FROM: Wal-Mart Watch
The Senate Banking Committee is currently considering legislation to permanently block commercial retailers like Wal-Mart from receiving industrial loan charters. Please send a note to the Senate Banking Committee and ask them to stop the Bank of Wal-Mart.
Toxic products, the newest issue of Wal-Mart Watch shows the utter lack of the corporation taking responsibility. *Clicking the link orpicture will open a PDF file.
Danger for Sale: How Wal-Mart's Unethical Practices Endanger ConsumersIn this issue, “Danger for Sale,” we expose Wal-Mart’s woeful record on consumer product safety issues. Whether it is E. Coli in the meat, melamine in the dog food, or lead paint on the children’s toys – far too many dangerous products have turned up on Wal-Mart’s shelves, and far too little effort has been given by Wal-Mart to ensure the safety and well-being of its customers.
As the largest retailer in the world, Wal-Mart could use its clout to push manufacturers into raising the safety standards of their products. Instead, Wal-Mart continues to demand low prices at any cost and any standard from manufacturers, putting consumers at risk.
Click here to download Issue 4 of Wal-Mart Watch In Depth: Danger for Sale >>
In other news Trader Joe's is eliminating 1 ingredient products from China from it's shelves. More info on that and background can be found below
(1-16-08) "I wouldn't buy it," McPherson says. She likes to buy American, because she thinks "made in the USA" makes a product better and safer, and also because she wants to support the U.S. economy.
It seems that Trader Joe's is hearing directly from consumers who feel the same way. Customer concern about Trader Joe's selling fresh garlic from China prompted the chain to announce that it would phase out "single ingredient" foods from China early this year. Processed foods that contain ingredients from China would still be sold, presumably.
(2-11-08) By April 1, Trader Joe's will phase out single-ingredient Chinese imports such as garlic, frozen organic spinach, ginger and edamame, a green soybean, says spokeswoman Alison Mochizuki. The ban doesn't include products with ingredients from China, a leading source of vitamins and minerals used in many processed foods.
With 285 stores in 23 states, Trader Joe's is known for good prices on a wide selection of exotic items, from Australian licorice to Indian pilaf. Trader Joe's says the products it bought from China were safe. But "our customers have voiced their concerns about products from this region, and we have listened," Mochizuki said.
Federal regulators last year warned about contaminated Chinese pet food ingredients, fish containing antibiotics not allowed in human food, and toothpaste laced with a chemical used in antifreeze.
And let's not forget, I got the Health Care survey, which the AFL-CIO has been asking people to take, reminded to me again via the NYC Central Labor Council's E-Mail. So heres a reminder:
Take the AFL-CIO Health Care for America Survey
Make your voice heard on health care
Take the 2008 Health Care for America Survey today.
In solidarity,
Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO
More Info:
Tell Us Your Health Care Story at AFL-CIO WebBlog
This is also some noteworthy news.
- [Guardian.co.uk] British union plans merger with American steelworkers
(2-11-08) Two of the largest British and American unions are hoping to announce an agreement this summer to create a transatlantic super-union capable of defending workers' rights in the globalised marketplace.
Unite, which has about two million members, and the United Steelworkers union (USW), which represents about a million members in the US, Canada and the Caribbean, see the creation of an international union presence as the key to meeting the challenges posed by the onward march of globalisation.
Unite's joint general secretary, Derek Simpson, said: "Unions which are organised nationally are not in a position to successfully challenge multinational companies over employment terms. There are some things over which you have no control or influence at all and many where you have so little it amounts to nothing." Simpson argues that, by contrast, multinational companies can use the threat of relocating to other countries to make their influence felt.
(2-11-08) The cuts would be in addition to the 33,600 union workers who left through buyouts and early retirements in 2006 and 2007, when Ford lost a combined $15.3 billion. Further reductions may help Ford restore profit by speeding the hiring of new workers who would be paid about half as much as current employees.Can't say I didn't see that one coming, I tried to warn you guys, now your stuck with a POS contract and the entire US auto industry, which by the way isn't securely staying on American soil (no wording in the contract), is a $19 an hour job.
- [UnionReview by me] UAW: Some Reasons for GM Workers to Vote NO!
(9-29-07) They said (UAW) the strike was for job security , that management (GM) wouldn't meet them at all in negotiations, what they came back with doesn't address job security, only an empty promise that the company (GM) would try to invest in US manufacturing, This contract from an outsiders point of view is a disgrace , it takes away wage increases under the terms of "bonuses" instead of raises, it gives a union that seems more focused to organize outside of its natural boundaries , writers , student workers, etc. complete control of all welfare monies of its GM membership. And lastly it divides the entire group of GM workers into two separate tiers, who obviously will not be able to ever fight as a unified body ever again.Nobody listens anymore.
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