ILLEGAL ALIENS ARRESTED AT WAL-MART

Since there seems to be a Wal-Mart just about everywhere, people who live just about everywhere probably have a passing interest in this story.

Federal agents raided Wal-Mart's headquarters and 60 of its stores across the country Thursday, arresting more than 300 illegal workers in an immigration crackdown at the world's biggest retailer.

The workers were members of cleaning crews hired by outside contractors, but federal law enforcement officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Wal-Mart had direct knowledge of the immigration violations. They cited recordings of meetings and conversations among Wal-Mart executives, managers and contractors.

When the story broke, all the local broadcast stations sent their reporterettes out to interview customers at stores around Cleveland. I had to weed through the heaps of obvious lefty media bias to conclude that all the people they interviewed said the scandal would not inhibit them from continuing to frequent Wal-Mart. In fact, they all left me with the impression that they plan to continue to be enthusiastic and loyal customers. However, you can bet that the unions will use this latest scandal as fodder in their propaganda to get the employees to unionize.

And, if the unions ever get a foothold in the store, those same people will display less enthusiasm and less loyalty. When Wal-Mart has to pay somebody $19.50 an hour to sweep the floor, the price advantage the customers enjoy at present will be history. I've seen it happen time and again. Unions have forced companies into noncompetitive positions and they had to move (usually outside the US) or raise prices considerably. It would be nice if more people realized that every time the unions expand, everybody's cost of living is increased.

There's more from a former Wal-Mart employee at Overtaken by Events.