Wal-Mart Woos Media as It Tries to Polish Image
Reuters - April 5, 2005
By Mark Weinraub

ROGERS, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, on Tuesday brought journalists to its Arkansas headquarters in a first-ever media event, stepping up efforts to repair an image tarnished by claims of worker discrimination and anti-union practices.

But a labor union and other groups used the event as an opportunity to publicize their complaints against the company, holding meetings of their own in Wal-Mart's hometown of Bentonville in northwest Arkansas.

Wal-Mart was tight-lipped about the message it wanted to deliver over the two-day event, but scheduled speakers included Chief Executive Lee Scott and Chief Financial Officer Tom Schoewe.

Wal-Mart, whose annual sales of $256 billion accounted for about 5 percent of all U.S. retail sales in 2004, also planned to give reporters a rare look at some of its operations.

The event comes in the midst of a move by Wal-Mart, which has been beset by lawsuits and claims of uncompetitive practices, to clearly set the terms of the debate over its corporate image.

Wal-Mart often faces protests from community groups who say the company drives smaller competitors out of business when entering a new town.

A community protest group last year helped defeat the opening of a new Wal-Mart store in Inglewood, California, and representatives of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union were slated to state their cases against the company on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Coalition for a Better Inglewood held a news conference on Tuesday and urged Scott to work with communities to address their concerns about issues such as pollution, increased traffic and the effect Wal-Mart has on local businesses.

"We came today to challenge Wal-Mart to codify their new-found claim of goodwill and public concern," said Jerome Horton, an assemblyman from California who led the Inglewood delegation.

The coalition planned to present a letter to Scott asking Wal-Mart to provide high-wage jobs and health benefits to workers. The coalition had rejected discussions with other Wal-Mart representatives saying it preferred to deal directly with Scott.

Meanwhile the union, which has failed to unionize any Wal-Mart stores in the United States, plans to address other issues at its meetings in Arkansas.

Wal-Mart in January launched an image campaign, including full-page advertisements in more than 100 newspapers, touting the jobs it plans to create this year, its employee benefit packages, and the diversity of its work force. It also started a Web site to support the ad campaign.

But the campaign has been overshadowed by other events. Wal-Mart recently agreed to pay a record $11 million to settle a civil investigation by U.S. authorities into allegations it knowingly hired floor-cleaning contractors who employed illegal aliens.

It also ousted former Vice Chairman Thomas Coughlin over a company probe into unauthorized use of corporate gift cards and personal reimbursements that has also been reported to federal prosecutors.

Wal-Mart, whose annual sales of $256 billion are equivalent to the gross domestic product of Austria, in February alone had total sales of $22.37 billion.

But despite the company's size, its shares have not performed well. As of Monday, they have fallen 15 percent in the past 52 weeks and are trading near their low for the year.

In midday Tuesday trade, the stock was up 17 cents at $49.58 on the New York Stock Exchange.