I have been taking a little time off at Joe's Union Review, but I have been keeping up with labor news lately and am a bit delighted with some lawsuits and perturbed by other happenings, so here's my first article in about 2 weeks.

Let me first explain that prevailing wage is the amount of money a person should make on a publicly funded project in a given municipality, that means that if there is public money invested into a project, there is also a standard for the area that a person working on the job should earn to do the work he/she is affluent at. Not every state has these provisions and the ones that do often have contractors that use any means necessary to circumvent this regulation, all of which are against the law, I write of 2 such instances that were recently revealed, I further delve into how immigrants are being preyed upon by the millions in this country and how laws are currently being written to protect employers and punish working people. The immigration policies under the Republican corporate machine are helping to fragment labor rights.

This morning Wake Up Wal-Mart, along with several other groups, hand delivered an official complaint against Wal-Mart to the FEC. Along with the complaint were 60,000 signatures from our members and concerned citizens demanding that the FEC investigate Wal-Mat's illegal meetings where they intimidated workers and attempted to scare them into voting against Democrats.

Following is our statement:

When the news broke earlier this month that Wal-Mart started organizing its store supervisors against Barack Obama and other pro-worker candidates who support the Employee Free Choice Act, there was widespread outrage - and rightly so. 

According to the Wall Street Journal:

"The meeting leader said, 'I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won't have a vote on whether you want a union,'" said a Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri. "I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote," she said.

Yikes! This obviously raises a lot of questions, but let's start with two I want to specifically address: Is this legal? And what is Wal-Mart afraid of?

But before we begin - more than 25,000 people have already signed a citizen petition to the Federal Election Commission asking for an investigation into Wal-Mart's electioneering.  Can you add your name to our letter?

In case you missed it, we just sent out an e-mail to our members asking them to write to the Federal Election Commission and demand an investigation into Wal-Mart's shady tactics. If you haven't heard, the Wall Street Journal broke a story on Friday about mandatory meetings Wal-Mart was having where they were telling their employees not to vote for Democrats. This is, hands down, a disgusting abuse of power, and it may just be illegal too! So take a minute or two to write to the FEC.

Below is the full message that went out to our members, if you didn't get it, you should sign up!

From the subscription-only Roll Call:

If indeed Wal-Mart is mobilizing its employees to vote against Democrats, it’s sending a mixed message with its political action committee donations.

Wal-Mart is on pace to give more money to House Democrats this cycle than House Republicans for the first time ever. And as Wal-Mart’s contributions reach further and deeper into the Democratic Caucus, it’s becoming more difficult for the company’s critics to demonize the corporate giant.

Through June 30, 54 percent of contributions to House candidates delivered by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. PAC for Responsible Government this cycle have gone to Democrats. Last cycle, Wal-Mart contributed 67 percent of its House candidate money to Republicans. And in 2004, Republicans received 80 percent of the contributions.

Wal-Mart knows which way the political winds are blowing. They're telling their employees to vote for McCain because that's the most competitive election around, but they know the House is far gone.

This is a potentially dangerous move for progressives, as Wal-Mart seeks to castrate critics in the Democratic caucus and stymie legislation that would make it easier for its workers to unionize.

That's why, as our caucus grows and as corporate and other nefarious interests seek to undermine our party, it'll be our job to try and hold them accountable.

Since 2004, Wal-Mart has given $27,500 to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Md.), $22,500 to House Majority Whip James Clyburn (S.C.), $12,000 to Chief Deputy Whip Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), and $20,500 to House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (N.Y.).

Hoyer, Clyburn, and Wasserman Schultz are no surprise. It would be nice to have Rangel return the money, however, since he really shouldn't be on this list. The rest are weak to bad Democrats that we'll have to contend with at some point in the (hopefully) near future. And remember, they aren't the only ones getting fed by the Wal-Mart beast.

Wal-Mart employees have received the benefits of a union.

Chinese Wal-Mart employees that is.

The thing is that the Chinese government insisted on it.

This one seemed to have gotten dropped from the mass media after being reported by the New York Times on Friday.

This is one of those headlines that I have wondered if I would ever live to see.  And there it is.  The entire economic edifice and ideology that has shaped the world through my lifetime now caught up short.  And those of us who have been ridiculed and berated for years, decades, about the unsustainability of an economic worldview based on cheap and abundant fossil fuels?  Now we're told that we're standing in the way of the drilling that will get us out of it!  

Have you heard about Wal-Mart's campaign to intimidate its workers into voting against Democrats?

Suppose Obama were to say something along the lines of "When I am elected we are going to enforce the law."  Nothing more.  This is not a statement that people can find fault with.

The world's largest corporation fears that workers will be able to unionize and seek better working conditions in the event that Barack Obama wins the presidency in November.  Wal-Mart forced store managers and department supervisors to attend mandatory meetings in order to mobilize them against the Democratic candidate.  The retail giant used fear tactics in the meetings, telling their managers that workers would be forced to pay huge union dues while receiving nothing in return.  They also claimed that large numbers of jobs would be lost because unionization would cause labor costs to rise.  It's really no wonder that Wal-Mart would be frightened of a unified, mobilized and proactive workforce, considering the corporation minimizes employee costs in order to increase its profits.  They do that through low pay, discriminatory promotions, dehumanizing scheduling  and poor benefits.

More after the flip

Today’s WSJshows just how important the Employee Free Choice Act [EFCA]is to creating a more equal America and addressing corporate power—Wal-Mart and Cintas are fighting to stop this legislation which would help protect workers who want to unionize. EFCA is a key part of making jobs safer and fixing the income inequality crisis.

I’ve written here before about Cintas, a company that has violated employees’ rights under federal labor law and supported weaker regulation of hazardous solvents.

(Cross-posted at the Change to Win blog, CtW Connect)

There’s a great story in today’s Wall Street Journal describing how Wal-Mart, terrified of how a President Obama might make it easier for workers to join together in unions, is pressuring its employees to vote for John McCain.

What has struck fear into the heart of Wal-Mart? And what can you do to fight back? Find out after the jump...

Today on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, a story exposed Wal-Mart's shady intimidation of its workers, proving that Wal-Mart is using the same old strong arm tactics that they've always used. What is worse is that they're using these tactics to scare their employees into voting against Democrats. We think it's a disgusting abuse of power, but not terribly surprising. Here's our official statement about the article:

Wal-Mart decides to help Republicans in the upcoming elections.  They are aware that Democrats care about the common worker.  While they state that they do not ask for their workers to vote one way or the other.  People that have attended the meeting have stated that it was apparent who they wanted their workers to vote for!  Let’s boycott Wal-Mart!

  Where does a politician, or a political party, draw the line in the willingness to sacrifice principles for a few bucks? When we talk about the need to "change" the political environment and the culture of money and politics, isn't there some place where you can say, "right here, this is the perfect example and we aren't going to let this go on anymore"? I would argue that the place to draw the line is the relationship between the Democratic Party and Wal-Mart. And the time to draw the line is now.

Jason Furman, a key economic adviser on Barack's campaign, wrote a paper in 2005 that argued "Wal-Mart's low prices and other policies benefit low-income consumers."  

The paper, "Wal-Mart: A Progressive Success Story" [PDF] celebrates the Bentonville behemoth as boldly "blazing paths" and "indisputably [making] a tremendous contribution to productivity."

Nothing about how Wal-Mart destroys local economies, drives down wages, forces American jobs to go to communist China or destroys the environment.

But, Furman did say that he'd like to see Wal-Mart provide universal health care, according to the Weekly Standard.

The Huffington Post reported on Wednesday that Wal-Mart has raised wages.  In China.  But despite the victory of the Chinese, Wal-Mart's American employees are suffering a decrease in actual income:

In 2004, Wal-Mart reported an average (Wal-Mart refuses to disclose a median wage which would provide a more accurate picture of wages at the company) hourly wage of $9.68. In 2008, the reported wage is $10.86. But in 2004 dollars, the average hourly wage is $9.55, which means workers are worse off today than they were four years ago.

This is an ongoing series from the national tour for THE UPRISING. You can order The Uprising at Amazon.com or through your local independent bookstore.

NEW YORK'S LA GUARDIA AIRPORT - To paraphrase Jerry Garcia, my book tour has been a long, strange trip - but as my newspaper column this week notes, it has been strange in how much of the same I've seen.

By now, you’ve heard that WAL*MART has changed their logo to Walmart*. Big deal. Where the old logo used to scream in all caps, with its central star, yellow happy face, and red and blue colors announced how much more American than everybody else the company was, the old logo uses a softer blue and yellow, as if to say, "Okay, okay, we’re going to be a store for cowardly appeasers now."

Well, this cowardly appeaser still ain’t shopping there.