Apparently a Wal Mart in Quebec combatted the attempt at unionization of the workers by deciding to close the store.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/10/busin ... cmart.html
I guess that is one way to keep your employees in line!

The Daily Show had a great story on this. One of the best pieces I've seen in awhile.

Its called "Union Jacked".

Pretty hilarious!

Wal-Mart is suing a nearby town for rejecting plans to put one of their superstores on Main Street, thus mucking up the brick-lined old-town feel entirely. The Zionsville planning commission rejected these plans twice, and this is their rebuttal.

I'm sure there must have been similar lawsuits to this but am not aware of any offhand. It should be fun (depressing?) to see how this plays out though. Has Wal-Mart also sued your town? How did it go?

Big, hefty, smelly crap. This Slate article from yesterday shows how some Costco practices contrast with Walmart pretty well. Check it out.

geiginni wrote:WalMart is the essence of Soviet - it is what we as a society had worked so long to avoid. It is GUM department store ca. 1977 without the pictures of Bhreshnev.

I'm really interested in how High Capitalism seems a lot like practical communism in so many aspects. Go into the Western town centres, pretty much any of them, and see how they are alike. Go to the suburbs and see how they are alike. Get on the highway and see how all the cars basically look the same.

I am convinced that only idealists believe in free markets. The dudes actually in charge? They'd much rather hack up a cartel and be done with it.

Linus Van Pelt wrote:

Angry_Dragon wrote:I really don't like the idea of this place whatsoever but, where else can you buy a videogame, groceries and linens?

At Meijer you can buy a videogame, groceries, linens, and more, at 3 in the morning, and get rung up by a Union cashier. I'm happy to be a Michigander.

I second Linus on this. There are plenty of worthwhile alternatives to Sam Walton's Evil Empire, but most folks are too lazy and/or dumb to seek them out. Here in Michigan, Meijer uses union labor; the one closest to our house has a lot of the same employees that were working there when I moved here three years ago, which is pretty unusual at a Wal-Mart.

Fuck Wal-Mart. They're bad on an incredible number of levels.

Wal-Mart, please fuck off.

On a related note, the last time I was in a Wal-Mart it looked like everything in the store had a NASCAR tie-in of some sort (including kids' clothes, toiletries and food). What the fuck is with people that shop at Wal-Mart that this is a selling point to them?

Marsupialized wrote:I would punch in when I was leaving and punch out when I got there the next day so it looked like I worked like 16 hours a day. I ripped them off that way for a good 6 months and thousands of dollars before they caught on.

I think your next status should be 'Real Criminal'

On a related note - Home of Meijer: Grand Rapids! I interviewed Fred Meijer earlier this year for a documentary and he used a total quotable, "All my republican friends think I'm a democrat and all my democrat friends think I'm a republican"

Octopus Alaska wrote:

Marsupialized wrote:I would punch in when I was leaving and punch out when I got there the next day so it looked like I worked like 16 hours a day. I ripped them off that way for a good 6 months and thousands of dollars before they caught on.

I think your next status should be 'Real Criminal

I was just a dumb worker bee who didn't know how to use the clock right.

What's more fucked up is hearing about their no overtime policy and how hard they get on the managers about watching costs and whatever, why someone didn't notice is beyond me. Just slipped right through the cracks, I have a knack for doing that.

30 packs of Bud for $17.

Octopus Alaska wrote:

Marsupialized wrote:I would punch in when I was leaving and punch out when I got there the next day so it looked like I worked like 16 hours a day. I ripped them off that way for a good 6 months and thousands of dollars before they caught on.

I think your next status should be 'Smooth Criminal'

Did they try to make you pay them back?