Very sneaky, Walmart: How the mega-retailer rolled back California regulations

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/14/very_sneaky_wal_mart_how_the_mega_retailer_rolled_back_california_regulations/

Monday, Oct 14, 2013 06:44 AM CST

Labor, environmental, and political leaders cry foul as Calif. Democrats curtail landmark environmental law

By Josh Eidelson



Jerry Brown (Credit: REUTERS/Max Whittaker/AP/Steven Senne)

While Washington has been warring over the shutdown and the debt ceiling, California Governor Jerry Brown has signed bills expanding access to abortion and restricting local police collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement – bills that advocates hope will join past Golden State laws in proving to be national precedents. But if those bills have gotten little notice amid the showdown in Washington, another – signed by Brown the Friday afternoon before the shutdown – has gotten even less. It’s a “reform” that critics say waters down what’s been the country’s strongest statewide environmental law – and represents Walmart’s latest lobbying coup in a state where Democrats control every branch of government.

“It’s amazing to me how few people are willing to stand up to this corporation,” said Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez. “And mainly because they’re afraid.”

The new law, SB 743, follows more than a year of wrangling between industry, labor and environmental groups over changes to the California Environmental Quality Act, a 1970 law (signed by then-Governor Ronald Reagan) requiring environmental impact reports on many development projects. Business groups have long sought changes to the law, as have some Democratic mayors and – on certain points – some environmentalists. Along with special exceptions for a new stadium for Sacramento’s basketball team, the new law restricts some grounds for CEQA lawsuits. “It’s going to give much more leeway to big companies to just come in and ram these projects through,” said James Araby, who directs the Western States Council of the United Food & Commercial Workers union.

As I’ve reported, the UFCW has been locked in a multi-decade struggle against Walmart, and is closely tied to the retail workers group OUR Walmart, whose members have staged repeated strikes over the past year – activism which they allege Walmart punished by illegally firing 20 workers. Frustrated by labor laws which they argue fail to protect employees who try to organize, or secure meaningful collective bargaining for workers who want it, unions in recent decades have increasingly turned to a broader range of allies, activism and legal levers to compel companies to eschew union-busting and negotiate in good faith. Unions and environmentalists in particular have often made common cause against Walmart, although the retail giant (with guidance from Democrats including Bill Clinton) has made headway in mending relations with green groups.

FULL story at link.