Walmart

By Dhanya Skariachan and Jessica Wohl Walmart Stores Inc. has in recent months been only hiring temporary workers at many of its U.S. stores, the first time the world's largest retailer has done so outside of the holiday shopping season. A Reuters survey of 52 stores run by the largest U.S. private employer ...

Every villain needs a hero, and in the press, Walmart and Costco have been portrayed as the dark lord and white knight of low-budget retail. In recent months, Walmart has been criticized for allegedly underpaying and mistreating its employees, while Costco has been lauded as a kind of corporate Dumbledore, ...

This week, thousands of Walmart associates are in Bentonville, Ark., to celebrate the annual shareholders' meeting. So are hundreds of Walmart protesters, some employees, most organizers, all demanding better wages and working conditions. The protesters have so far grabbed much of the media coverage; but what ...

Colby Harris had been selling produce for Walmart for four years near Dallas when he decided to participate in a walkout this spring. Soon after, he told AOL Jobs' "Lunchtime Live" Friday, his managers began to snoop on him. "When I come in, managers come out of nowhere to watch me to see what I am talking ...

Walmart tried to put a positive spin on its disappointing earnings report Thursday, which showed declining U.S. sales. But a survey released Friday contains another bad sign for America's wealthiest company and largest employer: just 38 percent of employees think Walmart's business outlook is good. ...

Walmart won a landmark case in the Supreme Court in 2011, defeating the largest civil class action in history. But attorneys for the world's largest retailer will be heading back to the country's highest court. This time, there is just one plaintiff, a woman who claims she was denied disability benefits after ...

When tales emerge from the retail supply chain, they're usually tragic, like the alleged sweatshop conditions at the Foxconn plants that churn out Apple products, or the 112 Bangladeshi workers who died when their factory, where clothes for Walmart, Sears Holdings and Disney were made, burned to the ground. ...

Some people find it tempting to be around junk food and can't resist eating it. But in the case of Penny Winters, a 63-year-old maintenance worker, Walmart sees that as a criminal offense. Winters allegedly was caught by the store's surveillance cameras eating Oreos that she hadn't paid for during her evening ...

A handful of Walmart workers in Maryland and Texas walked off the job on Thursday. With the support of the labor group, OUR Walmart, they filed "unfair labor practice" charges with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the mega-retailer of threats of retaliation. Walmart managers "unlawfully and ...

Walmart was quick to dismiss the Black Friday strikes at their stores as a failure, claiming it had record Black Friday sales regardless. But last week, Walmart's U.S. president and CEO Bill Simon made an announcement that led some Walmart organizers to believe they were finally handed a victory. ...

Walmart's plan to hire more than 100,000 veterans comes with a major catch: Only those who have been honorably discharged on or after the plan's announcement on Jan. 15 will be eligible. (The official launch date is Memorial Day.) Which means that veterans who left service yesterday, or last week, will not ...

Walmart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, said it plans to hire more than 100,000 veterans in the United States over the next five years, a move supported by First Lady Michelle Obama. Most of the veterans will be placed in the company's stores and clubs, and some will be employed in distribution ...

Advocates of right-to-work laws argue that right-to-work laws will benefit workers. Will they? What rights do these laws give employees -- and their bosses? AOL Jobs legal affairs blogger Donna Ballman, who is an employment attorney, answers a reader's question on this subject and in the process debunks what ...

In a stirring Bloomberg BusinessWeek article, Leslie Patton tells the story of one McDonald's employee. His name is Tyree Johnson. The 44-year-old has worked at the fast food chain for two decades, yet still makes just $8.25 an hour, and doesn't get 40 hours a week of work. So Johnson has jobs at two Chicago ...

Each year brings with it plenty of examples of employees caught doing dumb things while on the job, and 2012 was no exception. From the auto-dealership worker who was accused of faking her own kidnapping to the small-town clerk who stole $53 million from taxpayers to the teacher who allegedly ordered her ...

By Julhas Alam DHAKA, Bangladesh -- As 112 of her co-workers died in a garment-factory fire, Dipa Akter got out by jumping from the third floor through a hole made by breaking apart an exhaust fan. Her left leg is wrapped in bandages and she has trouble walking. Now she wants back in. "If the factory ...

By Julhas Alam DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Amid the ash, broken glass and melted sewing machines at what is left of the Tazreen Fashions Ltd. factory, there are piles of blue, red and off-white children's shorts bearing Walmart's Faded Glory brand. Shorts from hip-hop star Sean Combs' ENYCE label lay on the ...

By Julhas Alam DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Fire raced up the floors of a Bangladeshi garment factory with no emergency exits, killing at least 112 people, some of whom jumped from the eight-story building where they made clothes for major global retailers. Investigators suspect that a short circuit caused ...

By Emily Jane Fox NEW YORK -- For bargain happy shoppers, Black Friday means "doorbuster deals." For retail workers, Black Friday means irate customers, long lines and pulling a 24-hour shift without sleep. ...

Walmart workers have already begun striking at scattered stores across the country, as part of the 1,000 protests planned this week culminating on Black Friday. Venanzi Luna, a Walmart associate in Pico Rivera, Calif., took time out from her strike to join us for a live panel discussion. Luna was joined in ...