Wal-Mart Nudges Foreign Suppliers(on environmental, social responsibility)

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: Wal-Mart Nudges Foreign Suppliers
Retailer to Demand Environmental and Social Responsibility
By Marcus Kabel
Associated Press
Friday, October 21, 2005; Page D02


FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., Oct. 20 -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will start holding its suppliers more accountable for environmental and social standards at foreign factories as public expectations in the United States rise, chief executive H. Lee Scott Jr. said Thursday.

Scott told suppliers at a business conference that the public has high expectations of the world's largest retailer. The company has come under mounting fire from organized opponents over the environmental and labor standards of the low-cost manufacturers overseas from which it buys.

Scott said Wal-Mart would be more involved in its suppliers' businesses to make sure they are accountable and would work with them to find new products that meet demand for higher standards.

"Are you running your factories in a way that promotes environmental sustainability? Are you sourcing from people that causes there to be inclusion and opportunity for women- and minority-owned businesses?" Scott said. "You'll see Wal-Mart taking a stronger stand over the next several months in these areas," he told a conference on retail trends held by the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.

Scott said Wal-Mart had to act because the public was targeting retailers, not the manufacturers they buy from, over environmental and social issues....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/20/AR2005102001973.html

[Zuni]

1. they talk and talk

but I'll believe it when I see it :eyes:

[ClassWarrior]

2. Just in time for the Nov. 13 debut of the Wal-Mart Movie.

Blah-blah-blah... Yadda-yadda-yadda... Wal-Mart talking, PR flack's lips not moving...

(Find a screening near you, btw: http://www.walmartmovie.com.)

NGU.

[depakid]

4. and from the Post no less

LOL. Propaganda central.

I often wonder whther the people who work at the Post realize what an embarrassment that paper has become.

[DJ MEW]

3. So those people in third world countries

working slave wages are going to see a benefit from this???

I just don't believe that Wal-Mart is really going to risk raising their prices or cutting their profit margin to ensure that their suppliers overseas are environmentally friendly and treat their employees right.

[afdip]

5. blah, blah, blah . . . . so now they are advocating a 15 cent/hour

wage . . . but still no affordable healthcare for their employees.

[Kolesar]

6. Their products suck and consumers with disposable income have gone

If you want to look good, you shop elsewhere. Their cost reduced "fashions" look as unappealing as something made in a state-controlled communist nation. Oh, wait a minute, something just occurred to me :evilgrin:

[whatever4]

7. About damn time

But they're only doing it for pr, only doing it to get us back in the stores.

Hey, Walmart! You want us back? You FIX the problem and FIRE those MANY shirts that have been making these decisions. To deal with overseas sweatshops, child labor, American workers on medicaid and on and on.

You want us back? You fess us, and fix the problem, you damn greedy jerks. You've made ME ashamed of MYSELF and I'm not sure WHAT it would take to get me back in your store, but I know THIS isn't it.

Your band-aid won't fool us Walmart. We only shopped there because we were smart enough to find a deal, remember? The customer is NEVER wrong Walmart.

Stop giving us cheap shit by robbing other nations. It makes us SICK Walmart, SICK to think about what you do, and I regret every dollar I ever spent there. Over the years. Many years. NO more.

Working with China, you work hand in hand with China. Now they fucking own us.

Walmart, selling out America for a dirt cheap price.

[hatrack]

8. Blahblahblahblahblahblahblah . .

Lather, rinse, repeat. :eyes:

[tabasco]

9. WM is the only store I've ever seen that has to run propaganda...

campaigns, as opposed to simple advertising. Those commercials where employees tell us what a great place Walmart is to work are just weird. There is about as much truth in this claim as there is in an average Limbaugh broadcast.

edit: not awake yet

[meganmonkey]

10. Well put, tobasco

This reeks of damage-control PR bullsh*t.

[dflprincess]

14. Everytime I see one of those I think it's a fine example

of someone protesting too much.

[wordpix]

11. the public is sick of WalMart's irresponsible environmental

record in terms of where and how it builds those ugly, sprawling big box stores. Walmart is always tearing up open space for its ugly shit. This corp. should take a look at its own environmental record besides just that of its suppliers.

Boycott Walmart until it cleans up its act (if it ever will!)

[kurth]

12. Social responsibility? Wal-Mart??

Such a nice and happy place with happy and cheerful employees whose life goal is to be employed by such a socially responsible employer... NOT.

[sweepster]

13. A CORP that has to tell you how good they are should raise red flags

You don't see the top rated 100 companies to work for having to put out commercials telling you how good they are for the local community.