Wal-Mart Stores is the target of an unlikely alliance between a labor union and farmers and ranchers who say the world’s largest retailer is using its power to hold down prices in the agriculture industry.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which has tried unsuccessfully to unionize Wal-Mart’s employees, is urging the White House to broaden its antitrust inquiry into meat, dairy, and seed businesses to include the retailer. Wal-Mart’s defenders say its policies benefit consumers, ensuring them low prices.
The viewpoint of the union is echoed by such groups as the National Farmers Union, a 190,000-member organization. Until recently, farmers and ranchers had mostly been directing their ire at meat producers such as Tyson Foods and Smithfield Foods. Now some are saying Wal-Mart, whose motto is “Save money. Live better,’’ is unfairly cutting food costs at their expense.
Wal-Mart’s critics said they anticipate, after years of government reluctance to regulate farming, that President Obama will inject more competition into the food-producing business.
Wal-Mart’s goal is to streamline its supply chain for customers’ benefit by working with farmers, said Lorenzo Lopez, a spokesman for Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart.
