Wal-Mart unfairly excluded from talk
On behalf of Wal-Mart, I’d like to provide factual
information in response to the claims made in the May 24 Daily
Bruin article “Labor center to analyze Wal-Mart model in
conference.”
The UCLA Labor Center’s claim that Wal-Mart has not yet
responded to their request to participate in their upcoming
“Is Wal-Mart Good for America?” conference is
untrue.
Regrettably, no one from the Daily Bruin contacted Wal-Mart for
this article.
First, some background. Wal-Mart was invited via a letter from
the labor center dated April 20 to participate in the June 4
“debate,” as part of this all-day conference.
However, prior to the invitation, we were never contacted by any
of the event’s organizers as they developed the conference
agenda, nor by any of the professors teaching the courses studying
our company.
We must point out that we were invited to participate only in
the lunchtime debate ““ not in any of the other 10 workshops
scheduled for the conference.
If the workshops were designed to foster open discussion about
Wal-Mart, why does there appear to be representation only from
labor groups and others who have been outspoken in their opposition
to Wal-Mart?
It seems odd that Wal-Mart would have been excluded from the
planning of a conference that will focus solely on Wal-Mart.
Despite that, we did respond in writing on May 13 to the labor
center, asking for more information as we evaluate potential
participation in the debate.
While the Labor Center initially responded to some of the
questions, it did not respond to all our questions, so we have
since resubmitted those questions.
So far, the labor center still has not responded to those
outstanding questions.
Cynthia Lin Director, corporate affairs, California
Wal-Mart stores