Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Wal-Mart and Hillary: Still in Love, after all these Years

Hard Choices Book Signing

Hillary Clinton said in a speech in 1990, when she was first lady of Arkansas: "As a shareholder and director of our company, I’m always proud of Wal-Mart and what we do and the way we do it better than anybody else."

The largest grocery/retailer in the U.S. and the biggest company in the world by revenue, Wal-Mart (based in Hillary's home State of Arkansas) has long been criticized for paying its workers poverty wages. Because those workers often require financial assistance from the U.S. government, Wal-Mart effectively receives a subsidy on labor.

During six years (1986 -1992) as a member of the Wal-Mart board of directors, Hillary Clinton remained stone silent as the world’s largest retailer waged a major campaign against the labor unions seeking to represent store workers. (More at ABC News)

From the Progressive Press:

The ties between the Clintons and the Walton family continue to this day. Alice Walton, the daughter of Wal-Mart’s founder Sam Walton, is a big supporter of Hillary Clinton becoming the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016. According to filings with the FEC, Alice Walton gave $25,000, the maximum allowed under federal law, to the super PAC Ready for Hillary. According to Clinton Foundation’s disclosures, the Walmart Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation each have given between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation. (More at Occupy)

From the Huffington Post:

Though former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is courting top labor leaders, picking up union endorsements and criticizing Republican efforts to undercut unions as she runs for president, her campaign treasurer's ties to the stridently anti-union Walton family empire may raise questions about the campaign's commitment to labor rights.

From the Guardian:

Wal-Mart protesters bring labor demands to Clinton campaign headquarters: Former secretary of state is the only Democratic presidential candidate who has not come out in support of a $15 minimum wage.

Hillary's husband gave us NAFTA and PNTR to China — and according to the Economic Policy Institute, Wal-Mart’s growing trade deficit with China has displaced more than 400,000 U.S. jobs. Bernie Sanders has always been against NAFTA and PNTR with China. Hillary stumped for the TPP trade agreement 45 times, but only recently "claimed" she was against it. Bernie Sanders was always against the TPP trade agreement.

2 comments:

  1. Bernie Sanders is Declaring War on Walmart

    http://www.attn.com/stories/4469/bernie-sanders-walmart-campaign

    ReplyDelete
  2. UPDATE: DEC. 15, 2015

    Wal-Mart claims the "OUR Walmart" campaign violated an NLRB protective order by giving documents to Bloomberg Businessweek detailing how the retailer prepared for Black Friday strikes and rallies in 2012.

    Wal-Mart hired a division of the defense contractor Lockheed Martin to monitor activist activity online and was in contact with the FBI about the protests, the report showed.

    OUR Walmart, which is now unaffiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers union, accessed the documents during an unfair labor practices proceeding at the NLRB. In its motion, Wal-Mart blames the leak on both OUR Walmart and UFCW and asks the NLRB to bar the groups from using the documents in future board proceedings.

    Wal-Mart says its surveillance activities were aboveboard; OUR Walmart and UFCW say the retailer's latest arguments are meritless.

    More from Businessweek's Josh Eidelson here: http://bloom.bg/1Qjf1JA

    Read Wal-Mart's NLRB filing here: http://bit.ly/1O5HBgZ

    ReplyDelete