Last fall I learned of the evil ways of Wal-Mart when one of my professors showed the movie "The High Cost of Low Price," in class. Ever since, I've been persuaded to boycott Wal-Mart and spread the word of the corporation's wrongdoings.
I haven't gotten very far in my efforts, but now that I have the opportunity to clearly explain why spending a little more money at Target is worth every penny, I hope to change some peoples' ways.
Wal-Mart is the largest corporate employer in America. As of 2006, they employed 1.3 million Americans. I'm scared for those 1.3 million.
The corporation is not only facing the largest work-place bias lawsuit in U.S. history, but has repeatedly been found guilty of forcing employees to work overtime with no pay and taking advantage of immigrants. It promotes government programs instead of providing adequate insurance plans for its employees, and to top it off, Wal-Mart is one of the most anti-union companies in the country.
The work-place bias lawsuit was first filed by six employees in 2001 and snowballed when Judge Martin Jenkins granted 1.6 million current and former female employees class action status in 2004. The judge found the discrimination against women systemic in the pay differences and in promotions.
Edith Arana of southern California, worked for Wal-Mart for six years and was interviewed in "The High Cost of Low Price." Arana filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart for discrimination. She claims that throughout the time she worked there she did everything her manager told her to do in order to be promoted.
After she'd done everything, she approached her manager and mentioned the promotion, but he responded by telling her there was no room for people like her in management.
"What do you mean people like me?" Arana asked. "That I'm a woman or that I'm black?"
"Two out of two ain't bad," he said.
In the film, John Lehman, a former Wal-Mart store manager of 19 years, said that in training, the District Manager explained how to cheat workers out of overtime.
They were told to "go in the system under false user ID and move that time to the next week." Since 2000, Wal-Mart has paid over $222 million to more than 185,000 employees and has 53 class action lawsuits alleging wage and hour violations nationally. I wonder why.
This billion dollar corporation can pay millions of dollars to make up for its mistakes, but can't seem to be able to provide affordable insurance for its employees.
The plan available has employees pay a premium at work and again at the doctor's office, forcing employees and their families to choose between medical assistance and dinner. Aware of the problem, the company promotes the solution of using government assistance and provides pamphlets for Medicaid.
Personnel managers tell the employees to "use your taxpayers' dollars," so they do. In Arizona alone, 2,700 Wal-Mart employees are on Medicaid, nationally Wal-Mart costs taxpayers $1,557,000,000 a year to support its employees.
Sounds like these people need a union, right? Well, don't say that too loudly inside a Wal-Mart, or their illegal surveillance might pick it up and hunt you down. Ridiculous? Each store has a $7,000 anti-union camera package and a $30,000 undercover spy van, and the company has a $100,000 24-hour anti-union hotline and a $7,000,000 Rapid Response Team with a corporate jet in case of a strike or union activity.
Wal-Mart is obviously very good at being a bad employer, and it just so happens that there is going to be a new Supercenter built right in the heart of our community on Rural Road and Southern Avenue, in place of Mervyn's. The new store will provide around 350 jobs to some quite unlucky Tempe residents. Now that you're educated on the subject, help out a neighborhood Wal-Mart employee: get some good karma on your side and shop somewhere else.
Reach the reporter at: adprice4@asu.edu.
