Texas nuns on Wal-Mart's threat list

nunscotus_abusednegative.jpg, originally uploaded by rev_bri.

 

A group of nuns say that Wal-Mart has labeled them as a security threat for questioning the retail giant's human rights record.

"We've been raising questions with them for about 17 years, so it's not like they don't know it," Sister Mika said.

Now, the sisters find themselves on Wal-Mart's security threat list. Sister Mika said the group has been wrongly labeled.

"In no way have we ever been a threat to the company in that sense. We might be a threat in the kind of question that we're asking, but not a security threat," Sister Mika said.

The sisters have raised questions on wages, human rights, health care and the pay disparity between CEOs and workers. They believe that's why Wal-Mart has launched a surveillance operation on the small church group.

[KENS 5]

The nuns are part of the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility.

The nuns official letter to Wal-Mart is available here.

Comments

[Lesley]

Another reason I'm glad I don't shop at Walmart.

[antipapist]

Well you never know, maybe one of them was like Fatima Blush in a nun suit, in a breakaway nun suit with throwing stars and an MK3 underneath, uh, oh, I seem to be aroused.

[Mellifluous]

Nothing terrorizes these lying scum more than the truth. I realize 17 years seems like a long time to battle, but in the long view it is worth doing it. Wal-Mart just told us.

[Proud NM Dem]

Since when did Wal-Mart gain the authority to conduct surveillance on a private organization--hell, an organization or individual of any sort? Last time I heard, the Patriot Act only applied denial of our Constitutional rights to US Government authorities, not big box corporations. They should file a lawsuit against Wal-Mart, if only to drag them, kicking and screaming, out into the open AGAIN in regards to their lack of respect for American values.

[Michael Church]

What exactly does it mean to be a "security threat" to Wal-Mart? Does the term suggest a threat to the company's physical security -- i.e., that the nuns are going to burn down a building? That seems unlikely. Or is does it suggest a threat to Wal-Mart's financial security -- that seeing nuns complain about unfair business practices will keep consumers away? Because that seems far more unlikely. Comparatively few Americans know or care what nuns think, even Benedictine ones.

So here's my theory. The good sisters pose a threat to the security of Wal-Mart's corporater self-image. After all, complaints from Democratic congressmen and the New Yorker magaziner won't keep coprorate executives tossing and turning all night. But maybe, just maybe, they will lie in bed shivering with fear because Sister Mary Agnes has called them predatory wolves exploiting the impoverished sheep. A long shot, but the best I can do.