By Phil Mattera, Dirt Diggers Digest<\/i><\/p>\n
After the New Orleans region was struck by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Wal-Mart scored a public relations coup<\/a> The Behemoth of Bentonville has apparently not been performing any Although the company’s outlays have apparently increased<\/a> a bit since its January 13 press release<\/a>, It is hard to be impressed at a commitment of 30 minutes worth of Over the years, Wal-Mart has earned huge sums from the impoverished nation. Haiti is one of the low-wage countries where garment contractors <\/a>have In this time of dire need, Wal-Mart should feel pressure to make a The question of the obligation of a company such as Wal-Mart to a Now is a good time to launch a movement to push corporations to do Perhaps the way to start is to call for disclosure of an estimate of By Phil Mattera, Dirt Diggers Digest After the New Orleans region was struck by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Wal-Mart scored a public relations coup by delivering emergency supplies quickly while government agencies stumbled. Ignoring the fact that the company’s vast distribution network made the feat relatively easy, awestruck journalists hailed the giant retailer as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4533,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4533"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nby delivering emergency supplies quickly while government agencies
\nstumbled. Ignoring the fact that the company’s vast distribution
\nnetwork made the feat relatively easy, awestruck journalists hailed<\/a> the giant retailer as a “savior” for many of the storm’s victims.<\/p>\n
\nmajor logistics miracles for the people of Haiti in the wake of the
\nrecent devastating earthquake. The company is working mainly through
\nthe Red Cross, initially<\/a> providing $500,000 in cash and food kits worth $100,000.<\/p>\n
\nthe amount is still in the neighborhood of $1 million. To put that
\nnumber in perspective, in 2008 Wal-Mart had profits of $22 billion,
\nwhich works out to some $2.5 million an hour — every day of the year.<\/p>\n
\nprofits to help deal with a disaster of the magnitude facing Haiti. But
\nthis is not just an abstract issue of generosity.<\/p>\n
\nproduced the goods that, despite Wal-Mart’s vaunted low prices, can be
\nprofitability sold in its network of Supercenters. It’s been going on
\nfor many years. A 1996 report<\/a>
\non Haiti by the National Labor Committee noted that Wal-Mart was a
\nmajor customer of sweatshops paying garment workers as little as 12
\ncents an hour.<\/p>\n
\ncommitment to the Haitian people of a magnitude comparable to the
\nwealth it has extracted from the country over the years.<\/p>\n
\nsituation such as Haiti is particularly relevant in light of the
\noutrageous ruling by the Supreme Court in the Citizens United<\/i> case.
\nThanks to the High Court’s corporate shills, Wal-Mart executives are
\nprobably already fantasizing about the unlimited slush funds they will
\nhave to sway elections and pressure incumbents to do their bidding.<\/p>\n
\nsomething with their money other than buying the political system. The
\noutpouring of support for Haiti could be the springboard for a campaign
\nthat demands that Wal-Mart — and other major corporations that have
\nbenefited from the country’s cheap labor — provide not a bit of charity
\nbut rather a substantial amount in the form of reparations<\/em>.<\/p>\n
\nhow much value Wal-Mart has extracted from the Haitian people. Rather
\nthan letting the company brag about its pittance of a voluntary
\ncontribution, it would be much more satisfying to see it have to
\nnegotiate an amount that would make a real difference for the country. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"