Suit Says Wal-Mart Is Lax on Labor Abuses Overseas(China,Bangladesh,Indonesia)

NYT ^ | 09/14/05 | STEVEN GREENHOUSE

[TigerLikesRooster]

September 14, 2005

Suit Says Wal-Mart Is Lax on Labor Abuses Overseas

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

A labor rights group filed a class-action lawsuit yesterday against Wal-Mart Stores in which apparel workers in Bangladesh, China and other countries assert that Wal-Mart violated its contractual obligations by not enforcing its code of conduct for overseas contractors.

The lawsuit, filed in state court in Los Angeles, makes the novel argument that Wal-Mart's code of conduct created contractual obligations between it and thousands of workers employed by contractors who were supposed to comply with the code.

In the lawsuit brought by the International Labor Rights Fund, workers from Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Nicaragua and Swaziland assert that the codes of conduct were violated in dozens of ways. They said they were often paid less than the minimum wage and did not receive time-and-a-half for overtime, and some said they were beaten by managers and were locked in their factories.

"Based on its vast economic power, Wal-Mart, based on its code of conduct, can and does control the working conditions of its supplier factories," the lawsuit states. "It could use its power and position to prevent its producers from profiting from the inhumane treatment of plaintiffs."

Beth Keck, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said the company was studying the lawsuit. "It's really too early for us to go into any kind of detail about this complaint," Ms. Keck said. "It involves a number of countries, suppliers and factories. We will be looking into this and taking it very seriously."

Wal-Mart executives say that they have the world's largest overseas monitoring program, with more than 5,000 factories inspected by 200 full-time inspectors who visit 30 factories a day. The executives say that when inspectors find violations, they give factories several months to fix any problems before another inspection.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[bronxboy]

Let's see,our government made China a most favored partner even though they use slave labor and make skin cream out of human skin (executed criminals), but it is Walmarts job to police labor overseas-yeah sure.

[yer gonna put yer eye out]

Unions have been waging an ongoing campaign of disinformation and legal harassment against Walmart for some time now.
They'll continue their efforts until Walmart either goes union or out of business....ironic because either choice effectively put Walmart out of business.

[moog]

You again?:)

I don't think Walmart's going out of business anytime soon. I'm sort of neutral on them. I shop there if I need to, but after the drive and long wait in line, it's usually not worth my time. It is nice to know they're there and the Walmart coming to town (though still a little ways away) will be beneficial and I have supported that. I didn't support the one that forced my wife's clothing business out literally though.

Yes, there is a lot of disinformation going around and it's hard sometimes to separate fiction from fact.

[RightInEastLansing]

Point?

[MarxSux]

Maybe I'm mistaken, but don't the plaintiffs in a State Court suit have to be residents of that state?

[moog]

Ummmm.... I was responding to him, not you. I was agreeing with him on one point (the last sentence) and relating a few other things, including the statement that I didn't think Walmart was going out of business anytime soon. The topic sentence was that I was neutral on Walmart.

See ya later, professor.

[John D]

How could Walmart force your wife's business out? A business adapts or it goes out of business because of its own failure. Not because of another's success.

[moog]

How could Walmart force your wife's business out? A business adapts or it goes out of business because of its own failure. Not because of another's success.

My wife's business did quite well actually. It was inside a sort of outlet type mall. From the moment they stepped in, Walmart did all they could to impede the process because they wanted the space for a supercenter and perceived it as some sort of competition (not sure why because the products actually were totally different). They sued the investors and lobbied (to the city officials) for the tenants to have all sorts of weird regs--such as so many benches per square foot and moving a wall that was three inches too far over for the fire code. Walmart got their way and now the place is a supercenter. It's no doubt that when Walmart talks, others listen. They do have their way with wholesalers.

My wife had an offer to establish a mall store, but declined due to time constraints (she worked full-time too).

It is a well-established fact that Walmart can compete better than some of the little guys and do drive out some businesses, BUT it is also overlooked that Walmart does help out some businesses and does serve as an anchor store sometimes for other types of businesses to come like restaurants.

[yer gonna put yer eye out]

Sorry to hear your wife lost her business.
Maybe a little boutique approach to the clothing industry would be more successful.
You mentioned long lines at Walmart....those lines are long for a reason, and it's not because people have nothing else to do....:0)

[moog]

Sorry to hear your wife lost her business. Maybe a little boutique approach to the clothing industry would be more successful. You mentioned long lines at Walmart....those lines are long for a reason, and it's not because people have nothing else to do....:0)

Boutiques don't do very well in this area for some reason. But my wife is onto other pursuits now anyway so I say whatever keeps her happy is fine with me.

Agreed on the last sentence. I do have something to do so I like to get in and get out of a store. I've had to wait a LONG time sometimes at Walmart. I'm not that patient. I'll pay a buck extra to save a buck or two extra on gas and more than that on time.