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With more than 15,000 packed into the University of Arkansas' basketball arena for the Wal-Mart's annual meeting, corporate execs "pledged to work harder to promote women to management and announced a new pay system that would be more fair for hourly workers."
The likely motivations for the changes were "bad publicity over Wal-Mart's pay and negative comments from politicians,"BusinessWeek reports, and indeed, vice-president of Wal-Mart corporate affairs Betsy Reithemeyer urged the audience of Wal-Mart employees to tell "our" story: "We're under scrutiny like we never have been before, and we've got to tell our story like we never have before." One wonders whether a top Wal-Mart executive and a Wal-Mart floor clerk have the same story to tell.
The Financial Times reports that "many other large US companies already link bonuses to diversity, often with more aggressive targets," and another analyst said that "Wal-Mart may be hoping to use [the changes] as 'shark repellent against the unions.'"
Still, "criticism of the retailer seemed a million miles away" as "Chief Financial Officer Tom Schoewe danced in the aisle, and former CEO David Glass -- flanked by [actress Halle] Berry and actress Susan Lucci -- did the twist". Gag me with a spoon.