Free Republic

Wal-Mart's cost too high for workers, merchants By BILL DANIO and SUNG SOO KIM With more than 3,000 stores and super centers in the country and more than 1.5 million employees worldwide, there is no denying that Wal-Mart, which wants to build a 135,000-square-foot store in Rego Park, Queens, is a Wall Street darling and a rip-roaring success story. More and more, however, people are beginning to see that Wal-Mart's incredible expansion is only one side of a more complicated story. The other side of the narrative finds Main Street shopping areas closed all over the country. It finds regional...

Last week, Wal-Mart's Canadian division said it would close its first unionized store in North America, making Quebec the latest battleground in the retailer's struggle against unions. Wal-Mart's decision triggered vicious rebukes from leftist Canadian politicians. David Christopherson, a Canadian Member of Parliament, even called Wal-Mart's decision to close the store "economic terrorism." It is difficult to understand how workers are exercising their free choice by banding together to negotiate with their employer, but Wal-Mart is the corporate equivalent of Bin Laden because it is choosing not to stay in business under the union's terms. Putting that aside, there is...

Thinking Outside The “Big Box” Brief Analysis No. 501 Friday, Frebruary 18, 2005 by Pamela Villarreal Neighborhoods, city councils and the media are debating whether to welcome or discourage big-box retailers. While Wal-Mart comes to mind, big-box retailers are defined as any free-standing store greater than 50,000 square feet, and most big-box stores now range in size from 90,000 to 200,000 square feet. Critics claim that large retailers crowd out mom-and-pop competitors and replace them with windowless warehouses filled with minimum wage workers. Big-box retailers promise economic benefits such as sales tax revenues, jobs, competitive wages and low prices. But...