Wal-Mart cost taxpayers $1,557,000,000,000 to support its employees a year! It is important that we understand what this company is doing to our communities across the nation. Wal-Mart is a 108 billion dollar a year mega company that is profit driven, we must pay attention to their business practices and demand they obey the laws every other business must obey.You may think that Wal-Mart is making jobs for you community but really it is driving down wages and increasing poverty in your community. Opening a single Wal-mart store lowers average reatil wages in that county nearly 1%. In the general merchandise sector, wages fell by 1% for each new Wal-mart which doesn't sound like much but it is! Grocery store employees noticed a 1.5% reduction in earnings when a Wal-mart comes to town. Wal-mart does not keep money in your community! In Virginia for example, 60 cents of every dollar spent downtown stays downtown- compared to just six cents for every dollar spent at a big box store like Wal-mart. (Rocky Mountain Institute)
Wal-mart forces small businesses to close by importing products from other countries as well! Wal-mart imports most of its products! Over 80% of Wal-mart's suppliers are in China! Wal-mart imports 70% of its products from China! One in every 25 containers shipped to the United States in 2005 was destined for a Wal-mart! Our country accounted for 695,118 cargo containers that year, with an average of one arriving to a US port every 45 seconds! (Forbes, 7/5/06) As of 2008, if Wal-mart was its own country it would be the 8th largest importer of Chinese goods in the world- that is ahead of Russia and India! Taking it back to the smaller communities- 5 years after opening a Wal-mart in a county the number of smaller retail businesses (20 employees or less) declines by 4!
You may think that Wal-mart is a great place to work where the employees are well taken care of with good health plans but in fact Wal-mart mistreats its employees all across the board. Wal-mart's healthcare plans are not cutting it for employees! Wal-mart's healthcare plans only cover 50.2% of there 1.4 million employees! In 21 of 23 states where data is available, Wal-mart forces more employees to rely on taxpayer funded health care than any other employer! President and CEO of Wal-mart Lee Scott admits, "In some of our states, the public program may actually be a better value- with relatively high income limits to qualify, and low premiums."
Wal-mart has an anti union policy! Wal-mart issued a "Manager's toolbox for staying union free!" These boxes include a handbook of different signs that employees may be forming a union- like people socializing that weren't before and to keep an eye out for "home parties" that could be people meeting at with union officials. If there is reason for "concern" the manager is to call the special "1-800" number to report it. Immediately Wal-mart sends a task force to the store to abolish the union. If they do not succeed- which has only happened once in Canada- they close the store! Wal-mart does not want to deal with a union situation so it closed the store in Canada that succeeded in forming a union. 100 unfair labor practice charges have been filed against Wal-mart throughout the country, with 43 charges filed in 2002 alone!
Wal-mart is known for gender discrimination! In 2001, 6 women sued Wal-mart in California claiming the company discriminated against women- denying them promotions and paying them less than men. The lawsuit named, Dukes vs Wal-mart has expanded to include more than 1.6 million current and former female employees. On June 21, 2004 it was certified the largest class action suit ever in history. (Mondaq Business Briefing, November 1, 2004)
Finally, we must take a stand by not providing this company with our support! We are the only ones who can make this company change its ways. By not buying from Wal-mart and spreading the word about what you have learned here, you are doing your part to change the ways of a company that has desperately gone off track. Please us the following links and video to get involved and help make a difference! It's up to US!
United Food and Commercial Workers International Union: WAKE UP WAL-MART!
Brave New Films: Wal-Mart the High Cost of a Low Price Movie
Wal-Mart Watch 2009
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