Walmart settles fake reporter saga

Warehouse Workers ‏@wwunited

#Walmart settles its "fake reporter" saga. http://ow.ly/myNHP #WMTfail #labor @LaloAlcaraz @paulxharris @alicehines


http://www.warehouseworkersunited.org/walmart-settles-fake-reporter-saga/

Walmart and its PR firm agreed not to engage in illegal surveillance of workers.

In a settlement made public today Walmart and Mercury Public Affairs agreed to destroy any recordings made at a press conference last year that was co-sponsored by Warehouse Workers United and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. The companies settled to avoid a trial after federal authorities investigated and authorized a complaint over a federal charge filed by Warehouse Workers United.

At the June 2012 press conference, warehouse worker Santos Castaneda was interviewed by a Mercury Public Affairs staffer posing as a student journalist. The public relations agent said her name was Zoe Mitchell and that she was a journalism student at the University of Southern California. The next week, the same woman appeared at a press event in front of the proposed location for a Walmart in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. This time she used her real identity, Stephanie Harnett, and said she was representing Walmart.

snip

“Walmart has a lot of tricks up its sleeves,” Castaneda said. “I’m glad we caught them this time.”

(Links and a little more at the page.)