1 Feb 2004

How Wal-Mart’s Health Coverage Stacks Up

by | Date: 1 Feb 2004 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

The annual premium a full-time Wal-Mart employee must pay for coverage for her and her spouse is $2,672 (with a $350 deductible), which amounts to about 19 percent of her pre-tax earnings, according to the report. Part-time employees (under 34 hours per week) are only eligible to enroll after two years on the job and even then, coverage is available only for themselves, not their families. Full-time workers are eligible for family coverage after six months.… Read More
1 Feb 2004

Vermont Governor Proposes Closing Tax Loophole that Favors Chains

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In his State of the State address, Vermont Governor James Douglas proposed closing a tax loophole that gives national chains an advantage over local businesses. The loophole allows multi-state corporations to shift income made in the state to subsidiaries in low- or no-tax states like Delaware and Nevada, thereby evading Vermont corporate income taxes.… Read More
1 Feb 2004

Brattleboro Group Urges Residents to Support Local Merchants

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Last year when Home Depot announced that it would open in a former Ames department store building in Brattleboro, Vermont, a group of residents organized a campaign urging people to avoid the store and continue supporting their hometown merchants. The group, BrattPower: Supporting Our Local Economy, gathered 3,200 petition signatures in this town of 12,000, organized a community forum, and began running radio and newspaper ads outlining the hidden costs of large chain stores and the benefits of locally owned businesses.… Read More
1 Feb 2004

California Laws Targeting Supercenters Raise Concerns

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Rather than capping the size of all retail stores, a growing number of cities and counties in California are banning supercenters in particular. These are generally defined as stores over 90,000 or 100,000 square feet that devote more than 5 or 10 percent of their floor area to non-taxable grocery items.

Under these ordinances, developers can still build massive box stores, so long as they do not combine department store merchandise and a full supermarket under one roof.… Read More
1 Feb 2004

Supercenters in Southern California: Boon or Bane?

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As Wal-Mart seeks out locations in central Los Angeles and the city council considers a measure that would ban supercenters from much of the city, a debate is brewing concerning the costs and benefits of supercenters for residents of low-income urban neighborhoods. Two dueling studies examining the impact of supercenters in southern California were recently released.

… Read More
1 Feb 2004

Wal-Mart Internal Audit Finds Thousands of Labor Violations

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An internal audit obtained by The New York Times documents thousands of violations of state labor laws at Wal-Mart stores. The audit, performed by the company in 2000, uncovered 1,371 violations of child labor laws, 60,767 cases of missed breaks, and 15,705 instances when employees skipped meals at 128 stores during a one-week period.… Read More
1 Feb 2004

Britain’s Main Streets Fast Becoming Ghost Towns

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"A new retail feudalism is emerging across Britain as a handful of brands take over our shopping. We are witnessing the slow death of small independent retailers," contends Andrew Simms, policy director for the London-based New Economics Foundation (NEF) and co-author of a new report called "Ghost Town Britain: The threat from economic globalisation to livelihoods, liberty and local economic freedom." According to the report, between 1995 and 2000, Britain lost one-fifth of its Main Street enterprises. … Read More
1 Feb 2004

Hood River Rejects Wal-Mart Supercenter

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In early January, the Hood River, Oregon, County Commission voted 3-2 to reject Wal-Mart’s application to build a 186,000-square-foot supercenter. "This was a marvelous and gutsy decision by the board," said Kate Huseby, co-chair of the Citizens for Responsible Growth (CRG), a grassroots group that has fought the proposal in this community of 5,000 people in north central Oregon for more than two years. "We applaud them for doing their homework, and making the tough vote." … Read More

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