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stayfree - Stay F---! | 27 January

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  • From: Carrie McLaren <stay.free AT verizon.net>
  • To: stayfree AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Stay F---! | 27 January
  • Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 17:39:13 -0500


In light of the news that Wal-Mart is planning to open a new store in Queens, and possibly Brooklyn as well, I've added these to the website (from Stay F---! #23):

"The Trouble with Wal-Mart: Whatever you've heard about the retail giant, it's a lot worse than you think. "
An interview with journalist Liza Featherstone, by Carrie McLaren
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/23/wal-mart-liza-featherstone.html

If there is one chain that stands above all others in deserving your wrath it is Wal-Mart. The most successful retailer in the world is, not coincidentally, a pioneer of some of the shadiest business practices imaginable. I'm not just talking about reckless sprawl, Kathy Lee's sweatshop line, or the censorship of popular music, but about Wal-Mart's uncanny knack for uncovering some of the most innovative ways to screw people over, all the while maintaining its wholesome, all-American image. For instance, the company locks late-shift employees in at night, forbidding them to leave the store. Managers have required workers to clock out yet stay on the job, in order to avoid paying them overtime. The company has hired illegal immigrants and forced them to work seven-day weeks without breaks. It spies on employees, fires anyone remotely suspected of union activity, violates child-labor laws, and discriminates against female employees.

It is this last misdeed that Liza Featherstone focuses on in her new book, Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers' Rights at Wal-Mart. Featherstone, a New York--based journalist, chronicles the emergence of Dukes v. Wal-Mart, a class-action suit by Wal-Mart's women workers that is currently winding its way through the courts. In telling the employees' stories, Featherstone discusses the broader societal impact of the retail giant, and the terrifying prospect of its continued growth. Wal-Mart thrives in part by offering poor and working-class people (its primary consumer base) the lowest prices around. But this boon to consumers is also a disaster for workers and local community members. That is, it hurts the very people it helps. Reading Featherstone's book made me realize that shopping at Wal-Mart is a little like smoking crack: the low-prices undoubtedly fill a need (particularly for the poor) but they only come back to bite you in the end. -- CM

STAY FREE!: In your book you discuss patterns of sex discrimination in Wal-Marts across the country. Women earn less; they can't get promoted; if they complain, they're punished; and so on. The plaintiffs in the current class-action suit have an airtight case. Did any of these women seriously consider pursuing private lawsuits? How did this end up as a class action?

LIZA FEATHERSTONE: Some of the women had filed claims with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, but a lot of them wouldn't have pursued individual lawsuits, because most lawyers will say, "you don't want to do this." Small lawyers don't have the resources to take on a company of Wal-Mart's size. Some women have won lawsuits, and evidence from those cases informs this case, but women in general haven't had very good luck in getting lawyers to pursue Wal-Mart. So that's a reason why class action is a good strategy.

Continued at:
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/23/wal-mart-liza-featherstone.html

::::::::

Related article:

"Wal-Mart Pranked!"
A former employee gets his revenge
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/23/wal-mart-prank.html
by Joe the Peacock



:::::::: UPCOMING STAY F--- EVENTS

* * * Fri. February 4 - New York City - 6:30 PM
Interactive Telecommunications Program of NYU
(721 Broadway, 4th Floor)
I'm speaking on a panel -- End/Begin: New Directions in Activism -- with Clay Shirky (http://www.shirky.com) and Trebor Scholz (http://www.molodiez.org/). Come one, come all...


* * * March 24-26 - U of Iowa
"Collage as Cultural Practice"
http://www.uiowa.edu/~poroi/SIP/SIPcollage.htm

I'll be speaking at this nifty conference, which "seeks to examine interventionist collage practices in all media, with an emphasis on the social, political, and legal implications of this method of appropriation." Several folks involved with the Illegal Art Exhibit will be participating, including prankster/scholar Kembrew McLeod (who actually helped organize the festivities), Negativland's Mark Hosler, and filmmaker Craig Baldwin.



:::::::: OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST

"Eyes on the Prize" Copyfight!

Thanks to copyright restrictions, Eyes on the Prize -- a classic documentary series about the Civil Rights Movement--has been unavailable for years. Now, in an effort to promote copyright reform, our friends at Downhill Battle have posted digital files of the film online and are encouraging people to host home screenings on February 8:
http://www.downhillbattle.org/eyes/


::::::::

Let a Thousand Googles Bloom
by Lawrence Lessig
http://tinyurl.com/4acxf

A sharp LA Times editorial from Lawrence Lessig, pointing out the potential legal problems in Google's plan to digitize library books. Because current copyright law doesn't require owners to register their copyrights, figuring out which historial works are in the public domain and which aren't is often difficult and painstaking (if not impossible) research. Lessig's solution is a no-brainer: require registration.





  • Stay F---! | 27 January, Carrie McLaren, 01/26/2005

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