Unions Demand Investigation Of Wal-Mart “Info” Campaign
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, LawI wrote about Wal-Mart’s attempt to “educate” their employees about the risks of voting for Obama this year, and it seems like the labor unions have taken note too.
In a letter to be delivered as early as Thursday, the labor groups are asking the Federal Election Commission to determine whether the company “made prohibited corporate expenditures” by organizing meetings across the country to warn employees that a Democratic president would back legislation known as the Employee Free Choice Act, which the company opposes. The groups say such statements amount to advocating the defeat of Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in the November election.
It does seem like Wal-Mart is in a bit of a pickle here, because now the Wall Street Journal has a recording of one of these meetings…
Meanwhile, new details are emerging that show Wal-Mart managers leading the meetings are spreading inaccurate information about the Employee Free Choice Act, according to a digital recording of a Wal-Mart meeting made by a Wal-Mart employee and reviewed by the Journal.In the hour-and-a-half meeting, held for managers in a Southern state, the leader tells employees that their wages may be reduced to minimum wage for up to three months before a contract is negotiated, that union authorization cards violate workers’ right to privacy by including their Social Security numbers on them and that if a small unit within a store votes to unionize, the entire store will be unionized.
Wal-Mart contends that those specific points (minimum wage, Social Security and a small number unionzing a bigger number) weren’t included in their training.
Here’s more of their defense…
According to the recording, the meeting leader, a human-resources manager, began by saying she was going to talk about the company and unions and “a little bit of politics,” specifically the Employee Free Choice Act. The leader said that the bill almost passed last year. “If Democrats get the votes they need and elect a Democratic president, they said it will be the first bill presented and that’s scary,” she said. [...]Wal-Mart’s Mr. Tovar said the meeting leader’s use of the word scary was “unauthorized.”
Sure, maybe that human resources manager made up three separate points on his or her own. But how many times have you ran into human resources folks who shoot from the hip? Especially in a company like Wal-Mart, that seems hard to believe. Of course, it is possible and this could be an isolated incident.
I’ll have more as it develops…
This entry was posted on Friday, August 15th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I’ve done some work with WakeUpWalmart.com and they’ve done a very impressive job of holding Walmart’s feet to the fire on crucial issues like health care, the environment and impact on local economies. This is just another of their great work holding Walmart accountable for their ugly business practices.
August 15th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
All for that 1st Amendment thing until a company says something you don’t like…and then its off to tattle-tale to the FEC. I’m sure their shaking in their boots down in Bentonville.
August 15th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
@J. Harden – as you’re well aware, the 1st amendment does not protect all forms of speech in every situation. So don’t go pretending that corporations can say anything they want at any time to their employees.
If Wal-Mart violated the law, which this company is known to do from time to time to time to time to time, then that should be investigated. Plain and simple.
Also, I don’t know about you, but when the pro-business Wall Street Journal obtains a recording of one of my employees potentially breaking federal election law, that would concern me.
Have a good weekend!