Wal-Mart tapping phone calls...

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March 6, 2007

Wal-Mart Says Worker Taped Reporter’s Calls

By JULIE CRESWELL

Federal investigators are looking into the actions of a computer systems technician at Wal-Mart Stores who, over a period of several months, intercepted pager and text messages and also secretly taped telephone conversations between Wal-Mart employees and a reporter for The New York Times, the company said yesterday.

The United States attorney’s office for the Western District of Arkansas and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are assessing the actions of the employee and others inside Wal-Mart to determine whether federal and state laws were broken and whether they have jurisdiction in the matter, according to spokesmen for the investigators’ offices.

Wal-Mart said the technician was not authorized to monitor and tape the conversations between members of its media relations staff and Michael Barbaro, a retail reporter for The Times.

The company did not say what led the technician to make the recordings or why Mr. Barbaro’s conversations were the target.

Over the last year, Mr. Barbaro has written dozens of articles about Wal-Mart, including some that were based on internal company documents that were given to him by union-financed groups that were critical of Wal-Mart’s business practices.

Mona Williams, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, which is based in Bentonville, Ark., said the company fired the technician and a supervisor yesterday. A third manager in Wal-Mart’s information technology group was disciplined. Ms. Williams declined to identify the technician or his supervisors.

H. Lee Scott Jr., Wal-Mart’s chief executive, called the chief executive of The New York Times, Janet L. Robinson, early yesterday to explain the situation and apologize, Ms. Williams said.

Ms. Williams added that she contacted Mr. Barbaro and personally apologized to him, as well.

Wal-Mart said it began an internal investigation into the matter on Jan. 11 after executives were notified by an employee about the recordings. It then notified the United States attorney’s office two days later.

Over the course of a two-month internal investigation, Wal-Mart discovered that the technician had used a program that identified calls coming in from, or made to, Mr. Barbaro at The Times’s New York headquarters from last September to mid-January, Ms. Williams said. The inquiry involved an outside technology firm that scoured more than 100 computer drives and other devices, she said.

Members of the media relations group, including Ms. Williams, were unaware they were being taped, Ms. Williams said.

“No one knew he was recording these conversations,” Ms. Williams said in a conference call with reporters yesterday afternoon. “As a matter of fact, I’m not even sure he knew whose conversations he was recording. He simply programmed in the reporter’s phone number and captured those calls.”

It is unclear whether the technician was able to sort Mr. Barbaro’s calls from those other Times reporters might have made to Wal-Mart since all calls from the newspaper’s New York office register on caller ID screens as a series of numeral 1s.

The technician told investigators of some motives for his actions, Ms. Williams said, but she declined to say what they were because of the continuing investigations.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for The Times, Diane C. McNulty, said: “We are troubled by what appears to be inappropriate taping of our reporter’s conversations. At this point, we don’t know many of the key facts, such as what the purpose of this taping was and the extent, if any, to which the action was authorized.”

Mr. Barbaro declined to comment.

At first blush, it does not appear that the taping of the conversations was illegal.

Under federal and Arkansas state law, a telephone conversation can be recorded if one party has given consent. Wal-Mart said that under its policy, all employees give their consent to the monitoring and recording of their calls made through Wal-Mart systems and equipment.

Wal-Mart said, however, that calls were monitored only in cases of suspected criminal activity or fraud and only with written consent from the company’s legal department. No approval for the recordings was sought or given, the company said.

Ms. Williams added that in the course of the investigation only one person — a “senior-level lawyer” at Wal-Mart — listened to parts of the tapes between Mr. Barbaro and the media group.

The focus of any criminal investigation might be on the text messages and the pages transmitted near company headquarters by people who were not Wal-Mart employees; the technician made those interceptions using his own personal radio-frequency equipment.

“He captured all of the text messages that were within a range of his equipment,” Ms. Williams said. “Some of those messages had key words in them that he was watching for. Those were captured and put into a separate file or bucket from the others.” She declined to provide details of the messages or motives for those actions by the technician.

Federal and most state laws forbid the unauthorized interception of messages, said Rodney Smolla, dean of the University of Richmond Law School.

Wal-Mart to pay $1b for China retailer

Wal-Mart to pay $1b for China retailer

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-02-27 15:38

HONG KONG/NEW YORK - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, will pay about US$1 billion to take over a Chinese chain, challenging Carrefour as the largest operator of super-centers in booming China.

Shoppers emerge from a Wal-Mart Supercenter branch in Beijing October 17, 2006. [Reuters]

The acquisition of Bounteous Co. Ltd. by Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, will be done in phases by 2010 and could trigger much-needed consolidation in China's ferociously competitive US$1 trillion retail market.

Under terms of the deal, Wal-Mart is buying 35 percent of Taiwan-based Bounteous, which operates 101 hypermarkets in 34 Chinese cities under the Trust-Mart brand, and will acquire ownership control of the chain by 2010 if conditions are met.

Terms were not disclosed, but a source familiar with the situation said Wal-Mart will pay a total of US$1 billion for all of Bounteous.

"It's all about tiering and market share -- Wal-Mart has a history of buying local operators, and this could make them No. 1 in China," said an analyst at a European investment bank in Hong Kong.

Wal-Mart already operates 73 stores in China and employs more than 37,000 people there.

France-based Carrefour, the world's No.2 retailer and the largest foreign operator in China, added 20 China stores last year to bring its total in the country to 90 by the year-end.

Other players include Germany's Metro AG, Britain's Tesco Plc. and local operators such as Wumart

Wal-Mart's China expansion follows exits last year from its operations in Germany and South Korea.

The company is also close to striking a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises to enter India, a fragmented retail market where foreign operators are restricted.

In a statement, Wal-Mart Vice Chairman Michael Duke called the China investment "an important step in bringing our additional scale to our China retail business."

Trust-Mart posted 2005 sales of about 13.2 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion) at its Chinese hypermarkets, according to the China Chain Store and Franchise Association, well above Wal-Mart's 9.9 billion yuan in its Chinese stores.

By comparison, Carrefour had 2005 sales of 17.4 billion yuan at its Chinese hypermarkets, while Metro recorded sales of 7.5 billion yuan, the data showed.

International expansion has grown more important for Wal-Mart as US sales growth slows. In its fiscal quarter ending January 31, total sales rose 10.9 percent to US$98.09 billion, but international sales rose 29.6 percent to US$22.73 billion. US sales at stores open at least one year rose 1.6 percent.

Trust-Mart stores employ more than 31,000 people, and will continue to operate under the Trust-Mart name, Wal-Mart said, with both companies continuing to open new stores.

Credit Suisse advised Wal-Mart on the transaction, and UBS advised Bounteous.

Wal-Mart dodging state taxes?

By: Don Michak, Journal Inquirer

03/01/2007

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Wal-Mart Stores Inc., with 28 discount stores, four "supercenters," and three Sam's Club warehouses in Connecticut, for years has lowered its state taxes by essentially paying rent to itself and deducting that cost as a business expense, a company official confirmed Wednesday.

The controversial and complex strategy has saved the world's biggest retailer several hundred million dollars in taxes in 25 states, according to the Wall Street Journal, which last month reported that on average Wal-Mart paid only about half of the statutory state tax rates for the past decade.

The company spokesman, John Simley, said he didn't immediately know how much money the arrangement may have saved Wal-Mart in Connecticut, but said it had been used for just over 10 years and is currently employed in connection with all but two of the company's 35 properties here.

Wal-Mart paid $16.7 million in state and local taxes in Connecticut in fiscal 2006, he added.

Simley defended the company's use of a "captive" real estate investment trust, or REIT - a corporate entity controlled by individuals associated with the company that pays it rent - saying it is permitted under Connecticut law and that state Department of Revenue Services officials are aware of Wal-Mart's practice.

"It is allowed in Connecticut and I'm sure other companies use it," he said. "It's a lawful structure, and ... known to the Department of Revenue in Connecticut and has existed for probably a dozen years."

Department of Revenue Services spokeswoman Sarah E. Kaufman said Tuesday that she was prohibited from providing details about any Connecticut taxpayer and specifically declined to discuss Wal-Mart.

But Kaufman also insisted that the department was "ahead of the curve on the whole captive REITs issue," pointing to the 1997 passage of an amendment to a state law that she said closed the loophole still available in other states.

"This is something we noticed more with the banking industry," she said. "It is not allowed and it's a rare occurrence when someone does try to claim it on their return."

Businesses that had exploited the loophole would now find their deductions disallowed, according to Kaufman, who said the department has the discretion to determine the practice improper.

Kaufman added that the department is not now involved in any litigation or administrative proceeding challenging a corporate taxpayer that may have tried to deduct rent it paid to a captive REIT.

But Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Tuesday that he was launching an investigation of "whether Wal-Mart and other companies are exploiting a loophole in our law that may need to be closed legislatively, or whether the current law can be enforced against them to collect money that clearly should go to Connecticut taxpayers."

Blumenthal said his probe also would focus on whether existing law "should be enforced more aggressively and vigorously.

"We've done some research and there may be some questions about the current law that need to be clarified," he said.
Simley, the Wal-Mart spokesman, said the company doesn't use its REIT structure only to lower its state tax burden.

"We have so many landholdings that if we create a separate structure to administer them, we can do it far more efficiently," he said, adding that it frees the managers of individual stores to deal with other issues.

"One compelling issue is that the REIT is a discrete - and by that I mean separate - organization that can handle capital requirement issues without being tied to the stores," he continued. "If they need to raise capital or dispose of property it can be done much more effectively through that structure.

"That's not to ignore that fact that in many states there is a significant tax advantage," he added.

The Wall Street Journal did not cite Connecticut as one of the states in which Wal-Mart exploits the tax-law loophole which it said was plugged by the federal government years ago but which many states have been slower to close.

Under the arrangement described by the newspaper, a Wal-Mart subsidiary pays rent to a REIT that is entitled to a tax break if it pays out profits in dividends. The REIT is 99 percent owned by another Wal-Mart subsidiary, which gets the REIT's dividends tax-free. Wal-Mart then gets to deduct the rent from state taxes as a business expense, "even though the money has stayed within the company."

Brooklyn Paper Covers the Albee Rally

Union haul: Labor leader says Wal-Mart has been stopped

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/30/7/30_07walmartprotest.html

By Christie Rizk

The Brooklyn Paper

Enlarge this image

The Brooklyn Paper / Tom Callan

Politicians, labor leaders and activists rallied in Albee Square last week to protest Wal-Mart, even though the new owner of the Gallery mall has said that the Arkansas-based giant will not rent in his new building.

It was supposed to be a rally to protest Wal-Mart’s possible first New York City store, but it became a victory party.

Union leaders came to Albee Square last week fearing that the recent sale of the Gallery mall would trigger a new attempt by Wal-Mart to find a location in Brooklyn. But those same leaders and workers ended up cheering as Pat Purcell, an organizer of Wal-Mart Free NYC, told the faithful, “There will be no Wal-Mart in Albee Square!”

The square will soon be bustling with development activity as new owners Acadia Realty Trust and partner Paul Travis begin demolishing the retail building to build an office and residential tower instead.

But Purcell confirmed that the developers — who paid $125 million for the site — had promised that the behemoth of Bentonville would not be a part of the plan.

Wal-Mart has said in the past that it had eyed the site, formerly owned by Thor Equities, which bought it for a mere $25 million in 2001. Some retail experts have said that a large, big-box store like Wal-Mart — if done properly — could fill a gap in the borough’s under-served retail market.

But that wasn’t on the agenda last week at the protest-turned-party. One by one, union leaders and elected officials allied with their cause stepped up to the mic to congratulate themselves and promise to keep fighting the retail giant.

“We are not done fighting against Wal-Mart in the city of New York,” said Bruce Both, the president of Union Local 1500. “We will oppose them at every turn.”

But celebration wasn’t the only item on the agenda. Most speakers complained that the new tower does not, as yet, include any below-market-rate rentals or co-ops. And the recent development boom in Downtown Brooklyn — thanks to a 2004 upzoning passed by the city council — has left a lot of small business owners around the Fulton Mall scrambling to save their businesses.

“Our city was built on the blood and sweat of our people,” said Joy Chatel, a member of Families United for Racial and Economic Equality. “We can’t allow outsiders to come in and take that away from us.”

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper

“WAL-MART” TAX LOOPHOLE

As the world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. pays billions of dollars a year in rent for its stores. Luckily for Wal-Mart, in about 25 states it has been paying most of that rent to itself -- and then deducting that amount from its state taxes.

The strategy is complex, but the bottom line is simple: It has saved Wal-Mart from paying several hundred million dollars in taxes, according to court records and a person familiar with the matter. And Wal-Mart is far from alone.

The entire report by Jesse Drucker is available here we urge everyone to read this.

Below is the press release we recieved from Local 1500 and UNITE HERE outlining Governor Spitzers reaction to the Loophole and how he plans on eliminating it....

For Immediate Release:
February 2, 2007
UNIONS AND ADVOCATES URGE
LEGISLATURE TO JOIN SPITZER IN CLOSING “WAL-MART” TAX LOOPHOLE

New York, NY – Unions and advocates praised Governor Spitzer today for standing up to Wal-Mart and other companies that exploit a little-known tax loophole that lets them pay rent to themselves and then deduct that rent from their taxes. Governor Spitzer proposed closing that loophole in his Executive Budget released on Wednesday, saving the state $83 million per year.

“It’s ridiculous that a company can get away with paying rent to itself and deducting that rent from its taxes,” said Bruce Raynor, General President of UNITE HERE. “But if companies are going to find a way to avoid paying every penny they ought to pay, you can be sure that Wal-Mart will be one of them.”

According to a front-page Wall Street Journal article on Thursday, Wal-Mart has avoided
paying several hundred million dollars in taxes by using a complex scheme. The loophole was plugged by the Federal government many years ago, but many states have not followed suit. New York was one of those states, until now. Governor Eliot Spitzer’s Executive Budget would close the loophole, saving the state $83 million a year. “Hard-working New Yorkers pay their fair share of taxes,” said Paul Blank of Wake Up Wal-Mart. “It’s time that companies like Wal-Mart do the same.”

According to Thursday’s Wall Street Journal article, tax-saving schemes like these have led to an increased percentage of state taxes being paid by individuals. As companies find new ways to lower the amount of taxes they pay, states increasingly rely on individuals and working families to make up the difference. “We’re glad that Governor Spitzer has decided to stand up to businesses that manipulate the tax system to shirk their responsibility to pay what they ought to pay in taxes,” said
Bruce Both, President of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500. “We hope the Legislature will join him in standing up for individuals and small businesses, who can’t take advantage of these ridiculous gimmicks.”

Contacts:
Michael Rabinowitz, UNITE HERE, 646.342.3469
Patrick Purcell, UFCW Local 1500, 973.583.9651

Largest Lawsuit in History going forward

Court says Wal-Mart must face bias trial

By David Kravets, Associated Press
February 6th, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest private employer, must face a class-action lawsuit alleging female employees were discriminated against in pay and promotions. The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a 2004 federal judge's decision to let the nation's largest class-action employment discrimination lawsuit go to trial.


The suit claims that as many as 1.5 million current and former female employees earned less than men and were bypassed for promotions. The lawsuit exposes the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailing powerhouse to the possibility of billions of dollars in damages. Wal-Mart claimed that the conventional rules of class actions should not apply in the case because its 3,400 stores, including Sam's Club warehouse outlets, operate like independent businesses, and that the company did not have a policy of discriminating against women.

But the court, in a 2-1 decision, disagreed. "Plaintiff's expert opinions, factual evidence, statistical evidence and anecdotal evidence present significant proof of a corporate policy of discrimination and support plaintiff's contention that female employees nationwide were subjected to a common pattern and practice of discrimination," the court wrote. U.S. District Judge Martin Jenkins, the San Francisco trial court judge who said the case could proceed, had ruled that lawyers for the women had enough anecdotal evidence to warrant a class-action trial.

Wal-Mart took the case to the San Francisco-based appeals court. Jenkins said if companywide gender discrimination is proven at trial, Wal-Mart could be forced to pay billions of dollars to women who earned less than their male counterparts, with no opportunity to dispute their individual circumstances. Jenkins said it was "impractical on its face" to have individual hearings for each plaintiff and had planned to use a statistical formula to compensate the women. Wal-Mart, in seeking dismissal of the case, called that an unprecedented denial of its rights. Wal-Mart said women who allege they were discriminated against can file lawsuits against individual stores. The women's lawyers said the idea was ridiculous, and would clog the federal judiciary. "Although size of this class action is large, mere size does not render a case unmanageable," Judge Harry Pregerson wrote for the majority, which upheld Jenkins' decision in its entirety.

Brad Seligman, one of the attorneys who represented the women suing Wal-Mart, said he suspected Wal-Mart would ask the appeals court to rehear the case with a panel of 15 judges. But he said the decision would hurt the company's reputation. "No amount of PR by Wal-Mart is going to allow it to deal with its legacy of discrimination," Seligman said. Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams said the company was not immediately prepared to comment.

Wal-Mart Kept out of Brooklyn

Great job to everyone who came out yesterday for the event. The community really appreciates everyones hard work and efforts to bring good jobs and good developments to Brooklyn. Here are a few pictures from yesterdays event. Now we have a new fight, to insure responsible economic development at the Gallery.

Albee Square tenant speaking to NY1 on why tearing down the Gallery is not right for Brooklyn.











New York City Council Member Letitia James speaking on Wal-Marts mistreatment of women, and workers in general.











WMFNYC coordinator Ed Lynch speaking to the community on the effects of Wal-Mart.

Developer: "There will be NO WAL-MART IN BROOKLYN..."

We receieved great news late last night that the Developer for the Albee Square project will not allow a Wal-Mart in the Gallery. Here is the Press Release we received from Local 1500...

States Largest Grocery Workers Union, Community Groups, Elected Officials and Faith Leaders Reach Historic Agreement: No Wal-mart in Brooklyn

On Thursday, February 8th at 1:00 P.M. United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500 will join with community organizations, members of the New York City Council, the Working Families Party, State Senator Eric Adams, Faith Based Leaders, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and other Unions to announce an historic agreement with the developers of the proposed Albee Square Mall that will exclude Wal-mart from the project.

Representatives of the coalition and Albee Development LLC reached an agreement late Wednesday evening. “On the issue of Wal-mart, the developer and their representatives acted in a professional and responsible manner hearing our concerns about the devastating effect a Wal-mart would have in Brooklyn,” stated UFCW Local 1500 President Bruce W. Both. “They have made it clear to us that there are no plans now, nor will their be in the future, to bring Wal-mart to the Albee Square Development,” concluded Both.

Despite the agreement, the protest against Wal-mart, not the development, will take place. Protesters scheduled to participate in addition to the U.F.C.W. are the Change To Win Union, Jobs With Justice, F.U.R.E.E (Families United for Racial and Economic Equality) the Working Families Party, the New York Central Labor Council, A.C.O.R.N., New York City Council Members Leticia James, Erik Dilan and David Yassky, State Senator Eric Adams, the Teachers Union, the Laborers Union and the RWDSU.

While unable to attend the rally due to a previous commitment, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has been supportive throughout the process and instrumental in reaching an agreement.

While expressing praise for the agreement, Director of Special Projects for UFCW Local 1500 Patrick Purcell Jr. said there is still work to be done before Albee Square’s final plans are reached. “The developers representatives, keeping with their cooperative approach, have agreed to continue to meet with the coalition to discuss other issues such as affordable housing,” Purcell stated “All parties understand the win-win situation that come from accountable and responsible development and open communication between developers and the communities. The people in the community want and deserve a voice. We look forward to a continued open and positive dialogue,” Purcell concluded.

Local Businesses Beware

We thought we'd save the time for local business owners printing their going out of business signs. If Wal-Mart comes the Fulton Mall the local retailers cannot survive.

WMFNYC Brooklyn : The Brooklyn Flyers

As you all know Wal-Mart has had their eye on Brooklyn, we're holding a rally on Feb 8th at Albee Square. Here are the 2 Flyers we are distributing throughout Brooklyn over the next few weeks.... Feel free to click on them and print them out! For more info on our rally email us at walmartfreenyc@yahoo.com, all are welcome to attend the rally!

Wal-Mart Pays Out $33.5 Million In Back Wages

Wal-Mart agreed to pay $33.5 million in back wages plus interest to settle a federal lawsuit.

The lawsuit accused the company of violating overtime laws involving some 86,680 workers.

Department officials stated that many of the violations with Wal-Mart involved them failing to pay time-and-a-half premium pay to managers in training, programmers in training, as well as other non-managerial employees under salary when they worked more than 40 hours a week.

They also accused Wal-Mart of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act which is the federal law which governs overtime by failing to properly include factors such as bonuses and geographical differences in calculating base wages to figure out time-and-a-half rates for workers.

Over 40 state lawsuits were filed against Wal-Mart accusing them of forcing employees to work off the clock and not pay them all the overtime which they had earned.

Most of those lawsuits are still pending with the average compensation for 87,000 employees to be around $375. 75 employees will receive more than $10,000 in back wages with the highest anyone will receive to top off at $39,775.

Wal-Mart Tops the List of 101 Dumbest PR Moves

Good Morning, We havent had much time to update, we're currently scheduling a rally for the proposed Brooklyn site at the Fulton Street Mall, if anyone is intrested in attending please send an email over to us at walmartfreenyc@yahoo.com Enjoy the story...follow the link to read the story

101 Dumbest Moments in Business

Wal-Mart's PR bloopers

The world's largest retailer set out to clean up its image with a new public relations campaign - and promptly landed six spots on this year's list.

Wal-Mart Defeats Maryland Law

Yesterday, a federal appeals court judge ruled in Wal-Mart's favor over the state of Maryland, regarding the creation of the "Fair Share Health Care" law. The law, created last year, required employers of a certain size to pay at least 8% of its total payroll towards the health care of its employees. However, the law was so specifically designed that it only affected Wal-Mart, which was a major basis for the company's lawsuit.

"Last year, the union leaders failed in 32 of the 33 states where they announced they would enact a so-called Fair Share Health Care bill," said Catherine Smith, Interim Chair of Working Families for Wal-Mart, a company backed organization created by Wal-Mart to strengthen its public image. "In Maryland, the only state to enact the legislation, a Federal judge promptly struck it down as illegal. Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals agreed. We applaud the Court's actions and are gratified that yet again this measure has been exposed as both illegal and bad public policy. On behalf of working families everywhere, we urge the union leaders' to abandon these failed gimmicks and use their members' dues to help pass meaningful reforms that expand affordable health coverage to all Americans."

In New York, the Working Families Party has drafted the "Fair Share for Health Care" act, a bill similar to the Maryland bill though greater in scope. A push to pass the law last year failed, but party leaders have stated in the past that their own bill would be in better legal shape if it did pass. Read more about the legislation here.

organic fraud

Wal-Mart accused of 'organic fraud'

Advocacy group claims retailer is misleading its customers by labeling non-organic foods as 'organic.'

By Grace Wong, CNNMoney.com staff writer

January 17 2007: 4:13 PM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A policy research group is accusing Wal-Mart of "organic fraud," the latest controversy to arise as the world's largest retailer pushes into the organic food industry.

The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based advocacy group which promotes sustainable farming, claims Wal-Mart (Charts) is defrauding its customers by mislabeling non-organic products as organic.

The policy group said it conducted checks of Wal-Mart stores in five states and discovered labeling violations in virtually all of the "dozens of stores" it visited.

Wal-Mart, which uses green signs to identify organic selections at its stores, said any shelf labeling mistakes are isolated events and that it often mixes organic and conventional products on its shelves to make it easer for customers to find organic options.

"Although Wal-Mart has more than 2,000 locations that may offer up to 200 organic selections in addition to thousands of non-organic offerings, we believe it to be an isolated incident should a green organic identifying tag be inadvertently placed by or accidentally shift in front of the wrong item," the company said in an e-mailed statement.

But Cornucopia claims the retail behemoth isn't doing enough to address the problem. The advocacy group said it notified Wal-Mart of the labeling problems in September of last year, but claims that problems continued to exist at the stores when it made checks again early this year.

"It's very disturbing that the company has known about this for months and hasn't done anything about it," Mark Kastel, co-director of Cornucopia, said. "There's no excuse for this."

In addition to notifying Wal-Mart of the problem, Cornucopia filed a complaint in November with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the federal agency which regulates the marketing of organic foods.

The complaint refers to alleged violations, such as the labeling of all-natural yogurt as organic, on Wal-Mart shelves.

Wal-Mart said its stores are sent guidelines for placing identification tags and that it works with its stores to make sure the tags are accurate. The USDA certification label on the actual packaging of organic items also helps customers verify products as organic, the company said.

Joan Shaffer, a spokeswoman for the USDA, said Cornucopia's complaint has been received and is being reviewed. The agency is seeking more information and will determine whether an investigation is warranted after additional information is received, she said.

USDA regulations on the marketing of organic food are rigorous and carry stiff penalties - each violation of willful organic food misrepresentation can result in fines of up to $10,000.

Organic food regulations can be complex, and ignorance among food managers can result in labeling mistakes, said Samuel Fromartz, author of "Organic, Inc.," a book about the organic food industry.

But it's crucial for new players getting involved in the organic food industry - which is growing by 15 to 20 percent a year - to get the labeling regulations right, he said.

"Consumers are already confused about what organic food is so if they buy a product that they think is organic and it turns out to not be organic - it just adds to their confusion and adds to a sense of mistrust about what they're buying," Fromartz said.

Wal-Mart is the latest retailer to make a push into the approximately $15 billion organic food industry that has boosted the popularity of natural food stores like Whole Foods (Charts).

The company announced last year it would start selling more organic products, raising concerns among some organic farmers that the giant retailer would undercut prices.

Community Leaders Across U.S. Call on Wal-Mart to Create Good Jobs in Urban America

Action Coincides With New National Ad Campaign by Retail Giant
100 Leaders Release Statements to CEO Lee Scott, Elected Officials

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- One week before the
nation observes Martin Luther King Jr. Day, religious, political, civil
rights and business leaders from New York, Atlanta, Oakland, Chicago,
Washington D.C., and other cities held a national telepress conference in
which they called on the world's largest retailer to create good jobs and
become a responsible community partner.

In conjunction with the press conference, two statements from more than
100 urban leaders across the country were released -- one demanding that
Wal- Mart and its CEO Lee Scott change their approach to urban communities,
the other calling on elected officials to enact policies that encourage the
creation of good jobs in urban America.

A new report was also released today by the Los Angeles Alliance for a
New Economy (LAANE) and the Partnership for Working Families. "Wal-Mart and
Beyond: The Battle for Good Jobs and Strong Communities in Urban America"
documents the extensive negative impacts of Wal-Mart and offers a series of
strategies both to hold Wal-Mart and other companies accountable, and to
create good jobs in urban neighborhoods.

The telepress conference and release of the statements and reports
coincides with a new national ad campaign by Wal-Mart designed to repair
its image following high-profile efforts over the past several years to
educate Americans about the company's negative impacts on workers,
communities, businesses and taxpayers.

"Wal-Mart has positioned itself squarely in the path of workers and
communities seeking to realize Dr. King's dream of civil and economic
equality," said Tracy Gray-Barkan, Director of Retail Policy at LAANE and
author of the new report. "It's time for Wal-Mart to address the real
problems it creates for communities instead of trying to fix its image
through multi- million dollar public relations campaigns." Wal-Mart continues to meet resistance to its aggressive attempts to expand into urban markets around the country. Wal-Mart employees earn 20
percent less than what the average retail worker earns, and over $10,000
less than what the average two-person family needs to meet its basic needs.
The company enrolls fewer than half of its employees in its costly health
insurance plan, compared to 67 percent for the average large employer.
Wal-Mart moved recently to reduce the number of full-time jobs, establish
wage caps on hourly jobs and institute scheduling rules in an effort to
weed out older employees and employees with family responsibilities.
"Too often, we hear that for our communities, any job is a good job,"
said Rev. Lennox Yearwood, CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus in Washington, D.C.,
and National Director for the Gulf Coast Renewal Campaign. "We reject the
idea that minority communities should settle for low-paying jobs without a
future."

California State Senator Gil Cedillo said the company's low prices come
at too high a cost. "In order for our communities to achieve the American
Dream, we need more than poverty-wage jobs. We need economic development that
meets the real needs of our communities -- good jobs that allow working
people to support their families and provide a better life to their
children."


http://www.laane.org/walmart/

Community Leaders Across U.S. Call on Wal-Mart to Create Good Jobs in Urban America

Community Leaders Across U.S. Call on Wal-Mart to Create Good Jobs in Urban America


Action Coincides With New National Ad Campaign by Retail Giant
100 Leaders Release Statements to CEO Lee Scott, Elected Officials


LOS ANGELES, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- One week before the
nation observes Martin Luther King Jr. Day, religious, political, civil
rights and business leaders from New York, Atlanta, Oakland, Chicago,
Washington D.C., and other cities held a national telepress conference in
which they called on the world's largest retailer to create good jobs and
become a responsible community partner.

In conjunction with the press conference, two statements from more than
100 urban leaders across the country were released -- one demanding that
Wal- Mart and its CEO Lee Scott change their approach to urban communities,
the other calling on elected officials to enact policies that encourage the
creation of good jobs in urban America.

A new report was also released today by the Los Angeles Alliance for a
New Economy (LAANE) and the Partnership for Working Families. "Wal-Mart and
Beyond: The Battle for Good Jobs and Strong Communities in Urban America"
documents the extensive negative impacts of Wal-Mart and offers a series of
strategies both to hold Wal-Mart and other companies accountable, and to
create good jobs in urban neighborhoods.

The telepress conference and release of the statements and reports
coincides with a new national ad campaign by Wal-Mart designed to repair
its image following high-profile efforts over the past several years to
educate Americans about the company's negative impacts on workers,
communities, businesses and taxpayers.

"Wal-Mart has positioned itself squarely in the path of workers and
communities seeking to realize Dr. King's dream of civil and economic
equality," said Tracy Gray-Barkan, Director of Retail Policy at LAANE and
author of the new report. "It's time for Wal-Mart to address the real
problems it creates for communities instead of trying to fix its image
through multi- million dollar public relations campaigns."
Wal-Mart continues to meet resistance to its aggressive attempts to
expand into urban markets around the country. Wal-Mart employees earn 20
percent less than what the average retail worker earns, and over $10,000
less than what the average two-person family needs to meet its basic needs.
The company enrolls fewer than half of its employees in its costly health
insurance plan, compared to 67 percent for the average large employer.
Wal-Mart moved recently to reduce the number of full-time jobs, establish
wage caps on hourly jobs and institute scheduling rules in an effort to
weed out older employees and employees with family responsibilities.
"Too often, we hear that for our communities, any job is a good job,"
said Rev. Lennox Yearwood, CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus in Washington, D.C.,
and National Director for the Gulf Coast Renewal Campaign. "We reject the
idea that minority communities should settle for low-paying jobs without a
future."

California State Senator Gil Cedillo said the company's low prices come
at too high a cost. "In order for our communities to achieve the American
Dream, we need more than poverty-wage jobs. We need economic development that
meets the real needs of our communities -- good jobs that allow working
people to support their families and provide a better life to their
children."


http://www.laane.org/walmart/

Wal-Mart To Air Nationwide Ads Countering Attacks

Wal-Mart To Air Nationwide Ads Countering Attacks

POSTED: 5:39 pm EST January 7, 2007
UPDATED: 5:39 pm EST January 7, 2007

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will run national television ads starting Monday praising its record as an employer and corporate citizen, taking its arguments straight to the public in an ongoing battle over its reputation with unions and other critics.

The world's largest retailer, increasingly a lightning rod for politicians as well as labor unions and other activists, cites the legacy of late founder Sam Walton in a folksy 60-second ad. A 30-second ad focuses on Wal-Mart's health insurance plans for its more than 1.3 million U.S. employees.

"It all began with a big dream in a small town, Sam Walton's dream," a narrator says as one ad starts with a black-and-white photo of Sam Walton and a grainy shot of Walton's first five-and-dime store in what is now the chain's headquarters town of Bentonville, Ark.

"Sam's dream. Your neighborhood Wal-Mart," the ad ends.

Both ads recite key points Wal-Mart has been making to reporters for months about its record, but the ads now take the arguments straight to the public.

The nation's largest private employer says it creates tens of thousands of jobs a year, offers employee health plans for as little as $23 a month, saves "the average working family" more than $2,300 a year through its low prices and is a major contributor to local charities with donations last year totaling more than $245 million.

In a news release about the ads, Wal-Mart said a survey of its employees nationwide last summer found 88 percent believe the company is a good corporate citizen and 81 percent would recommend a Wal-Mart job to a friend.

Company spokesman David Tovar declined to say how much Wal-Mart is spending on the ads, which were tested last summer in Tucson, Ariz., and Omaha, Neb. They will run for an as-yet undetermined period on national broadcast and cable networks as well as in a "couple of dozen" individual markets, Tovar said.

Steven Silvers, a corporate reputation management expert with Denver-based consultancy GBSM Inc., said it was strategically smart of Wal-Mart to take its case directly to the public to counter mounting attacks.

"If they're targeted, they have to get their message out there," Silvers said. "It's because they have become political fodder. They have to frame the discussion."

Wal-Mart was the focus of two high-profile but unsuccessful efforts last year to legislate how it treats employees.

Maryland's Legislature passed a union-backed law that would have forced Wal-Mart to spend a fixed percentage of payroll on employee health insurance. That law was overturned by a federal court. Chicago's City Council passed an ordinance mandating higher wages at big-box retailers, but it was vetoed by Mayor Richard Daley.

Union-funded campaign groups have also recruited national Democratic figures to back their calls for higher wages and better health care at Wal-Mart, including potential 2008 presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and declared 2008 candidate John Edwards.

WakeUpWalMart.com, a union-funded campaign group, said the ad campaign proves Wal-Mart is seeing damage to its bottom line from a worsening reputation. The retailer had its worst holiday sales season in years, WakeUpWalMart.com spokesman Chris Kofinis said.

"Wal-Mart is living in a bizarre state of denial, where no matter how bad their public reputation is, they still believe that a tired ad campaign can fool the American public into believing it is OK to exploit millions of working families," Kofinis said.

WakeUpWalMart.com and another union-backed group, Wal-Mart Watch, claim Wal-Mart pays poverty wages, runs small businesses out of town and pushes employees onto tax-funded public health care. Wal-Mart denies those allegations.

The union groups have repeatedly run newspaper and television ads.

Wal-Mart said its ads are part of a continuing effort to show it is good for its employees and customers.

"This campaign is part of a long-term effort to inform the public about the company's positive impact on communities, including some of our core values like affordable health care, customer savings and charitable contributions," Tovar said.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Wal-Mart's Trail Mix Ingredients: Raisins, Nuts, Cashews, and Glass?!

Wal-Mart recalls trail mix after 3 reports of glass or plastic found inside

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. recalled a house brand of trail mix and took remaining bags off shelves nationwide after three customers said they found glass or hard plastic in bags bought in two states, the retailer and the mix's maker said Tuesday.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart said it ordered stores over the weekend to remove Sam's Choice "Nature Trail" Trail Mix from sale. It also programed cash registers at all stores to block sales of the product, spokeswoman Karen Burk said.

The product is supplied to Wal-Mart by Jessup, Md.-based Ann's House of Nuts.

Jim Giles, vice president of quality assurance for Ann's, said the company had launched an investigation at its plant in Robersonville, N.C., where the trail mix was produced.

Giles said three Wal-Mart customers in Ohio and North Carolina had called the retailer to report finding what looked like glass or hard plastic particles in 28-ounce bags of the product. The bags had not yet been collected from the consumers, but one consumer described the particles as being "about the size of a 1-carat diamond," Giles said.

No injuries were reported, he said.

Ann's has asked a food lab to collect the bags and analyze the contents to determine what kind of product the glass or plastic came from, which could help determine the source of the problem, Giles said.

"We're thinking that maybe it was in one of the six ingredients in this product," he said.

But Ann's is still looking at other possibilities and plans to interview the production line crew when they return to work Wednesday from a New Year's break.

There was no evidence of deliberate tampering, and law enforcement officials were not involved, Giles said.

Ann's produces over 30 million bags a year of various brands of trail mix and has had no other complaints like this, Giles said.

Wal-Mart said the Sam's Choice "Nature Trail" in question is marked "Best by APR-23-2007." The bags are also marked "MFG OCT-23-2006" to reflect the manufacturing date.

Wal-Mart asked customers who purchased the affected trail mix to return the product for a full refund or replacement.

Philadelphia: Wal-Mart employees seek more damages

Wal-Mart employees seek more damages

PHILADELPHIA

Wal-Mart workers in Pennsylvania who won a $78.5 million judgment for working off the clock and through rest breaks returned to court Wednesday to seek another $62 million in damages.

They argue that the approximately 125,000 class members deserve an additional $500 each in damages under Pennsylvania labor laws because the jury found Wal-Mart acted in bad faith. The plaintiffs already are expected to receive from about $50 to a few thousand dollars each, depending on how long they worked for the company.

Lawyers for Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, say the class members do not meet the state statute's requirements for so-called liquidated damages, which are designed to compensate people for the delay in payment.

It was not clear if Common Pleas Judge Mark Bernstein would immediately rule on the issue Wednesday afternoon or take it under advisement.

Bernstein oversaw the five-week trial, which culminated in October when the jury rejected Wal-Mart's claim that some employees chose to work through breaks and that the off-the-clock work was minimal.

Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., earned $11.2 billion in profits on $312.4 billion in sales in the last fiscal year.

Plaintiffs lawyer Michael Donovan of Philadelphia argued at trial that the unpaid work gave Wal-Mart an unfair advantage in the marketplace.

Lead plaintiff Dolores Hummel said she worked about 10 hours each month off the clock to keep up with work demands at a Sam's Club in Reading, where the single mother worked for 10 years to support her son. Sam's Clubs are a division of Wal-Mart.

The suit covers current and former employees who worked at Wal-Mart and Sam's Clubs in Pennsylvania from March 1998 through May 2006.

Wal-Mart is appealing a $172 million verdict in a similar California case and settled a Colorado suit over unpaid wages for $50 million.

Wal-Mart policy in Pennsylvania gives hourly employees one paid 15-minute break during a shift of at least three hours and two such breaks, plus an unpaid 30-minute meal break, on a shift of at least six hours.

Wal-Mart enters India...gets a $7 billion investment

Wal-Mart gets $7 billion investment
by Brian White

Wal-Mart's entry into the Indian market will receive a huge lift with the announcement of a $7 billion investment by Bharti.
Bharti is the Indian company that has agreed to partner with the world's largest retailer to open locations in India where Wal-Mart currently has no retail presence.

Bharti will invest $7 billion by 2010 to ensure that the retail joint venture is setup and started with the resources it needs to be successful right from the start. The two companies will be setting up 200 large supermarket-type stores and hundreds of smaller large-format stores.

Wal-Mart will now cater to an estimated 300 million Indian citizens -- a population that has become increasingly affluent and a market that global retailers are eying with jaws wide open. This piece of pie is up for grabs -- like China -- and when growth slows in the U.S., to other global markets go the retailers.
(Feed taken from bloggingstocks.com)


This is Wal-Marts pearl to be able to open a store to India, this only increases Wal-Mart's imperialistic power. Stores in India will flurish, economy will begin to stagger, local businesses will close, people will rely on Wal-Mart for everything leaving those who broke their backs to create businesses in shambles. Prices will be cheaper than what they are used to paying, but it all goes back to the hidden costs of Wal-Mart, we just hope that the people of India are aware of this before all goes wrong.

What does 2007 hold for Wal-Mart?

What does 2007 hold for Wal-Mart?

Posted Dec 27th 2006 3:21PM by Brian White
Filed under: Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Wal-Mart (WMT)

2006 was a rough time for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in many media respects, as the company missed targets, saw same-store sales growth decline, and saw some lows that had not been reached in a decade. Still, the world's largest retailer saw growth this year -- just not as much as some unrealistic market watchers wanted.

Wal-Mart's marketing strategy took several hits, a scandal in its advertising department as Wal-Mart dropped its new ad agency. Also Wal-Mart's attempt to cater to higher-income shoppers and regionalize the products in its stores to cater to local demographics saw little steam (so far). So, what should 2007 bring?

I'm not sure Wal-Mart can ever change its image to what it thinks it can with consumers. The power of branding is too strong, and Wal-Mart's super-glued brand is "low prices." Period. Trying to market to shoppers who associate Wal-Mart with low prices (and not anything else) is probably going to prove futile. But, hey, growth has to come from somewhere, right? Perhaps outside of the U.S. -- like India and China, where Wal-Mart is moving into with rapid aplomb.

Fulton Mall may be custom made for Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart targets Albee Square … again
By Ariella Cohen
The Brooklyn Papers

Fulton Mall may be custom made for Wal-Mart.

The city is now considering a plan to tear down the aging Gallery shopping center to make way for a soaring mixed-use tower that could accommodate a Wal-Mart, the New York Sun reported last week.

If the deal were completed, Albee Square, as the site is known, would be rebuilt into Fulton Mall’s most ambitious project yet — a glistening tower that would include 800 apartments, 100,000 square feet of office space and a 500,00-square-foot ground-floor perfect for the behemoth of Bentonville, Arkansas.

Wal-Mart has been eyeing a Downtown site for at least two years, including the Albee Square location. The discount chain has been trying to open a store in New York City, but has met strong opposition from organized labor and (less-organized) environmentalists.

Wal-Mart spokesman Philip Serghini declined to comment on the Albee location, but reiterated that the retailer was “actively reviewing potential sites in all five boroughs.”

Albee Square, nestled between busy DeKalb and Flatbush avenues, is attractive to retailers like Wal-Mart thanks to the 100,000 pedestrians who pass by it daily. Right now, the Gallery’s biggest-name tenants are Toys “R” Us and a Forever 21 clothing store.

On a recent Saturday, the low-rise mall hosted far fewer shoppers than Fulton Street’s pedestrian corridor, but sold many of the same discount shoes and heavily marked-down leather goods.

“Buy one leather jacket and get two for free,” barked a hawker at the mall’s entrance. “Sell them on the street and get your money back!”

The Gallery was previously owned by Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner, who sold to to Joe Sitt’s Thor Equities after it failed to attract enough high-dollar tenants. Because it sits on land that is owned by the city, the Economic Development Corporation will help decide what will be built.

Sitt is reportedly trying to flip the site, take his profit, and move on, leaving the city to find a new developer to carry out its big-box, big-tower vision.

At least one Fulton Mall businessman said Wal-Mart would be out of place in Downtown Brooklyn.

“People come here on tour buses when they want to see what real New York is like,” said Leo Gulfam, a former graffiti artist who rents a storefront where he customizes clothing, jewelry and Air Jordan sneakers with everything from Pakistani flags to picture of Tweedy Bird.

“Our people are crazy about bling,” he said. “They aren’t crazy about Wal-Mart.”

Wal-Mart Wins Ruling on Foreign Labor, Sets up Communist Party in China Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores cannot be held liable under United States law for labor conditions at some of its overseas suppliers, a federal judge has ruled.

A complaint filed last year in Los Angeles by the International Labor Rights Fund contended that employees of Wal-Mart suppliers in China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Swaziland and Nicaragua were forced to work overtime without pay and in some cases were fired because they tried to organize unions. The group sought to represent hundreds of thousands of employees of Wal-Mart’s overseas suppliers. The New York Times Reports here.

Communist Party branch set up at Wal-Mart's China headquarters

The Associated Press

Sunday, December 17, 2006

BEIJING

Employees at Wal-Mart's China headquarters have set up a Communist Party branch, the company and party said Monday, amid a campaign to expand the ruling party's presence in foreign companies.

The move follows the success of China's state-sanctioned labor body this year in setting up unions at the U.S. retailer's outlets. Wal-Mart is one of China's biggest and most prominent foreign employers, with a workforce of 36,000 and 68 stores.

The party branch was set up Friday at Wal-Mart headquarters in the southern city of Shenzhen, according to the party newspaper People's Daily and a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokesman, Jonathan Dong.

"Quite a few of our associates (employees) are party members already, so they have a right to establish branch organizations," Dong said.

Dong said he didn't know whether Wal-Mart would have any formal interaction with the branch or whether its establishment would affect operations. Employees who answered the phone at the party's Shenzhen office and wouldn't give their names said they had no information on what the branch at the Wal-Mart headquarters would do.

China's 70 million-member Communist Party and its affiliated All-China Federation of Trade Unions are trying to expand their presence in foreign companies to keep pace with a fast-changing society amid capitalist-style economic reforms.

State industry, their traditional base, has slashed millions of jobs while private companies are creating tens of millions more.

In a bid to stay relevant, the party has begun offering membership to entrepreneurs and others in the new private economy.

The ACFTU, the umbrella body for unions permitted by the government, has announced a target of setting up unions at 60 percent of China's 150,000 foreign companies by the end of this year.

An ACFTU spokesman, Li Jianmin, said Monday he had no figures on how close the body is to meeting that goal.

The party has not disclosed its own expansion target.

The party branch at Wal-Mart headquarters is the company's sixth in China, according to Dong.

The first was set up Aug. 12 in the northeastern city of Shenyang. Party officials there said it would not interfere in store management. An official quoted by the state Xinhua News Agency said the Shenyang branch would encourage members to "to play an exemplary role in doing a good job" and to help Wal-Mart grow.

Many foreign companies in China already have party branches, either officially or unofficially.

One of the earliest was at U.S.-based cell phone maker Motorola Inc. in the eastern city of Tianjin. The branch officially was established in 1997, but news accounts say it was set up as early as 1990 and kept secret in order to avoid alarming Motorola management.

Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, resisted the creation of unions at its Chinese stores for two years before agreeing in August to help the ACFTU organize its workers.

The party and labor expansion campaigns were ordered in March by President Hu Jintao, who also is the party's general secretary, according to Chinese media.

"Do a better job of building (Communist) Party organizations and trade unions in foreign-invested enterprises," the order said, according to the newspaper Beijing News.

Wal-Mart & Brooklyn a Perfect fit??

The New York Sun highlighted Mayor Bloomberg's new plans for NYC with this article focusing on Brooklyn, and the speculation for Wal-Mart as a perfect fit....

City in Talks on Future of Big Site For Building in Downtown Brooklyn

BY DAVID LOMBINO - Staff Reporter of the Sun

December 14, 2006

URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/45147

While the city's master plan for downtown Brooklyn was originally spawned to create soaring commercial towers, the city is now negotiating with two private developers to build a $500 million project that would be predominantly residential and retail.

It would be the first major site developed in the area since the city rezoned downtown Brooklyn for increased commercial development two and a half years ago. The project would contain a cavernous retail base that could accommodate a large big-box store such as Wal-Mart, according to sources familiar with the deal.

If finalized, the large site known as Albee Square at the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Willoughby Street would contain more than 800 apartments, 20% of which would be "affordable housing"; as much as 100,000 square feet of office space, and 500,000 square feet of retail space designed for an anchor tenant, according to a source familiar with the plans. The lot is currently occupied by the Gallery at Fulton Street, which is a shopping mall, and a large parking garage.

Developer Joseph Sitt of Thor Equities would flip the site he purchased for a reported $25 million in 2001 to a partnership between PA Associates/Acadia Realty Trust and Avalon Properties, according to a source familiar with the deal. The new owners could construct up to 1.5 million square feet of mixeduse space under the recently up-zoned plans. Financial details of the transaction were unavailable, but real estate experts said Mr. Sitt would stand to make a fortune, as real estate values in the area have skyrocketed.

The city owns the land underneath the site and Mr. Sitt controls the development rights. Sources familiar with the negotiations said the city's Economic Development Corp. is unsatisfied with the offer for the land it owns and had hoped to see more office space in the plan.

The president of the Real Estate Board of New York, Steven Spinola, said negotiations between Mr. Sitt and the city and the buyers are entering the final phases.

"The city is encouraging the office space, and the retail needs to be done," Mr. Spinola said. "The residential obviously is the surest thing."

About two years ago, the Bloomberg administration passed an ambitious rezoning plan for downtown Brooklyn, currently the third largest commercial district in the city, that envisioned as much as 5.4 million square feet of new commercial space and about 1,000 new units of housing, mostly along Livingston Street. While the market for new commercial buildings is red hot in Midtown Manhattan, no private developer has ventured into downtown Brooklyn since the rezoning to build a large office building.

Nearby, at the planned $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Prospect Heights, developer Forest City Ratner drastically cut back on plans to build office space, and increased the number of planned apartments.

A spokesman for the Economic Development Corporation, Andrew Brent, said yesterday that indications from the private sector seem to favor mixed-use development of residential, retail, and commercial space than large stand-alone office buildings with anchor tenants.

"The negotiations for the Albee Square development are very much ongoing, but we're confident that at the end of the day, while the corporate component may be somewhat less than what was envisioned four years ago, the project will catalyze surrounding office development, and its contribution to Downtown Brooklyn's growing vibrancy will be greater than ever," Mr. Brent said.

In 2004, speculation circulated that Wal-Mart was eyeballing the Albee Square site for its first New York City store. Because the site would be as-of-right, the world's largest retailer would not need approval from the City Council, which has been critical of Wal-Mart's treatment of employees.

The executive director of sales for Halstead Brooklyn, William Ross, said the large retail space with room for a lot of parking would be "the least objectionable space in all of Brooklyn for a Wal-Mart."

Pointing to four large apartment buildings going up nearby along Gold and Myrtle Streets, Mr. Ross said the Albee Square development is the latest sign that Flatbush Avenue is undergoing a residential transformation. The city has committed up to $500 million to improve the area's parks, open space, infrastructure, and to pave the way for the Atlantic Yards project.

"Downtown Brooklyn was rezoned two years ago, and nothing happened. Now, everything is happening at once," Mr. Ross said.

Mr. Ross said developers' calculations in downtown Brooklyn are crystal clear.

"You make twice as much selling condos as you do renting office space," he said.

An executive director for Cushman & Wakefield, Glenn Markman, said the demand for commercial space in downtown Brooklyn is growing, despite the loss of the Albee Square site to mostly apartments.

"I don't think that this is a sign of weakness in the marketplace," Mr. Markman said. "It just takes a while for the commercial market to attract the tenants that we're hoping to get. If that transaction is concludes, it is another positive sign for downtown Brooklyn."

A spokesman for Thor Equities, Lee Silberstein, would not comment for this story.
A spokesman for the president of Brooklyn, Marty Markowitz, said negotiations should be concluded quickly so that Brooklynites could begin enjoy the benefits of new development.

--------------

Also Check out
Why an Agency Said No to Wal-Mart [New York Times]
A week after stunning Madison Avenue by tossing out the results of a lengthy and expensive search for new advertising agencies, Wal-Mart Stores has decided to ask four of the five finalists from the previous review to take another shot at the $580 million assignment. One invitee, however, has declared, to borrow an old song title, “Thanks a lot, but no thanks.” The agency is GSD&M in Austin, Tex., part of the Omnicom Group, which has created campaigns for Wal-Mart since 1987

Legal Challenge to Wal-Mart

The NY Sun reports(Josh Gerstein): Novel Legal Challenge to Wal-Mart

A bid to use the American legal system to hold Wal-Mart accountable for alleged abuses at its suppliers' factories overseas is faltering after a federal judge indicated he is inclined to dismiss the case.
Judge Andrew Guilford issued a tentative ruling yesterday that would dismiss a wide-ranging lawsuit filed against the retail giant last year on behalf of workers at factories in Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Nicaragua, and Swaziland.

The suit alleges that the facilities failed to pay minimum wage, forced overtime work on unwilling employees, and blocked workers from organizing unions.

The attorney for the workers, Terry Collingsworth, argued that the foreign workers had no realistic prospect of suing in their own countries. "They don't have adequate access to courts there," he said. "This is their sole place to try to be heard."

This is an extremely interesting and important case in legal and labor history, if the decision continues to look this bleak, Wal-Mart cannot be reprimanded for mistreating workers in other countries. What we cannot grasp is why, Why Wal-Mart even mistreats workers, the 300 plus billion dollar company should be more ethical and responsible and should see no problem with paying their workers a living wage and quality benefits.

Rocky Return to the Roots at Wal-Mart

MICHAEL BARBARO and STUART ELLIOTT of the New York Times, highlight the chaos which engulfs Wal-Mart's public relations department in an interesting editorial: Rocky Return to the Roots at Wal-Mart

The week in Wal-Mart

We wanted to leave SNL skit up in front of the blog because we loved it so much, but here's an overview in the Week in Wal-Mart...

In Montreal, Wal-Mart has lost a battle in the Quebec Court of Appeal to fight the unionization of its store in Gatineau. Back in the US - Oklahoma, Wal-Mart has just settled a $5.1 million dollar class-action lawsuit brought by the estates of 73 former employees, it turns out Wal-Mart had taken out life insurance policies on its employees, making itself the beneficiary, the families of the employees who passed away were forced to sue in order to recover the life insurance benefits...What a disgusting move by the worlds largest employer.

In a terribly sad story a family in Indianapolis sues Wal-Mart for the death of their 3 year old son. The family of a 3-year-old killed in July when a mirror fell on him at an Indianapolis Wal-Mart store filed a lawsuit charging negligence and seeking unspecified damages. Wal-Mart's layaway program see's its last day.

Senior marketing executive Julie Roehm has left Wal-Mart Stores Inc. after less than a year on the job, which then lead to the diminish of Wal-Mart's new Ad agency after signing a $570 million dollar contract. The New York Times actually wrote a great article on the entire bizzare situation read that here.

Saturday Night Live, Jay Leno Rip Wal-Mart

This weeks Saturday Night Live took a shot at Wal-Mart by airing their idea of a Wal-Mart commercial.

Leno Rips Wal-Mart
Taken from Tonight Show with Jay Leno

"Here’s some bad news. Wal-Mart has reported that its pre-Christmas sales were down in November. Well, thank God that doesn’t affect anything made in America."