I just noticed this interesting news article on Yahoo! Finance and thought I’d share it:
“LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, denied a report Friday that it had pressured employees to vote against Democrats in November because of worries that a bill the party supports would make it easier for workers to unionize.
The measure, called the Employee Free Choice Act, would allow labor organizations to unionize workplaces without secret ballot elections. It was co-sponsored by Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate, and opposed by John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee.
A report in The Wall Street Journal said the Bentonville, Ark.-based discounter–which has rigorously resisted being unionized–had held mandatory meetings with store managers and department supervisors in recent weeks to warn that if Democrats take power in November, they would likely push through the bill, which the company says would hurt workers.
Wal-Mart spokesman Dave Tovar told The Associated Press that the company did discuss the bill with its employees, including what it sees as the negative impact, and noted that the company’s stand on the legislation is no secret.”
What do you think about all of this?
When store managers are summoned to mandatory meetings and told to stress only the negatives re unionization and not-so-subtly telling employees not to vote for a Democrat – yikes!
Sounds like text book political intimidation!
Wal-Mart does not deserve your business.
How long would this country survive without privacy in the voting booth? We are a nation built on the preservation of the secret ballot. Why would candidate Obama want it any other way? What if a goon squad of Republicans were standing at the polls looking over the shoulders of the voters? What then would be the outcome of the elections? This is a bad bill. No, this is a VERY bad bill. As Pan stated above, “Wal-Mart does not deserve your business,” I have to state Mr. Obama does not deserve your vote. And shame on Wal-Mart for trying to protect their interests. By the way, if there is no secret ballot can Wal-Mart supervisors watch the balloting and then say to each employee that votes for a union, “YOUR FIRED”, and replace them with those who chose not to vote the union into power? Don’t you see the nonsense here? God save us from the idiot who proposed this bill, and all the idiots that support it… FREEEDOMM!