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Critical Wal-Mart
documentary is well received at Berlin Film Festival in Germany Wal-Mart's real face starts to be familiar also in Europe, where unions, consumer groups, civic organisations and others are already warning about the effects of walmartization. The retail giant's failed attempt to enforce a sex ban and anonymous informer phones on its German workers did not do any good for the company's reputation. When Wal-Mart then chose to close its store in Canadian Jonquière and send hundreds of workers into unemployment, rather than accepting a collective agreement, many people lost even their last illusions. Robert Greenfield's critical documentary about Wal-Mart and walmartization, and how the company destroys working families and whole communities, is now starting its European tour. At the Berlin Film Festival in Germany, the movie was received with much interest both by the audiences and leading distributors. It will be released on major European markets within the next month or two. Europe has not been a success story for Wal-Mart Wal-Mart is operating in two European countries, the United Kingdom and Germany, and neither countries have seen any success stories unfold for the world's largest retailer. The company's unveiled and arrogant capitalism, with no room for moral or social considerations, has not travelled well over the Atlantic. In the UK, ASDA-Wal-Mart is not able to stand up to leading retailer Tesco. At Bentonville headquarters the nerves are apparently getting tense, as CEO Lee H. Scott is vainly begging for help from the British competition authorities. This has brought some rather wry smiles from competitors and observers, who know how vulnerable to criticism the American multinational itself is, with its dominant global market position, which it exploits ion a brutal way. Last week's announcement by Tesco that it will take on Wal-Mart also at its home ground in the United States will surely add to the pressure. Whereas the leading British retailer has developed one of the most profitable operating concepts in the world, Wal-Mart has experienced a serious downhill road, with shareholders losing a substantial part of their investment value. In Germany, things continue to be even worse for Wal-Mart. The company never got its concept right, and also succeeded to anger its workers from the very beginning, by denying them the respect that they were used to on the country's labour market. Later, Wal-Mart has wriggled against collective agreement obligations, and only the strong union organising rates of its workers have forced it to thread the narrow road when it comes to employment and working conditions. In other parts of Europe, commerce unions are well prepared for any expansion attempts by Wal-Mart. A UNI Commerce Global Union Wal-Mart network is in place, and can be activated very fast, would need be.
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