Employment treatment
Employees in Wal-Mart, the country’s larger employer, lately have been complaining about
the way they have been treated in their working place. They want a living wage and a
regular schedule; they also would like to be treated with dignity and respect. This is why
Wal-Mart workers and their supporters made history on November 23, also known as
Black Friday, by walking out of stores, holding rallies and talking to shoppers about the
corporation’s inhumane and greedy business practices.
According to the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF),” Wal-Mart makes billions in
profits by forcing workers overseas to stay on the job for 16-18 hours a day with no
overtime” [1]; paying up to 30 per cent below the United Sates’ legal minimum wage;
denying women their needs and the maternal responsibility they have for their children;
refusing to provide basic safety equipment, and also they require workers to have a special
ticket and permission of a supervisor to go to the bathroom.
Wal-Mart’s constant downward price pressure prevents factories from being able to afford
necessary safety precautions and its own safety equipment has failed to protect workers
from being killed in deadly fires. Wal-Mart has been cutting staff since the recession—and
pallets of merchandise are piling up in its stockrooms as shelves go unfilled. There are
some allegations which are the following:
Union busting
Since November 2001, Wal-Mart has been a defendant in 28 complaints brought by the
National Labor Relations Board citing anti-union activities such as threats, interrogations
or disciplining.
In 2000, a majority of meat cutters at a store in Jacksonville, Texas, voted to organize.
