Walmart and its Workers

Mega-company Walmart is much in the news these days, but it’s not because they are slashing prices on goods that you only think you can’t live without.  No, the giant “retailer” is facing a very real problem that could put a pinprick in its bubble of unreality:  a nation-wide strike and boycott of every one of its stores, warehouses, and shipping companies on Black Friday, which, if efforts are successful, could be re-titled Bleak Friday.

By far the largest retail company in the U.S., Walmart for decades has enjoyed carte blanche in its efforts to become the behemoth that it is.  Decisions laid down by no less prestigious institutions than the Supreme Court have guaranteed that Walmart could make its own rules—irrespective of fairness, humanity, and ultimately, the health of the American economy.

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.  In broader terms, that is about $16, 000 a year (assuming an 8-hour day, 6-day week.)  If that figure is not enough to shock the public, how about the fact that the Walmart Model calls for ONLY TEMPORARY WORKERS in its warehouses and retail stores, which makes even a minimum wage figure meaningless, because Walmart purposely denies nearly every hourly worker access to full-time employment.

Add to that the often dangerous working conditions, especially in Walmart’s warehouses, the callous treatment of sexually harassed women employees, non-payment of hours worked, non-payment for overtime work, and LESS than minimum wages for many jobs --and the picture of a jovial giant serving his customers low-priced items turns into one of a menacing Goliath with seriously sociopathic tendencies which are a threat to all of us.

I am not an expert in the mores of retail sales, but I do how to treat a fellow human being with some respect and compassion.  Nothing will ever be completely fair in this country, and abuses will continue to occur in such a political climate as ours.  But symbolically, at least, the proposed actions against Walmart are a cause that should arouse the basic human values of the country and unite us from the bottom up, not the top down.

Mike Reed