Walmart & ALEC - Exploiting Prison Labor: Beyond Bribes to Foreign Officials & Anti-Consumer Laws

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/30/1087719/-Walmart-ALEC-Exploiting-Prison-Labor-Beyond-Bribes-to-Foreign-Officials-Anti-Consumer-Laws

.Mon Apr 30, 2012 at 06:47 PM PDT.

<snip>Throughout their membership in ALEC Walmart has helped write and sponsor specific legislation that benefited their bottom line, regardless of the impact upon workers, consumers or voters. Walmart has tried to indicate that they hold a membership in ALEC because through ALEC they have a voice on issues important to their company. In addition they say they don't always support ALEC's agenda on social issues. Both assertions are not true. While denying US workers their desire to unionize, and helping ALEC develop their anti-Union model bills; ending collective bargaining and Right to Work - Walmart readily agreed to unionization of workers in their China outlets in 2006.

Indiana, Arizona and Wisconsin are clear examples of Walmart's involvement in helping ALEC fund and support their anti-worker (RTW) and opposition to national healthcare. They discussed and helped adopt voter ID suppression, and immigration detention then funneled campaign contributions to lawmakers who voted favorably to pass the model bills state by state.

A look at the campaign contributions of Walmart over the past decade and a half show the company heavily supported dozens of key ALEC members and alumni; Scott Walker ($15K in 2010), Scott Fitzgerald ($3k in 2004), Dan Kapanke ($1k in 2004) and Robin Vos ($1.5K in 2004) in WI., Mitch Daniels ($88k since 2004), David Wolkins ($3k in 2006), and Marlin Stutzman ($3k in 2006) in Indiana and Russell Pearce (SB 1070) in Arizona ($250 in 2006). All three states have been on the front lines in the ongoing conservative battles on privatizing education, prison privatization, RTW, ending collective bargaining, etc. This link will take you to a site tracking Walmart's campaign contributions since 1996. Take a brief look and see the hundreds of thousands of dollars funneled to ALEC's legislative members or affiliates who carried out ALEC's policy initiatives and passed terrible legislation nationwide.

This is called "enabling". Besides sitting on the task forces where ALEC model bills are crafted, tweaked and passed along to every state legislature - having a say and vote before one single citizen even knows a proposed law impacting them is on the way to their general assembly - Walmart contributes to the campaigns of those lawmakers supporting the ALEC legislation. Walmart then takes advantage of the laws benefiting their bottom line - laws they helped write and paid good money to see passed. Wisconsin has tracked Walmart for years on labor issues in WI., the US and their foreign subsidiaries.

That is the game they chose to play - and ALEC the team they played for. What some are not aware of is that ALEC wrote important legislation in the mid-1990's that Walmart also took advantage of. This legislation is titled the Prison Industries Act. Under this legislation (already adopted in more than 30 states nationwide) private companies can have access to prisoners as a labor or workforce (under this model bill, agricultural products and services are exempt from wage requirements).

[MoreGOPoop]

1. K & R

Remind me how many godzillions the Walton family members have? And, how many of their employees are on food stamps? And, how many of us are eating their Soylent Corn?

Wuck Falmart

[Uncle Joe]

2. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, NNNOLHI.