I have to go to
Wal-Mart Watch for this one as the original statement in Women's Wear Daily is for subscribers only:
Wal-Mart responded today to a recent report on NBC Dateline, which uncovered shocking working conditions in Wal-Mart supplier factories in Bangladesh. Wal-Mart's director of international corporate affairs, Bill Wertz said, "the labor violations depicted on "Dateline NBC'' are common."
Wertz's comments appeared in an article in Women's Wear Daily:
Wal-Mart goes to great lengths to monitor factories around the world and eradicate labor abuses, he said. "We are continually trying to eliminate these kinds of violations, but, unfortunately, we're unable to succeed 100 percent of the time," he said.
While Wal-Mart claims that undercovering these type of labor violations is difficult, Dateline's small crew had no problem documenting extensive abuse...
Wertz, the Wal-Mart executive, continued his non-apology to Women's Wear Daily:
He said Wal-Mart negotiates prices fairly -- responding to an accusation on the program that the world's largest retailer would not pay a penny more for an item, as requested by a factory owner -- and said the comment lacked credibility.
"We negotiate prices with suppliers and we're tough," Wertz said. "I don't apologize for that.
As I suggested this morning, Wal-Mart couldn't care less about the conditions under which workers in developing countries labor. The question for the American progressive community is how much do you care? Are you willing to spend some energy making this an issue?
JR
PS If you missed the Datline report last Friday, read here.