Wal-Mart and their workers: Will the $40M settlement change anything?

My newest gig launched today at All Voices, where I'm one of a handful of journalists from around the world hired to report for them as a Provoice Correspondent.

I'll be focusing on business, workplace issues, and work-life balance for the citizen journalism site and its 4 million monthly readers. My first piece, on Wal-Mart and the $40 million settlement it agreed to pay to some 87,000 workers in Massachusetts last week, is live now. Here's a tease:

...Workers in the United States have alleged for years that Wal-Mart managers denied or cut short their rest and meal breaks, refused to pay overtime wages, manipulated their time cards, or required them to work off-the-clock without pay.

Americans are outraged. But would those same working conditions raise eyebrows anywhere else? What's acceptable these days, and does it depend where the company is located? ...

Please click through to give it a read, share your reactions, and pass the word along!