Reply #6: In other Wal-mart news [View All]

[DulceDecorum]

Mar 29, 2005
Wal-Mart said in a document filed with the Securities Exchange Commission that Coughlin's resignation arose over the unauthorized use of corporate gift cards and personal reimbursements involving third-party invoices and expense reports.
The amount in question is in the range of $100,000 to $500,000, according to the SEC filing.
Wal-Mart turned over the results of its internal investigation to the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Western District of Arkansas in Fayetteville. A spokesman with the U.S. Attorney's Office said he had no comment on the investigation.
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2005/03/29/business/01coughlinfollow.txt

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s former vice chairman may have used undocumented expense payments to pay for anti-union activities, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/04/08/news/fortune500/walmart.reut/

WASHINGTON, April 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -— Today’s Wall Street Journal revealed that former Wal-Mart Board Member and Vice Chairman Thomas M. Coughlin, the number two person at the company, alleges that he operated an illegal anti-union slush fund as part of a company program to suppress the democratic freedom of workers to make a choice for a union voice at work.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) calls on the company to publicize all documents connected with the U.S. attorney’s criminal probe of the Coughlin case.
Wal-Mart has already been found guilty of illegally spying, bribing with promotions, firing and intimidating workers. According to the Wall Street Journal, these revelations, if true, mean that Wal-Mart’s anti-worker, anti-union program “would represent a criminal offense under the federal Taft-Hartly Act,” -— a federal felony to pay employees to persuade coworkers to abandon support for union representation.
The Journal also reported that Coughlin "is expected to use the ‘union project’ as part of his defense to the charges about mismanagement of funds."
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=45564