Labor groups decry Obama's planned Walmart stop in Bay Area

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

President Obama's planned event at a Walmart store in Mountain View on Friday is drawing fire from labor unions, income-equality supporters and other progressives arguing that the retailer is no friend to the president's pro-worker agenda.

Obama "will stand side by side with a company known for low wages, few benefits, unreliable hours, discrimination against women, violating workers rights and, yes, environmental degradation," Joe Hansen, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, said in a statement Wednesday. The visit, he said, "sends a terrible message to workers across America."

Walmart has denied those charges in the past, arguing that its stores provide low-cost goods and groceries and jobs with competitive wages. Company officials did not respond Wednesday to a request for comments on the complaints.

The Walmart stop is a nonpolitical event focusing on energy efficiency, according to the White House.

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