Wal-Mart's CEO on Offensive Against Critics

[jamotto]

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By CHUCK BARTELS, Associated Press Writer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, and its chief executive, Lee Scott, went on the offensive Thursday against critics of its employment policies and the impact its stores have on communities where they are located.

The company took out more than 100 full-page newspaper ads Thursday, outlining the wages and benefits it pays its employees and the good the Bentonville-based company says it brings to communities.

Scott said he wants Wal-Mart overcome its reputation as a company that does not pay well and has minimal full-time workers.

"We want to get those myths off the table, set the record straight," Scott said in a phone interview from New York City where he was making a round of media interviews Thursday.

Wal-Mart has been the target of lawsuits accusing the company of bias against women and not paying employees for all the hours they worked. Wal-Mart has vigorously fought the court actions.

The ad says the company's average pay is nearly twice the minimum wage, that 74 percent of its hourly workers are full time and that Wal-Mart offers health and life insurance, company stock and a 401-k retirement plan. Wal-Mart has more than 1 million domestic employees.

"We're taking this time to say, 'Hold on a minute, we have good jobs,'" Scott said.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams would not say how much the company spent on the advertising. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal were among the papers in which Wal-Mart paid for the full-page ads.

The company has also been criticized by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which continues to try to organize Wal-Mart workers. And Wal-Mart's failed attempt to put a store in Inglewood, Calif., where the retailer lost a referendum last year, painted the company as an unwanted source of traffic and low-paying jobs.

"I thought it was ridiculous," Scott said of the attention drawn by the Inglewood failure. "We had a record number of stores open this past year ... (and) this year we will open a record number of stores."

Scott said no one source of criticism prompted the new offensive. "I liken it to being nibbled to death by guppies," Scott said.

The company's Thanksgiving weekend sales failed to meet expectations, and Scott said that prompted Wal-Mart to become more aggressive in merchandising and the way it gets its message across.

But Scott said he does not dismiss concerns that people express when Wal-Mart wants to open a new store.

"I think there's lots of questions when Wal-Mart comes to a town that need to be answered. Not all of those questions are frivolous," he said.

Scott said he planned meetings with a variety of groups not associated with government to help explain Wal-Mart's employment practices, environment-related policies and how it deals with its suppliers. He would not name the organizations, saying did not want the groups to feel they were being used to garner media attention.

"We touch so many lives ... there is almost not a (non-government organization) that does not have an interest in what we as a company are doing," Scott said.

Wal-Mart shares were up 7 cents at $54.15 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. It traded as low as $51.08 last summer.

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The company's Thanksgiving weekend sales failed to meet expectations

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awwww, poor wally world.

[LostInSpace]

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Originally posted by jamotto:

1: Scott said no one source of criticism prompted the new offensive. "I liken it to being nibbled to death by guppies," Scott said.

2: "We touch so many lives ... there is almost not a (non-government organization) that does not have an interest in what we as a company are doing," Scott said.

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1: Awww, you mean like what you do to all the local stores when you guys set up shop.

2: Don't worry the government is looking at you guys becoming a retail monopoly and will pounce on you. The gov's just biding it's time until they can act.

[cyress8]

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Originally posted by LostInSpace:

Originally posted by jamotto:

2: Don't worry the government is looking at you guys becoming a retail monopoly and will pounce on you. The gov's just biding it's time until they can act.

yep i was thinking the same thing, just like what happened to Microsoft

[Scrivener]

Except that Microsoft never had anything remotely resembling a monopoly. That was complete rubbish.

WalMart needs to die. They need to die fast and die hard. Believe me, my new job has me spending about 24hrs a month in WalMarts. I hated them before - but now I absolutely LOATHE them. They are filthy, disorganized, and run and operated by the retarded and the inept.

Today alone I discovered that the department lead had lost the key to the game cases (I'm a Sony Merchandising Rep), meaning I couldn't repair the PS2 or get all the GameCube garbage out of my cases (It had litterally filled two of my three displays cases). I tried to find the manager after that, and after an hour of paging and searching with other employees, I gave up. That store was a mess, and it was one of the better ones.

[Soback]

ROFL, I thought I would never see the day.

So nomad, you do see a problem with socialism...lol

[Wolferz]

Wal-Mart is just another cog in the American Corporate-economic juggernaught.

It wasn't like this under the hand of it's founder Sam Walton. Remember when the company bragged about all of it's goods being "Made in America"? That ideal was apparently tossed in the round file within splickets of the gavel at the probate hearing.

Now they are no different than any other Corporation out there.

A short example of how these guys think if I may....

A friend of mine owns a small manufacturing company in Lexington, Ky. He put a bid into the Toyota plant in Georgetown, Ky. to make a certain part for their cars. He related to me a discussion he had with the management at Toyota regarding the bid. They asked him "How much will your price decrease over time.?" Naturally he questioned their question.."What do you mean by decrease over time?"?" Their reply was, "As your company becomes more proficient, the increase in efficiency should include a decrease in price."

His final reply was, "Have the prices you charge for your cars decreased in the same fashion?"

There it is boys and girls. A prime example of how Big Corporations grab the little guys by the fuzzy wuzzies and pound them.

You just don't mess with 800 pound gorillas.

Unless you like being torn limb from limb. Henry Ford was pretty good at that, from what I have been told by the locals in Ann Arbor Michigan.

It's really ironic when you consider that the first mass manufacturing company bore the name Colt Firearms and it was and probably still is a great place to work.

/rant off...

Bah!