Wal-Mart Targeted on Antitrust Claims Again (WMT)

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

is a target of antitrust claims again, this time by a labor union and farmers who say the retailer is using market position to hold down prices of agricultural goods. According to a Bloomberg report, "The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which has tried unsuccessfully to unionize Wal-Mart’s employees, is urging the Obama administration to broaden its antitrust inquiry into meat, dairy and seed businesses to include the retailer. Wal-Mart’s defenders say its policies benefit consumers, ensuring them low prices." The UFCW shares its viewpoint with other groups, such as the National Farmers Union, a 190,000-member organization. They contend that Wal-Mart is unfairly cutting food costs. "We’ve got to really join forces if we’re going to win against this abusive market power," Mike Callicrate, a rancher based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, said in an interview with Bloomberg. A spokesman for Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, Lorenzo Lopez, told Bloomberg that Wal-Mart’s goal is to streamline its supply chain for customers’ benefit by working with, not undercutting, farmers. "We look at ways to develop efficiencies so we can offer affordable choices by building strong relationships" with local farmers and growers, he said. Shares of Walmart are up 1.2% this afternoon, to $52.79.