Part 1:  Death in the dark

By William C. Shelton

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

When I first heard about the controversy regarding Walmart’s plans to set up shop in the former Circuit City space at Assembly Square, I was not greatly concerned.

It would simply be one retail use replacing another. Although Walmart would generate more traffic than Circuit City did, the space is nowhere near the size of a Home Depot or IKEA. There is almost no chance that a locally owned business could lease the space, which would be my preference. And the availability of inexpensive organic produce seems like a good thing.

But the more that I’ve learned about Walmart’s business, labor, and political practices, the more I’ve come to think of it as what Ronald Reagan called an “evil empire” when he was describing the USSR.

Empire? Yes, Walmart’s economy is larger than that of most nations. And its imperial conquests roll over communities, undermine governmental integrity, abuse workers, crush small businesses, and insulate it from consequences.

I’ll get to these standard operating procedures in my next column. But first, I’d like to tell you about a hard working, beloved, and poetry-writing East Somerville guy named Romulo Santos. He came to the U.S. legally from Brazil.

One day in September 2008 he was working for a small Medford firm that was doing some landscape masonry work at the Walmart in Walpole. At the same time, Texas-based Kekoka Construction was doing a remodeling job inside the store.

Kekoka’s president says that it was formed for the sole purpose of doing Walmart projects and had previously completed 50 around the country. Walmart annually recertifies its “preferred contractors” like Kekoka as competent and meeting all required regulations. A month before undertaking the Walpole project, Louisiana authorities had fined Kekoka for gross violations committed at a Walmart project.

When Romulo’s crew concluded their work, a Kekoka employee asked whether they would like to work into the evening and earn extra money by demolishing some walls. Law requires that contractors obtain a demolition permit for such projects. Kekoka had not done so. Nor did Kekoka have a Massachusetts general contractor’s license or demolition license.

Walmart’s own construction supervisor is responsible for approving any sequence of demolition work. Yet to minimize time and labor costs, the contractor left lighting circuits hot, in violation of electrical and building codes.

Working with an insulated reciprocating saw, a member of Romulo’s unsupervised crew cut through unmarked live wires hidden within a wall, plunging the area into darkness. Workers began finding their way through the darkness to the exit. Romulo never made it out.

A construction crewmember had gone into the electrical room, which was required to be locked, and reenergized the electric lines. Romulo was standing on a lift that came in contact with the live wire. A crewmember heard him moan, and returned to find his burned, blistered, and lifeless body.

Romulo Santos loved America.

Kekoko had paid a Massachusetts-licensed construction supervisor $11,000 to pull the required permits. They then stopped paying him and flew in their own low-wage crews.

In a similar move, Kekoko’s subcontractor, T&M Electric of Arkansas, hired a Massachusetts-licensed electrician solely to pull permits in Walpole. The electrician never appeared at the jobsite. Instead, T&M brought in its own crew, consisting of a journeyman electrician and three untrained workers.

State Senator Brian A. Joyce (D Milton) and his law partner Dragan Cetkovic, are representing Romulo’s family. Walmart has offered them $25,000 to go away, a sum less than the money that Walmart is spreading around Somerville to buy goodwill.

Joyce and Cetkovic tell me that after the accident, a Walmart employee asked a police investigator to take a picture of a flashlight, pliers, and a length of wire that had been neatly lined up on top of the lift. Romulo’s task did not require use of any of them, and if he had been using them, they would have fallen with his body. A forensic expert examined the wire and states that it was never used.

The day after the accident, Walmart’s loss-prevention manager showed the investigator a store surveillance video of an unlicensed member of the T&M crew entering the electrical room twice—before the circuit was reenergized, and after Romulo was killed. He appeared to look around to make sure that he was unobserved. Unaware of the video camera, he subsequently denied having entered the room. When the attorneys requested this video from Walmart, they received an unreadable CD.

Walmart produced two internal reports on the accident. One described it as part of the remodeling job. The second eliminated all references to remodeling. In a sworn deposition, Walmart Official Gary Hawkins acknowledged that Walmart staff had removed or destroyed his hard drive, which contained records of the investigation.

State regulators subsequently revoked the license of the Massachusetts electrician who had pulled the permit. And the Occupational Health and Safety Administration fined T&M for a series of violations. But Walmart avoided any sanctions, fines, or responsibility.

To ensure its “Everyday low prices,” Walmart doesn’t just beat down its suppliers, crush local competitors, and bribe regulators. It consistently and knowingly hires contractors who deliver work at the lowest possible cost by flaunting legal obligations. The result is a history of worker injuries and deaths, and of Walmart blocking efforts by their survivors to seek justice.

An electrical explosion at an Indiana Walmart set three electrical workers on fire. State authorities sanctioned the contractor, but could take no action against Walmart. Similar incidents involving disreputable contractors have been documented in Texas, Louisiana, and Nebraska. Kekoka was fined for gross violations in Louisiana a month before beginning the Walpole project.

Walmart spokesman Greg Rossiter says, “We require the contractors we hire to comply with all applicable laws and regulations. That is their responsibility.’’ And Walmart’s responsibility is to maximize profit by any available means, however unethical or illegal.

The story of Romulo Santos’s grisly death and Walmart’s cover up captures essential elements of how the company routinely does business. Our city’s political leaders represent themselves as friends of labor and allies to local businesses. If they are, they will oppose the Assembly Square Walmart.