Three Tennessee women and long-time employees of Walmart have filed a class action lawsuit against the discount retailer, claiming they were denied promotions because of their gender and paid less than their male counterparts.

Since bribery allegations emerged, Wal-Mart has remained firm in its interest to build in New York City, and it seems confident that it will be successful in its endeavors. Various individuals have also sided with Wal-Mart in its recent troubles with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The New York Neighborhood Alliance, a group representing the best interest of New York’s small businesses, contends that any and all efforts to diminish Wal-Mart’s blatant disregard for the law are unjustified.

“Every year Wal-Mart releases new reports with colorful charts and out of reach goals while promising transparency and accountability. Where is the accountability now? Not only did Wal-Mart underreport bribery allegations, it promoted the person who reportedly facilitated them”, says David Schwartz, Co-Founder of the New York Neighborhood Alliance and former Kings County Assistant District Attorney.

Anti-Wal-Mart groups in New York City on Tuesday called for an investigation into the retailer’s U.S. expansion tactics after allegations the company bribed Mexican officials and covered it up while growing its largest foreign subsidiary.

A scandal surrounding Walmart over alleged bribery in Mexico is turning into fresh meat for its opponents in the United States. Labor unions and activist organizations fighting the big box retailer’s push into New York City and Los Angeles are drawing parallels between the company’s domestic expansion strategies and its alleged illegal tactics in Mexico.

“Funny that in Los Angeles, Walmart wants ‘community input’ while in New York they hold closed door meetings with a hand-selected audience and refuse to participate in Council hearings…”

From NY1: Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer spoke out against a theoretical Harlem Walmart Thursday, saying its presence would wipe out local businesses, but residents say they’d welcome the big-box store. NY1’s Bobby Cuza filed the following report. Harlem Gourmet Deli has been around for 25 years, but owner Sami Alrowhani believes a new Walmart [...]

Wal-Mart produced another self serving poll again today, proving once again that Wal-Mart will continue to mislead New Yorkers to benefit their bottom line. This poll, financed by Wal-Mart’s deep pockets, continues its attempted assault on small businesses and neighborhoods in New York City.

New York City’s 99 percent protesters make their feelings known about bringing Wal-mart stores to the city

A vacant Brooklyn lot that Walmart wants for its first New York City store will stay in state hands while the Cuomo administration makes sure taxpayers aren’t getting ripped off. But critics charged that the appraisals were flawed and taxpayers were getting a raw deal, and the News discovered that the appraiser hired by the state had done prior work for Walmart.

The New York Neighborhood Alliance (NYNA), a group comprised of local small and medium sized business owners in New York City, is dismayed to see that politicians, such as Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, are now reversing their opposition to Wal-Mart entering the city of New York thanks to efforts by Wal-Mart to buy political goodwill.

When Wal-Mart Stores Inc. hired Margaret Garner in 2005 as the first black woman contractor to build one of its stores, she was hailed as a symbol of the benefits local businesses and minority communities would reap from the retail giant’s push into Chicago.

Six years later, her company is bankrupt, crushed by cost overruns on Wal-Mart’s first Chicago store, located in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side. A Crain’s investigation shows that the benefits to minority contractors were less than suggested by the hype surrounding Ms. Garner’s hiring.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, one of oldest and largest LGBT organizations in the country, today announced its endorsement of the Walmart Free NYC campaign in a forceful and detailed statement.
“We have serious concerns about the expansion of Walmart into New York City, a historic home of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. With the expansion of Walmart stores comes the expansion of antiquated employment policies that provide little to no protections for, and at times even hostility toward, their LGBT employees.

“Opponents of Walmart plan to ratchet up the pressure on heavyweight developer The Related Companies this week, in a concerted campaign to show the city’s real estate community that there’s a potential cost to doing business with the nation’s biggest retailer. Related has had contact with Walmart about leasing a site at its 650,000-square-foot Gateway II shopping center in East New York, Brooklyn, that already received the City Council’s approval, enraging those unions, small storeowners and council members that oppose the retailer’s entry into the city.

Small business owners and workers from across the 5 boroughs will urge the City Council today to protect mom and pop stores and the 450,000 New Yorkers they employ by keeping Wal-Mart out of New York City. With support from major elected allies, including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, the hard-working shop owners will rally at City Hall before the much-anticipated Council hearing to deliver a simple message: this is the wrong time for Walmart to move into NYC, bankrupt mom and pop stores, and increase unemployment in already struggling neighborhoods.

A local supermarket union will launch a campaign Tuesday afternoon to bring a 100,000-square-foot ShopRite to the Brooklyn retail center that Walmart is also eyeing for its first New York City store. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500 will argue that ShopRite’s wages and benefits outstrip those offered by Walmart, and that the supermarket would match Walmart’s promise to bring fresh food into the East New York, Brooklyn, neighborhood.

A new poll asking precisely that question to 300 small retail shop owners throughout the city found that most answered a resounding “no.” The poll found that the small business community – including 73% of groceries and convenience stores – overwhelmingly rejects the idea of the largest retail business in the world setting shop in New York City. The survey conducted by Gotham Government Relations.