Bush Labor Department Gets Cozier with Wal-Mart

In a secret agreement between Wal-Mart and the U.S. Department of Labor, which was investigating child labor charges against the mega-corp, Wal-Mart has agreed to pay $135,540 (virtually nothing, in other words) to settle federal charges that it violated child labor laws in Connecticut, Arkansas and New Hampshire, and the Bush Department of Labor agreed in the future to give Wal-Mart 15 days notice before investigating any further complaints. That ought to be enough time for the corp to cover up the wrong-doing before the federal "suits" stroll through the front door.

The agreement was apparently signed back on January 6th and kept quiet (gosh. We wonder why?) until a reporter began asking questions at the Department of Labor, prompted by complains from investigators in the department.

"Giving the company 15 days' notice of any investigation is very unusual," said John R. Fraser, the government's former top wage official under the first President Bush and President Bill Clinton. "The language appears to go beyond child labor allegations and cover all wage and hour allegations. It appears to put Wal-Mart in a privileged position that to my knowledge no other employer has."

Putting huge corps in privileged positions is the speciality of El Presidente and his drones.