Investors address board on wage disparity

By Jennifer Waters

(Corrects reference to the proportional relationship of top-executive salaries to store-worker pay.)

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Along with all the hoopla and grandstanding planned for Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s marathon annual meeting Friday, there will be a shareholder proposal aimed at reining in the 1,000-to-1 difference in pay scales between executives and store associates.

By Barry Lynn

Now may hardly seem the time to imagine a more global future, let alone do so with optimism. Most of us are hard pressed just to maintain the illusion that the present system is not breaking down, to deny with conviction what everyone knows - that the grand trade liberalisation project is, at best, on life support.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Giant sportswear companies have been accused of foul play ahead of football's World Cup finals in Germany next month by the international aid group Oxfam for their treatment of Asian factory workers. An Oxfam report found that Asian factory workers making the clothes, shoes and other apparel that will be showcased at the world's biggest sporting event have been sacked or threatened with violence when they have organised unions to lobby for better pay and conditions.

The report said an Indonesian factory supplying shoes for the world's top

A former intelligence officer said he saw the head of the Colombian branch of a U.S. coal company pay to have two labor leaders killed, according to a court document.

By Gerardo Reyes

A former Colombian intelligence officer has claimed that he saw the head of the Colombian branch of a U.S. coal company hand over a suitcase full of cash to pay for the assassinations of two labor leaders, according to a document filed in a U.S. court.