Labour groups

One worker said,"We didn’t want to go up in the factory this morning, but the management forced us to go up and said there was no problem with the building. Just after that, I sat on my table to work, and the building just collapsed. I couldn’t even leave. I was trapped at my table. Inside at about 9:10 a.m., the building collapsed, and we were trapped inside since then and up to now. It is 10:18 p.m. Eleven hours, we were trapped. We did not want to enter the building, but the owners pushed us to get in and work."

Despite a spotty record on labor issues, Obama's visit to Walmart was the first ever by a sitting president to a Walmart store -- to the world's largest retailer raised the ire of some labor advocates, who have long criticized the retailer for low wages and importing good from China rather than buying from U.S. manufacturers. Labor groups also protested alongside environmentalists demanding a halt to the Keystone XL pipeline the street outside the Fairmont Hotel on Thursday. Yet the same cost-savings motivations that have led Walmart has cut corners on labor!

Ted Rudow III, MA