| US: States Are Battling Against Wal-Mart Over Health Care by Reed Abelson, New York Times November 1st, 2004 In the national debate over what to do about the growing number of working people with little or no health insurance, no other company may be taking more heat than the country's largest employer, Wal-Mart Stores. |
| UK: To Be a 'Clone Town,' or Not: That Is the Question by Lizette Alvarez, New York Times November 1st, 2004 To survive the approach to the home where William Shakespeare was born, a striking timber-frame house in the center of this bustling town, it would be wise to bid adieu to all bucolic notions of quaint old England and ready oneself for the onslaught of globalization. |
| Wal-Mart to be More Like Target by Emily Kaiser, Reuters June 23rd, 2004 Wal-Mart, the No. 1 retailer, is widening its array of stylish-but-cheap goods in hopes of winning over middle-income customers, putting it head-to-head with a rival that has proved it can compete and thrive against a company six times its size. |
| US: Wal-Mart Faces Huge Sex Discrimination Suit
by Bob Egelko and Jenny Strasburg, San Francisco Chronicle June 23rd, 2004 |
| US: Remaking America in Wal-Mart's Image The Black Commentator February 19th, 2004 The only competition that exists among the corporate players at the commanding heights of the American economy is the race to determine who can squeeze the workers first and hardest. The Safeway, Kroger and Albertsons chains and their subsidiaries claim underdog status, as they grind $10 an hour workers into the dirt. The real problem the traditional grocery chains face is weak demand and an inability to raise prices in a deflationary environment not Wal-Mart pricing pressure. They eagerly follow Wal-Mart's model that there is no limit to how far they are willing to reduce labor costs. If there is a bottom, Wal-Mart will find it first, and the pack will eagerly follow. |
| CHINA: Wal-Mart Turns Blind Eye To Factory Conditions by Grant McCool, Reuters February 9th, 2004 Labor rights groups on Monday accused the world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., of turning a blind eye to abusive conditions at a factory in China that makes plastic toys for the company. |
| US: In-House Audit Says Wal-Mart Violated Labor Laws by Steven Greenhouse, New York Times January 13th, 2004 An internal audit now under court seal warned top executives at Wal-Mart Stores three years ago that employee records at 128 stores pointed to extensive violations of child-labor laws and state regulations requiring time for breaks and meals. |
| MEXICO: Wal-Mart Invades by Tim Weiner, New York Times December 6th, 2003 The company that ate America is now swallowing Mexico. Wal-Mart, the biggest corporation in the United States, is already the biggest private employer in Mexico, with 100,164 workers on its payroll here as of last week. Last year, when it gained its No. 1 status in employment, it created about 8,000 new positions -- nearly half the permanent new jobs in this struggling country. |
| US: The Great Wal-Mart Wars by Ruth Rosen, San Francisco Chronicle June 30th, 2003 Wal-Mart has announced its intention to open 40 new supercenter stores each the size of four football fields in such fast-growing California suburban areas as Contra Costa County. |
| US: Up Against Wal-Mart by Karen Olsson, Mother Jones Magazine April 28th, 2003 At the world's largest and most profitable retailer, low wages, unpaid overtime, and union busting are a way of life. Now Wal-Mart workers are fighting back. |
| EU: Boycott of American Goods Over Iraq War Gains Momentum by Erik Kirschbaum, Reuters March 25th, 2003 BERLIN - No more Coca-Cola or Budweiser, no Marlboro, no American whiskey or even American Express cards -- a growing number of restaurants in Germany are taking everything American off their menus to protest the war in Iraq. |
| USA: Group Blasts Dental Academy's Deal with Coca-Cola by Amy Norton, Reuters March 4th, 2003 A US interest group on Tuesday sharply criticized the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry's new partnership with soft-drink giant Coca-Cola, saying the deal will make the dental group a "captive" of Coke. |
| US: Sweatshop Case Settles for $20M by Alexei Oreskovic, The Recorder September 27th, 2002 Three overseas sweatshop lawsuits involving dozens of the United States' largest retailers and a 30,000-member class of garment workers have settled for $20 million. |
| US: Store Customer Cards a Source for FBI? by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, FoxNews.com August 1st, 2002 WASHINGTON -- So you have a secret craving for Little Debbie peanut butter bars and a penchant for Kendall-Jackson merlot? While that customer loyalty card at the supermarket might perceivably save you a few pennies at the checkout counter, your buying habits could end up in the hands of government agents. |
| EGYPT: Protest Groups Boycott U.S. Products by Khaled Hanafi, Islam Online July 22nd, 2002 Environment and anti-globalization organizations worldwide called on all citizens suffering from 'U.S. injustice' to give up drinking American soft drinks, especially Coca-Cola, for the day of Monday, July 22, 2002. |
| US: Gap Admits Strategic Errors After $34m Loss by Mariko Sanchanta and Lina Saigol, Financial Times February 27th, 2002 Millard ''Mickey'' Drexler, Gap's chief executive, on Tuesday admitted that the company had ''misread fashion tea leaves'' and violated its own principle of ''keeping things simple'' in making a series of fashion mistakes that led to its reporting a $34m loss. |
| US: It's Not Easy Being Green by Katharine Mieszkowski, Salon.com December 7th, 2000 The truth is, even policymakers, social scientists, environmentalists and engineers don't really know for sure. Researchers are only now beginning to study what e-commerce means for the Earth. |
| FRANCE: Yahoo! Ordered To Block Users by Pierre-Antoine Souchard, Associated Press November 20th, 2000 In a landmark ruling, a French court on Monday ordered Yahoo! to block French Web users from its auction sites selling Nazi memorabilia. |
| NICARAGUA: US Retailers Contract with Sweatshops by Carrie Antlfinger, Associated Press August 22nd, 2000 Gonzalez was one of two workers invited Monday to recount conditions at two Nicaraguan factories that human rights, religious and labor groups claim supply Kohl's Department Stores with cheap garments. |
| US: by Michael Barbaro, The New Wal-Mart Stores, facing a raft of state legislation that would require it to increase spending on employee health insurance, will lift several of its long-standing — and most-criticized — restrictions on eligibility over the next year, the giant retailer said this morning. |