Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right

by Jane Mayer

Menard’s hostility to organized labor was pronounced. He imposed an absolute ban on hiring anyone who had ever belonged to a union. One employee described having to fire two promising management prospects because they had worked in high school as baggers for a unionized supermarket. Managers, meanwhile, were subject to 60 percent pay cuts if their stores became unionized. They also had to agree to pay fines of $100 per minute for infractions such as opening late and to submit any disputes to management-friendly arbitration rather than the courts. Menard also forbade employees to build their own houses, for fear they would pilfer supplies. When one employee got special permission to build a ramp-equipped home in order to accommodate a wheelchair-bound daughter (in exchange for a demotion and a large salary cut), he was fired. His offense was that his contractor was using building materials from a competitor.