In Maryland, they've just passed a law that would force Wal-Mart (pretty much specifically Wal-Mart) to "to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on employee health care or pay the difference into the state-supported Medicaid program." The law is for companies with more than 10,000 employees, and Wal-Mart is the only company in the state to send less than the 8 percent. Wal-Mart is of course outraged at the whole thing, saying that they believe in health care for everyone, but that this won't solve anything, and they've even threatened to pull some stores out of the state AND a distribution center that was slated to be built there may not be. Oh no! God forbid Wal-Mart continue to drain money from the American culture!!!

What gets me is that the governor is all upset about this idea. Of course he is. Wal-Mart means money. The labor unions did a lot of lobbying to get this law passed, as they should. As the AFL-CIO president said: "The tide is turning because working people are not just fed up — they are ready to get active to set our country in a different direction, one state at a time." And Senator Gloria Lawleh said: "Don't dump your employees that you refuse to insure into our Medicaid system." Wow! Of course the republicans don't like this idea (and this is why I can't side with either party because where Republicans and I don't see eye to eye is big business), because they think its imposing on business and House Republican Leader George Edwards said "If you don't want to work for Wal-Mart, no one's twisting your arms. Go somewhere else and work." It's not that I don't want to work for Wal-Mart, it's that I want them to stop destroying small towns, sucking up money, treating their employees like crap, and building stores near National Landmarks!!

A few things the article finishes up with that I want to make a point of mentioning:

In Pennsylvania, a judge this week approved a class-action lawsuit by employees who say Wal-Mart pressured them to work off the clock.

Last month, a California jury awarded workers $172 million for illegally denied lunch breaks, and Wal-Mart settled a similar Colorado case for $50 million.

All of this information I've provided is true, but of course it has my own spin and opinion on Wal-Mart's crappiness. For a more unbiased report, read the article.