Wal-Mart

Act 1 Sc 2 Page 32

Mark:...We stop shopping at Wal-Mart for awhile...

A Substantial Number of Wal-Mart Associates earn below the federal poverty line

• In 2008, the average full time Associate (34 hours per week) earns $10.84 hourly for an annual income of $19,165. That’s $2,000 below the Federal Poverty Line for a family of four. [http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/08poverty.shtml]

• Last year, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott earned $29.7 million in total compensation, or 1,551 times the annual income of the average full time Wal-Mart Associate. [http://articles.latimes.com/2007/apr/20/business/fi-briefs20.6]

Wal-Mart can afford wage increases

• Wal-Mart could give each of its workers a $1 per hour raise without affecting their annual $12 billion profit margin, by raising prices only one half of one penny per dollar. For instance, a $2.00 pair of socks would then cost $2.01. That half of a cent would add up to a $1,800 raise for each employee. [Analysis of Wal-Mart Annual Report 2005]

• A 2007 study found that Wal-Mart could increase its starting wage to $10 per hour, and even if were to pass 100 percent of the cost onto customers, it would only need to increase prices by 0.9%. This works out to $0.36 per shopping trip, or $9.70 per year, for the average Wal-Mart customer. [Arindrajit Dube, Dave Graham-Squire, Ken Jacobs, and Stephanie Luce, Living Wage Policies and Wal-Mart: How a Higher Wage Standard Would Impact Wal-Mart Workers and Shoppers 2007]

Wal-Mart and Health Care

Download the Wal-Mart and Health Care flyer - PDF

Wal-Mart's health care plan fails to cover nearly 700,000 employees

Wal-Mart reports that its health insurance covers only 50.2% of their employees. Wal-Mart has nearly 1.4 million US employees. [UFCW analysis of Wal-Mart health plan, March 2008

Costs to Taxpayers

Download the Costs to Taxpayers flyer - PDF

Your tax dollars pay for Wal-Mart's greed

• A 2004 estimate by the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce found that Wal-Mart's low wages cost taxpayers up to $2.5 billion a year in the form of federal public assistance programs. ["Everyday Low Wages: The Hidden Price We All Pay for Wal-Mart," A Report by the Democratic Staff of the Committee on Education and the Workforce]

• 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. ["Disclosures of Employers Whose Workers and Their Dependents are Using State Health Insurance Programs," Good Jobs First 2007]

Wal-Mart and China

Download the Wal-Mart and China flyer - PDF

Wal-Mart buys most of its merchandise from China

• Over 80% of Wal-Mart's suppliers are based in China. ["China must tame economic dragon or face disaster" The Irish Times, 15 May 2008]

• In 2007 alone, Wal-Mart directly imported approximately $32 billion in merchandise from China. That's nearly 10% of all U.S. imports from China. ["Wal-Mart to push 1,000 Chinese suppliers to adopt green agenda" Financial Times, 7 April 2008] Note: This figure does not include purchases from other name brand suppliers who also source from China. If these suppliers were included, this number would be far higher.

• 70% of goods on Wal-Mart's shelves come from China. [China Business Weekly, November 29, 2004]

• As of 2008, if Wal-Mart was its own country, it would rank as the eighth largest importer of Chinese goods, ahead of Russia and India. ["US-China Trade Statistics and China's World Trade Statistics," US-China Business Council, 2008]

Wal-Mart & Gender Discrimination

Wal-Mart discriminates against women

• In 2001, six women sued Wal-Mart in California claiming the company discriminated against women by systematically denying them promotions and paying them less than men. The lawsuit, Dukes v. Wal-Mart, has expanded to include more than 1.6 million current and former female employees, and was certified on June 21 2004 as the largest class action lawsuit ever. [Mondaq Business Briefing, November 1, 2004]

• In 2001, while more than two-thirds of Wal-Mart's hourly workers were female, women held only one-third of managerial positions and made up less than 15 percent of store managers. This is all despite women having had on average longer seniority and higher merit ratings than their male counterparts. [Neil Buckley and Caroline Daniel, "Wal-Mart vs. the Workers: Labour Grievances Are Stacking Up Against the World's Biggest Company,"" Financial Times 11, 11/20/03]

• In 2001, women managers on average earned $14,500 less than their male counterparts. Female hourly workers earned on average $1,100 less than male counterparts. [Drogin 2003]

• In 2001, for the same job classification, women earned from 5 percent to 15 percent less than men, even after taking into account factors such as seniority and performance. [Drogin 2003]

Wal-Mart & Child Labor

Download the Wal-Mart & Child Labor flyer - PDF

Wal-Mart repeatedly broke child labor laws

• Wal-Mart agreed to pay $135,540 for breaking child labor violations charges in January 2005 in 24 separate incidents.["Wal-Mart Agrees to Pay Fine for Violating Child Labor Laws; Company Signs Settlement Agreement with Labor Department," February 14th, 2005, U.S. Newswire ]

• Wal-Mart was also fined $205,650 for 1,436 violations of child labor laws in Maine between 1995 and 1998. The settlement represents the largest number of citations as well as the largest fine ever issued by the Maine Department of Labor for child labor violations. [Weinstein, Joshua, "Wal-Mart fined $205,650 in child labor case", March 2, 2000, Portland Press Herald]

Wal-Mart & Undocumented Immigrants

• In 2003, federal authorities arrested 250 undocumented immigrants who were employed by janitor contracting services and hired by Wal-Mart in 21 states. Many of the janitors - from Mexico, Russia, Mongolia, Poland and a host of other nations - worked seven days or nights a week without overtime pay or injury compensation. Those who worked nights were often locked in the store until the morning. [Wall Street Journal, 11/5/05, CNN Money, "Wal-Mart pays $11m over illegal labor", 2005]

• In March 2005, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $11 million to settle federal allegations it used undocumented immigrants to clean its stores. This was the largest immigration related fine ever levied. [CNN Money, "Wal-Mart pays $11m over illegal labor", 2005 and Wall Street Journal, 11/5/05]

• Federal immigration officers, in November 2005, arrested 125 undocumented workers in a raid at a Wal-Mart distribution center under construction north of Philadelphia. The workers from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico were detained Thursday at the site. [Associated Press, 11/18/05]

Wal-Mart is still appealing $380 million in awards to workers in Pennsylvania and California

• Wal-Mart is still appealing verdicts in two cases. In California, Wal-Mart is appealing a $192 million award for not providing employees "meal and rest breaks in accordance with California law." And in Pennsylvania, Wal-Mart has appealed a $188 million award for similar offenses. [Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. SEC Form 10-Q, filed 12/9/08]

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