Immediate Release
Chris Kofinis (202) 486-6422

INTERNAL WAL-MART TALKING POINTS & SEVERANCE DOCUMENT SHOWS WAL-MART DETERMINED TO CUT SAM’S CLUB WORKERS

WAL-MART DOCUMENTS RAISE SERIOUS QUESTIONS ABOUT WAL-MART’S REAL AGENDA FOR SAM’S CLUB WORKERS

Washington, DC - Today, WakeUpWalMart.com released the details of two documents that raise serious questions about the future of thousands of Sam’s Club managers and Associates. The first document is a set of internal talking points that explain important details about the job cuts. The second document is Wal-Mart’s proposed severance agreement with Sam’s Club managers which has some serious strings attached.

Both documents provide insight into how Wal-Mart is pursuing an aggressive and major restructuring of its Sam’s Club division that will affect, primarily, Associates in management positions. For example, here is a sample of the 9-page set of “Q & A” talking points provided to Sam’s Club managers:

Q. What happens if I am not selected for a management position?
A. All managers who are not placed within the new management structure are encouraged to preference for an hourly position in Career Preference.

Q. I am in a position that has been eliminated. How long do I have to secure a new position?
A. You will have 8 weeks, concluding on May 2nd, to secure a position within Wal-Mart stores, Inc.

Q. How will my pay be calculated if I demote to an hourly position?
A. Field Hourly Pay Administration Guidelines will be followed for demotions.

Q. If I accept a non-comparable position, am I still eligible for severance?
A. An Associate who applies for, is offered, and accepts a position with the Company will not be eligible for Severance Pay.

With respect to the severance agreement entitled "Sam's Club Assistant Manager Restructure Agreement", the document outlines specifically that any Sam’s Club Associate will have to sign a “release and waiver of claims” that releases “Wal-Mart, its affiliates, and their directors, officers, shareholders, employees, agents, successors, and assigns, from any and all claims, including any claim for damages, costs, attorney’s fees, expenses, and compensation, whether known or unknown, arising out of or related to the Associate's employment with Wal-Mart or the separation there from.”

Both documents were sent to WakeUpWalMart.com anonymously and can be obtained by contacting WakeUpWalMart.com.

In light of these troubling new documents, the following is a statement by Chris Kofinis, communications director for WakeUpWalMart.com:

“Wal-Mart’s brutal anti-family policies have begun anew. After brutal cost cutting measures that have negatively impacted workers at Wal-Mart's stores, now the company seems focused on making these same bad changes in its Sam’s Club stores. Sadly, to work at Wal-Mart today means that hard-working Associates have to walk on egg shells and pray that today is not going to be the day that they are ‘fired’ only to be offered another job at lower pay.

One is left dumbfounded at the wrong path Wal-Mart is pursuing, and how far the company has fallen from Sam Walton’s vision where Associates and the country came first.”