Chain questions motives of lawsuit by labor group

Friday, Sept. 16, 2005 | 9:50 a.m.

Wal-Mart Stores issued its first response on Thursday to a lawsuit that accuses it of allowing sweatshop conditions at overseas factories, saying that the labor rights group that filed the lawsuit on Tuesday had "a history of presenting opinions as facts."

After the group, the International Labor Rights Fund, filed the class-action suit in Los Angeles on behalf of employees for Wal-Mart contractors in China, Bangladesh, Nicaragua, Swaziland and Indonesia, Wal-Mart said it needed to study the lawsuit before responding.

"We are a global leader in monitoring supplier factory conditions," Wal-Mart said Thursday, "and if we find that any of our suppliers' factories are unwilling to correct problems, we end our relationship with them."

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