At least for now, Walmart and its public relations firm say they won't spy illegally on their workers.
Last year, a flack named Zoe Mitchell pretended to be a journalist at a press conference and interviewed a warehouse worker.
She got caught.
Here's what happened next, according to Warehouse Workers United, a Teamster-supported group that aims to improve working conditions for warehouse workers in California's Inland Empire:
Walmart and Mercury Public Affairs agreed to destroy any recordings made at a press conference last year that was co-sponsored by Warehouse Workers United and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. The companies settled to avoid a trial after federal authorities investigated and authorized a complaint over a federal charge filed by Warehouse Workers United.
At the June 2012 press conference, warehouse worker Santos Castaneda was interviewed by a Mercury Public Affairs staffer posing as a student journalist. The public relations agent said her name was Zoe Mitchell and that she was a journalism student at the University of Southern California. The next week, the same woman appeared at a press event in front of the proposed location for a Walmart in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. This time she used her real identity, Stephanie Harnett, and said she was representing Walmart.At least someone has a sense of humor about the incident:
