Walmart and the INS

[daylily]

I heard this on the radio today, so I don't yet have a link to back it up, but the story is that 300 Walmarts will be stormed by INS agents in order to arrest illegal aliens who work there. Apparently, Wal-Mart's subcontractors, who supply the stores' after-hours custodians, hire illegals. So technically, these people are not Wal-Mart employees although it was stated that Wal-Mart execs knew that their sub-contractors hired illegal aliens.

You know what really burns me up about this? The fact that it's the poor, exploited custodians who will be arrested. What about the executives at Wal-Mart? What about the sub-contracters who hired them? Will their lives be ruined and will they lose their incomes? I doubt it.

Has anyone else heard about this?

[Trishy]

It already happened:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...l_mart_arrests

[daylily]

Thank you, Trishshack.

Here's what happened in a nutshell:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Federal agents raided Wal-Mart's headquarters and 60 of its stores across the country Thursday, arresting more than 300 illegal workers in an immigration crackdown at the world's biggest retailer.

[Trishy]

I find it interesting that they waited until the end of their shift to arrest them. I am mad that Wally was using illegal workers but even madder that they worked an extra shift that they won't even get paid for.

[TiredX2]

I find it interesting that they waited until the end of their shift to arrest them. I am mad that Wally was using illegal workers but even madder that they worked an extra shift that they won't even get paid for.

It almost makes me wonder if the contractor turned them in as to not have to pay them (you don't know if they get paid once a month, once a week, what...). Where I grew up, a certain farmer was know for turning in illegal immigrants right before "pay day" and therefore, getting free labor. Talk about immoral!

I guess this partially explains wal-marts low prices, not only do they not pay a living wage, they don't even necessarily pay it at all

[Rie&BugsMom]

Hmmm, one more reason among many to boycott Wal-Mart?????

[jeca]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by TiredX2
[B]It almost makes me wonder if the contractor turned them in as to not have to pay them (you don't know if they get paid once a month, once a week, what...). Where I grew up, a certain farmer was know for turning in illegal immigrants right before "pay day" and therefore, getting free labor. Talk about immoral!

Those were my exact thoughts! I'm about an hour awar from LR so this was on teh news alot lately. I smell a set upon someone's part that's for sure.

[Marlena]

Here's more info from the inside:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/25/national/25WALM.html

Misha Firer, an illegal immigrant from Russia, said he worked for three months last year as a cleaner at Wal-Marts in Ephrata, Pa., and Glens Falls, N.Y., working 90 consecutive days without having a day off.

Mr. Firer said that he earned $6 an hour, working the midnight-to-8 a.m. shift, washing, waxing and buffing floors. He said the chemicals were so strong that some workers had nose bleeds, sore eyes and skin irritations.

"Nobody wanted to take the job," he said. "It was a night job and it paid very little."

It does appear that Wal-Mart management may be implicated in all this:

A federal law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity said yesterday that several current and former cleaning contractors for Wal-Mart, the nation's biggest retailer, were cooperating with the government in its investigation. On Thursday, federal officials acknowledged that they had wiretaps and recordings of conversations and meetings among Wal-Mart executives and contractors.

Federal officials said that as part of the Thursday raid, they searched the office of a middle-level manager at Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. The officials said the government believed that Wal-Mart executives knew the cleaning contractors were using illegal immigrants.

I hope Wal-Mart gets hammered. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that this might die a relatively quiet death.

[Dakota's Mom]

This whole thing fits with Wal-Mart's continued discrimination against blacks and gays. They have had policies for years of either not hiring or not promoting blacks and gays. Last month I entered the first Wal-Mart I had been in in 8 years. I went to visit my children and it is the only store in the town they live in. Talk about a monopoly.
Wal-Mart your source for cheap plastic crap.

Kathi

[applejuice]

Boycott Walmart.

Los Angeles, of all places, until five years ago did not have a Wal-mart. Now there are three within ten miles of me. The one in Porter Ranch is ritzy, so they have higher prices than the one in Panorama City and Stevenson Ranch.

When I worked in Motel 6, all of the out-of-towners asked where the nearest Wal-Mart Store was, and I knew that the closest was in Fresno or Bakersfield, 300+ miles away.

You have to change your shopping habits. I do know of the Wal-Mart in Des Moines, IA; people drive from 100's of miles around to shop there. This destroys the little privately owned businesses who can give you better service.

I also notice that whenever a new community springs up, there are lots of chain and franchise stores/restuarants that are built to support the community, but no private shops or mom/pop establishments.