Wal-Mart War Room

[kimo55]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

Wal-Mart at Mexico Ruins Sparks Protest
residents of an ancient Mexican city protested on Saturday at the construction of a Wal-Mart store on the edge of the ruins

A Teotihuacan pyramid, the archeological site 18 miles from Mexico City.

The sprawling warehouse-style Bodega Aurrera, a unit of Wal-Mart in Mexico, is due to open in December in Teotihuacan, a major archeological site outside Mexico City.

Opponents say it will ruin a way of life that dates back centuries and have taken legal action to stop it, in a fight that gives a grand dimension to the classic battle between big business and small-town values.

"What they are doing in Teotihuacan is destroying Mexico's deepest roots for short-term interests like lower prices," local teacher Emanuel D'Herrera told about a dozen protesters outside Teotihuacan's town hall. "This is the flag of conquest by global interests, the symbol of the destruction of our culture."
The Teotihuacan construction site lies less than a mile from the gated tourist park housing the main ruins and is visible from atop the Pyramid of the Sun that has defined the skyline for 2,000 years.
Critics say the modern warehouse design of the store, which has become a standard bearer of the creeping US cultural invasion of Mexico, clashes with the 1,400-year-old site.

and yet, walmart continues to lie to us and say:
(issues) now raised against Wal-Mart are simply inaccurate and unfair. From the beginning, we have been committed to ensuring that the final treatment of remains is done in a culturally appropriate, respectful and sensitive manner. We are certainly willing to work with recognized descendants to discuss how to accelerate the process of reburial, obviously, in a way that is appropriate and consistent with recognized practices and beliefs."

[Miulang]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

and yet, walmart continues to lie to us and say:
(issues) now raised against Wal-Mart are simply inaccurate and unfair. From the beginning, we have been committed to ensuring that the final treatment of remains is done in a culturally appropriate, respectful and sensitive manner. We are certainly willing to work with recognized descendants to discuss how to accelerate the process of reburial, obviously, in a way that is appropriate and consistent with recognized practices and beliefs."

Uhhuh. and that's why the iwi of the kanaka maoli are still in card board boxes somewhere in Honolulu awaiting reburial while WM proceeds with their planning for an Oct. 13 opening at Keeaumoku St. Another broken promise...

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

Here's a little tidbit about a side of WM you generally never hear about...the perspective of the vendors who supply the megalomonster with its goods...pretty eye opening...

Miulang

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html

[Miulang]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

WM has announced its expansion plans for FY2005. It ain't gonna be pretty, but it is gonna be aggressive!

Here: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?x210703887

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

Here you go...the CEO of WM stating to analysts yesterday that he and his underlings will be monitoring carefully what people who hate them are saying and try to improve conditions for their employees.

You know what the problem/opportunity is when dictums that require major paradigm shifts are uttered in front of a roomful of analysts? Those analysts are going to hold the company to the fire and write stories about "bad" WM if things don't change. In the local WM thread, Ryan printed part of a post from a new WM "employee" at the soon to open Keeaumoku Store. I hope if that was written by a new employee, that this is the first sign of things changing. I'm not going to try to second guess why WM is planning this strategy now, suffice to say that they will now have to be kept honest by their employees and the press.

Here:http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?x211183775

[Miulang]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

Looks like WM is holding fast to its plans to open its Teotihuacan (Mexico City) branch even in the face of local protest (a bunch of people on a hunger strike). Well, I guess WM does have a point: there are other "big box" retailers in the general area already, albeit not as big as WM. Wish those danged Chinese could get their stories right (too bad I can't read Chinese---neither can my computer).

Miulang

Here: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?x211738252

[Miulang]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

No need to go overseas today for the WM snippet. Right here, in my own back yard, a bunch of WM workers have won the right to file a class action suit against WM in this state because of forced overtime for which the complainants say they were not paid.

Sure hope WM stops this practice and doesn't force their workers in Honolulu to do the same thing that the WM workers in Washington allege.

Here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...walmart09.html

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

Things have been kinda slow on the corporate WM front this month. Lately, besides the Keeaumoku opening this past week and the attempts of WM workers in unionize in Quebec, nothing much has happened. However, things are beginning to heat up again, Teotihuacan (Mexico City), where the next global WM is scheduled to open.

More here: http://www.counterpunch.org/carlsen10152004.html

Miulang

[kimo55]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

Things have been kinda slow on the corporate WM front this month. Lately, besides the Keeaumoku opening this past week and the attempts of WM workers in unionize in Quebec, nothing much has happened. However, things are beginning to heat up again, Teotihuacan (Mexico City), where the next global WM is scheduled to open.

More here: http://www.counterpunch.org/carlsen10152004.html

Miulang

It is a depressing prospect to think we live in the day and age where something like this:

"Proponents of pyramid Wal-Mart argue that it will create jobs and serve consumers cheaply-the hallmark of the store's reputation."

justifies the destruction of any respect for ancient cultures.

[Kalihiboy]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

I told everyone that Walmart wants to agressively expand on Oahu, here is more proof.

KalihiBoy

Monday, October 18, 2004

Kids miss box car racing track
A new track planned for Kunia will not be ready until next year as officials raise funds
By Mary Vorsino
mvorsino@starbulletin.com

Krystal Hovious, a budding box car enthusiast, says she misses the hills.

"There's one," said the 14-year-old recently, "where you sit down, brake and then when you're ready you let go of the brake. I was a little scared at first, but after the first try you kind of get the feel of it."

Hovious was one of dozens of kids disappointed this past summer when a nonprofit box car track in Pearl City was forced to shut down to make way for a Wal-Mart.

[Miulang]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

I told everyone that Walmart wants to agressively expand on Oahu, here is more proof...

KalihiBoy

It's these kinds of "little" things that can't be measured in dollars and cents but which will make a biiiig impact on the kids who can't have their boxcar races. But who cares about them? All people care about is those lowlow prices!

Miulang

P.S, what'll probably stop the WM armageddon (maybe not in Hawai'i, but someplace else) is when WM tries to build more urban uberstores. What's gonna stop 'em in their tracks is their unwillingness to let their workers unionize. See, as long as they built their stores in daboonies, people there were just grateful for the job opportunities. People in the city are a whole lot more savvy and worried about things like unsustainable growth, the economic effects of a big box store and the like. If they continue to get the kind of pushback they've been getting from urban areas, more than likely they'll change their business model again and try to find more suburban/country areas to build their 500 stores next year.

[Kalihiboy]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

I think Walmart wants Daie badly, close the Waipahu and Kailua stores and convert it into new Walmarts, keep the Kaheka Street store open as Daie
itself.

They want to expand into Hawaii Kai, because even the rich like to save money.

If Walmart doesnt acquire Daie then they will still expand into Kailua-Kaneohe until they have tapped into just about every single community in this island.

Kalihi Boy

[kimo55]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

They want to expand into Hawaii Kai, because even the rich like to save money.

that is as stereotypical, prejudicial, shortsighted, myopic, ethnocentric and one dimensional an observation as saying "open up a walmart in kalihi for the only reason that even the poor like to save money."

[Konaguy]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

http://www.suntimes.com/output/business/walmart17.html

BY ADAM GELLER ASSOCIATED PRESS

JONQUIERE, Quebec-- The signs topping sales racks wear the same yellow smiley face, but promise "Chute de Prix," instead of price rollbacks. The boxes of Tide lining the shelves in housewares come packed with a bonus CD, just for Canadian stores, inviting shoppers to experience "la passion du Hockey."

But except for a few tweaks, the low-slung gray and blue Wal-Mart store off highway 70 could be almost any one of the retail Goliath's nearly 5,000 discount emporiums in the United States and eight other countries. And that's what worries executives at the Arkansas headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

While still not a certainty, the 165 retirees, single moms, students and other hourly workers at this store 2 1/2 hours north of Quebec City could soon become the first anywhere to extract what the world's largest private employer insists its 1.5 million "associates" around the world neither want nor need-- a union contract. A government agency has certified the workers as a union and told the two sides to negotiate.

[Kalihiboy]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

Yes the statement was stereotypical, but not prejudice. I cant stand Walmart I make no bones about it at all. I'm actually surprised Walmart hasnt built a Sam's Club to try and pry away some of the Costco customers.

I grew up in a wealthy family I can say about all I want to do about rich people.

I dont think there is any room in Kalihi for a Walmart. But I'm sure they have looked into all options. Walmart is more greedy than Ebenezer Scrooge.

Kalihi Boy