ABC: Clinton Remained Silent As Wal-Mart Fought Unions

[IdaBriggs]

Clinton Remained Silent As Wal-Mart Fought Unions, ABC News, January 31, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/clinton-remained-silent-wal-mart-fought-unions/story?id=4218509

In six years as a member of the Wal-Mart board of directors, between 1986 and 1992, Hillary Clinton remained silent as the world's largest retailer waged a major campaign against labor unions seeking to represent store workers.

Clinton has been endorsed for president by more than a dozen unions, according to her campaign Web site, which omits any reference to her role at Wal-Mart in its detailed biography of her.

Wal-Mart's anti-union efforts were headed by one of Clinton's fellow board members, John Tate, a Wal-Mart executive vice president who also served on the board with Clinton for four of her six years.

Tate was fond of repeating, as he did at a managers meeting in 2004 after his retirement, what he said was his favorite phrase, "Labor unions are nothing but blood-sucking parasites living off the productive labor of people who work for a living."

(snip)

An ABC News analysis of the videotapes of at least four stockholder meetings where Clinton appeared shows she never once rose to defend the role of American labor unions.

(snip)

The tapes show Clinton in the role of a loyal company woman. "I'm always proud of Wal-Mart and what we do and the way we do it better than anybody else," she said at a June 1990 stockholders meeting.

(more at link)

My favorite bit in the article (which has accompanying video at the link) is where President Clinton defends her actions because:

"We lived in a state that had a very weak labor movement, where I always had the endorsement of the labor movement because I did what I could do to make it stronger. She knew there was no way she could change that, not with it headquartered in Arkansas, and she agreed to serve."

That's pure Hillary Clinton - totally THERE for you, UNLESS she thinks there is no way she could change that which explains her stance on everything from LGBT marriage to $15 minimums to peace in the Middle East.

She can't CHANGE opinions, which is what a LEADER does -- instead, she does the "if you can't beat them, join them" thing, which makes her totally ineffective as a positive force for change.

I used to think it was just a lawyer thing - she supports what her PAYING CLIENTS want - but now I think its Not JUST that - she's a FOLLOWER, and the people SHE FOLLOWS are leading US into destruction.

[Faux pas]

1. Kickin' for the truth!

[artislife]

2. She's a peach.

[Trust Buster]

4. Sanders supporters would have just hidden her words if she had spoken out. Intolerance 101.

[cherokeeprogressive]

10. She was appointed to the board in 1986. That was 30 years ago.

Before the Internet, and five years before Bernie Sanders was elected to the House of Representatives.

Idiocy 101.

[Ferd Berfel]

43. Appoint to WM board in '86 but she and Bill started the DLC the privous year (months?) in '85

and sold the Democratic Party to the RW oligarchs.

Wonder if there was any correlation there?

[Armstead]

71. Nah....Just a coincidence. It always is.

They're liberals....except when they're not.

[noretreatnosurrender]

5. You are correct

she is a follower. She has never been a leader and never will be.

[Ferd Berfel]

44. ...and she follows the money and her puppet masters direction

she is a corporate stooge and always will be

[HassleCat]

6. I'm sure she fought for the workers.

She's a pragmatic progressive who gets things done. It's my understanding she fought hard for WalMart employees who demanded chairs in the lunch room.

[puffy socks]

9. She did. She helped women get into management positions and started a huge

recycling program. Sam Walton hated unions. Fighting him over it would have cost her the position and prevented her from pursuing those other positive goals.
It seems Bernie's supporters think that if it were them they'd simply tell old Sam to shove it and would have forced him to accept unions.

[HassleCat]

12. Oh, I didn't know that.

Helping your friends advance in the company and recycling is just as progressive as standing up for unions. We just have to adjust our idea of what it means to be progressive. That's cool.

[puffy socks]

15. Here is the story from NYT 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/us/politics/20walmart.html?_r=1

[Armstead]

72. From that...

Despite her criticism, Mrs. Clinton maintains close ties to Wal-Mart executives through the Democratic Party and the tightly knit Arkansas business community. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, speaks frequently to Wal-Mart’s current chief executive, H. Lee Scott Jr., about issues like health care and even played host to Mr. Scott at the Clintons’ home in New York last July for a private dinner.

And several months ago, Mrs. Clinton helped broker a secret meeting between a top Wal-Mart executive and former Democratic operative, Leslie Dach, and leaders of the retailer’s longtime adversary at the United Food and Commercial Workers union, according to several people briefed on the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to do so publicly.

The goal of the meeting was to tamp down the rancor between the company and the union, which has set up a group, WakeUpWalMart.com, that has harshly criticized the chain and leaked embarrassing internal documents to the news media, though an accord has not yet been reached.

[IdaBriggs]

16. Factually incorrect, according to the article (about ACTUALLY helping women).

The videotapes do show that Clinton used her role to push for more environmentally friendly policies and better treatment of women. (Ida Note - Keep Reading)

"We've got a very strong-willed young woman on our board now; her name is Hillary," said Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton at a 1987 stockholders meeting in describing Clinton's role in pushing for more women to be hired in management positions.

Critics say Clinton's efforts produced few tangible results, and Wal-Mart is now defending itself in a lawsuit brought by 16 current and former female employees.

"I don't doubt the sincerity of her efforts, but we don't see much evidence that conditions for women at Wal-Mart changed much during the late 1980s and early 1990s," said Joe Sellers, one of the lawyers suing Wal-Mart on behalf of the women.

You can read about the lawsuit here -- http://business-humanrights.org/en/walmart-lawsuit-re-gender-discrimination-in-usa -- summary: it didn't get better.

It really looks like she was being the "beard" for Walmart's discrimination -- "see, we let a woman talk, so nothing needs to change!" In the meantime, they got free transportation during Bill's presidential run, and she made $64,500 as salary from them in 1991 -- see http://www.villagevoice.com/news/wal-marts-first-lady-6418414 for details -- so there was really no need for the Governor of the state to pay attention to any of Walmart's business practices, right? Especially with his wife on the Board in an unnecessary and superfluous role?

Pay to play, baby. It's a long history of "Pay to Play!"

[astrophuss42]

23. But ya gotta give credit where it is due

Someone called her efforts sincere....

And that's what we will likely get for at least four years. Sincere efforts in public, opposite actions behind closed doors.

[Orsino]

57. She is partly tarred by the anti-family monster Wal-Mart later became...

...and had to run ftom that.

[HooptieWagon]

24. Also overlooked...

One of the first legal cases she handled at the Rose Law Firm was representing the largest Arkansas utility in a lawsuit against the founding ACORN chapter, which had succeeded in passing a ballot initiative to restrict the amount of electric bill increases in poor communities.

[puffy socks]

27. see MUCH EVIDENCE that conditions for women at Wal-Mart changed much during the late 1980s and early

1990s.
There is evidence, hence that is factually correct that she helped women . Is she supposed to single-handedly change the entire company as one woman on a board of directors in the late eighties? in what 3 years?


What has Bernard done for women?

[IdaBriggs]

30. You can't even keep your own misconceptions straight - SIX YEARS.

And taking two words out of context doesn't change "WE DON'T SEE MUCH EVIDENCE" to "let us trumpet her NON-EXISTENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS" (because in SIX YEARS she did nothing except collect a pay-off paycheck).

As for Bernie versus Hillary, I used the magic Google and came up with thousands of links all saying "Bernie has co-sponsored and voted for legislation benefitting women."

His amendments have also benefitted women, while Hillary's "proposals" did what usually happens when she pretends to care about an issue: went nowhere.

[floriduck]

37. Her Walmart accomplishments are about like her senate accomplishments.

"Critics say Clinton's efforts produced few tangible results, and Wal-Mart is now defending itself in a lawsuit brought by 16 current and former female employees."

[Ferd Berfel]

45. "pragmatic progressive" wow

referring to CLinton?

It doesn't get any more Orwellian than that.

That's right up there with:
> Clean Skies initiative
> No Child Left Behind
> Patriot Act

[Herman4747]

7. Incredible that people actually regard her as a progressive. nt

[BernieforPres2016]

8. She sat next to Wal-Mart's notorious union buster in a meeting that was on tape

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/31/446849/-

Wal-Mart's anti-union efforts were headed by one of Clinton's fellow board members, John Tate, a Wal-Mart executive vice president who also served on the board with Clinton for four of her six years.

Tate was fond of repeating, as he did at a managers meeting in 2004 after his retirement, what he said was his favorite phrase, "Labor unions are nothing but blood-sucking parasites living off the productive labor of people who work for a living."

[Herman4747]

11. Response to Bill Clinton:

"We lived in a state that had a very weak labor movement, where I always had the endorsement of the labor movement because I did what I could do to make it stronger. She knew there was no way she could change that, not with it headquartered in Arkansas, and she agreed to serve." -- Bill Clinton

How extremely weak. Weak. weak. weak.

She was on the WalMart Board of Directors FOR SIX LONG YEARS.

At a minimum, after say 9 months of striving hard to get WalMart to change its evil ways, SHE COULD HAVE RESIGNED IN PROTEST. The wife of the governor doing something like this definitely would have caught people's notice. WalMart may then have had a little public relations problem.

Instead, she would own stock in the company and would actually praise the company!!!

Damn!

[bbgrunt]

14. she's no leader, but she knows how to not to rock the boat

[Herman4747]

17. Trouble is, though, I want my president to be a leader. nt

[bbgrunt]

25. me too!

[ljm2002]

13. I agree with your assessment...

...Hillary Clinton is a follower, not a leader.

She is extremely intelligent and competent, but she always thinks inside the boundaries of the way things are, not daring to color outside the lines or to expand those boundaries. That is why it took her until 2014 or so to actually embrace gay marriage: before there was a groundswell of support for the idea, she did not see it as safe to embrace the idea, so she did not. Once it was safe, she stepped up. Long after she could have been a helpful force in making it happen.

If we were in the middle of a long boom, and things were going just swimmingly for the majority of people, she probably would be a near-ideal choice (putting aside her militarism for a moment). But that is not what is happening right now, and IMO she is exactly the wrong choice for our party. She will cement many of the bad trends that are happening right now: increased militarism, trade pacts that encode megacorporations into a vast interlocking set of legal dependencies that make proper public policy well nigh impossible, and increasing levels of income and wealth inequality.

Sigh.

[leftofcool]

18. Bernie lost get over it.

[IdaBriggs]

20. It's not over until it's over and Hillary hasn't earned our support.

So deal with reality - it's still the Primary and she hasn't sown it up until the Convention.

In the meantime, knocking down the myths about her is fairly easy, thanks to Our Friend, REALITY.

MYTH: "Hillary Clinton’s record proves she believes that every American should be able to earn an equal day’s pay for an equal day’s work."

[oasis]

21. Lots of irrelevant ancient history to review first. nt

[frylock]

34. Can't stand the heat?

[matt819]

19. It doesn't seem to matter

Her followers ignore these parts of Hillary's history, and there are a lot of them.

You really can't blame "the media" on this. The stories are out there; they just don't stick.

[Fumesucker]

22. Those stories haven't had Trump with unlimited free TV time thowing them at the public

Yet...

The great majority of people are not aware of all these negative stories, not at this time they're not. About a week after Hillary for sure nails the nomination they will though.

[Octafish]

26. TPP = Welfare for the Wealthy

What Hillary does in regards to NAFTA on steroids -- should she become President -- will show where she really stands on US workers: their throats or their wallets.

[Smarmie Doofus]

28. She "agreed to serve"? To *SERVE*??

>>>"We lived in a state that had a very weak labor movement, where I always had the endorsement of the labor movement because I did what I could do to make it stronger. She knew there was no way she could change that, not with it headquartered in Arkansas, and she agreed to serve.">>>>



These people actually think of a stint on the board of *Walmart* is "service".

Like military service or volunteer service, or Peace Corps service. Like some kind of patriotic duty or civic responsibility.

Or like some kind of socially essential but notoriously underpaid and under-appreciated public service like teaching, nursing, counseling, etc.

That's "service", Mr. and Mrs. Clinton. Not accumulating a fortune by plotting w. the Waltons and the rest of them to bust unions and keep wages low. ( And life-sustaining benefits nonexistent.)

"Service". Holy fuck. These people are on another planet entirely.

[IdaBriggs]

31. Don't be a hater - they only paid her $64,500 in 1991 and gave

she and Bill use of the private Walmart plane during his 1992 presidential campaign, and donated tens of thousands of dollars to his campaign, and later hers.

And she attended like TWENTY MEETINGS in six years while being on the board of two other companies and a law firm partner at the same time.

That's "Service with a Smile" that just looks like "pay to play" for the rest of us. You didn't actually expect her to stand up for women, unions and the local communities at the same time, right?

[Skink]

29. I would have expected this from Carly.

[IdaBriggs]

33. Sometimes, the only difference is the letter of the alphabet. nt

[frylock]

32. Here we go.

Release the hounds.

[Uncle Joe]

35. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, IdaBriggs.

[ibegurpard]

36. of course she did.

The Clintons put the pedal to the metal in terms of changing the Democratic Party from a rock-solid supporter of labor into an influence peddler for corporations and the rich and powerful.

[beedle]

38. Good thing no women worked for Wal-Mart

otherwise that would put the lie to all this 'Hillary feminism' talk.

[IdaBriggs]

40. The lawsuit started in 2001. It went nowhere.

Walmart lawsuit (re gender discrimination in USA)
http://business-humanrights.org/en/walmart-lawsuit-re-gender-discrimination-in-usa

In 2001, six female employees of Walmart filed suit against their company in US federal court alleging that Walmart discriminated against them in salary, bonuses and training. After extensive discovery and oral argument, in 2003 the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint requesting that the court certify the case as a class action on behalf of current and former female Walmart employees maintaining that the discrimination faced by the original plaintiffs was systematic in nature and affected all women employed by Walmart. In June of 2004, the court granted the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. The lawsuit represents approximately 1.5 million current and former female Walmart employees, which makes it the largest workplace bias case in US history. Walmart appealed the class certification decision. (more at link)

Sigh.

[beedle]

41. That would be really embarrassing for Hillary if

she were the type that went around touting her Feminist Qualifications.

[IdaBriggs]

56. As Hillary Supporters Explain: "That's not how life works, whether it's in politics or in business."

You can see them closing their eyes, sticking their fingers in their ears, and singing "la-la-la I can't hear you!"

[AzDar]

39. Most of us know what she is...what's shocking is how many are pretending they don't... or they truly

just don't care.

[Beacool]

42. Look at this photo.

A young woman among a bunch of mostly middle aged men. She pushed Wal-Mart to hire more women in management positions and to make the company greener. I guess that she should have waved a wand and convinced Sam to allow Wal-Mart to unionize.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/us/politics/20walmart.html?_r=2

[ismnotwasm]

46. They don't care

This type of nonsense is rehashed periodically and has become a ridiculous meme. I'm am so glad Hillary is our nominee. And there are some folks she shouldn't WANT or need to convince. Clearly those types haven't helped the gracious Senator from Vermont much. I'm perfectly happy with them supporting Senator Sanders, like, forevah.

[Beacool]

49. Purists bore me.

They fail to see nuances, shades of gray and the reality on the ground. I guess Hilary somehow should have convinced Sam Walton to make major changes by using her super powers. That's not how life works, whether it's in politics or in business. She focused on two issues and she pushed hard to advance her cause in those two areas.

[IdaBriggs]

55. Hillary: Don't Expect Success (But She Might Try)

Ever wonder how the Iraq War Vote would have gone if she'd used her "influence" to fight against it? Yet another FAILED OPPORTUNITY to demonstrate leadership.

[IdaBriggs]

54. Yes. Or told them to take their money and stuff it. And she FAILED

to get them to "do better by women" as is pretty clear in the 2001 lawsuit referenced maintaining that the discrimination faced by the original plaintiffs was systematic in nature and affected all women employed by Walmart.

So was she just cover or completely ineffective? I'm clear that the answer is both and she hasn't changed since.

[Carolina]

63. Interesting

Sam Walton was pushed to hire a woman by his wife and he chose a young woman who just happened to be married to the Governor... says it right there in the article.

The year was 1990, before the presidential bid but after the Clintons helped found the corporate loving DLC.

What a tangled web

[senz]

47. She did nothing for working people. She never will.

[dchill]

48. Money talks...

Working people walk.

[senz]

50. Yes.

Do we want this person in the White House?

[dchill]

51. Well, it probably won't happen...

But no, no we don't.

[Yurovsky]

53. I think her politics are a cancer within the Party...

she's just a socially moderate Republican, in my view. She's had chances to fight for workers, but when the oppressor is funneling her millions of corporate blood money, she switches to radio silence mode.

She is a fat cat , 1% oppressor. But because she claims to be pro-choice and belatedly came out for LBGT rights, and has female body parts, we're supposed to overlook all of the instances when she has sided with corporations over workers, the rich/powerful over the poor/powerless.

She is a fraud. A wolf in sheep's clothing. And if she's elected, the poor and working class in this country are fucked... As are hundreds of thousands of civilians in whichever countries she decides to bomb or invade to keep the money flowing to her military-industrial sponsors.

I'm totally sickened by how this primary season has worked out. The 1% wins again, everyone else prepare to get screwed in a most unpleasant fashion.

[senz]

58. Total agreement, Yurovsky, but I don't think it's time to give up yet.

It's only a few more months; we should keep fighting against the bad and for the good. Just push on.

[Kip Humphrey]

52. Hillary Clinton, the candidate of "No We Can't" and "She Can't Change That".

Not what I want in a president.

[kstewart33]

59. Digging back into the past at this point is rather pointless.

The GD-P forum is filled to the gills with negative articles about Clinton. Check the archives.

It isn't going to change anyone's mind. Minds are made up.

Bernie supporters here think Hillary is completely corrupt, a murderess, and a long list of awful things.

Hillary supporters think Bernie is selling dreams, conning his young supporters, and is completely unqualified to be president.

So what's the point of rerunning Hillaryhate stuff? It's like watching the same movie 24 hours a day. Needless and boring. Just read the archives.

[IdaBriggs]

60. "Hillary Clinton’s record proves she believes that every American...

"Hillary Clinton’s record proves she believes that every American should be able to earn an equal day’s pay for an equal day’s work."
-- http://correctrecord.org/the-points/hillary-clinton-a-lifetime-champion-of-income-opportunity/

The problem is the fact it is ACTUAL BULLSHIT. Her record is actually THE OPPOSITE of that, with zero credibility. There is a reason no one believes a word she says --

It's simply Not True.

Reality is not a Right Wing Smear -- if Democrats put up a person who has this much documented problem with telling the truth, we lose not just the presidency, but also all of the down ticket votes because it means we are stupid for having a) picked her, b) believed her and c) think the American public is stupid enough to believe her, too.

[kstewart33]

61. But Ida, that's not my point.

You can post 100 more posts about how terrible Clinton is, but you reach a point where it does not matter. Everyone has made their stand on this forum and no one is going to change their mind.

Hillary supporters believe most of what she says. She is a politician. Everything she says is not true. That's politics.

Bernie supporters believe what Bernie says though some of it is not true. He is a politician. That's politics.

So why continue to rage? Unless it makes you feel better.

All of this anger, snarling and spitting has turned this forum into a fuming snakepit.

Time for both sides to calm down and move on.

[IdaBriggs]

62. My rage level is actually pretty low (with periodic times where

"SOMEONE ON THE INTERNET IS WRONG!!!" occurring as a natural part of life.

At some point, I am going to have to shut up about "How Much Hillary is a Terrible Candidate" *if* she makes it through the Convention and becomes the party nominee (at least here on DU if I am allowed to remain). I still believe that is an *if* because "I believe in the Indictment Fairy" and am clapping my hands as hard as I can for his or her appearance.

At the end of the day, there aren't going to be any "well, no one told us she was so terrible" excuses because the information is out there, and it is being shared. I'm not talking "smear" stuff - I'm talking fact based reality.

Silence becomes consent, and I do *NOT* consent to this woman becoming my party's nominee. I am not a name and I'm not rich, but I'm also Not Stupid -- if I can figure this stuff out because I can remember it (like Nancy Reagan and AIDS), I am going to remind the powers that be that they can't gaslight the past and play "let's pretend it never happened" because they like the cut of her fundraising checks.

So I will keep telling the truth, and when she goes down (and they always do), there will be some who nod sagely, because it won't be a surprise.

I don't think walking in circles really does much good (I did a protest against the Iraq War and the bastards pretended we were delusional so not a lot of faith in the effectiveness of that/yeah, we were right and people are still dead/thanks, Hillary for your "righteous" leadership), but I do think people can choose to read. I post under my real name -- I'm willing to have these issues come up forever as something I stood for and about.

As I said, silence is consent. I don't consent. Maybe someone will hear....

[silvershadow]

64. She's as progressive as they come, isn't she? nt

[IdaBriggs]

65. Has been for DECADES --

Yep. We are in trouble if THIS is what Democrats see as "progressive for years."

I just skip over the crap about "she's been fighting for WOMEN for years" because based on what Obama actually accomplish by Week 2, she was totally incompetent and remains so.

Sigh.

[oasis]

66. ABC News January 2008? She's accumulated a ton of union endorsements

since then. They seem to be more impressed by her overall advocacy for unions and working families.

[IdaBriggs]

67. When leadership chooses, she gets the endorsement.

When membership chooses, Bernie gets it.

And I have no idea what you are talking about when you say "advocacy for unions and working families" -- can you provide any examples where she actually accomplished anything?

[appalachiablue]

68. K & R. Thanks so much for posting this, a full picture of her Walmart position.

[Ferd Berfel]

69. HEy UNION members of unions whose 'leadership'

came out in support of her without asking YOU. Maybe you need to ask them WTF they think they're doing.

MAybe it's time for a change in your 'leadership'

[Octafish]

70. Walton family today is among the richest on the planet is why.

The Love for Walmart is Buy Partisan



Important history from 1992 campaign:

Bush Ventures to Clinton Turf, Honors Sam Walton

Republicans: The trip to Arkansas is billed as nonpolitical. The gravely ill Wal-Mart founder is given the Medal of Freedom.

by Douglas Jehl
Los Angeles Times, March 18, 1992

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — On the day Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton emerged as the prohibitive favorite to win the Democratic presidential nomination, President Bush visited the governor's home state on a trip he insisted had nothing to do with politics.

Bush made the journey to present the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, to one of its richest men, Sam Walton, the gravely ill 73-year-old founder of Wal-Mart Stores.

SNIP...

Walton, who built the Wal-Mart empire from one store to a $9-billion fortune, now is confined to a wheelchair, and Bush choked up during the ceremony at the company's headquarters in Bentonville as he praised the entrepreneur as an emblem of "America's success."

"I think it's important that all Americans understand that some things are going very, very well in the United States of America," Bush said. "And one of those things is Wal-Mart."

SNIP...

Wal-Mart has retained its Arkansas roots even as it has grown beyond the region. The chain also has links to the Clintons--the governor's wife, Hillary, has a substantial financial stake in the company and serves on its board of directors.

Walton's family has generously supported many of Clinton's past campaigns. This year, Walton has contributed the legal maximum of $1,000 to both Clinton and Bush.

CONTINUED...

http://articles.latimes.com/1992-03-18/news/mn-3841_1_sam-walton

Walmart continued to grow since then, making the heirs of Sam Walton very wealthy. Most everone else in the USA has not done so well.

Then, there's Stephens Inc...

[MaeScott]

73. Just another example of how HRC rolls.