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Walmart

DON'T DISCOUNT TRUE WAL-MART SUCCESS STORY
Mary Conroy The writer retains the copyright for this article.

Nov. 6, 2002
Capital Times & Wisconsin State Journal
ALL
Page 8D
(Copyright (c) Madison Newspapers, Inc. 2002)

Reading Jim Hightower's work is always a treat. Don't get me wrong - it's
not fun, but it is very thought provoking. A recent Hightower column in the
Union Labor News made me think long and hard about big discounters,
especially Wal-Mart.

Did you know, for instance, that Wal-Mart is now the world's biggest
corporation? Bigger than Exxon-Mobil? Did you know that five of the 10
richest people in the world are Waltons? (And not the "Night, John-Boy"
variety.) In fact, S. Robson Walton has socked away more than $65 billion
in personal wealth, leaving Bill Gates at a distant second.

So? They worked hard, and now they're rich. Isn't that the American dream?

Not when you ask how they earned the money. The Waltons have succeeded by
paying employees slave wages and suppliers the bare minimum of prices.

Although Wal-Mart employees comply with the company cheer every morning,
they don't have much to cheer about. The average Wal-Mart worker earns
$15,000 a year. But many of them earn far less, because Wal-Mart calls 28
hours a full work week. The lucky ones on the 28- hour schedule make less
than $11,000 a year.

So? Plenty of employees in America work for lower wages to get good health
benefits. Ah, there's the rub. At Wal-Mart, you get health benefits after
two years on the job. Even then, the health insurance premiums are so high,
only 38 percent of Wal-Mart employees are covered by insurance.

With so many employees, surely some of them are unionized, aren't they?
Well, no. In Jacksonville, Texas, 11 Wal-Mart meat-cutters joined the
United Food and Commercial Workers union in February 2000. In response, 11
days later, Wal-Mart said it would close its meat-cutting departments in
all
stores.

And one of the meat-cutters in Jacksonville was fired for theft, according
to the Texan Observer. A manager allowed the meat-cutter to buy some
overripe bananas for 50 cents. The meat-cutter ate one before he paid for
the box. He was fired for theft of the banana.

The corporation's cruelty to human beings doesn't stop in America. Charlie
Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee says that around the world,
plants
that make products for Wal-Mart are the worst. In fact, Kernaghan says,
Wal-Mart's policies are "actually lowering standards in China, slashing
wages and benefits, imposing long mandatory-overtime shifts, while
tolerating the arbitrary firing of workers who even dare to discuss factory
conditions."

To keep curious people from investigating its suppliers around the world,
Wal-Mart refuses to cite factory names or addresses. That way, no
independent investigators can visit the plants.

Still, Kernaghan's NLC spoke with workers from toy factories (71 percent of
all toys sold in the U.S. come from China).

The committee's report, "Toys of Misery," included these findings:

Production workers earned 13 cents an hour, although China's minimum (not
living) wage is 31 cents per hour.

Employees spend 13- to 16-hour days making toys, seven days a week, except
for 20-hour days in high season.

Employees suffer from unhealthy workplaces. Among their problems are
headaches and nausea from paint-dust in the air; no protective clothing;
repetitive stress disorders; an inside temperature above 100 degrees.

Workers must pay extraordinary sums for their own health treatment, and are
fired if they're too sick to work.

How can we fight this giant? First, we can buy groceries from union
grocers,
so their employees get decent wages and benefits.

Second, if we shop at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club, we can minimize our
purchases.
More important, we can wear union buttons and T-shirts, and tell the
management we respect retailers who provide a living wage for their
employees.

Third, we can intervene when our city considers plans for a new Wal-Mart,
Sam's Club or Super Wal-Mart. We can tell our mayors and city councils that
we only welcome businesses that engage in fair trade and provide living
wages.

XWST0231100068

Copyright © 2002 Dow Jones Reuters Business Interactive LLC. All Rights
Reserved







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