Ticonderoga Wal-Mart - Illegal Aliens

The Ticonderoga Wal-Mart is apparently getting renovated. The contractor or subcontractor has been using illegal aliens as employees. And, this isn't the first time this has happened.

According to an article in todays Plattsburgh Press Republican:

In 2003, four members of a Lithuanian cleaning group at the Ticonderoga Wal-Mart were taken into custody by the Border Patrol for deportation. The arrests were part of a nationwide roundup of 300 illegal aliens staffing Wal-Mart cleaning crews.

Of course Wal-Mart knows absolutely nothing about the use of illegal alien labor in their stores and immediately suspended the renovation work. Did they use a local contractor and local labor? Unlikely. Wal-Mart uses subcontractors (who hire illegal aliens) so that they can deny responsibility for the labor violations. Wal-Mart likes to give "Always low prices. Always.", so they have to keep their labor costs down as low as possible.

A good article concerning Wal-Mart and illegal alien workers can be found here.

Wal-Mart officials said it made sense to contract out the cleaning work because that enabled store managers to concentrate on what they do best, operating stores that provide low-cost merchandise. Wal-Mart uses about 100 contractors to clean nearly 1,000 of its stores.

Several industry executives said the questionable contractors made it hard for legitimate operators to bid low enough to win contracts at Wal-Mart.

"When you don't pay taxes, don't pay Social Security and don't pay workers' comp, you have a 40 percent cost advantage," said Lilia Garcia, executive director of the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund, a group financed by California cleaning contractors to police fly-by-night competitors. "It makes it hard for companies that follow the rules."

Read the lawsuit brought against WalMart by the illegal alien janitors here (pdf).

See, if Wal-Mart had to play by the rules, we wouldn't have "Everyday Low Prices".