walmartfreenyc:

Some call for City Council hearings to probe the retailers’ New York City business practices, including a full disclosure of the company’s philanthropic spending here.

The pressure is mounting on Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to abandon its long-running plans to enter the New York City market. In the wake of the weekend’s revelations of alleged bribery and cover-up in the retail giant’s Mexican operations, local advocacy groups here who have opposed Wal-Mart’s Big Apple ambitions for years are pressing their advantage, and redoubling their efforts.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer; the city’s public advocate, Bill de Blasio; and Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store union, all issued statements Monday criticizing Wal-Mart. On Tuesday afternoon, they, along with New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson and dozens of others, plan to throw their bodies behind the effort by attending a rally at City Hall. Demonstrators will call on the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer to give up its campaign for a New York City store.

“More and more New Yorkers are growing skeptical of Wal-Mart’s plans and promises for our city—and for good reason,” said Matt Ryan, executive director at the Alliance for a Greater New York, an anti-Wal-Mart group and a key organizer of Tuesday’s rally. “Armed with the latest news about Walmart de Mexico’s illegal practices, the city must investigate Wal-Mart’s recent dealings with public officials and developers in its bid to move to New York City.”

Yet Wal-Mart has reiterated that its plans for the Big Apple remain undeterred.

“Our track record as a good corporate citizen is well known and in large cities like New York, residents continue to choose to shop and work at Wal-Mart,” said Steve Restivo, Wal-Mart’s senior director of community affairs, noting the company’s involvement with issues like sustainability and nutrition. “As a result, we continue to evaluate opportunities here to make access to our stores more convenient for customers.”

Anti-Wal-Mart activists are also asking for City Council hearings to investigate Wal-Mart’s New York City business practices, including a full disclosure of the company’s philanthropic spending here. They’re also asking for an investigation into the practices of the retailer’s New York-based board members Michele Burns and Christopher Williams. Both Ms. Burns and Mr. Williams served on Wal-Mart’s audit committee in 2005 and 2006, the same years the alleged bribes took place. Neither immediately returned calls requesting comment.

The retailer is also facing stress from investors. By mid-day trading Tuesday, Wal-Mart’s stock price had fallen another 1.8% to $58.50. That follows a Monday plummet of nearly 5%.

walmartfreenyc:

Walmart is in a pickle, and not the kind that can be found in the canned goods aisle. Following the Mexican bribery scandal, pols high and low have reaffirmed their opposition to the store. But they are not the only ones. Even some of the big box retailers staunchest supporters have come out against the company, namely Greg David.

The Crain’s columnist and former editor for three decades of the influential business weekly is a big believer in capitalism and its important role in shaping the city—he just wrote a book about it. To that end, he has long supported Walmart’s efforts to open a store in the five boroughs (14 times at last count). Yet now, in light of the scandal, even Greg David doubts Walmart will ever open in New York. And he believes this is all Walmart’s fault.

Read more.

walmartfreenyc:

Wal-Mart’s stock fell almost 5 percent on Monday, accounting for about one-fifth of the losses in the Dow Jones industrial average, as investors reacted to a bribery scandal at the retailer’s Mexican subsidiary and a report that an internal investigation was quashed at corporate headquarters in Arkansas.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that Wal-Mart investigators had found credible evidence that the subsidiary, Wal-Mart de Mexico, had paid millions of dollars in bribes to support expansion in Mexico, where the retailer has one in five of its stores. Told of this evidence in 2005, top executives in Bentonville, Ark., shut down the investigation, The Times reported.

On Monday, politicians from Washington to Mexico City called for outside investigations into Wal-Mart’s conduct.

Read more.

walmartfreenyc:

After The New York Times uncovered the internal reaction of Wal-Mart’s top executives to an extensive bribery scheme in Mexico, depicting the company in a fairly negative light, a variety of New York City politicians latched onto the report in order to further their arguments against the superstore ever setting up shop in the city. The group of elected officials who have sent out statements on the issue includes three top mayoral candidate in 2013, as well as a congressional contender in Queens, demonstrating the salience of rhetorically torching the company in local politics.

Read more.

walmartfreenyc:

Reports that Walmart bribed Mexican officials gave new ammunition yesterday to local mayoral hopefuls opposed to the chain coming here.

“The corporation’s tactics of bribery, scheming and corruption are the latest in a litany of despicable business practices,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer called again for Walmart to be shut out after The New York Times yesterday reported that the company paid more than $24 million in bribes to get quick permits to build stores.

De Blasio said the city “cannot open its doors to a company that sanctions bribery.”

City Controller John Liu said “the report suggests a willful disregard for legal and ethical compliance at the highest levels of the corporation.”

Stuart Appelbaum, the president of Retail, Wholesale and department Store Union, compared Wal-Mart’s lobbying in New York City to the widespread bribing in Mexico.

“These so-called donations and contributions have been the core of Wal-Mart’s campaign to break into this coveted urban market…New Yorkers have a right to know what Wal-Mart has done and spent to buy its way into the city.”

Appelbaum is calling on Wal-Mart to disclose all spending in its campaign to get into New York.

walmartfreenyc:

There’s laundry list of meetings that Walmart and Related Companies have skipped around the city, according to the Walmart Free New York coalition:

• Walmart skipped multiple public hearings held by the New York City Council in 2011
• Related Companies agreed to discuss its Gateway II proposal with the East New York Community Board, only to cancel 20 minutes before the meeting was slated to start.
• Related Companies refused to meet with community leaders on multiple occasions – not responding to multiple requests via letter and in-person visit.
• Walmart held a secret meeting in Brooklyn and refused to allow councilmembers and members of the community board to attend.
• Walmart CEO and company board members won’t grant a meeting with their own associates, even after asked multiple times by OUR Walmart members.

New Yorkers are, once again, disappointed and angry at Walmart. Read the full story.

walmartfreenyc:

* It’s getting personal: Walmart opponents are taking their battle to keep the retail giant out of New York City to the doorstep of one of its board members. Walmart Free NYC plans to leaflet outside the Sixth Avenue office of M. Michele Burns, who works for insurance firm Marsh & McLennan, and try to deliver her a letter asking her to meet with Walmart workers. (They’ve tried twice before without success.) Even if she doesn’t respond, the anti-Walmart forces hope to draw enough attention outside her office to get the company’s attention – and put all its board members on notice that they could get the same treatment. Attempts to reach Burns for comment were unsuccessful. - from “Heard Around Town, March 22, 2012,” City and State

walmartfreenyc:

When Walmart provides poverty-wage jobs in communities throughout Los Angeles, taxpayers have to bear the brunt of the public assistance costs that employees file for. If Walmart enters NYC, the same thing could happen here.

Read more about the Walmart workers fighting poverty in LA from the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), and watch the YouTube video here.

walmartfreenyc:

Walmart is the biggest company in the United States and the country’s largest food retailer. Walmart is so big that it has an unprecedented amount of power in all sectors of the economy. Food is no exception. When there is one player this large connecting food producers and food consumers,…