Friday, May 4, 2012

Wal-Mart to pay $4.8 million in back wages

By Ylan Q. Mui, Published: May 1

The Labor Department on Tuesday ordered Wal-Mart to pay $4.8 million in back wages and damages to thousands of employees who were denied overtime charges, the latest in a string of embarrassments for the company over its business practices.
The department said its decision affects roughly 4,500 vision-center managers and asset-protection coordinators who worked at Wal-Mart between 2004 and 2007. Wal-Mart had considered those employees exempt from federal regulations requiring overtime pay but reclassified them in 2007. The government and the retailer have been negotiating the amount owed since then.
“When the issues resolved today were initially raised, we took them seriously and fully cooperated with the Department of Labor to make sure they were corrected,” Wal-Mart spokesman Greg Rossiter said.
The company said asset-protection coordinators are entitled to receive an average of $290 under the agreement, while the average for vision center managers is $2,300. Wal-Mart was also fined $464,000 in civil penalties.
“Let this be a signal to other companies that when violations are found, the Labor Department will take appropriate action to ensure that workers receive the wages they have earned,” Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis said.
The decision comes as Wal-Mart faces investigations into its Mexican operations after the New York Times reported that company executives turned a blind eye while employees allegedly bribed local officials to approve new stores.
The Justice Department has been conducting a criminal probe of the company since December to determine whether it violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Meanwhile, two Democratic lawmakers are looking into Wal-Mart’s lobbying efforts. The Post has reported that Wal-Mart executives sat on the boards of trade organizations that have sought to amend the FCPA. The company has said it did not directly lobby on the issue.
But the reports have rattled investors and reinvigorated Wal-Mart’s critics. New York City’s pension fund, which holds a significant stake in the company, plans to oppose the nomination of several directors to the company’s board. Meanwhile, union and activist groups recently protested the retailer’s efforts to expand in New York.
On Tuesday, Making Change at Walmart, backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, said the Labor Department decision represented a troubling philosophy among company officials.
“The fines Walmart must pay for its overtime violations are just another side effect of the company’s growth at any cost strategy,” the group said in a statement. “Walmart’s top executives and the Walton heirs who own a majority of the company have shown they are willing to break the law and harm workers in the name of more profits.”
This was not the first time Wal-Mart has run afoul of federal overtime laws. In 2007, the Labor Department ordered it to pay nearly $34 million in back wages to 87,000 workers — some of whom were owed more than $10,000 each.

Stop WalMart's Sneaky Invasionhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUHienDVtIk
Let's make it REALLY hard for WalMart to want to be here!!!  If anyone is interested in leafletting and picketing at the WalMart recruitment center in Eureka, please reply.

Press Release
Press Conference / Rally & March

DROP THE CHARGES AGAINST THE SANTA CRUZ ELEVEN

Stop Wasting Taxpayers Money on These Witch-Hunt Prosecutions!!

CONTACT: Dr. Steve Pleich
831-466-6078
spleich@gmail.com
 



Friday, May 4, 2012
Press Conference & Rally at 2pm
March at 2:30! 


Meet at the steps of the Santa Cruz Court House
701 Ocean Street 


On Friday, May 4th, at 2:00 PM, at the Santa Cruz Courthouse, there will be a press conference, rally and march to demand DROPPING ALL CHARGES against the Santa Cruz Eleven. The Santa Cruz Eleven are local community members who have been charged with an unprecedented variety of offenses arising from their alleged involvement with the occupation of a long-time vacant bank building late last fall, 2011. 


The Santa Cruz Eleven were participating in constitutionally protected activities either as news gatherers, observers, or as supporters, including a mediator between police and activists inside the occupied building. 


Each of these defendants has been charged with the following four charges: (1) felony conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor, (2) felony vandalism, (3) misdemeanor trespass by entering and occupying, and (4) refusing to leave private property. They are facing long jail sentences. 


These defendants posed no threat to public order and community safety by their actions, either as chroniclers of the events, or as supporters of the occupiers and the occupation. 


Supporters of the Santa Cruz Eleven are seeking local, regional, national and international support for the defense of these community members. 


The cost of these prosecutions (including the prosecution and defense attorneys, court costs, and police costs for testimony) is costing taxpayers upwards of a million dollars, with judges dropping charges, and the DA refiling based on no additional evidence. 


All charges based on this constitutionally protected activity should be dropped immediately. 


Sponsored by the Watsonville Brown Berets, Supporters of the Santa Cruz Eleven. Please contact for your endorsement or for more information. 


http://santacruzeleven.org/ 






SPREAD THE WORD & SHARE THE FLYER! 


Facebook Event:
http://www.facebook.com/events/357262840999115/ 


Color PDF:
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2012/04/30/santa-cruz-11-rally.pdf 


Black & White PDF:
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2012/04/30/santa-cruz-11-rally-bw.pdf 







Wednesday, May 2, 2012

25 Ohio Super Max Prisoners Start a Hunger Strike

Monday April 30th. Today at least twenty five prisoners at Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) began a hunger strike. They are demanding that the Warden meet and negotiate with them for improved conditions in Ohio's super-max prison. These hunger strikers say they intend to continue to refuse food until their demands are met. Another, larger group of prisoners will show symbolic solidarity with the hunger strikers, and workers outside of prison by also refusing food on a one-day fast tomorrow, for May Day, the international day of worker solidarity and resistance. Information about the hunger strike is limited at this time, because super-max prisoners have very constrained access to communication with the outside world. The hunger strikers are asking supporters of their cause to participate by calling Warden David Bobby (330 743-0700) and ODRC director Gary Mohr (614-752-1164). The hunger strikers are asking people to encourage Warden Bobby to meet with the prisoners and take their demands seriously. This is the second hunger strike at OSP this year. The first occurred on Feb 20th-23rd in solidarity with the Occupy movement's call for an "Occupy for Prisoners" day of action. That hunger strike ended with Warden Bobby, as well as officials from Central Office in Columbus, promising to increase recreation time to the court-mandated minimum as well as improve enrichment programming, food quality and commissary practices. At this time, it is unclear if that promise was kept and what relationship, if any, the current hunger strike has with February's Occupy for Prisoners hunger strike. Ohio State Penitentiary opened in 1998. It houses over 270 level 4 and 5 maximum security prisoners, and until recently also housed 116 of Ohio's death row prisoners. OSP was built in response to the 1993 uprising at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.