Wal-mart Woes
Can't Wal-Mart, a Retail Behemoth, Pay More?
BENTONVILLE, Ark. - With most of Wal-Mart's workers earning less than $19,000 a year, a number of community groups and lawmakers have recently teamed up with labor unions in mounting an intensive campaign aimed at prodding Wal-Mart into paying its 1.3 million employees higher wages.
A new group of Wal-Mart critics ran a full-page advertisement on April 20 contending that the company's low pay had forced tens of thousands of its workers to resort to food stamps and Medicaid, costing taxpayers billions of dollars. On April 26, as part of a campaign called "Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart," five members of Congress joined women's advocates and labor leaders to assail the company for not paying its female employees more.
And in a book to be published this fall, a group of scholars will argue that Wal-Mart Stores, having replaced General Motors as the nation's largest company, has an obligation to treat its employees better.
Link to NYTimes
Five brave members of Congress joined the advertising campaign. That's 5 out of 535 members. What cowards.
This is an excellent site:
http://walmartwatch.com/
BENTONVILLE, Ark. - With most of Wal-Mart's workers earning less than $19,000 a year, a number of community groups and lawmakers have recently teamed up with labor unions in mounting an intensive campaign aimed at prodding Wal-Mart into paying its 1.3 million employees higher wages.
A new group of Wal-Mart critics ran a full-page advertisement on April 20 contending that the company's low pay had forced tens of thousands of its workers to resort to food stamps and Medicaid, costing taxpayers billions of dollars. On April 26, as part of a campaign called "Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart," five members of Congress joined women's advocates and labor leaders to assail the company for not paying its female employees more.
And in a book to be published this fall, a group of scholars will argue that Wal-Mart Stores, having replaced General Motors as the nation's largest company, has an obligation to treat its employees better.
Link to NYTimes
Five brave members of Congress joined the advertising campaign. That's 5 out of 535 members. What cowards.
This is an excellent site:
http://walmartwatch.com/
posted by torporindy at 5/04/2005
2 Comments:
Wal-Mart could pay more, but then the prices would go up. If prices went up Wal-Mart could afford to sell more goods made in America. In order to be cheap, Wal-Mart must employ child labor and contribute to the trade deficit. Americans want chap goods, whatever the over all cost or consequences.
Not that I'm bitter or anything.
On a different note, welcome to the Indiana blog world.
Thanks for the welcome, Lemming. I'll be out for a couple days, but I could probably devote a blog to Wal-Mart.
Sam Walton wrote the book Made in the USA, yet now, eighty percent of Walmart's goods come from China.
Also, there are studies out there that show that each Walmart store costs local government millions due to the number of workers dependent on government health and welfare subsidies. Walmart encourages its employees to sign up for these benefits so they do not have to pay them.
It's sad but true, Americans do want cheap goods, but I think enough people have been educated that it is starting to hurt their bottom line. They've been stagnant recently.
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