Wal-Mart Denounces Health Bill

[UpInArms]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32850-2005Apr6.html

ROGERS, Ark., April 6 -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. yesterday said approval of a bill that would require it to boost health care spending in Maryland could endanger its plans for growth in the state, including a new distribution center that would employ as many as 1,000.

The company questioned the motivation behind the bill, which is backed by a top competitor and its labor union.

Wal-Mart "will have to rethink its future growth in a state that is willing to pass such a bad business bill," said Nate Hurst, a government relations manager for the company. "This type of legislation, where lawmakers single out one employer, does not create a favorable environment."

The bill nearing approval in the Maryland General Assembly is touted by supporters as a step forward in health care policy for workers, but Wal-Mart is asking why Giant Food LLC and the union representing Giant workers have so strongly endorsed the legislation.

...more...

they then go on with a whole new brand of hypocrisy - how dare a competitor use the legislative process to force them to do business in an honorable fashion and treat their employees fairly and not burden a state with medical expenses because they don't pay their employees enough or offer decent coverage! LOL!

[w4rma]

1. This is how to beat them. Work with Wal-mart's competitors. (nt)

[BRLIB]

2. Growth of poverty and government handouts because of

these selfish a-holes?

How many WalMarts are there in Communist China?
Does the average communist shop there?

[bvar22]

3. Help kill Wal-Mart!

MONEY SPENT AT WAL-MART
KILLS
GOD'S UNBORN CHILDREN!!!

Get some of those bloody posters that the Anti-Choice crowd uses to picket Planned Parenthood, and use them to picket Wally World.
I’m absolutely PRO-CHOICE, but think the Fundies need to face this hypocrisy.

Wal-Mart supports
COMMUNIST DICTATORS!!!

Will the Republicans stand on Moral Values when their wallet is threatened?
Only immoral people (Communist abortion lovers) shop at Wal-Mart!

Pass it on.

[Shallah Kali]

11. Exactly. If the GoP loves the unborn why don't they boycott china instead

of France {rolleyes}

[sandnsea]

13. Tom Delay supported forced abortions

prostitution and under age sex slaves. The Mariana Islands were horrific and that's Tom Delay's shining example of free trade. We ought to be hanging that around his neck.

“Instead of trying to impose redtape and mandates on the people of the CNMI , we should look to the CNMI as a model of reform. Like the CNMI , Washington should provide tax relief for the American people. We should recognize that pro-business policies create jobs. And we should recognize that free trade creates prosperity. The CNMI is proof positive that these policies work.”

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=668

[punpirate]

15. It was also DeLay who rammed through...

... exemptions from US minimum wage laws on Saipan.... Yup, Toxic Tom's idea of reform is doing away with any and all restrictions on business.

[FourStarDemocrat]

4. Walmart refuses to be a responsible company.

A national boycott is in order. I'm proud to say that the commerce council, local businesses and residents of Rego Park, Queens denied Walmart the permit to build a store there, citing Walmart's very poor record on several aspects; labor, healthcare, business practices. So Walmart was shown the door in that very promising location (they are still searching for a nother location in NY) I hope this will become a major trend, and as more people become aware of just how immoral this company is, they will boycott those stores.

[Ms_Mary]

35. In Asheville they really fought bringing in a new Walmart but I believe

they lost. I hate Walmart. As somebody running a small business, they are my virtual arch enemy. I go in sometimes to get an idea of what they have so I can carry something different but competetive. It's nauseating to see them selling stuff well below my wholesale cost. When they can sell goods cheaper than I can buy them, you have to be creative. At the last big dealer show, I noticed many venders posted "Not sold at Walmart" signs. When I'm ordering my seasonal stock, my first question has become "Does Walmary carry this?" The second question is "Does Walmart carry a cheaper version packaged to look like this?" They are notorious for having cheaper quality good packaged to look almost identical to the higher quality other stores carry.

[tritsofme]

5. The bill has the best of intentions

but this will only cause WalMart to move stores near the border to a bordering state, stop growth in the state, and lay off workers to get under 10,000 employees.

[jab105]

6. Its not necessarily a bad thing for the state if Walmart isnt there...

n/t

[UpInArms]

7. I wish Squal-Mart were not in my state

I miss the mom and pop shops and all the grocery stores we had :(

Squal-Mart invaded rural America and took out what little was left.

[stevans_41902]

8. Another reason to hate Wal Mart...

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2005-04-05-waltons-usat_x.htm

[flygal]

26. Good God - they spent $3.2 million lobbing against estate taxes

What a bunch of shit heads!!

[tritsofme]

9. Consumers will go to where low prices are.

Especially in a small state like MD, it wouldn't be hard to cross the border.

[salin]

17. In the various communities

in which I have lived (midwest and west coast), Walmart wasn't that much less expensive than stores like Kmart or Target. If the drive is too far, and gas prices keep rising, I think many will come to the realization that the other stores are a better deal.

[tritsofme]

18. Then you can be sure those stores

won't expand to the point where they have 10,000 workers in MD.

Having only shopped in Wal-Mart or comparable stores very rarely I admittedly don't know much about their much vaunted low prices.

[LynneSin]

22. Absolutely WRONG

Because Giant Foods also hires more than 10k employees in MD and they actually already comply to the potential new standards. And believe me, as someone who lives in a neighboring state, Delaware is fighting hard to keep more Wal-Marts out of our borders!! Maybe West Virginia wants them!

So in a nutshell - you're thinking it's good to have more minimum wage, no health insurance jobs that essentially will be a burden on your state government's tax dollars

[tritsofme]

23. I'm not thinking that any of it is good

I'm just going through WalMart's thought process when something like this occurs.

[durablend]

25. AWWWW...boo hoo hoo

You mean they might have to take their ball and go home (much like their master *?)

Imagine if ALL 50 states forced them to start footing the bill (instead of pushing it off onto the rest of us)?

[sendero]

28. Yeah..

.... but if every state does it, they will have to deal with it.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

10. Good. The bill's doing good things already!

Arrogant pricks-- it's about time they got their asses kicked....

[mtnester]

20. If the labor groups and Giant Foods spin it right today, the headlines

COULD read "WalMart against health care for working class America"

Please oh please oh please someone spin it this way. It can be done so easily with some carefully crafted PR print and public speeches.

[progressivebydesign]

12. Bastards like Walmart are destroying our Country...

I have not set a foot in a Walmart in years.. I don't care how broke I was, or what I needed. I have also been steering clear of other companies that exploit their workers, are contributing to the loss of manufacturing jobs in America through their dirt cheap imports, and their contribution to making America look like one big strip mall.

Americans buy too damn much crap... People actually list "shopping" as their favorite hobby. Until we stop being predominantly consumers, and start becoming producers again, we're sunk.

[Tux]

14. Good luck

Americans buy too damn much crap... People actually list "shopping" as their favorite hobby.

American culture is nothing but pure consumerism. Everything in our culture is aimed at money and spending it. Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, et al are all oriented toward shopping one way or another. Many Americans are convinced that buying crap is how our culture operates. We barely have communities but we have to get the largest SUV ever made. It's all backwards.

I declare this: buy what you need, buy what you want only from environmentally friendly, pro-worker, pro-American stores. Resist buying the lastest crap just because it's the lastest crap. Say no more! We want out communities back, not mindless consumerism.

[tsuki]

16. Well said.

[durablend]

24. Well isn't the govermint whining...

That people aren't saving enough money (while out of the other side of the mouth, telling them to "SPENDSPENDSPEND!!!!!!")?

[Ms_Mary]

36. Really, we do. We must be the most disposable society on earth.

For pete's sake, disposable toilet wands!! Disposable dish cloths? How freaking pathetic can we get?

[Iterate]

19. Wasn't it just yesterday?

when they held the "critics are being so unfair" press conference?

[LynneSin]

21. Erhlich is an asshole that needs to go

The governor says he would veto this bill. Of the companies that employ over 10k people in MD, Wal-Mart is the only one that wouldn't not meet the standards is this bill is passed. Wal-Mart isn't the only store that falls on this list - Giant Grocery Chain also hires more than 10k Marylanders and they actually already comply to the potential new standards.

Basically Wal-Mart wants Maryland to subsidize them. The people of MD need to fight for this new bill and the MD state house needs to override Erhlich's veto

[salin]

27. I haven't read similar complaints (per costs to communities)

about Target and KMart. Don't know if it is that they offer more benefits to more employees, or don't play the game as much to get the most work out of employees without going over the number of minutes that qualifies one for fulltime and thus benefits, or perhaps their policies are as bad, and local communties subsidize (through taxes) the health care and food (ala food stamps) needs of those employees as well, but since they aren't as high profile they don't get the same bad press?

Anyone know how the situation compares for Walmart's competitors?

[Bridget Burke]

32. I'm not sure about KMart...

But Target does offer more benefits & treats employees a bit better. They aren't such a drag on the communities. And they ARE quite high profile--just not as bloatedly huge as WalMart.

[DeepModem Mom]

29. We were expecting a response from Wal-Mart...

when this story broke, and here it is -- as predicted.

[Zuni]

30. Fuck WalMart---Go maryland!!!!!!!!!!!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Politicub]

31. Wal-Mart is one insane company

It's almost a caricature of how evil a company can become. Too bad its reality for all of the taxpayers who subsidize Wal-Mart's workers.

[Bill McBlueState]

33. oh, how terribly, terribly sad!

Robert O.C. Worcester, president of Maryland Business for Responsive Government, a business advocacy organization based in Baltimore, said companies big and small will now fear state intrusion into their health care plans.

"This bill says, 'Come to Maryland and your overhead costs will be unknowable,' " he said.

Oh, the poor little corporations and their poor overhead costs! How can we call ourselves a decent society when pure, innocent corporations don't know what their overhead costs will be? Think of the corporations! Someone, please, think of the corporations!

Those greedy *people* wanting to have their basic health needs met will be the downfall of society as we know it!

:sarcasm:

[Cerridwen]

34. Maybe they can use some of their government grant monies...

to offset the expense. :sarcasm: