Facts about Wal-Mart and Workers

“Staying union free is a full-time commitment. Unless union prevention is a goal equal to other objectives within an organization, the goal will usually not be attained. The commitment to stay union free must exist at all levels of management - from the Chairperson of the "Board" down to the front-line manager. Therefore, no one in management is immune from carrying his or her "own weight" in the union prevention effort.”

--Labor Relations and You At the Wal-Mart Distribution Center #6022, prepared by Orson Mason, September 1991

ORGANIZING: Wal-Mart Undermines Workers’ Rights

Wal-Mart Is Anti-Union. Wal-Mart has an elaborate anti-union hit squad ready to dispatch at the first sign of worker discontent. When workers do organize, Wal-Mart throws the baby out with the bathwater. [Calgary Herald, 2/04/04]

· Jacksonville, Texas: Wal-Mart Eliminates Jobs for Butchers. 10 butchers at this location had the distinction of being the only Wal-Mart workers in the U.S. to successfully vote to unionize. Two weeks later, Wal-Mart announced that it would be eliminating butchers at 180 stores in the region and ultimately at all Supercenters across the nation. [Associated Press, “Wal-mart will end meat cutting at 180 stores; denies link to union vote,” 3/3/2000]

· Jonquiere, Quebec: Wal-Mart Shuts Down the Whole Store. In 2004, Wal-Mart workers here chose union representation. Within a year of the vote, the company shut the store down, throwing hundreds of employees out of work, claiming that the store was unprofitable. [Associated Press, Canadian Wal-Mart Seeking Union to Close,”11/09/2005]

WAGES: Wal-Mart Pays Badly

Wal-Mart Associates Earn $2.60 Less per Hour than the Average American Retail Worker. According to data reported by the New York Times, hourly wages at Wal-Mart are $9.68. This amount is $2.60 per hour less than the average hourly wage of retail workers, which is $12.28. Costco, for example, pays its hourly workers $16.00. [New York Times, 5/3/05]

State by state, Wal-Mart pays its full-time hourly workers less than the average wage for retail sales workers in the U.S. [sources; U.S. Departent of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics; http://www.walmartfats.com]

State	Mean hourly average	Wal-Mart’s Average
Arkansas	$9.32	$9.16
California	$12.34	$10.16
New Jersey	$12.21	$10.11
Florida	$11.16	$9.36
Illinois	$10.84	$9.92

CHEATING: Wal-Mart Forces Workers To Work Off The Clock

In 2000, Wal-Mart reportedly had to pay $50 million to settle a suit involving 69,000 workers in Colorado who had allegedly been forced to work off the clock. The company has faced legal action in 30 states for overtime violations. [New York Times, “Lawsuits and Change at Wal-Mart,” 11/19/2004]

“When the store closed at the end of my shift, the manager would lock the exterior doors, but the hourly employees like me would have to remain in the store and restock merchandise and count out the cash registers, even though we had already clocked off and were not getting paid. The tasks we had to do after the store closed always took at least an hour-and-a-half, often two hours.” --Maria Gamble, speaking of her experiences as part of a class-action lawsuit. [http://www.lieffcabraser.com/walmart%20lawsuit.htm]