. “Some of the things that we do are for the community and not for the bottom line.”

Both Home Depot and Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, have vigorously promoted the bulbs as part of their commitment to the environment. Wal-Mart announced in October 2006 that it wanted to sell 100 million compact fluorescents by the end of 2007. It surpassed that goal, selling 193 million bulbs to date.

Wal-Mart has accepted expired bulbs at take-back events in particular markets and is exploring how to do it consistently on a national level. Wal-Mart has more than twice the number of United States stores as Home Depot.

The need for a national recycling program became apparent to Home Depot as sales of compact fluorescents, which had been slow compared with sales of incandescent bulb, climbed to 75 million last year, from about 50 million in 2006. And a recycling program is likely to drive even more people to Home Depot.

“We haven’t really had to develop the infrastructure” before now, said Steven Hamburg, interim director of the Center for Environmental Studies at Brown University. “The demand wasn’t there.” But lately, consumers have been getting the message — in stores, from the media and through awareness campaigns — that compact fluorescents use up to 75 percent less energy, last longer and cost less over time than incandescent bulbs.

Mr. Hamburg says the average household reduces its energy budget by $12 to $20 a month using compact fluorescents. Additionally, better technology has made the bulbs’ harsh glow somewhat warmer and softer, though many people still object to it.

More innovations are on the way. Home Depot has plans to introduce more dimmable compact fluorescents within the year. Mr. Hamburg and colleagues at Brown recently developed a box that absorbs mercury — so there would be no need to fret if a bulb breaks in the box.

Mercury is found in other common household items like electronics, appliances and pesticides. Its vapors, however, can harm people and pollute the environment, which is why recycling is encouraged. (In some places it is against the law not to recycle the bulbs.)

“We generally think using these bulbs are over all a good thing for the environment,” said Mr. Berlow of the E.P.A. “The only thing you have to be aware of is the potential for them to break.”

The E.P.A. devotes pages of its Web site to cleanup instructions for broken compact fluorescents. Before even beginning to clean up a spill, consumers are advised to leave the room (along with their pets), open a window and shut off any operating air heating or cooling systems.

That may seem foreboding, but experts see a greater health risk from the mercury emissions produced by coal-burning plants to power less efficient bulbs.

“The avoided mercury emissions are much larger than the mercury we’re using in the bulbs,” said Mr. Hamburg of Brown, referring to compact fluorescents.

Home Depot’s bulbs contain 2.3 to 3.5 milligrams of mercury, which is below the National Electrical Manufacturers Association recommendation of 5 milligrams or fewer. It is a small amount, equivalent to the volume of the steel ball in the tip of a ballpoint pen. “Most people in their home have 1,000 times more mercury literally in their thermostat, let alone thermometers,” Mr. Hamburg said.
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State’s highest court rules against big box voter initiative June 20, 2008
KTUU

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The Alaska Supreme Court ruled today that a voter initiative on big box stores in 1 of Alaska’s most scenic communities is invalid.

The judges found that the initiative was invalid because it exceeded the powers of local government.

The case stems from a tussle over zoning and the size of stores allowed in Homer’s central business district. It came after Fred Meyer announced plans in 2002 to build a 95,000-square-foot store.

Citizen activist Frank Griswold challenged the initiative, which increased the floor area of stores in 3 of the city’s zoning districts to 66,000 square feet.

Homer’s city council later passed an ordinance that limited the square footage to between 20,000 and 45,000 square feet. The council then upped that to 66,000 square feet to keep with the wishes of voters.

Griswold challenged the initiative, arguing that the initiative process could not be used to amend the city’s zoning code.

The high court agreed. It ruled that voters can’t by initiative do end runs around planning commissions.

Fred Meyer has since backed off of plans for a store, citing the increased costs of construction.

When Wal-Mart Moves In, Neighborhood Businesses Suffer. Right? June 23, 2008
By Ylan Q. Mui
Washington Post

Anthony Ramdass used to worry about Wal-Mart.

For more than a decade, he has watched from behind the counter of his pharmacy in a converted pool hall as businesses slowly blossomed along Annapolis Road in Prince George’s County. Then the biggest retailer in the world arrived, offering $4 prescriptions and always low prices. Ramdass braced himself for legions of defections.

But the pharmacist said not much has changed in the year since the behemoth from Bentonville, Ark., threw open its doors. His loyal clients have not strayed. They like the fact that he delivers for free and remembers most of his customers’ names.

Wal-Mart opened its store in Landover Hills — the first inside the Beltway — in a storm of controversy last year bred in part by its reputation for running small businesses like Ramdass’s out of the rural towns and suburbs that for decades were the retailer’s breeding ground. There was concern that the so-called Wal-Mart effect would be replicated, if not magnified, once it moved into more urban areas, such as Landover Hills.

No comprehensive study has been done on Wal-Mart’s impact on this stretch of Annapolis Road, the heart of this redeveloping neighborhood. But local proprietors and community leaders say the fears have not panned out. Some say the dour economy is a bigger threat than Wal-Mart. Other store owners credit Wal-Mart for boosting their sales, through both its proximity and community outreach programs.

“Wal-Mart was just the big gorilla coming into the community,” Ramdass said on a recent afternoon, standing behind the counter of his store. “I think it’s perception more than reality.”

Ongoing research at Loyola University Chicago suggests one reason why the small businesses have been preserved. In examining Chicago’s blighted West Side neighborhood in the year after Wal-Mart entered, researchers found some correlation between how far a business is from Wal-Mart and its likelihood of surviving. That relationship seems to be weaker in urban Chicago than in smaller towns, said Julie L. Davis, the university’s community research coordinator and who is leading the study. Davis said more study is needed and expects to complete the research over the next year.

“There’s so many other things happening in an urban environment,” she said. “It’d be so tough to nail down what’s up with Wal-Mart.”

The retailer designated Chicago and Landover Hills as two of 10 “jobs and opportunity zones” designed to spur economic development around its urban stores and help small businesses. When it launched the program two years ago, Wal-Mart said it would offer free advertising to local stores and seminars on how to do business — and even compete — with Wal-Mart. It also promised grants to local chambers of commerce. The program is designed to last two years in each community.

The company has carried out parts of the program in each zone. It is working with businesses in all locations on advertising but has yet to hold a seminar in Landover Hills. Wal-Mart spokeswoman Rhoda Washington said she hopes to hold one soon. Adam Arroyos, who oversees the program nationally for Wal-Mart, said the most well-attended workshop was held in Decatur, Ga. It has since evolved into business networking sessions and expanded to Miami, Tampa and Raleigh, N.C., he said.

“There’s not a one-size-fits-all,” Arroyos said. “We leave the design in which that’s going to happen to the community.”

In Prince George’s, Wal-Mart has donated several thousand dollars to help four independent businesses near the store advertise in local newspapers. It also produced radio spots to air over the store’s sound system. Wal-Mart selected the stores with help from local officials.

The company is also spending $18,700 to provide ads for five businesses in the District’s Ward 5, which borders Prince George’s County. Wal-Mart worked with the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the office of Ward 5 D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (D) to select the businesses. Hunegnaw Abeje, owner of Windows Cafe on Rhode Island Avenue NW about six miles from the store, said he would not be able to advertise in newspapers without the grant from Wal-Mart.

“Anything helps,” he said. “Doing this, giving money is a big deal.”

But Bobby Stanford of Bobby Q’s Restaurant in Northeast said he was frustrated by the long process required to receive the ads. He has met several times in recent months with the local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Wal-Mart on the design and placement of the ads but has yet to close the deal.

“The only thing about freebies is you never get them,” he said, sitting inside his restaurant one morning. “They’re just taking their time and going through the motions. . . . We’re having too many meetings and no results coming.”

Ana Harvey, president of the local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said the group is ready to help the businesses pay for the ads, which could starting running as early as this week.

Wal-Mart said it plans to spend $50,000 over two years to provide advertising for businesses around its Landover Hills store. It also has budgeted $50,000 in donations to local business organizations, including $10,000 to the Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce, $10,000 to the International Chamber of Asia/African Business Entrepreneurs, and $10,000 to the local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s allowed us to connect with them at a local level,” Arroyos said of the jobs and opportunity zone. The program helps the community “understand Wal-Mart beyond the four walls.”

Community leaders pointed to a pact negotiated with Wal-Mart before the store opened as one of the main reasons for the retailer’s limited impact on other businesses. Wal-Mart promised to limit the amount of groceries on store shelves and its hours of operation, among other things. In addition, the closest business to it are McDonald’s and Chevy Chase Bank, neither of which is a rival.
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“We want the store to succeed,” said Sadara Barrow, executive director of the Port Towns Development Corp., which includes Landover Hills, and the neighboring communities of Colemar Manor, Bladensburg, Edmonston and Cottage City. “At the same time, we’re still performing the activities somewhat of a watchdog.”

Traffic has increased at a neighborhood shopping center about two miles from Wal-Mart that includes an exotic pet store, Bank of America and IHOP, according to shopping center owner Rufus Lusk.

“We’ve been very appreciative of Wal-Mart’s presence,” Lusk said. “They say about Wal-Mart that many trees can grow in the shade of a large oak.”

Ted Decker of Chandler’s Medical Supply said the opening of Wal-Mart has also been good for his business, which specializes in products such as diabetic socks and blood pressure units and competes with Wal-Mart in some categories. The store is a remnant of Chandler’s Pharmacy, a neighborhood landmark that closed three years ago when the owner retired. Chandler’s Medical Supply recently moved about a quarter-mile from its original location and now sits next to a CVS. Wal-Mart is a five-minute drive away.

“People come in here looking for service,” Decker said. “You go in [Wal-Mart], you don’t ever know who you’re going to see. And none of them can help you.”

A few doors down, Jim Biedlingmaier of Bill’s Hardware said any impact on his business by Wal-Mart has been overshadowed by the economic downturn. And at nearby 7 Market, Mary Nam agreed that her biggest concern was that shoppers simply have less money to spend.

“Now, everywhere is slow,” she said.

Barrow, along with several other community leaders and activists, still meets with Wal-Mart each quarter to discuss the store’s performance. Now that Wal-Mart is here, they say, its success is vital to the community.

“We want to make sure the businesses in our community are being good community citizens,” said Denise Hamler, a member of the group. “But it takes a great commitment on the part of the community and a great commitment on the part of Wal-Mart.”

Supermarkets Failing to Adopt Sustainable Seafood Buying Practices: Report June 18, 2008
Greenbiz

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Grocery stores across the U.S. are contributing to the demise of global fisheries by stocking shelves with fragile fish varieties and failing to develop sustainable purchasing strategies, according to a new report.

Even the grocers that ranked at the top of the heap — such as Whole Foods, Ahold USA and Harris Teeter — failed to score more than four out of 10 possible points in Greenpeace’s “Carting Away the Oceans: How Grocery Stores are Emptying the Seas.”

The report graded 20 of the country’s top supermarket chains on seafood procurement policies, labeling and transparency, support for sustainability initiatives and the number of products for sale from the “Red List,” a compilation of 22 fished and farmed species with the most significant environmental impacts.

Whole Foods, Ahold USA and Harris Teeter toped the list with four out of 10 points. Wegmans, Wal-Mart and Target followed with three out of 10 points. Safeway, Aldi, Kroger and Costco rounded out the top 10 supermarkets by scoring two out of 10 points. The remaining grocers scored a single point out of 10, including Trader Joe’s and Publix.

All grocers surveyed sold fish from the Red List, which includes certain tuna varieties, Atlantic halibut, orange roughy and Chilean Sea Bass.

“Those with the highest scores are doing the most to work toward seafood sustainability by developing comprehensive, transparent policies to procure sustainable seafood,” the report said. “Supermarkets in the second tier have demonstrated support for seafood sustainability, but fall short on developing policies to ensure long-term commitment to sustainability.”

Yet the authors predict that the state of seafood sustainability in supermarkets will improve because several large retailers are in the process of creating more sustainable practices. Supermarkets are well-positioned to take advantage of the current drive toward sustainability, and the issue will likely offers a competitive edge for those that embrace it.

The market for supermarket seafood is huge — and growing. The domestic seafood market generates some $16 billion in annual sales with an average 32 percent gross margin, the report said. Supermarket seafood sales increased 7 percent between 2006 and 2007.

But the demand for seafood has led scientists and conservationists to sound the alarm about the future of global fish stocks. In late 2006, a group of scientists from around the world warned that the world’s seafood supply would run out by 2048 due to overfishing, pollution and other environmental factors.

India: Wal-Mart’s Drug Connection June 21, 2008
Al Norman
Huffington Post

In 2003, a new kind of “drugstore” appeared across America, promoting cheaper prescription drugs from Canada. Instead of pills, these stores had fax machines and computers that could process orders from senior citizens in the U.S. desperately seeking lower cost drugs.

But federal and state regulators stepped in to interrupt the supply chain. “To some extent, we’re caught in the middle of a problem that is not our responsibility, which is drug prices. Our responsibility is safety,” a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official, told USA Today. The FDA issued warning letters to these storefront pharmacies, saying importing Canadian drugs violated federal law. At the time, at least one million Americans were sourcing their medications from Canada. More than $1 billion in product was being imported from Canadian suppliers. The FDA ruled that anyone enabling U.S. citizens to buy drugs from other countries was violating federal law. Storefront owners countered that they were not violating the law, because they were not dispensing drugs — just helping customers with paperwork.

The pharmaceutical industry was largely seen as driving the FDA to be more aggressive on cross-border imports, because of the potential loss of profits. But the FDA said its concerns about drugs entering the U.S. were all about safety. Seniors were warned that their drugs could be counterfeit, or from countries with weak regulatory standards. “They allege these are Canadian versions of drugs approved in the United States, but we don’t know what they are, because there is no regulatory oversight of these drugs,” the FDA told USA Today. The importers insisted that the drugs were coming from licensed Canadian pharmacies.

One Oklahoma-based importer, Rx Depot, was shut down by the FDA for violating drug importation laws. A federal judge ordered 85 Rx Depot stores closed in 2004, ruling that only drug manufacturers were allowed to import drugs for sale. The court also ruled that the safety of these imported drugs could not be verified. Rx Depot appealed the court’s decision. “We’re going to fight like a wild animal,” one of Rx Depot’s co-founders said—but the stores never reopened. To stop cross-border selling, some drug manufacturers, like GlaxoSmithKline, stopped shipping drugs to Canadian wholesalers who sold to U.S. customers. That led elderly rights groups to call for a boycott of Glaxo.

Beginning January 1, 2006, the entire drug importation issue changed dramatically with the implementation of Medicare Part D by Congress. Talk of Canadian imports all but disappeared from the media. Within 9 months of the creation of Medicare’s new drug program, Wal-Mart announced that it would begin selling in the Tampa, Florida trade area, a month’s supply from a list of 150 generic drugs for $4 each. One industry analyst told the NewsHour that Wal-Mart’s drugs “come from all over the world. They’re U.S. manufacturers, Israeli and Indian manufacturers. They have a choice of where to buy these drugs. They are the lower cost drugs in the system today, and that’s part of the reason why they’re able to price them at this low price point.” Wal-Mart was buying drugs directly from manufacturers.

By the end of April of 2007, Planet Retail was reporting that Wal-Mart was “in advanced talks” with the largest Indian pharmaceutical exporting companies — unknown to most Americans — like Ranbaxy, Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Cipla, Lupin and Sun Pharma. In March of 2003, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported that Cipla and Ranbaxy had 81 applications before the FDA to sell generic drugs in the United States. The companies were taking advantage of India’s low labor costs and highly-skilled work force to expand outside their home base. Ranbaxy had challenged the patents on blockbuster drugs such as Pfizer’s Lipitor and AstraZeneca’s Nexium. A U.S. district court ruled in favor of Pfizer, but Ranbaxy appealed the decision. Even if it ends up losing the challenge, Ranbaxy will be the only generic manufacturer for six months after the patent expires, because under FDA law, the first company to file a challenge on a patent has six-month exclusivity rights, during which time the generic price can be as high as 80% of the original drug. This position could be worth billions to Ranbaxy.

About 14.3% of unapproved medicines entering the US market come from India, according to a group called GS1, a global organization “dedicated to the design and implementation of global standards” to improve the efficiency of supply chains globally. GS1 is described as a joint industry-Government initiative to bring international best practices into India. Wal-Mart began requiring its drug suppliers to use radio frequency identification tags (RFIDs) to help track drug supplies, and check counterfeits.

Historically, according to Bain & Company, Indian companies would copy drugs from other companies and make inexpensive versions, because the Indian government required the indigenous manufacturers to adhere to foreign patents on the manufacturing process, but not on the final drug product. They could alter the manufacturing process and produce generic versions of foreign branded drugs even while they were under patent. But India’ laws have been amended to prevent big generic manufacturers like Ranbaxy from making inexpensive copies of foreign drugs patented after 1995.

A drug industry group called Pharmexcil, set up in December of 2004 by India’s Ministry of Commerce & Industry, says that Indian drug makers have “tremendous opportunities…in the post 2005 era to manufacture and export many products getting off-patented. Its immense strength [is] in manufacturing quality medicines at affordable prices.” According to Pharmexcil, “The generic drug prices in the US market have substantially gone down with Indian generic players quoting low prices…It is good to see that the quality of Indian generic products are accepted in the US.”

In 2005, Ranbaxy won Wal-Mart’s Supplier Award for outstanding performance. Ranbaxy expects that its U.S. division, largely buoyed by Wal-Mart, will bring in 50% of the corporation’s revenues. The Indian drug company’s sales in the U.S. increased ten-fold from 1999 to 2003, according to Bain.

From this complex global manufacturing and distribution network, a few basic facts emerge:

· * most Americans have no idea that the drugs they are buying at Wal-Mart are produced in India, made by companies that are copying another company’s products.

· * although India has the highest the number of U.S. FDA-approved facilities (84) outside the U.S., no one knows how reliable the quality of Indian drugs really are. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the global counterfeit and substandard drug trade is a $35-billion business, with little risk of prosecution.

· * when consumers buy their drugs at Wal-Mart, the retailer uses that money to buy more products from India, in the same way they buy more clothing or toys from China. Once again, the U.S. takes what other countries make. Wal-Mart’s sourcing of drugs from foreign countries exacerbates our unprecedented foreign trade imbalance.

Ironically, the same federal government that hassled senior citizens over importing small quantities of drugs from Canada, now seems content to allow Wal-Mart to import billions of dollars annually worth of Indian drugs to enhance the retailer’s bottom line. The Indian drug companies have found a generic drug niche to fill, and they are using their poorly-paid workforce and less than stringent regulatory requirements to satisfy America’s growing need for pills. Unlike clothing or toys—there is no label on the pill that says “made in India.”

Resources

Carting Away the Oceans: How Grocery Stores are Emptying the Seas
Greenpeace Seafood Report:

Supermarkets feed the growing appetite for seafood in the U.S. and ring up approximately $16 billion each year in seafood sales. Consumers buy half their seafood at supermarkets, yet as our report reveals, few supermarkets meet this consumer demand with any regard for the marine environment.

» View the Report

BigBox Toolkit: Countering Mega-Retailers – Rebuilding Local Businesses
Are you working to stop or prevent sprawling big-box development in your community? Are you looking for ways to strengthen local policies to protect your community and ensure that citizens control its future? Are you trying to expand locally owned businesses?

Big Box Tool Kit is a project of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. It has the resources you’ll need to both beat the big box and to chart a new course for economic development in your community including studies, advice, policy kits, alternatives, and much more.

» Check it out

Wal-Mart Reputation Drops in New Study
» Download the report

From Wal-Mart Watch:

Research group Harris Interactive published this week the findings of their most recent “Reputation Quotient,” a ranking of major U.S. companies based on reputation. In this year’s report Wal-Mart had one of the largest drops in reputation value, ranking third worst overall – just behind corporate-misbehavior poster child Haliburton. The study also notes that despite being extremely well-known among consumers, Wal-Mart ranked poorly on a “sincerity” scale.

This news comes after Wal-Mart has spent more than two years trying to improve its reputation, during which time the company has hired numerous P.R. firms to convince consumers it is not only more sustainable, but a more friendly employer, too. So why hasn’t it been more successful? Harris perhaps provides the answer, noting “The most essential item in evaluating a company’s social responsibility is treatment of employees, including labor practices and human rights. Personal health and safety is a close second.”

For all its environmental platitudes, Wal-Mart has done little to address concerns of human rights violations in its supply chain, raise wages for U.S. employees or improve the quality of health care available to store associates. The company’s ongoing reputation for wage-and-hour violations and lack of care for injured employees only damage its reputation further. It’s time the retailer took some responsibility for these actions and realized cutting corners on human rights just isn’t worth it.

» Download the report

Impact of Organized Retailing on the Unorganized SectorIndia FDI Watch is a campaign that seeks to prevent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the retail sector in India. Specifically, they work to prevent the insertion of giant foreign conglomerates into the Indian market. This study from ICRIER, the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, was provided by India FDI Watch.

The retail sector is expanding and modernizing rapidly in line with India’s economic growth. It offers significant employment opportunities in all urban areas. This study, the second undertaken by ICRIER on the retail industry, attempts to rigorously analyse the impact of organized retailing on other segments of the economy. No disctinction has been made between foreign and domestic players, in analyzing the impact of the increasing trend of large corporates entering the retail trade in the country. The findings in this study are based on the largest ever survey of unorganized retailers (the so called “mom and pop” shops), consumers, farmers, intermediaries, manufacterers, and organized retailers. In addition, an extensive review of international experience, particularly of emerging countries in relevance to India, has also been carried out as part of the study.

» View the report

» Visit the ICRIER website

» Visit the India FDI Watch website

Consensus Standards for Big Box Retailers Released
The “Consensus Standards for Big Box Retailers” was released on June 5 in time for the Wal-Mart Shareholder Meeting on Friday, June 6 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Endorsed by 35 international, national, and local groups, the document lists 20 specific standards covering worker rights, the environment, purchasing practices, community and cultural rights, and corporate citizenship, governance, and political activity. The Consensus Standards has been delivered to officials of all major big box corporations and it will be in their hands to respond to the issues the document raises. Thank you to all of the organization that decided to stand together under one common agenda… TOGETHER WE ARE STRONGER! To sign onto the demands, email trina.tocco@ilrf.org.

Discounting Rights: Wal-Mart’s Violation of US Workers’ Right to Freedom of Association
» View the report

This report was released back in May 2007 by Human Rights Watch. Thanks to the thorough work of HRW, this report points the figure at Wal-Mart over and over again.

“Wal-Mart is a case study in what is wrong with US labor laws. It is not alone among US companies in its efforts to combat union formation, following the incentives set out in unbalanced US labor laws that tilt the playing field decidedly in favor of anti-union agitation. It is also not alone in violating weak US labor laws and taking advantage of ineffective labor law enforcement. But Wal-Mart stands out for the sheer magnitude and aggressiveness of its anti-union apparatus and actions.”

Wal-Mart’s Sustainability Initiative: A Civil Society Critique produced by 23 organizations
» Download the report

The Big Box Collaborative is proud to announce the release of Wal-Mart Sustainability Initiative: A Civil Society Critique written by 23 organizations which analyzes Wal-Mart’s smoke in mirrors sustainability initiatives. This report calls on Wal-Mart to reframe their sustainability efforts so that workers, the environment and communities are all respected.

This report was coordinated by the Big Box Collaborative, and includes contributions from ActionAid International USA, Agribusiness Accountability Initiative, American Independent Business Alliance, American Rights at Work, Center for Health, Environment and Justice, Centro de Investigación Laboral y Asesoria Sindical (CILAS), The Cornucopia Institute, Corporate Ethics International, Dogwood Alliance, Environmental Investigation Agency, Food and Water Watch, Friends of the Earth, Good Jobs First, Global Exchange, Gulf Restoration Network, Institute for Policy Studies, International Labor Rights Forum, Mangrove Action Project, STITCH, WakeUpWalMart.com, Wal-Mart Alliance for Reform Now (WARN), and Washington State Jobs with Justice.

Download the report at http://www.laborrights.org/creating-a-sweatfree-world/wal-mart-campaign/resources/1009

Get Involved and Take Action

Consumerist’s “Worst Corporation in America”
From Wal-Mart Watch:

After roundly defeating insurance group Wellpoint in the sweet 16, Wal-Mart has made it to the semi-semi finals of Consumerist’s Worst Company in America contest, this time going head to head with American Airlines. Personally, charging $15 for checked bags just doesn’t seem as bad as systematically undercutting millions of workers and employees worldwide, but we’ll let democracy decide.

» Show your support – GO VOTE!

Vote Wal-Mart into the Corporate Hall of Shame!
If there were a Corporate Hall of Shame, would Wal-Mart belong in it? Of course they would.

Thankfully, there IS a Hall of Shame for abusive corporations, and now we can help make sure Wal-Mart is inducted.

Corporate Accountability International, a membership organization that protects people through campaigns that challenge abusive corporations, is opening up voting to the public for the second year in a row for their popular Corporate Hall of Shame.

The Hall of Shame exposes some of the most abusive, manipulative and harmful corporations — and this year Wal-Mart is one of eight possible inductees.

Voting is open now, so click here to vote to make sure Wal-Mart gets inducted.

It just takes a second, and you can also post comments about why they deserve to be in the Hall of Shame.

Corporate Accountability International will announce the three new inductees in July, and having Wal-Mart included will add pressure to our own campaign work.

Tell TIAA-CREF to Put Pressure on Wal-Mart and Divest
There is an ongiong campaign to pressure TIAA-CREF to use their power to pressure Wal-Mart to change and also for TIAA-CREF to divest from Wal-Mart directly. If you would like more information, email Al Norman or Neil Wollman.

Would it upset you to know that TIAA-CREF—the nation’s largest retirement fund, with over $400 billion and three million participants—is a major investor in Wal-Mart? Millions of TIAA-CREF investors are contributing their money to support Wal-Mart’s abusive human and labor rights practices, environmental sprawl, loss of manufacturing jobs, and harming of local communities. Even if you are not in the TIAA-CREF system, you can help promote corporate responsibility.

It’s time for faculty, staff, organizations, and citizens across America to tell TIAA-CREF that it must use its considerable shareholder power to influence Wal-Mart for the better–or stop investing in it.

1) Turn up the heat on TIAA-CREF to truly invest for the “greater good.” Help us educate faculty/staff/organizations you know–and nationwide. Whether you have money invested in a TIAA-CREF account or not – email the below message to CEO Roger Ferguson at RWFerguson@tiaa-CREF.org, and send a copy to: [[trustees@tiaa-cref.org|trustees@tiaa-cref.org]]. Also leave the same message in a phone call (800-842-2733 or 212-490-9000 and ask for CEO Roger Ferguson).

Sample message: I am concerned about TIAA-CREF being a major investor in Wal-Mart, a company involved in abusive human and labor rights practices, environmental destruction, and harm to local economies and neighborhoods. I want TIAA-CREF to put Wal-Mart on notice that if it doesn’t clean up it’s bad practices, that TIAA-CREF will find other companies to invest in.

Let Ferguson know if you are in the TIAA-CREF system; and if you are able to do so at your institution and feel strongly enough, say that you (or your whole school/organization) will withdraw money from TIAA-CREF if it doesn’t engage or withdraw from Wal-Mart.

2) As a faculty/ staff/organization, send a letter to TIAA-CREF and/or pass a resolution concerning Wal-Mart and send it to: Roger Ferguson, CEO, TIAA-CREF, 730 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017.

3) Write a letter to the editor of your school, local, or a national newspaper that “friends don’t let friends invest in TIAA-CREF” because of their large holdings in Wal-Mart stores.

BBC Working Groups
The Big Box Collaborative has active working groups and welcome additional participants. See the list of working groups and contact info for each group below. The BBC also welcomes new working groups, contact trina.tocco@ilrf.org with your ideas.

Environment
This Working Group includes organizations in internal dialogue with Wal-Mart and other big box retailers as well as organizations that are conducting external pressure campaigns. This group is focused on inside/outside strategy development to move forward environmental, public health and related campaign finance issues. Member organizations share information and develop strategy concerning both their internal dialogue with Wal-Mart, through the company’s sustainability networks, as well as their external campaign efforts to put pressure on the industry. This group includes environmental and public health advocacy organizations, as well as labor, human rights, and internationally-focused NGOs.
Lead group: Corporate Ethics International
Contact: Michael Marx, Corporate Ethics International mmarx@corporateethics.org

Food and Agriculture
This Working Group launched in December 2006 after a strategy meeting in Washington, DC, that brought together organizations from around the world. This group is focused primarily on issues around organics, fair trade, and farm-worker rights.
Lead Group: Action Aid, Agribusiness Accountability Initiative, BBC
Contact: Karen Hansen-Kuhn, Action Aid International Karen.Hansen-Kuhn@actionaid.org & Judith Pojda. Agribusiness Accountability Initiative agribizacct@comcast.net

International Labor Rights within the Supply Chain
In May 2006, the Big Box Collaborative co-hosted the U.S./Asia dialogue with the International Labor Rights Fund to launch this Working Group. Much of the discussion within this Working Group focuses on the purchasing policies of big box retailers as well as information sharing among organizations that have strong relationships with trade unions and labor-allied organizations (such as the Asia Floor Wage Campaign) in the developing world. Thus far allies in southern Africa, Asia, Mexico, and Central America have been consulted and invited to become active in this working group. This group convenes discussions between domestic and international campaign organizations and shareholder advocates in developing effective inside/outside strategies.
Lead Group: International Labor Rights Forum
Contact: Trina Tocco, International Labor Rights Forum trina.tocco@ilrf.org

Shareholders
This Working Group helps share information and coordinate strategy between shareholder advocates and between shareholders and activist organizations. A number of shareholders participate in the other Working Groups, such as Environment and Food & Agriculture. Several are also engaged in Wal-Mart’s sustainability networks or other forms of direct dialogue with companies.
Lead Group: As You Sow
Contact: Conrad MacKerron mack@asyousow.organd Patricia Jurewicz patricia@asyousow.org

State and Local Initiatives
This Working Group is focused on state and local laws and initiatives that regulate Big Box Retail stores. Examples include laws that set a minimum wage or minimum benefits for the big box retail sector. This Working Group creates a space in which local field organizers can interact with resource providers, such as legal experts and public policy researchers, similar groups in other regions of the U.S., and local politicians.
Lead group: Cities For Progress and Jobs With Justice
Contact: Karen Dolan, Cities For Progress kdolan@igc.org

Please send event information and announcements to Trina Tocco at trina.tocco@ilrf.org or (202) 347-4100, x103.