Walmart has been under a lot of pressure to improve their corporate behavior. Much of this has been directed at the CEO, Lee Scott. I claim this is misdirected. The poor treatment of workers, suppliers, customers and local government has to be laid at the feet of the true owner: the Walton family.
The details below.
Here is a quote from the tale told by Jeffery Hollender about his meeting with Lee Scott:
Lee explains the challenges of
customers waiting later and later to do their holiday shopping. He's
received an unhappy call from his boss S. Robson Walton, Chairman of the
Board of Directors of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and son of the legendary
Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton.
What's strange about this incident? It's that the chairman of the board would be worrying about daily sales figures. The board is supposed to set policy. The CEO (Scott) is supposed to implement the policies by putting together plans. The plans are supposed to be implemented by the various operational managers.
What we see instead is micromanaging at the highest level. This is a sign of a very sick corporation. It shows that the firm is being run by misers, not businessmen. It also shows that the focus on where the blame for Wal-mart's bad behavior should be placed is misdirected. The reason Lee Scott sounds reasonable in his public statements, and the reason he has been meeting with critics and politicians is because he has developed a conscience.
No one wants to be reviled as a monster, underpaying workers, forcing their families to go without health care, and supporting foreign sweat shops. This is the deal he has made with the devil, however, and it's starting to bother him.
The Walton family has avoided notice for decades, but every indication we have of their behavior shows that they are responsible for much that is wrong with business and tax policy currently. Several items illustrate this. The first is the behind the scenes role they have played (with 17 other super-rich families) in getting the estate tax repealed.
The details are in this Report.
Given its estimated net worth is $83.7 billion, the [Walton] family would save approximately $32.6 billion if the tax were repealed.
Then there is their (lack) of charitable work. Their family foundations devote a lot of their resources to politically motivated, right wing "think tanks". For example (from pfaw.org):
BAEO started operations with a $900,000 budget. According to the right-wing weekly Human Events, this came entirely from the Walton Family Foundation. Through the Walton Family Foundation, Wal-Mart heir John Walton is one of the voucher movement's most prolific donors, providing a steady stream of money for almost every element of the movement, from think tanks to political campaigns.
On the policy and research front, the Walton Foundation funds pro-voucher think tanks like the Goldwater Institute and the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. On the legislative front, John Walton personally contributed $2 million to the failed 2000 Michigan voucher initiative as well as $250,000 to California's Prop 174 in 1993, another unsuccessful voucher initiative. Walton also bankrolled the California effort through his American Education Reform Foundation, as well as an unsuccessful 1997 voucher campaign in Minnesota.
Here is the link to the foundation started by Sam Walton:
Walton Family Foundation.
From their statement of program focus:
Planning, development and growth of quality charter schools
Supporting the growth of state charter school associations, resource centers and other charter related support organizations
Monitoring, promoting and disseminating information concerning quality and accountability issues
Organizations which may leverage investments in creating access to facilities financing alternatives for charter schools
Once again using their money to support right wing initiatives in the political arena, rather than the humanitarian concerns of most large foundations. Their level of charity is rather modest for such a wealthy family. This carries over into the unimpressive charity work done by Walmart itself.
It is time to redirect the criticism of Walmart to where it belongs: a secretive, selfish, miserly, super wealthy family, whose philanthropy and funding is directed at maintaining the positions of wealth and power it currently enjoys.
Shame on them.
If Lee Scott continues to ask probing questions about social issues he will find himself unable to keep turning the screws as demanded by his masters. Perhaps it is time for him to leave and start working for the general welfare instead.
For more on Walmart vist the group blog:The Writing on the Wal