wal-mart

During the summer, when swine flu was not yet a widespread reality in the United States, giant retailer Wal-Mart made the news for being in talks with the government about possibly distributing the swine flu vaccine through its extensive network of stores.
But now the swine flu has Wal-Mart under scrutiny for a very different reason: [...]

From The Iowa Independent:
A Clinton County District Court judge gave final approval Tuesday for a deal that resolves a class-action lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and ends with the retail giant paying up to $11 million.
The suit, which was started in 2001 by workers Sally Mussman and Ronda Harmon, included nearly 100,000 current and former [...]

As workers around the world participate in May Day celebrations of the labor movement’s past achievements, Paul Demko of TWI’s sister site, The Minnesota Independent, reports on a new campaign to simultaneously build nationwide support for the Employee Free Choice Act and organize workers at Wal-Mart — the white whale haunting the dreams of labor [...]

Just days after Sen. Blanche Lincoln made headlines for amending the Democrats’ budget plan to include a $10 million estate tax exemption, the moderate Arkansas Democrat is back in the news for becoming the first Senate Democrat to officially oppose the Employee Free Choice Act — the union-friendly card check bill.

I know, I know: It’s a time of national service today, and of growing excitement about Tuesday’s historic events. But The Consumerist can’t help noting that Tuesday morning also marks a massive cosmetics giveaway by major department stores, beginning when the doors open in the morning for business.
From The Consumerist:
Americans face a tough choice Tuesday [...]

People love to attack trial lawyers, but here’s a lawsuit that sounds worthwhile: the family of the 34-year-old temp worker who was trampled to death on “Black Friday” by a mass of ravenous bargain-hunters on Long Island has sued Wal-Mart for failing to protect him from the clamoring crowd.
The suit claims that the store’s [...]

The national shopping ritual known as Black Friday, which TWI wrote about today, has been marked by tragedy. A Wal-Mart employee in a Long Island, N.Y., store died after shoppers knocked down the doors to the entrance and stormed in to search for bargains, Bloomberg says.
Three others were injured, and a pregnant woman was taken [...]

It looks like Wal-Mart is being forced to scale back expansion due to the struggling economy. That means it’s also being forced to scale back its help in perpetuating the absurd amount of suburban sprawl that the superstore has relied on since its birth. But not by all that much.

The Starbucks Latte Index often gets cited as an indicator of whether consumers are cutting back on discretionary spending – if they give up expensive coffee drinks, the thinking goes, they’re serious about saving money.
But if you really want to know what’s going on with consumer spending on everyday necessities, the best place to find [...]