Anti-American Wal-Mart Makes Anti-Union Payments

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s former vice chairman may have used undocumented expense payments to pay for anti-union activities, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Link


U.S. Newswire/ -— Today’s Wall Street Journal revealed that former Wal-Mart Board Member and Vice Chairman Thomas M. Coughlin, the number two person at the company, alleges that he operated an illegal anti-union slush fund as part of a company program to suppress the democratic freedom of workers to make a choice for a union voice at work.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) calls on the company to publicize all documents connected with the U.S. attorney’s criminal probe of the Coughlin case.Wal-Mart has already been found guilty of illegally spying, bribing with promotions, firing and intimidating workers.

According to the Wall Street Journal, these revelations, if true, mean that Wal-Mart’s anti-worker, anti-union program “would represent a criminal offense under the federal Taft-Hartly Act,” -— a federal felony to pay employees to persuade coworkers to abandon support for union representation.The Journal also reported that Coughlin "is expected to use the ‘union project’ as part of his defense to the charges about mismanagement of funds." Link