Go, Hercules!

[mungkiman]

Jeff, you "cannot think of anything Wal-Mart does in general that is illegal."!?!?

Ever hear of their little problem hiring illegal workers?

You must be "choosing" not to think. Or you are not paying attention.

Corporate Legal Record

November 2004: Wal-Mart was ordered to pay $765,000 in fines for violating

state petroleum storage tank laws at its automobile service centers in Florida. The

Florida Department of Environmental Protection said Wednesday that the world's

largest retailer failed to register its aboveground fuel tanks with the state

and didn't install devices that prevent overflows, among other problems.

According to the consent order, Wal-Mart also did not perform monthly monitoring,

lacked current technologies to prevent overflows, blocked state inspectors

from reviewing maintenance records, and failed to submit proper insurance

documentation. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company now must install overflow

protection devices to meet state standards. In addition, the company was

ordered to implement monitoring programs and conduct storage tank training

for all Tire & Lube Express managers.²

May 2004: Wal-Mart will pay a $3.1 million fine to settle a Clean Water

Act violation stemming from excessive storm water runoff from its construction

sites, federal officials said Wednesday. Wal-Mart also agreed in the settlement

with the Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department to improve

runoff controls at the more than 200 sites each year where the company builds

stores, including Sam's Club outlets. The settlement, filed in U.S. District

Court in Wilmington, Delaware, cites Wal-Mart violations at 24 construction

sites in nine states and alleges the company failed to get required permits,

did not institute a runoff control plan, and failed to install controls to

prevent discharges. Wal-Mart will comply with these requirements under the

agreement and will improve training and inspections of its construction sites.

The settlement also requires frequent reporting to the EPA. In addition,

Wal-Mart agreed to spend $250,000 to help protect sensitive wetlands or waterways

in one state, not yet determined, among the nine involved in the settlement.

The nine states are California, Colorado, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey,

South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. In 2001, Wal-Mart and several contractors

reached a similar storm water settlement that included payment of a $1 million

penalty. EPA inspections of other sites arising from that case led to the

latest violations.³

January 2004: Wal-Mart agreed to pay a $400,000 penalty and to stop selling

refrigerants that contain ozone-depleting substances. The consent decree

filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City settles violations of the Clean

Air Act by various Sam's Club stores, which are owned by Wal-Mart, said Todd

P. Graves, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.⁴

2004: Wal-Mart faces 38 state and federal lawsuits filed by hourly workers

in 30 states, accusing the company of systematically forcing them to work

long hours off the clock. A July 2000 internal audit of 128 Wal-Mart stores

found 127 were "not in compliance" with company policies concerning

workers not taking breaks.⁷

2004: "Federal labor law charges have been filed on behalf of Wal-Mart

workers in 25 states. From 1998 through 2003 the National Labor Relations

Board (NLRB) has filed more than 45 complaints accusing Wal-Mart managers

in more than two dozen stores of illegal practices, including improperly

firing union supporters, intimidating workers, and threatening to deny bonuses

if workers unionized. Of those, the board found illegal practices in ten

cases; eight cases were settled, and the rest are pending".¹

November 2003: Wal-Mart said it had received a target letter from the U.S.

Attorney's Office saying the world's largest retailer allegedly violated

federal immigration laws. On October 23, federal agents arrested about 250

allegedly illegal workers in a 21-state sweep of Wal-Mart stores. A spokesman

said that a grand jury would look at whether the company "violated federal

immigration laws in connection with the use of third-party floor cleaning

contractors." The raids focused on floor cleaners employed by companies

Wal-Mart hired for the work. Ten of those arrested were Wal-Mart employees

hired as the company continued a move to bring its floor cleaning in-house.⁵

June 2003: After nearly two years of negotiations with the State of New

York, Wal-Mart agreed to settle and pay a $200,000 fine and stop selling

realistic-looking toy guns in its New York locations. Wal-Mart agreed to

a court order barring the company from selling toy guns in realistic colors

and those that fail to provide a non-removable orange stripe along the length

of the barrel. New York's law goes one step beyond U.S. federal law, which

requires the orange marking only at the nose of the toy gun.¹

May 2003: A "tentative agreement" was reached between Wal-Mart

and hundreds of pharmacists suing the discount retailer for nearly $45 million

in damages. A judge had already ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, in a 1999

summary judgment, that Wal-Mart Stores had violated labor laws by not paying

its pharmacists overtime and shorting their paychecks for two years. The

case was filed in 1995 on behalf of four Colorado pharmacists and grew to

596, who alleged they had routinely worked "off the clock" for

Wal-Mart doing paperwork and other chores. Typically, their work lasted 60

hours, not the 40 hours indicated on Wal-Mart's records, according to the

complaint. They alleged that Wal-Mart's failure to pay them overtime compensation,

by improperly classifying them as salaried workers, was willful and that

the retailer intentionally shortchanged its employees.¹

April 2003: Wal-Mart suspended sales of real guns in its 118 California

stores after an investigation by that state's attorney general found hundreds

of violations of state firearms laws. In addition to being the world's largest

general merchandise chain, Wal-Mart is the biggest seller of firearms.¹

December 2002: "A Portland jury issued its unanimous verdict that Wal-Mart

violated federal and state wage-and-hour laws by forcing employees at 18

Oregon stores to work overtime without pay from 1994 to 1999."¹

October 2002: The National Organization for Women (NOW) reported that the

Maine Department of Labor ordered Wal-Mart to pay the largest fine in state

history for violating child labor laws. The Department of Labor discovered

1,436 child labor law infractions at 20 Wal-Mart chains in the state.¹

August 2002: "More than 8,000 pharmacists filed a class-action lawsuit,

charging that Wal-Mart owes them $200 million in pay for 'off the clock'

work."¹

June 2002: In a class-action suit in Texas, on behalf of more than 200,000

current and former Wal-Mart workers, statisticians estimate that the company

underpaid its Texas workers by $150 million over four years by not paying

them for the many times they worked during their daily 15-minute breaks.¹

November 2001: The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will block an

election scheduled for workers at a Las Vegas area Sam's Club on November

29 and 30 as a result of federal charges filed against the retail giant for

persistent and pervasive violations of workers' rights. New Wal-Mart charges

include allegations of an illegal firing, spying on workers and threatening

terminations if the union won the election. The charges against Wal-Mart

allegedly follow the usual pattern of threats, intimidation and coercion

that has marked the company's campaign against workers. In Las Vegas alone,

the NLRB has previously issued complaints against the company for massive

labor law violations in both Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores, including illegal

termination and discipline of pro-union employees. A half-dozen top officials

of the giant retailer must answer the board's complaints in trials scheduled

early next year. Nationwide, Wal-Mart is facing 13 NLRB complaints since

Labor Day.¹

June 2001: Current and former female Wal-Mart employees filed a massive

nationwide sex discrimination class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court

against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Case No.: C 01-2252 MJJ). The suit is seeking

class action status that will make it the largest class action lawsuit ever,

with well over 1 million participants.¹

June 2001: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to pay $1 million in fines and

set up a $4.5 million environmental management plan to resolve allegations

that it violated the Clean Water Act in several states, federal prosecutors

announced June 7. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company allegedly violated

permitting requirements for storm water during the construction of 17 stores

in Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, the Environmental Protection

Agency and the Justice Department said (U.S. v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., W.D.

Ark., Docket number unavailable). Wal-Mart and ten of its contractors are

alleged to have illegally discharged pollution from several construction

sites in violation of their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System

permits. ⁸

2000: "Wal-Mart settled a suit in Colorado, reportedly for $50 million

to 69,000 current and former Wal-Mart hourly workers. The terms of the settlement

were confidential, and the company will say only that the actual amount is

far less than has been reported."²

March 1999: The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)

signed a consent order and agreement with Wal-Mart to upgrade the environmental

construction practices for stores in this state. "Wal-Mart has agreed

to heighten its vigilance with its contractors and subcontractors during

construction activities for all of its stores," said the DEP. "Wal-Mart

will also pay a $100,000 civil penalty for past violations, $75,000 of which

will be used for worthy improvement projects in Northeast Pennsylvania." The

agreement was the result of Wal-Mart violations of water quality laws and

regulations at a store being built in Honesdale Borough in Wayne County in

1998.¹⁰

Other News

As evidenced by the information provided regarding Wal-Mart's legal record

above, alleged labor violations have been a major complaint against the company. What

follows is a fuller description of this issue.

"An internal audit of 25,000 employee records at 128 Wal-Mart Stores

in the United States, leaked to the New York Times in January 2004 by an

unnamed

source and now under court seal, cites thousands of labor violations related

to working hours. For example, a review of time cards at the 128 stores found

1,371 violations of child labor laws in a single week, including minors working

too late, too many hours in a day or during school hours. The audit also

reported more than 60,000 instances of workers skipping shift breaks and

more than 15,000 cases of workers missing breaks for meals, in violation

of most state labor regulations."¹ The audit, written by

Bret Shipley, a Wal-Mart employee, was carried out in 2000 and distributed

to

top Wal-Mart executives that year. Wal-Mart officials have downplayed Shipley's

findings, saying workers often forgot to punch in and out during breaks or

skipped breaks for meals so they could leave early. Mona Williams, Wal-Mart's

vice president for communications, told the Times that the Shipley audit

"doesn't reflect actual behavior within the facilities." She added that

Wal-Mart had not instituted reforms in response to the report, because other

Wal-Mart

auditors had reviewed Shipley's work and found it flawed. But Wal-Mart's

critics contend that the audit plainly reveals that the retailer violates

wage and hour laws to pad profits. "Their own analysis confirms that they

have a pattern and practice of making their employees work through their

breaks and lunch on a regular basis," James Finberg, a lawyer who has worked

on several lawsuits against Wal-Mart, told the Times. "What this audit shows

is against their own company policy and against the law in almost every state

in which they operate."⁷

"Allegations of similar infractions have been the subject of a spate

of lawsuits filed against Wal-Mart in recent years. In December 2002, a federal

jury in Portland, Oregon found Wal-Mart guilty of forcing its employees to

work overtime without pay from 1994 to 1999. In the four-week trial, dozens

of Wal-Mart workers testified that under pressure from their managers they

frequently clocked out after 40 hours and continued working. They also claimed

that Wal-Mart stores are notoriously understaffed, and store managers required

greeters, cashiers, night stock personnel and managers to work additional

hours off the clock after their regular shifts ended. Those who refused were

subject to demotion or termination. Since then, almost 400 current and former

Wal-Mart employees at 18 Oregon stores have joined the two employees in the

original lawsuit. The Oregon case was only the first of nearly 40 such lawsuits

that have been filed in the United States. While the amount of the various

settlements for the plaintiffs in Oregon is still being decided, Wal-Mart

reportedly paid $50 million to settle a similar case involving 69,000 workers

in Colorado in 2001. In another case, it reportedly agreed to pay $500,000

to end a case filed by more than 100 workers at one store, in Gallup, New

Mexico. While Wal-Mart told IRRC that these amounts are 'grossly inflated,'

it declined to provide more accurate figures."⁷

Regarding labor conditions of its foreign suppliers, in January

2003, Wal-Mart was removed from KLD & Co.'s Domini 400 Social

Index because of what it called "sweatshop conditions" at its overseas

vendors' factories (the Domini 400 is a benchmark index for measuring the

effect of social screening on financial performance). KLD, which provides

social research for institutional investors, said Wal-Mart hasn't done

enough to ensure that its vendors meet "adequate labor and human rights

standards," according to a statement distributed by PR Newswire.¹ KLD

also cited charges that the company hasn't been forthright about its involvement

with a Chinese handbag manufacturer alleged to have subjected workers to

90-hour weeks, exceptionally low wages, and prison-like conditions. KLD

alleges that abuses in foreign factories that produce goods for Wal-Mart

include the following:

Forced overtime

Locked bathrooms

Starvation wages

Pregnancy tests

Forced overtime

Denial of access to health care

Workers fired and blacklisted if they try to defend their rights.¹

"Wal-Mart regularly says it does not tolerate child labor or forced

or prison labor, yet the company refuses to reveal its Chinese contractors

and will

not allow independent, unannounced inspections of its contractors' facilities."¹

Another common complaint among corporate watchdog organizations

and social responsibility organizations is that Wal-Mart discriminates

against women employees. It has been reported that 65% of the

company's hourly employees are women, but these workers earn 37 cents an

hour less than male hourly employees for the same work. Women working at

Wal-Mart make on average 4.5 to 5.6 percent less than men for the same

work. Male management trainees make an average of $23,175 a year, compared

with $22,371 for women trainees. The average male senior vice president

at Wal-Mart makes $419,435 a year, while the four women senior vice presidents

earn an average of $279,772. Men hold 90 percent of top store manager

positions and more than two-thirds of store management positions overall

at Wal-Mart. Women who do have management positions are often relegated

to lower ranking positions, such as Customer Service Manager, Department

Manager, and Support Manager. Women were found to be underrepresented in

management positions in 49 states. Wal-Mart employs fewer women in management

today than its competitors did in 1975.¹

Finally, another working-conditions and workers'-rights issue cited by company

critics has been that employees have often been locked in stores overnight.

A New York Times article in January 2004 reported that workers at Wal-Mart's

membership warehouse chain, Sam's Clubs, were routinely locked in overnight

without supervision in a move to keep thieves out and to limit employee theft.

In at least one instance, a seriously injured employee stayed at a Sam's

Club instead of leaving through a fire exit because he said he was afraid

of being fired. In response, Wal-Mart says it has altered its policy to ensure

that every overnight shift at every store has a night manager with a key

to let workers out in emergencies. Still, critics say the incident points

to further negligence on the part of Wal-Mart.¹

And lastly, a very broad and general criticism offered by some detractors

is simply faulting the company for its aggressive expansionism, and its negative

impact on smaller retailers and the general overall "quality" of the

communities involved. This has occasionally resulted in the blocking of new

store construction

in some communities.

UW Trust Funds Holdings

The UW Trust Funds currently has the following Wal-Mart holdings:

As of Date

Description

Maturity

Cost

Market Value

Coupon Rate

12/02/04

WAL MART STORES INC

EQUITY

$804,702

$864,196

N/A

12/02/04

WAL MART STORES INC

9/15/2006

$344,221

$327,390

8.00%

Sources:

United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, AFL-CIO/CLC

website:www.ufcw.org

Associated Press, November 18, 2004Associated Press, May 12, 2004Associated Press, January 22, 2004CNN.com, posted November 9, 2003NewMax.com archives, Tuesday November 4, 2003Investor Responsibility Research Center, Corporate Social Issues Reporter, January 2004Excerpt from report on the settlement of an environmental lawsuit against

WalMart by the Federal Government, www.walmartwatch.com,

June 8, 2001

New York Times, June 2002www.sprawlbusters.com, March 26, 1999

[pauln]

A leading question... what is your private property? If you pay taxes and fees on it to the government its not really private, nor is it really your property because failure to pay may result in confiscation so that the government owns it. You are really renting it from the government.

So look around you and see what you really own as private property. Certainly not your land, home, car, and income - what's left? Even household items you think are yours are included in what may be seized/confiscated to settle up.

Is private property only that of which the government has no records and is unaware...?

[Clarence]

Hercules! Hercules! Hercules!!

[Macho Nacho]

A leading question... what is your private property? If you pay taxes and fees on it to the government its not really private, nor is it really your property because failure to pay may result in confiscation so that the government owns it. You are really renting it from the government.

So look around you and see what you really own as private property. Certainly not your land, home, car, and income - what's left? Even household items you think are yours are included in what may be seized/confiscated to settle up.

Is private property only that of which the government has no records and is unaware...?

There is no point in living, I might as well shoot myself now. Sorry but when can you remember ever owning land and not paying some taxes on it for "an exchange of services" Dude? .. BANG!!!!............. uh ouch.... that hurt.... seriously I am hurt, please call.... a am... ..