ROBERT REICH CRITICIZED OBAMA VISIT as DEPARTMENT OF ILL-ADVISED PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES. Currently, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies, Robert Reich was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration. Yesterday, on Facebook he posted, ... President Obama is scheduled to do a press event at a Walmart store in Mountain View, California, to highlight the company’s purported energy efficiency, according to the White House. What numbskull in the White House arranged this? Obamas last visit at the Fairmont San Jose was upstaged by the NSA Scandal, while he was really there to unveil Covered California; but, meanwhile, this latest visit to the hotel and surrounding areas saw the President overwhelmed by labor protesters, small business interests and environmentalists, because of his stance with Walmart and his overlooking other issues. Reich continued his critique, saying Walmart may be one of the retail industrys leaders in the use of renewable energy in its stores, but its greenhouse emissions grew 2 percent last year to nearly half a million metric tons, and it lags badly behind other large companies on renewable power, with only 3 percent of electricity from these sources. More to the point, Walmart is one of the nation’s largest and worst employers – low wages, unreliable hours, few benefits, discrimination against women, and anti-union. The NLRB is investigating charges it discriminates against workers who speak out. And most of the rest of us are subsidizing Walmart by paying for the food stamps and Medicaid its workers need because Walmart doesnt pay them enough to keep them out of poverty. Obama should use this opportunity not to praise Walmart but to condemn it for its irresponsible labor practices, to call for it to allow its workers to unionize, and meet with Walmart workers to hear first-hand about how they’re treated. (Id also urge him to decide against being hosted this weekend by Walmart board member Marissa Mayer for a political fundraiser.) Do you think that President Obama needs better advice on trips to Silicon Valley? What would you advise? #Obama #POTUS #RobertReich #SanJoseCA #SiliconValley #Walmart #Solar #Labor #UCBerkeley #California #Clinton #MountainViewCA #EnergyEfficiency #WhiteHouse #NSAScandal #CaliforniaCovered #NLRB #Descrimination #Fundraising
Posted on: Sat, 10 May 2014 20:02:50 +0000
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