Mark Pierandozzi

Ms. McKoy

English 2 1^st Block

10 September, 2013

Wal-Mart: Stepping on the Little Man

Low prices here, low cost leader there, but at what cost is it okay to harm your employees? Wal-Mart, a large cooperate company, steps all over their employees from things like forced overtime without pay or even sexual assault. They’ve become so large that they can’t manage their employees properly and this has led to employee mistreatment. Numerous accusations have come up about mistreatment and abuse, but this isn’t the first we’ve heard about this. News articles and documentaries of Wal-Mart and other large retailers have shown that this has and still is happening. However, massive retailers have warned their workers that if they refuse to work due to conditions, or even go to the Union, they will be fired. In the Cornell Chronicle it is said that “the Walton family, owners of Wal-Mart, has historically been anti-union.” The workers of Wal-Mart have no voice, and yet, there is still mistreatment, abuse, and discrimination in the workplace.

My father, who has been in retail for 24 years, has worked at several large retailers over the years; some are no longer in business. He hasn’t had any situations where he was mistreated as an employee; however, the companies he worked for were very strict on labor laws and equality of all employees. Companies such as Wal-Mart are a whole different story. I have watched a documentary on Wal-Mart and how they treat their employees and I must say it’s appalling. Low wages, discrimination, favoritism, sexual abuse, and forced overtime. Those are just a few examples of how a Wal-Mart step all over their employees and it gets worse. I then watched a YouTube documentary on employees that were speaking out about their experiences with Wal-Mart mistreatment. Kenneth James worked at Wal-Mart for 9 years, a loyal Wal-Mart employee, left his job over his opinion that every employee should be able to sign a Union card if they wanted to. The managers no longer spoke to Kenneth, cut his hours from 40 to 18, and followed him around like a fly on the wall. Because his hours were cut, he was two weeks away from being homeless and so he left his job. All of this happened because he mentioned that everyone should get the choice to sign a Union card. Is this not mistreatment for having your own opinion during a meeting?

Wal-Mart has a net worth of $ 446.95 billion dollars, and a workforce of more than 2 million (Cornell Chronicle). In one hour, $ 36 million dollars is spent at Wal-Mart, and they make a profit of $ 34, 880 a minute (Statistic Brain). If Wal-Mart were a country, it would rank 19^th on the world’s economy (Statistic Brain). Finally, in one week Wal-Mart sees 100 million customers. What I’m trying to say here is that with a workforce of more than 2 million it must be relatively hard to keep track of all the employees and business that goes on in Wal-Mart. An example is “A man, in his 60’s or 70’s, had blood clots in his legs. When he asked the manager for a stool to sit on, he refused.” (Cornell Chronicle) The man had a medical condition, making it hard for him to stand, and yet the manager still refused to meet his needs. The manager finally gave the man a stool to sit on, but with tears in his eyes, the man asked the manager if he was going to get fired over this. The man feared for his job over something as little as a stool to sit on. Another example was at a Wal-Mart warehouse where employees worked in 120 degree heat without cold water to drink, however Wal-Mart felt since it did not “directly” employ the workers, that they didn’t have to take responsibility (Cornell Chronicle). Yet another example of how Wal-Mart mistreats the very people that drive the company.

This information is all evidence to support my claim that Wal-Mart abuses their workers. We see it on the news, read about, and even hear real life incidents on what happens, yet no legal action has taken place to prevent and stop this from happening. Groups of Wal-Mart employees have gone on strike, refused to work and even went to the Union about abuse, but no one will step up and take on the corporate giant. Some brave souls have tried to get something going, but when job loss is threatened they have no choice, but to sit back and watch. What I neglected to mention early from the documentary I watched was over Wal-Mart Health Care. This woman worked for Wal-Mart for 18 years, and had invested over $ 180,000 in Wal-Mart’s Health Care Program. Unfortunately, she was killed in an accident, but her family would be alright with the $ 180,000 dollar policy. However, Wal-Mart claimed that her death did not fall into any specific category, and did not grant the family the money they needed. Even from a human standpoint this is wrong to not give the money to the family after she had worked so hard for it. If Wal-Mart can get away with something as cruel as this, what else are they capable of?

I want to further research this topic, because the amount of facts and evidence that support employee abuse are astonishing. Another issue could be why the Union, who is so desperately needed, does not take immediate action? Why Wal-Mart is allowed to get away with employee abuse and mistreatment, without legal actions being placed against them? If someone was to take the time, sit down, and listen to what people have to say it will make a difference. If Wal-Mart is allowed to get away with it, who’s to say other companies won’t follow suit.