- Myth: Wal-Mart creates "hundreds" of new jobs
for communities.
-
- Fact: Studies show that for every two jobs created by
a Wal-Mart store, the community loses three. Jobs that are retained by
a community are merely shifted from local businesses to the giant retailer.
In a 1994 report, the Congressional Research Service warned Congress that
communities need to evaluate the significance of any job gains at big-box
stores against any loss of jobs due to reduced business at competing retailers.
The report also pointed out that these so-called new jobs "provide
significantly lower wages then jobs in many industries, and are often only
part-time positions, seasonal opportunities, or subject to extensive turnover."
The Real Story is that when Wal-Mart moves into the neighborhood, it devours
local businesses and lowers community living standards.
-
- Myth: Wal-Mart has "always low prices, always."
-
- Fact: The local newspaper in Carroll County, Arkansas
conducted a test of Wal-Mart's low price claim. Surveying a list of 19
common household items at six Wal-Mart stores over a one month period,
the newspaper staff found that Wal-Mart was cheapest on only two of the
items . The lowest register receipt for all 19 items was $12.91. The highest
total for all items came from Wal-Mart at $15.86. The Real Story is the
high cost of Wal-Mart's prices: lower wages, more imports, lost U.S. jobs,
lower community living standards.
-
- Myth: Wal-Mart's presence in a community generates tax
revenues.
-
- Fact: Studies conducted by small towns on the impact
of proposed Wal-Mart stores have shown that tax revenue reductions are
more likely to occur after a Wal-Mart moves into an area.
-
- A Maryland study showed that in the years following the
arrival of Wal-Mart, "town tax receipts from personal property and
ordinary business corporation taxes grew but at a declining rate."
The study said that "the expected growth in income taxes may have
been offset by low-wage jobs offered by the large retailer and by the loss
of employment in competing businesses. . . ."
-
- Myth: Wal-Mart's workers receive good health benefits.
-
- Fact: Wal-Mart's Health Coverage Leaves Most Workers
Uncovered.
-
- Huge employee premium payments and big deductibles keep
participation in Wal-Mart's health plan to 38% of employees. That's 6 out
of every 10 employees--more than 425,000 Wal-Mart employees, most of them
women, who have no company provided health coverage. Nationally, more than
60% of workers are covered by company paid health plans. There's more:
Wal-Mart workers pay insurance premiums that cover close to half of Wal-Mart's
health plan expenses. The national average shows that employee premiums
cover just over 25% of health plan expenses incurred by companies nationwide.
The Real Story is that Wal-Mart freely acknowledges shifting its health
care costs to taxpayers and responsible employers. A company spokesperson
said, "[Wal-Mart employees] who choose not to participate in [Wal-Mart's
health plan] usually get their health-care benefits from a spouse or the
state or federal government." Wal-Mart is the biggest beneficiary
of its health plan because the company shifts $1 billion in health care
costs to the government and responsible employers.
-
- Myth: Wal-Mart "Buys American" and Wal-Mart
"Brings it Home to the USA."
-
- Fact: Two 1998 studies that surveyed clothing on Wal-Mart
store racks and shelves found 80% and sometimes more thatn 9o% of the apparel
items were produced overseas, many in countries where sweatshops and child
labor are prevelant.
-
- "The truth is," says the National Labor Committee,
"Wal-Mart has moved far more production offshore than the industry
average." There's more: Commenting on Wal-Mart's "Buy Mexican"
program, an expert on economic nationalism said Wal-Mart is ". . .shamelessly
manipulating nationalist sentiments in both countries. . . . For all its
public nationalism, Wal-mart is reinvesting its all-American dollars overseas."
-
- Confronting Wal-Mart: How and Why
-
- The battle against Wal-Mart is about maintaining quality
community living standards. The true legacy of Wal-Mart isn't lower prices.
The true legacy of Wal-Mart is lower living standards for hard working
Americans and those overseas.
-
- The fact is for every Wal-Mart store that opens, jobs
are lost to the community, the tax base shrinks, the number of workers
with health benefits declines, and the number of workers eligible for welfare
increases.
-
- We have to confront Wal-Mart to stop the retail giant
from turning good jobs into bad jobs, from turning taxpaying workers and
their families into welfare-eligible families supported by taxpayers, and
from turning workers with health insurance into the ranks of the uninsured.
-
- Here's what each of us can do:
-
- Be a good neighbor. Promise to shop at grocery stores
that pay a living wage and provide affordable family health benefits. Ask
friends and family not to shop for groceries at Wal-Mart. Be an active
member of your community. Get involved in planning and zoning board hearings.
Let the decision-makers know that you don't want Wal-Mart in your neighborhood.
Reach out to Wal-Mart workers. Give them the support they need to fight
for their families and their future. Let's stand up for ourselves and our
families, and for our neighborhoods.
-
- Let's say no to Wal-Mart!
-
- Flagstaff Activist Network P.O. Box 911, Flagstaff, AZ
86002-0911 Voice Mail 520-213-9507 flagact@infomagic.net
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-
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-
- WAL-MART MYTHS AND REALITY
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- DOES FLAGSTAFF NEED A SUPER WALMART?
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-
- HOME I CALENDAR I NEWS I CAMPAIGNS I PHOTO GALLERY I
ARTS I LINKS TEACHING CASE STUDY: WAL-MART OR WORLD MART By: Justin Ervin,
Kurt Fenske, Daniel Foster, Jennifer Gogo, Peter Jacques, Rebecca Thomas
and Matthew Tunno
-
- Special Thanks to Carol Thompson for her patient guidance
with this research.
-
- Contact: Peter Jacques pjj2@dana.ucc.nau.edu
-
- Abstract
-
- Wal-Mart is by far the largest retailer in the United
States. It consistently puts competitors out of business, and has sales
larger than the Gross National Product of most countries. However, on average,
it pays its employees lower wages than most retailers and uses contractors
who use sweatshop labor overseas to produce goods that have been labeled
"Made in America." Wal-Mart is accused of increasing the need
for social services in areas where its stores are leading employers, as
many employees qualify for public assistance. Wal-Mart is also in the business
of making moral decisions for its customers such as refusing to carry Previn,
a "morning-after" pill, and censoring music and videos. This
teaching case study aims to draw out discussion about these issues in undergraduate
ethics and political economy classes. In particular, some questions we
hope arise from this study include: What are the responsibilities of a
corporation, especially one as large as Wal-Mart? Should a corporation
be concerned with the effects it has on a society, ecosystem, or community?
What are the rights of communities when it comes to allowing or not allowing
businesses into their area? What are the policy implications? This case
study aims to raise more questions than answers in these areas, in the
hope that classes can use the study as a guide for lively discussion about
the marketplace, social welfare, cultural homogenization, labor and other
issues in the context of expanding global corporate influence in society.
-
- Wal-Mart or World-Mart? Introduction
-
- Wal-Mart is a company that most Americans are familiar
with, a company with stores that offer everything a person could need at
low prices. What began as a company based in a small Arkansas town has
grown to be the largest employer in the United States. By 1998, Wal-Mart
had the fourth highest annual sales revenue of any American company and
had stores throughout four continents. It is estimated that within a few
years, twenty cents of every retail dollar spent in the U.S. will be spent
at this store. Yet, most people are probably not familiar with how big
Wal-Mart truly is, how it became so big, nor how powerful it is.
-
- In order to minimize operating costs and maintain low
prices, Wal-Mart pays relatively low wages and provides minimal benefits
to its employees. Yet, Wal-Mart has taken some fairly drastic measures
to ensure that their workforce is not able to form unions. Wal-Mart purchases
many of its items, particularly clothing, from developing countries, including
the U.S. Commonwealth of Saipan. This case study will consider the implications
this policy has on laborers and development in those countries, as well
as production and employment in the U.S.
-
- Despite the positive public image it portrays, Wal-Mart's
size and growth have also allowed it to force other stores out of business,
often causing a disintegration of communities and ultimately reducing consumer
choices. One question this case study considers is whether Wal-Mart has
lived up to its image as an American success story.
-
- Although focused on Wal-Mart, this case study is more
than a study of one particular large U.S. corporation, because it analyzes
the effects corporate growth and size have on social, political and economic
systems on the local, national and international levels. Numerous multinational
corporations (MNCs), including Wal-Mart, have annual sales greater than
the gross domestic product of the majority of countries in the world. This
implies that MNCs are potentially becoming more powerful than national
and local governments. This shift in power, in many instances, allows corporations
to have an increasingly stronger influence on social, political, and economic
aspects of people's lives.
-
- Studying the role of the multinational corporation is
crucial to understanding the future of societies throughout the world.
Over the past 30 years, sales of the world's 500 largest MNCs have increased
by sevenfold; yet, worldwide employment during this period has remained
virtually unchanged. Since labor is relatively immobile, while capital
(money, machines and technology) is extremely mobile, power to determine
where and how business is carried out clearly lies with corporations. This
dichotomy has a dramatic impact on social, political, and economic systems:
for example, cities, states, and countries are offering extremely favorable
terms in order to attract corporations, which in nearly every case are
not concerned with the long-term, and possibly not even the short-term,
interests of the area into which they locate.
-
- We trust this case study will increase your understanding
of the role of MNCs in contemporary societies. Behind the slick advertising
and low prices of increasingly large corporations lies an encroachment
on every aspect of life. However, the growth of large corporations throughout
the world is not an inevitable process. It is our hope that this case study
will provide you with a better understanding of MNCs and the effects that
the process of their increasing size and power has on social, political,
and economic aspects of life in all societies.
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- World-Mart: Big and Getting Bigger
-
- Wal-Mart has grown from a single store opened by the
late Sam Walton in 1962 to a global corporation. In the face of corporate
competition - before Walton had opened 20 stores, there were 250 Kmart
stores. The dramatic growth of Wal-Mart Corporation has reflected the dynamism
with which Sam Walton operated the organization, maintaining the marketing
principles of low prices and customer satisfaction that he practiced and
preached while becoming the single largest retailer in the world.
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- Employees
-
- Wal-Mart is presently the largest private employer, hiring
directly for its own needs, in the United States. As of early 2000, there
were an estimated 885,000 Wal-Mart employees in the United States, with
another 255,000 employees internationally.
-
- Number of Employees 1997 1998 1999 Wal-Mart 675,000
728,000 825,000 Kmart 307,000 265,000 261,000 Sears 335,000 296,000 324,000
JC Penney 252,000 260,000 260,000 Dayton Hudson 218,000 230,000 244,000
-
-
- As shown in the table above, Wal-Mart's American labor
force at year-end 1999 was nearly as large as those of its three largest
competitors in the general merchandise retail trade; Kmart, Sears, and
JC Penney. In fact, at year-end 1999, Wal-Mart had nearly as many employees
in the United States as General Motors (608,000 employees in 1999) and
Ford (371,800 employees) combined.
-
- Sales
-
- Exhibiting tremendous growth in sales revenue, particularly
in the 1990s, Wal-Mart's annual sales revenue has continues to rise - 1999
sales revenue exceeded $164 billion. While its competitors have shown marginally
increasing sales, or even fluctuating levels, Wal-Mart's sales have consistently
increased by 15-30 percent from one year to the next. Imagine your personal
income increasing by these percentages from one year to the next, for seven
consecutive years!
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- Sales Revenue ($000,000)
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- 1991 1995 1996 1997
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- Wal-Mart 32,602 82,494 93,627 104,859
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- Kmart 29,563 31,713 31,437
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- Sears 32,250 34,995 38,236 41,296
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- JC Penney 16,648 21,419 23,649 30,546
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- Dayton Hudson 16,115 23,516 25,371 27,757
-
- In 1991, Wal-Mart's annual sales revenue of $32.6 billion
was only slightly higher than that of Sears ($32.25 billion). By 1997,
Wal-Mart's revenue from sales was higher than Sears, JC Penney, and Kmart
combined.
-
-
-
-
-
- In 1998, Wal-Mart ranked as the fourth largest U.S. corporation
in terms of sales revenue, behind only General Motors, Ford, and Exxon.
Its 1998 sales revenue exceeded such industry giants as Toyota, General
Electric, IBM, Daimler-Benz Group, Phillip Morris, AT&T, Sony, Nissan,
Nestle, Boeing, Mobil, and Texaco. In fact, only 30 countries had levels
of gross domestic product - simply defined as the value of total goods
and services produced in a country - higher than Wal-Mart's sales revenue
in 1998. It is incredible to think that Wal-Mart's sales revenue in 1998
was more than the entire official economic production of such countries
as Greece, Finland, Portugal, Ireland, New Zealand, Israel, and Philippines.
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- Working Poor?
-
- This section of the case study outlines the more vital
issues facing United States Wal-Mart employees. The focus will be primarily
on what Wal-Mart terms as "associates": the people stocking shelves,
working the registers, handling retail sales, and greeting customers at
the door. This emphasis underlies the fact that associates number nearly
800,000 and constitute, by a large margin, the majority of Wal-Mart's workforce.
-
- Always striving to cut inventory and operating overhead
while cultivating employee moral, loyalty, and enthusiasm were posited
as two of Wal-Mart's guiding principles by Sam Walton when he was first
starting the company. How can Wal-Mart cut operation costs and simultaneously
create an environment which motivates employees and promotes their loyalty?
The aim of this section is to provide information necessary for readers
to answer this question.
-
- The basic theoretical approach to management at Wal-Mart
is to treat associates as equals, to keep them fully informed of company
developments, to invite them to share their own suggestions regarding company
policy and practice, and to make them feel that their contributions are
important and that they are listened to. It seems probable that employees
would be happy to be working for such a company, one listed in the top
one hundred companies to work for by Fortune, Hispanic Magazine, and Latina
Magazine.
-
- While most estimates place national annual median income
between $25,000-$30,000, the average full-time Wal-Mart employee is paid
around $12,000 annually including bonuses provided through the company's
profit sharing. The low income of full-time Wal-Mart associates may be
in part a reflection of their work week. Wal-Mart classifies as "full-time"
any employee who works a minimum of twenty-eight hours per week. Moreover,
Wal-Mart makes no commitment to provide associates with a guaranteed minimum
hourly work week. If a store's profits decline, management may simply cut
associates' hours resulting in the loss of benefits held by "full-time"
employees. A shorter work week may partially explain why half of Wal-Mart
associates, including some full-time, qualify for food stamps and even
cash assistance in the more welfare- oriented states.
-
- According to Walton himself, wages at Wal-Mart have always
been "as little as we could get by with at the time." The average
Wal-Mart associate make $7.50 an hour, the national average for most general
merchandise workers is $8.71. An associate at the Flagstaff, Arizona, Wal-Mart
claimed that in her department, eight of the ten employees hold a second
job, and a few were forced to hold three jobs just to make ends meet.
-
- An article in Wall Street Journal noted, "Perhaps
more than any other U.S. Company, Wal-Mart has relied on stock incentives
to motivate otherwise low paid employees, giving them a feeling of ownership
and hope for wealth." Between 1981 and 1991 the profit sharing bonus
paid out to employees averaged six percent of their wages. Introduced in
1971, the profit sharing and stock ownership plans provide an incentive
for employees to work hard as they have shared interest in the overall
well being of the company. Theoretically, their own incomes become linked
to their productivity. From the perspective of the company, these plans
have several benefits: a) Wal-Mart does not need to pay high labor costs
when the company is not experiencing profit growth; b) associates are motivated
to work hard; and c) stock benefits can be used to redirect complaints
about poor pay.
-
- The program is structured using a formula based on profit
growth. Employees are awarded a contribution to their profit sharing plan
according to their wages, which employees can keep or cash out when they
leave the company. In addition to stock gained through the profit sharing
program, employees can have a percentage taken from their paycheck to purchase
Wal-Mart stock from which Wal-Mart matches fifteen percent up to $1,800
annually.
-
- All full-time associates are eligible for participation
in Wal-Mart's medical plan once they have completed their ninety day probation
period. However, less than forty percent of Wal-Mart's eligible employees
participate in the plan: "[Wal-Mart employees] who choose not to participate
[in Wal-Mart's health care plan] usually get their health care benefits
from a spouse or the state or federal government."
-
- Wal-Mart's recent acquisition of Canada's Woolco can
provide some insight into Wal-Mart's attitude towards their obligation
to their employees as well as how they treat employees compared to other
companies. Holding true to their anti-union stance Wal-Mart simply refused
to buy the seven Woolco stores that had unionized, leaving 1,000 Canadians
jobless. For many of the remaining employees, the buy-out meant lower wages;
for example, former auto mechanics suffered a halving of their wages when
Woolco's auto repair shops were converted to Wal-Mart lube shops; five
hundred fairly paid Woolco warehouse workers were fired and rehired as
Wal-Mart associates for near minimum wage irrespective of their experience,
and 750 former Woolco supervisors were informed that if they wished to
keep their $28,000 annual salary they would have to increase their work
week from forty to fifty-two hours. In the province of Quebec, French is
the official language and, for some, the only language they speak. Yet,
when Wal-Mart took control of the Woolcos located in Quebec they required
employees to sign contracts that were only made available in English.
-
-
-
- Does Wal-Mart provide its associates with a fair wage?
What would you consider a "fair wage?" Should corporations provide
fair or living wages to employees? Is profit sharing and stock ownership
an adequate substitute for wages?
-
- What would be the impacts of below subsistence wages
on a local community? On local government revenue? On family life?
-
- "Right to Work:" Wal-Mart Wins Again
-
- "Wal-Mart Wins Again." Wal-Mart won a court
ruling against the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) in October
of 1999. The right of a union to organize workers at the location of labor
[see sidebar] was temporarily restrained and the union was banned from
Wal-Mart property. Wal-Mart, the leading direct private employer in the
United States, had once-again avoided the union. Wal-Mart won another battle
with the unions in court, even though the judge was found to own more than
$500,000 of Wal-Mart stock. However, the judge was later forced to step
down from the case due to his conflict of interest with Wal-Mart.
-
- WHAT ARE WORKERS RIGHTS TO ORGANIZE?
-
- The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935 protects
the right to organize into labor unions. This law created the National
Labor Relations Board to mediate the tensions between workers and employers
and ensure the free flow of commerce. Under this act, workers have several
important rights:
-
- 1. Right to self organization
-
- 2. Right to "form, join, or assist labor organizations"
-
- 3. Right to bargain collectively through representatives
of the workers' own choosing
-
- 4. Right to concerted activities which are for the purposes
of collective bargaining
-
- 5. Right not to join a union
-
- Also, the NLRA prohibits "unfair labor practices."
Unfair labor practices includes the following:
-
- 1. Dominating or interfering with the formation of a
union.
-
- 2. Discrimination in hiring or promoting any person due
to their union affiliation or non affiliation. As well as firing an employee
because they have filed a complaint or given testimony about a violation
of worker rights or unfair labor practices.
-
- 3. Refusing to bargain with a union; conversely it is
illegal for a union to coerce employees into bargaining or not bargaining.
-
-
-
-
- An Arizona representative of the UFCW argues that the
giant retail firm has illegally tampered with the workers' right to organize,
which is established through the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.
The union has brought charges against Wal-Mart that the corporation has
destabilized the bargaining process by not conducting labor relations in
good faith and it has obstructed organizing activities that are legally
protected to provide "workers' rights." The National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB) agreed with these charges in three specific cases. In decisions
dated April 9th, 1999 (in the initial NLRB ruling), August 27th, 1996,
and September 30th, 1993, Wal-Mart was found to have threatened associates
affiliated with protected organizing activities. In Ontario, Canada, even
though the union was voted down by employees by a margin of more than 3
to 1, the province of Ontario certified the United Steelworkers Union to
represent the workers in that store because the province found the firm
interfered with the organizing process.
-
- Robin Zaas, an associate, won a suit against Sam's Club
for being threatened due to protected organizing activities. The NLRB found
that the management in her branch of Sam's Club threatened promotions and
raises because she was trying to start a union at her work place. The UFCW
claims that Wal-Mart was tampering with the union process in several ways,
including "stacking" voting departments with anti-union workers.
-
- According to Jim Mclaughlin, a representative of the
Arizona UFCW, if workers were to unionize, they would make an average of
$5.00 an hour in wages and benefits above what they make now. Income from
"full-time" Wal-Mart wages are low enough that about half of
all Wal-Mart employees are estimated to be eligible for food stamps. Mclaughlin
argues, "There is no justice in their workplace right now." Also,
considering that one study estimates that for every person Wal-Mart employs,
they displace 1.5 full-time workers somewhere else in that geographic job
market, low wage Wal-Mart jobs are taking over higher-paying retail and
grocery jobs. This is why some studies say social service needs, such as
food stamps, healthcare, etc, go up in an area where Wal-Mart is a major
employer.
-
- Given that there are over 800,000 Wal-Mart employees
in the United States, such a wage increase would substantially increase
Wal-Mart's operating costs. In order to offset this increase in costs,
Wal-Mart would likely argue that it would need to increase prices or lay-off
large numbers of workers if workers unionized. (Or could they simply lower
salaries of the executives or overall profit margins?)
-
- To say that Wal-Mart is not unionized is not entirely
correct. One meat department in one store in Texas voted to unionize. After
this vote, Wal-Mart implemented a policy to begin using pre-packaged meat
in order to close the butcheries in their stores, but has denied the closures
are related to the union and have anything to do with bargaining in good
faith, an aspect of the Labor Act. Wal-Mart has been found to have violated
this law in 1999, when the NLRB found that Sam's Club had threatened to
close a store in Landover Crossing, Maryland if the store unionized .
-
- How is it that such a large employer, who pays low wages,
offers limited health benefits, and inconsistent working hours been able
to create a "union-free zone"? If there are difficulties in the
Wal-Mart workplace for Wal-Mart workers, are low prices worth these difficulties?
For whom? Are low prices/ low wages versus higher prices/higher wages the
only real choices? What are other scenarios? What is the effect on the
community when many community jobs are low wage jobs? As you refer to the
NLRA sidebar on workers rights, can you suggest any other rights you think
workers should have?
-
-
-
-
- Cheaper Clothes: At What Price?
-
-
- Wal-Mart's venders pay the following wages to their workers
in Third World factories:
-
- Nicaragua - 15 cents / hour Guatemala - 65 cents / hour
-
- Bangladesh - 20 cents / hour Haiti - 67 cents / hour
-
- El Salvador - 61 cents / hour Mexico - 61 cents / hour
-
-
- With such low wages for those who make the clothing,
Wal-Mart can profit greatly while still providing low prices to its customers.
In a global labor market, it is the companies who can find the cheapest,
most exploitable conditions, with little worker protection or regulations
who will profit the greatest.
-
- The fact is that many of these wages do not match up
to minimal living standards in these countries. According to the doctrine
of the free traders, Third World countries have an economic advantage with
their cheap labor. The question is not only whether the Third World will
catch up, but also how far the American worker falls behind. The American
worker is now in competition with children who will work 60 hours a week
for pennies an hour. American workers will lose production jobs to these
countries unless American workers are willing to match the labor deals
in the Third World. The commitment to low prices seems to rely on the exploitation
of Third World labor, and this factor should be taken into account when
Wal-Mart makes claims about "always the lowest prices."
-
-
-
-
-
- The International Labor Organization (ILO)
-
-
- The ILO is the labor rights organization at the UN that
focuses on labor rights and treatment throughout the world. They are founded
on the conviction that "social justice is essential to universal and
lasting peace." Unlike many mainstream economists who argue that economic
growth leads to social justice, the ILO advocates that "economic growth
is essential but not sufficient to ensure equality, social progress and
the eradication of poverty.". The ILO states that only strong social
policies within just and democratic societies can alleviate the exploitation
of labor worldwide.
-
- The ILO produced its Declaration on Fundamental Principles
and Rights at Work in 1998 at its 86th convention. All nations signing
the agreement must adhere to the following fundamental rights:
-
- 1.) freedom of association and the effective recognition
of the right to collective
-
- bargaining
-
- 2.) the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory
labor
-
- 3.) the effective abolition of child labor
-
- 4.) the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment
and occupation
-
-
- Wal-Mart itself promotes its "Vendor Standards"
but they have yet to assimilate the principles of the ILO, with their intent
to create a world based on social justice and equality.
-
-
-
-
- Contrary to its Vendor Partner Standards, Wal-Mart's
labor practices represent below subsistence wages for the workers who are
supposed to be protected through their implementation. For example, Mandarin
International, a Taiwanese garment vendor for Wal-Mart, working with one
of Wal-Mart's "vendors of the year" for 1997, Fruit of the Loom,
fired 186 workers in El Salvador for belonging to a union. Wal-Mart also
routinely purchases merchandise from factories in Latin America where workers
are forced to work overtime, verbally abused, not given clean drinking
water, denied health care, and limited to bathroom breaks by armed guards.
-
- H.H. Cutler sports apparel, owned by VF Corp, producer
of Wrangler and Lee jeans, was reportedly sewing "Made in the USA"
labels on garments produced in Haiti and sold at Wal-Mart. A 1992 NBC dateline
exposé also found that garments sewn together by 12 year olds in
Bangladesh had "Made in the USA" labels sewn into them and were
sold at Wal-Mart under such pretense. In light of this, Wal-Mart's claims
of "Made in the USA" products are not as truthful as they would
like us to believe.
-
-
-
- How does the use of overseas labor affect your community?
What are the consequences of Wal-Mart's low prices for laborers abroad?
-
-
-
-
- "Made in the USA"
-
- Saipan, the governmental seat of the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI,) is important to our study of Wal-Mart
because in 1986, it became a commonwealth of the United States. Therefore,
textiles and other products manufactured on the island can technically
wear the "Made in USA" label, which Wal-Mart proudly waves.
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