Wal-Mart, Sears Refuse Compensation for Factory Victims

[Teamster Jeff]

Source: Bloomberg

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) and Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) have so far declined to join Li & Fung Ltd. and other companies in voluntarily compensating victims of a fire last year at a Bangladesh garment factory.

Wal-Mart and Sears also didn’t respond to an invitation to attend a meeting today in Geneva, where companies whose clothing was manufactured at the Tazreen Design Ltd. factory are expected to discuss compensation payments, said Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, a Washington-based international labor-monitoring group.

The Nov. 24 blaze killed 112 workers and increased pressure on Wal-Mart and other Western retailers to help improve factory conditions and take more direct responsibility for their suppliers. Clothing bound for Wal-Mart and Sears was found in the charred ruins.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-14/wal-mart-sears-refuse-compensation-for-factory-victims.html

[drynberg]

1. DRAG THESE CRIMINALS INTO COURT AND TEAR THE $$$ FROM THEIR MITTS

It ain't surprising really, but it does provoke wicked loathing for these greedy creeps.

[sakabatou]

2. +1

[cstanleytech]

5. I am intrigued.

Is your opinion that Walmart and Sears are criminally based upon a fact proving they were criminally liable or is it more along the lines of helpless anger due to the fact that the two companies (especially walmart) have a history of being assholes regarding going to the lowest bidder for products even if said lowest bidder is in a country that has a history of exploiting workers?

[Skittles]

3. well of course; that's why they pimp jobs offshore

you don't have to care about the environment OR the people

[Arctic Dave]

4. +1

They are vile people and they don't care how many people they kill or maim as long as they become wealthy.

[pediatricmedic]

6. Other then being scumbags for not caring, how are they responsible for this?

Don't get me wrong, I hate Walmart and refuse to set foot in their stores unless threatened to do so by my SO.

They had a contract with Tazreen Design to be supplied clothing. The contract did not cover employees or liability for any of those employees. Tazreen Design was a separate company from Walmart and Sears. They had contracts with companies all over the world.

Safety codes are set and controlled by the government, not individual companies as well.

Then there is the argument they could have selected a company with better safety. That is quite true, if they don't mind the added cost and inability to compete. The blame here belongs on the consumers who demand the lowest price. Part of that is the life of poor and middle class people struggling to make ends meet and not having enough money for high cost clothing. My own budget is limited, but some of you might be high rollers and not care about cost. If you think about it, it is quite a vicious circle.

The non-scumbag thing to do is to contribute to the fund, but they don't have to.

[Fastcars]

7. Sometimes doing the right thing is the wrong thing....

Voluntarily donating to the fund, though the right thing to do, could very possibly come back to haunt them in the future in another case.

[Javaman]

8. How far we have fallen...

The Triangle Waist Shirt Fire brought about dramatic change in a variety of areas. People cared and corporations were held accountable then.

Now?

The rich laugh at our folly at caring about people.

In other news: China suffers a Cherry Mine disaster every year and nothing improves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1909_Cherry_Mine_disaster