By Doug Cunningham

Wal-Mart has not kept its word to the Shank family. The company sued the family trying to get a trust fund settlement that's used to pay for medical care for a woman who suffered brain injuries in an auto accident. Despite announcing it was dropping its lawsuit last month, Wal-Mart still has the $200,000 left in the medical trust fund tied up so the family still can’t use it to pay for Debbie Shank’s medical costs.

By Doug Cunningham

Walmart said Tuesday more than half of its workers are now enrolled in the company's health insurance plan. Wal-Mart recently revised the plan to make it more affordable. Critics though say the new plan is still unreachable for many workers who earn on average $20,000 per year.

By Doug Cunningham

Deborah Shank is a former Wal-Mart worker seriously injured in an auto crash who needs constant continuing care for brain damage. Jim Shank says when his wife won a suit for a trust fund to pay for her future medical needs, Wal-Mart sued her to recover the more than $474,000 that Wal-Mart’s employee health insurance had paid.

[Shank]: “Just to show the greed and arrogance of the company, they locked up the money - they got a judgment to lock up the money before they even won the settlement. They put a freeze on the fund so I couldn't spend any of it. They just wanted to make sure that there was still as much there as they could get. To me that was pretty low because we still had bills to pay. But they didn't care. They wanted to lock up that money so they could get what all we had."

By Doug Cunningham

A Philadelphia judge is awarding current and former Wal-Mart workers in Pennsylvania $62 million more in damages because Wal-Mart didn’t pay them for off-the-clock work and missed rest breaks. The jury found Wal-Mart required workers to work without pay by directing them not to record all their hours on the companies computerized pay system.Last year a jury in the case awarded $78.5 million to Wal-Mart workers. The jury found that by cheating workers out of their paid breaks and forcing them to work off the clock, Wal-Mart saved more than $49 million.

By Doug Cunningham

A new report from the Economic Policy Institute called “The Wal-Mart Effect” says the U.S. has lost 200,000 jobs due to Wal-Mart’s trade with China. WakeUpWalMart.com is launching an animated TV spot today highlighting The Wal-Mart Effect on American jobs. The ad questions why Wal-Mart does business with China, asserting that China sells weapons to terrorists in Afghanistan.

Is Wal-Mart’s involvement hurting a push by CEOs to reform healthcare? Some critics of the company think so. Jesse Russell reports:

Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott joined other major corporate CEOs and the Service Employees International Union at a summit pushing for universal healthcare coverage in the United States, more than 300 critics of the retail chain were outside calling on the company to take the lead and provide coverage for all of its employees.

Chris Kofinis is with the organization WakeUpWalMart:

[Kofinis]: "When Scott's asked, you know, you support universal health care. Does that mean you're gonna provide better health care for your workers today? Lead by example? What does he say? No I won't."

Human Rights Watch is a group typically focused on the bad behavior of foreign countries. On Tuesday the organization chose a new target, the world’s largest retailer. Jesse Russell looks at the study:

Wal-Mart can never seem to catch a break in the torrential downpour of bad news. A new report from the organization, Human Rights Watch alleges that Wal-Mart often skirts the law when faced with a union organizing drive. The report reads: “While many American companies use weak U.S. laws to stop workers from organizing, the retail giant stands out for the sheer magnitude and aggressiveness of its anti-union apparatus.” The report suggests that weak labor laws allow the company to force workers to attend anti-union meetings, spy on workers, and fire them for union support. The organization also noted that the company has a “union hotline” in case they suspect an employee of being a union organizer and all managers receive a manual which presents ways to “remain free" in the event a store is chosen for a union organizing campaign. Wal-Mart has managed to keep unions out of all of its stores – with the exception of four in Canada.

Organized labor has held a strong front against Wal-Mart’s attempts to open a store in New York City. On Tuesday CEO Lee Scott told the New York Times that he no longer felt moving into the city is worth it. Jesse Russell reports:

Organized labor is stopping short of calling Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott’s comments to the New York Times a victory. On Tuesday the big wig of the world’s largest retailer said he doesn’t “care” if the company ever opens a store in New York City and said the effort to break in has been expensive and exasperating. Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union President Stuart Applebaum said he is pleased with Scott’s comments:

By Doug Cunningham

Wal-Mart is trying to attract more upper-income customers, but according to a study done by the SEIU backed Wal-Mart Watch, consumers with household incomes of $60,000 or more are more likely to have significant concerns about Wal-Mart’s business and labor practices. According to a Wal-Mart Watch survey 58 percent of those households have a negative view of Wal-Mart and am majority say Wal-Mart gives workers poor benefits. Wal-Mart Watch says for the giant retailer to reach upper-income customers it will have to change its business practices.

As Jesse Russell reports, the UFCW doesn't trust Wal-Mart to work with labor to provide universal health care reform given its failure to provide good affordable health care for its own workers.

The announcement of the new healthcare initiative between the SEIU, Wal-Mart, CWA, At&t and others was met with a great deal of skepticism. Early Wednesday morning the WakeUpWalmart campaign, a project of the United Food and Commercial Workers issued a stiff statement calling Wal-Mart’s announcement disingenuous. While staying focused on Wal-Mart and not mentioning any other organizations WakeUpWalmart wrote that it isn’t surprising Wal-Mart would now want to support a federal health care initiative, but it surprising that “anyone, in good conscience, would give Wal-Mart a stage to make empty statements that will not give health care to one more uninsured Wal-Mart worker.” The organization goes on to charge Wal-Mart that if they are serious about providing universal health care, they should start in their own backyard with its own employees as well as make universal healthcare a litmus test for everyone of its political contributions. The organization ends the statement vowing to continue their campaign and saying that Americans need to remember the company’s record of gender discrimination, child labor violations, destruction of the American middle class, and history of paying poverty level wages. When WakeUpWalmart’s Chris Kofinis was asked if his organization had anything to add concerning CWA and SEIU standing side-by-side with Wal-Mart he referred us backs to the statement and had nothing else to add.

By Doug Cunningham

It would hard to find stranger bedfellows than Wal-Mart and the SEIU, but they've joined the Communications Workers of America, AT&T and other Fortune 500 companies in Better Health Care Together. It's an alliance to fundamentally reform health care to achieve universal health care in the U.S., but without agreement on a specific health care coverage reform plan. SEIU spokesperson Sara Howard.

[Howard 1]: "This problem is ever going to be solved until the business community gets involved. So it's very exciting that business is stepping up to the plate. It's a matter of harnessing the political will to get this done. And what's exciting about today is that we took a big step closer in that direction of getting things done."

An attempt by Wal-Mart to dismiss one of the world's largest sex discrimination suits has failed Jesse Russell has more:

By Jesse Russell

The world's largest retailer had argued that because it's 3400 stores operate like independent businesses the class action sex discrimination lawsuit filed in 2004 should be dismissed. The 9th U.S. District Court disagreed and now the company will face a trial in which the suit claims that nearly 1.5 million female employees were discriminated against in pay and promotions. The company could now face billions of dollars in damages to women. Wal-Mart has insisted that if female employees truly felt discriminated against, they should file lawsuits against individual stores. The court wrote that evidence suggested "female employees nationwide were subjected to a common pattern and practice of discrimination."

Wal-Mart will pay more than $33 million dollars in unpaid overtime wages to workers. Jesse Russell reports:

The decision by Wal-Mart to pay more than $33 million in wages owed to workers came after the company went to the Labor Department in 2005 asking for a review of overtime calculations. The company says it had found small mistakes in overtime calculations, not from lawsuits tied to alleged payroll violations. The settlement that the world's largest retailer reached with the labor department includes no fines or penalties. In late 2006 workers in Pennsylvania won a $78.5 million dollar lawsuit after court found evidence that the company had forced them to work off the clock and through break periods.

By Doug Cunningham

The future of state fair share health care laws has been dealt a serious blow by a Maryland court ruling this week against the landmark Maryland law. The law targeted Wal-Mart by forcing it to pay 8 percent of payroll into a health insurance fund unless it provided better health insurance for its workers. But the U.S. Court of Appeals in Baltimore ruled that that law violates the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act by forcing companies to abide by different state regulations on health plans rather than the single federal standard. So it’s back to the drawing board for states that want to force Wal-Mart to provide health insurance for its workers instead of forcing them onto state Medicaid rolls.

A labor rights organization has lost a lawsuit seeking to tie Wal-Mart to labor violations committed by over seas suppliers. Jesse Russell has more:

Wal-Mart can not be held responsible for the actions of overseas suppliers. That was the ruling by a federal courts judge on a complaint filed last year by the International Labor Rights Fund alleging that thousands of workers for Wal-Mart suppliers were forced to work overtime and in many cases were fired for seeking to form a union. The organization said it was Wal-Mart's failure to enforce labor contracts with those suppliers that required them to abide by local labor standards. The judge in the case said that the local wage and violations should be handled by the countries the suppliers are located in and that Wal-Mart should not be made a part of it.

By Doug Cunningham

A new ad campaign by WakeUpWal-Mart.Com poses the question “Would Jesus shop at Wal-Mart?” More than 130 clergy people signed a letter to Wal-Mart’s CEO asking Wal-Mart to provide a higher standard for its workers and their families that would reflect the best of Christian values. That letter accompanies the ad. In the ad a Kentucky pastor asks “Can we shop at Wal-Mart without insulting God?” The TV ad is running in 43 media markets.

With Wal-Mart employees feeling more and more powerless, the company has adopted a new program to try and win them back. Jesse Russell has more:

In recent months the world’s largest company has embarked on a new profit saving mission - a mission that includes using more part time workers, capping wages, and stiffer penalties for unpaid days off. The plan has created outrage amongst some employees and demonstrations have even broken out at some Wal-Mart stores around the country. According to the New York Times the company has adopted a new program intended to show the employees that the corporation still cares. Managers of the Wal-Mart stores will meet with 10 workers each week to hear their concerns. In addition, store managers can extend the 10 percent employee discount to an additional 10 percent on a single item in the store during the holiday period. The program also includes a special polo shirt for employees who have been with the company for more than 20 years. Wal-Mart does have other methods for employees to reach out to management - including an anonymous employee complaint line and an internal website where workers can ask questions of executives in the company including CEO Lee Scott.

By Doug Cunningham

The United Food and Commercial Workers union may be close to organizing a Wal-Mart store in Canada. Contract negotiations at the store in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec have resolved all issues except wages. The UFCW says the store is much closer to its first collective bargaining agreement, with the pay issue going to arbitration in November. Bob Linton is with UFCW Canada.

[Bob Linton]: "We're guardedly optimistic. Obviously the monetary issues are a significant part of that collective agreement. And if we can get that hopefully everything else will flow smoothly from there."

By Doug Cunningham

Wal-Mart workers are going for another $68 million after winning $78.5 million from Wal-Mart in Pennsylvania Friday. A jury found that Wal-Mart violated labor laws by forcing workers to work off the clock for no pay and through breaks. Wal-Mart says it will appeal, but the workers are also going after the extra millions because the jury also found that Wal-Mart acted in bad faith. A California jury last year awarded workers $172 million for 116,000 workers who got cheated out of meal breaks by Wal-Mart.

By Jesse Russell

In order to create a cheaper workforce, Wal-Mart is looking at adding more part-timers and reducing full-timers. According to the New York Times, the chain is aiming for a workforce of 40 percent part-time workers, a move that could further reduce the number of employees receiving health care benefits and make it even more difficult for the company's low-income workers. Another part of the cost reduction plan is for the company to implement a wage cap. Some current and former employees told the New York Times that they saw the changes as a way to force out "longtime higher -wage workers."