What is Walmart trying to hide?

[brokensymmetry]

How can you tell if the product you are about to purchase was made by a child, by teenaged girls forced to work until midnight seven days a week, or in a sweatshop by workers paid 9¢ an hour?

The sad fact is...You cannot. The companies do not want you to know, so they hide their production behind locked factory gates, barbed wire and armed guards

Wal-Mart and the other multinationals refuse to release to the American people even the list and addresses of the factories they use around the world to make the goods we purchase. The corporations say we have no right to this information. Even the President of the United States could not find out from Wal-Mart where it manufactures its goods.


In the Global Sweatshop, there are no rules In today's global economy, the multinationals are not accountable to the American people; there are no enforceable human rights or wage standards. There are no checks and balances. Corporations are free to roam the world in search of misery, high unemployment, starvation wages, no taxes, no regulations and no enforcement of labor and environmental standards.

<snip>

Behind the locked factory gates, this is the reality:

Nine-to-12-year-old children in Bangladesh working past midnight sewing Wal-Mart shirts for 5¢ an hour. The children were beaten for their mistakes. (Dateline, 1992)

Thirteen-year-olds in Guatemala forced to work 13-hour shifts seven days a week sewing Wal-Mart clothing for 31¢ an hour. If they worked too slowly, these children were also beaten. (Wall Street Journal, 1995)

<snip>

This is, in my opinion, quite an interesting Labor Day article. You can read the rest of it at http://www.ksworkbeat.org/Issues/Walmart_s_Opinon_of_Union_Memb/What_Is_Walmart_Trying_to_Hide/what_is_walmart_trying_to_hide.html

[AP]

1. Just an aside on this issue:

John Edwards is trying to push for country of origin labelling which, I believe, is meant to address this issue in part.

[bearfan454]

2. You know I like what John Edwards has to say

but he doesn't have the money like the others. You have to have the money to win.

[AP]

8. He was the number two money raiser through the first two quarters.

Only long-time senator and rich-guy, John Kerry raised more money. Edwards raised more money than all the other candidates combined in TX and SC, and a couple other states. In the first quarter, he was the only person to raise money in all 50 states and he had the highest number of total donors.

[bearfan454]

11. Wow

I didn't know that.

[baldguy]

3. Don't shop at Walmart.

This is just ANOTHER reason.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Walmart is no friend

of the American people. Those who work there will tell you how that corporation is trying to make sweatshop labor a reality here in the States. When Sam Walton was alive, he made a big deal about "Made in the USA". Since his death, his heirs care only about amassing more money (they are among the top ten richest people in the US, btw). But even before Sam's death, WalMart's practices were dispicable when it came to undercutting the local merchants in the small towns where they located. WalMart is responsible for the death of many downtowns in this country, and now it seems it is one of the reasons we have child labor, unsafe working conditions, and poor environmental controls around the world.

I suggest people buy their clothes second hand or buy American if possible. When you go into a clothing store, ask the clerks if they know about the conditions under which the garment was made.

I also know that there are still American companies making clothing. Anyone have a list of them? I know there's one union shop in CA making T-shirts-they were featured in a Nation Magazine article a while back.

[brokensymmetry]

5. So true.

It's too bad more people aren't aware of that! But maybe we can help them see the truth.

[Gin]

7. Almost everything I purchase is made in China. What can we do?

I try to keep it made in America, but it's difficult to find things that I need, made here. I boycott stores, but "everyone" has Chinese or foreign made products. We don't make anything here anymore.

Does anyone else feel frustrated by this? It's almost impossible to stay true to your values.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. I agree that it is hard

to find things made here. And I've sometimes had to buy something made in China because there is no other choice. But I think we can raise some awareness when we go to the checkout stand. And we can try making some things on our own, or check out local craftspeople who make things. And, like I said, buy things second hand. Of course, if outsourcing continues and the economy tanks, second hand will look lavish to us all as we sink to the economic level of a Third World country.....

[Nikia]

6. Companies will keep those things a secret

Our company makes products mostly for other companies. These companies are not disclosed. One of the reasons is that some of these companies compete against each other. Just so you know, at the grocery store you might see two brands side by side that are a dollar or so difference in price but they are realy the same thing. On the otherhand, our company does make a product for Walmart that at least one other company makes as well. Our company president called Walmart to complain that the other company made a clearly inferior product but that didn't change anything.

[Octafish]

10. Dean Worked with Wal-Mart

When push came to shove, Howard Dean did what he could to protect pristine land. How was he to know the three Vermont Wal-Marts used Chinese sweatshop products? Or would help dry up a bunch of the mom-and-pop locally owned and operated independents? — Octafish

Dean green on trail, but Vermont knows better

Friday, August 22, 2003

By LISA WANGSNESS
Monitor staff

EXCERPT...

A delicate balance

Development is at the center of most of Vermont's controversies, and in a state of just 600,000 residents, Dean often found himself embroiled in arguments between environmentalists and powerful ski areas and retailers. Balancing competing interests was not always easy.

"I would say he wasn't a raving environmentalist by any stretch, but he also wasn't pro-development at any cost, either," said Chris Barbieri, president of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. "He picked those political battles pretty carefully."

Environmentalists resisted the arrival of Vermont's first Wal-Mart, for example. Dean helped persuade the company to set up shop in downtown Rutland, rather than in a pristine lot.

CONTINUED...

http://www.cmonitor.com/stories/news/state2003/082103dean_env_2003.shtml