<EMBED class=sIFR-flash style="WIDTH: 705px; HEIGHT: 24px" src=http://walmartwatch.com/swf/kontrapunkt.swf width=705 height=24 type=application/x-shockwave-flash quality="best" flashvars="txt=WAL-MART PROMOTES SECRET MEMO AUTHOR SUSAN CHAMBERS&w=705&h=24&sifr_url_0=http://walmartwatch.com/blog/archives/wal_mart_promotes_secret_mem_author_susan_chambers/&textcolor=#405A7D" wmode="transparent" bgcolor="transparent">Wal-Mart Promotes Secret Memo Author Susan Chambers

Wal-Mart announced today, amid a shuffling of five of its top executives, that Susan Chambers is getting a promotion. From Reuters:

The company also promoted Susan Chambers to fill Jackson’s former role as executive vice president of human resources, which Wal-Mart calls the “people division.�?Chambers wrote the now infamous Wal-Mart memo on reducing health-care costs that included controversial recommendations such as adding physical activity to all jobs as a way to discourage unhealthy people from applying.

And as the Wall Street Journal reported:

Wal-Mart’s critics quickly seized on the promotion of Ms. Chambers, noting that she authored a controversial internal memo last year suggesting, among other things, that Wal-Mart could stem the increase of its health-insurance costs by discouraging unhealthy people from applying to work for the retailer and start making physical activity a requirement of most jobs.

The memo was leaked to Wal-Mart Watch and reported on by the New York Times on October 26, 2005. Below are key excerpts from the memo:

Chambers On “Unhealthy People�?�?/B> Chambers wrote, “A healthier workforce will lead to lower health insurance costs, lower absenteeism through fewer sick days, and higher productivity. It will be far easier to attract and retain a healthier workforce than it will be to change behavior in an existing one. These moves would also dissuade unhealthy people from coming to work at Wal-Mart. Even a healthier workforce could result in significant savings: $220 million to $670 million in FY2011.�?[Wal-Mart Secret Memo, Page 10, http://walmartwatch.com/memo; New York Times, 10/26/05, emphasis added]

Chambers On Children �?/B> Chambers wrote, “We also have a significant number of Associates and their children who receive health insurance through public-assistance programs. Five percent of our Associates are on Medicaid compared to an average for national employers of 4 percent. Twenty-seven percent of Associates�?children are on such programs, compared to a national average of 22 percent. In total, 46 percent of Associates�?children are either on Medicaid or are uninsured.�?[Wal-Mart Secret Memo, Page 6, http://walmartwatch.com/memo; New York Times, 10/26/05, emphasis added]

Chambers On Wal-Mart’s Critics Being Correct �?/B> “Our healthcare offering is also vulnerable to attack ...Wal-Mart’s critics can also easily exploit some aspects of our benefits offering to make their case; in other words, our critics are correct in some of their observations. Specifically, our coverage is expensive for low-income families, and Wal-Mart has a significant percentage of Associates and their children on public assistance.�?[Wal-Mart Secret Memo, Page 5, http://walmartwatch.com/memo; New York Times, 10/26/05, emphasis added]

Read more key excerpts from Susan Chambers�?health care memo here:
Key Quotes from the Secret Wal-Mart Memo

Controversial Wal-Mart Memo Prompts Widespread Criticism:
Confidential Wal-Mart Memo Prompts Widespread Criticism

Posted by Russ Fagaly on Wednesday, April 05, 2006

src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/addthis_widget.php?v=12" type=text/javascript></SCRIPT>