Respect Work, Restore America
Why We Must Make Change at Walmart and How We Will
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
Table of Contents
Introduction ...........................................................................
4
Broken Promises and Hostility Toward Employees .................
8
Full-time, Part-time, and the Rigidity of Open Availability ......
10
Trying to Make it Work While Working at Walmart ...............
13
Discrimination and Harassment: The Experience of Women
and People of Color at Walmart ..............................................
15
How to Change Walmart .........................................................
20
Walmart Jobs Set the Standard ............................................... 23
Nature of Economic Recovery Means Even More Retail ...........
26
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
1
The Walmart Economy by the Numbers
Walmart is powerful...
1
Walmart’s rank as the largest private employer in the U.S. Walmart is also the largest employer of women, African
Americans, Latinos and seniors nationwide
$419 billion
Walmart’s 2011 revenue as the number one Fortune 100 company
But America is paying the price...
196,000
Number of U.S. jobs lost from 2001-2006 as a result of Walmart’s imports from China
11%
Conservative estimate of percentage of Walmart’s share of U.S. Trade Deficit with China
$8.8 million
Cost to Massachusetts of Walmart associates using publicly subsidized health care in 2009
$1 billion
Cost to nation if public safety net use by Walmart associates in Massachusetts is adjusted nationwide
Figure is a calculation of the percentage of Massachusetts Walmart associates receiving subsidized care (42%), applied to the 1.4 million associates in the
United States, at the cost to Massachusetts per each associate ($1,753.00) receiving aid.
And Walmart associates are paying the price...
$15,500
Average annual salary of a Walmart sales associate (based on an IBIS World figure)
$8.81
Average hourly wage of a Walmart sales associate (based on an IBIS World figure)
46¢
Additional cost per shopping trip for a Walmart customer if the company offered a minimum wage of $12 an hour
We can make it better.
1
When Walmart associates, union members, elected officials, religious leaders, women’s groups, small business owners
and community allies join together as one, we can make change at Walmart and make change in our communities.
More information available at www.makingchangeatwalmart.org/factsheet
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
3
WHAT WE STAND FOR: Making Change at Walmart members rally with Walmart associates and members of
the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) in calling for respect at the Walmart home office in
Bentonville, Arkansas
Introduction
It’s 2014, and rather than a shrinking middle class, the country’s workforce is on the rebound and
growing again. Jobs that were once bereft of benefits and livable wages have been transformed,
strengthened by newly cooperative relationships between employees, their communities, and
employers. People working in the retail sector are finding their jobs can be rewarding and sustainable careers, and the companies that employ these workers are realizing the benefits of this newly
motivated workforce. Walmart associates across the country have an additional $3.2 billion to
spend annually, helping to revitalize our economy.1 Workers once denied a voice have claimed
their own, and respect and dignity at jobs that pay fairly has become the new norm.
How did it come to be?
It’s because we made change at Walmart.
……………
This report lays the groundwork for why change is urgently needed at Walmart.
1
4
http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/retail/bigbox_livingwage_policies11.pdf, p4
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
As America’s largest employer, Walmart’s reach and
influence is vast.
Walmart impacts nearly every American community. Our communities. And as the company seeks
to continue its expansion, we must consider how our
choices and actions will impact our future.
The opposition Walmart has faced in entering new
urban areas comes from the long history of broken
promises and poor relations with employees, communities and small businesses.
In
many
ways,
Walmart has the
keys to the middle
class, and ensuring workers are allowed through the
door of opportunity
starts with making
change at Walmart.
Several of these stories are documented here, and they are representative of the difficulties associates across the country face every
day, of the broken promises made
to communities desperate for jobs,
and of the uncertain future associates and the American workforce
face unless changes are made
at Walmart.
In many ways, Walmart has the keys to the middle
class, and ensuring workers are allowed through the
door of opportunity starts with making change at
Walmart.
OUR FUTURE: We at Making Change at
Walmart and our associate allies with OUR
Walmart are here to bring the promise of
rewarding and sustainable careers for current and
future generations.
The Making Change at Walmart campaign exists to promote a vision of respect and dignity at jobs
that pay fairly and guarantee workers a voice. It is a national campaign to improve the nation’s
largest employer, which impacts all of the nation’s workers.
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
5
CASE IN POINT: The Walmart in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in Los Angeles County is
a microcosm of the broken promises, mismanagement and hostility toward workers that plague a
company desperate to expand in urban communities.
As the Crenshaw story shows, local leaders who had reservations about Walmart entering their
community were promised good jobs with benefits and advancement opportunities.
The reality is starkly different. This is a story repeated in communities across the country, and it
should give pause to communities facing the persuasion campaign Walmart launches in communities it seeks to enter.
6
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
“Retail behemoth Wal-Mart, which has conquered upwardly mobile suburbia from coast to coast on its way to becoming a multibillion-dollar corporation, has its sights set on a new target — the Crenshaw district, a longtime stronghold
of the black middle class that has been historically ignored by major retailers. Discussions are under way to bring the
discount superstore to the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, which some locals are celebrating as a potential lease on life
for the struggling mall. Other residents, who have long clamored for an upscale department store, are unimpressed and
even fearful about the long-term impact of Wal-Mart on the neighborhood’s economy.”
“Wal-Mart Knocks on Crenshaw’s Door,” LA Weekly, July 14, 1999
“Scheduled to open next year, the new Wal-Mart store promises the community new support for local charities, a neighborhood hiring preference for 250 to 300 new jobs, and the promise of benefits for both full- and part-time employees.”
“Wal-Mart Expected to Open at Crenshaw Plaza,” The Los Angeles Times, February 11, 2000
“Expanding its reach into urban markets, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. opened the doors of a new store Wednesday at Baldwin
Hills Crenshaw Plaza, taking the place of a Macy’s that closed nearly four years ago…Wal-Mart says its compensation
package is competitive, especially when factors such as advancement opportunities are taken into account.”
“Wal-Mart’s Move Into Urban Markets Reaches a New Level,” The Los Angeles Times,
January 23, 2003
“The majority of people in our job carry three cards – that’s our Walmart associate card, our discount card and a
welfare card.”
Girshriela Green, Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza Walmart associate
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
7
Broken Promises and Hostility Toward
Employees
Walmart has insisted its expansion into urban markets would
mean the promise of jobs; in reality, it’s a promise not kept.
The future of the middle class, in many ways, relies on the relationship Walmart has with its own
workforce and our communities. It’s up to all of us to insist Walmart makes the changes necessary to keep us on the right track.
The three-story Walmart in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza is a microcosm of the broken
promises, mismanagement and hostility toward workers that plague a company desperate to
expand in urban communities. The Crenshaw community is one of many who have been courted
by Walmart’s promises of numerous good jobs, only to fail to see what was promised materialize.
This is the Walmart where Girshriela Green goes to work every day, or did, until she was injured
in 2010.
“I got treated really bad when I was injured,” Girshriela said. “I was like an outcast, like they say, a
thrown-away paper plate. I had to have surgery; they had to operate on my neck and my rotator is
torn due to the conditions and lack of support and help in the store.”
Currently on workers’ compensation, Girshriela is a full-time associate (which for Walmart,
means she works at least 34 hours a week) and was hired as a sales floor associate making $8.20
an hour. After three promotions, she makes $9.80 an hour, far less than the $13 an hour Walmart
executives promised African-American community and religious leaders in Los Angeles.
The promise of many jobs with high hourly wages impressed a community concerned about
Walmart’s entrance. According to a 2004 Los Angeles Times article: “Wal-Mart store No. 2960
opened near Crenshaw and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards in January 2003, bringing 450
new jobs to a community starved for paychecks.”2
In reality, associates say there are a significantly lower
number of jobs supported by the Baldwin Hills store.
Girshriela said she has a hard time believing that her store
currently has that many associates working there.
450 jobs were promised.
Associates say far fewer appear
to have materialized.
“While working on the third floor I used to always hear our
customers want to get paint mixed, fabric cut, fishing licenses,” said Girshriela. “My department
was domestics (linens, towels, living room items), and I would hear customers say things like,
‘Oh, I can never get paint mixed, I could never get a key cut.’ I got tired of hearing the customers
say it was a ‘ghetto store.’
“Which was true, if one of our department managers took lunch, then for a whole hour that de2
8
http://articles.latimes.com/2004/apr/02/entertainment/et-pollard2
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
partment wouldn’t be covered. There wouldn’t be a sales floor
associate covering it or zoning it (keeping the aisles straight
and properly ordering shelves), we wouldn’t have them because we were so understaffed. In the morning time the department manager would be alone four to five hours before
they would have to take their lunch.”
Customers started to call the Home Office in Bentonville, Arkansas, complaining about the lack of service at the Crenshaw
store.
“Home Office was getting a lot of calls saying, ‘I’m tired of your
ghetto store, there’s never anybody in department X,’” said
Girshriela. “Home office called the manager and told her she
had to put her picture and phone number on every register in
the store because they were tired of the community calling and
talking to them about the ‘ghetto store’ and she needed to deal
with it. So she called a ‘ghetto store’ meeting.”
Girshriela Green of the
Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in
Southern California
The manager called all the department managers in and said,
“This meeting is about our store being ghetto. If I get one more
phone call, disciplinary action will be taken. We are the highest in southern California with customer complaints about the
store being ghetto.”
Girshriela and the other associates were told to be “less ghetto” and to “make it happen.”
“When you say you don’t have enough help, they say ‘make it happen,’” said Girshriela. “That’s
their favorite, ‘make it happen.’ I’ve been told don’t go home until the job is done. The co-manager
has told me that before—in fact, I was in overtime when I pulled my arm for the very last time.”
Sam Myers also worked at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza Walmart, and was well-liked and
respected by his coworkers. In September 2011, he was fired suddenly. Accused of embezzlement
by his management, the police were called and he was taken out of the store in handcuffs.
Sam spent nearly five days in jail before being released. All charges against him were dropped as
the claims of embezzlement made by Walmart did not match the evidence presented.
What is not clear is the real reason Sam was fired. However, Sam was taking an active role in
leading his fellow associates, an activity not appreciated by an employer paranoid of any possible
organizing inside its workforce.
“I was fired from a job that I’ve served faithfully and lived by Sam Walton’s motto, which is teach
and train,” said Sam, still shaken from his experience. “Do you know what it is like to literally sit
in jail feeling claustrophobic for something you’ve not done? When they released me, the detectives said, ‘Everything you say you were telling the truth. You will not have a felony on your
record.’ They had me in tears because finally somebody believed me.”
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
9
Full-time, Part-time, and the Rigidity of
‘Open’ Availability
The precariousness of employment has steadily increased over the past few decades, especially in
low-wage industries such as retailing. Not only do retail workers like Walmart associates confront
low wages and insufficient hours, but they also now face unpredictable scheduling.
In 2006, Walmart began testing the concept of “flexible” scheduling at several stores.3 By 2008,
Walmart completed its “yearlong rollout of a computerized scheduling system for 1.3 million
workers. It cited 12% labor-productivity gains as a key reason for improved results in its fiscal
quarter ended Jan. 31.”
However, as noted in the The Wall Street Journal, “the systems leave them with shorter shifts,
make it difficult to schedule their lives, and unleash Darwinian forces on the sales floor that damage morale.”4
As the then-new “flexible” scheduling system was being tested in 2006, a group of anonymous
Walmart workers wrote a letter to CNNMoney.com alleging “that the policy is designed to force
higher-paid full-time workers to reduce their status to part-time, or quit (and be replaced with
part-time workers), since this would save Walmart ‘enormous amounts of money from reduced
salaries and benefits paid.’5”
Raphael Smith is a Haitian immigrant who works in the dairy department of Walmart store
#3625 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. When he was first hired in September 2007, he worked 40
hours a week almost every week and was classified as a full-time associate. However, a few
months after starting, Raphael was called into the manager’s office and told he was supposed to
work 32 hours and would be reclassified as part-time.
At Walmart, being classified in the computer system as fulltime or part-time matters. Full-timers are guaranteed no less
than 34 hours a week, and qualify faster for the health plan
and other benefits. A full-time associate who works less than
34 hours a week for too many weeks in a row will automatically be reclassified as part-time.
“If your hours are below 34, then you are considered parttime and they actually will change your status to part-time if
it’s been more than three weeks,” said Barbara Collins, an as-
“The [flexible scheduling] policy is
designed to force higher-paid fulltime workers to reduce their status
to part-time, or quit (and be replaced
with part-time workers), since this
would save Walmart ‘enormous
amounts of money from reduced
salaries and benefits paid.’
-CNNMoney.com
3
Bhatnagar, Parija. “Wal-Mart seeks to ‘organize’ labor its own way” (04/25/2006) http://money.cnn.
com/2006/04/25/news/companies/walmart_labor/
4
O’Connell, Vanessa. “Retailers Reprogram Workers In Efficiency Push” (09/10/2008) Wall Street Journal,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122100270555417001.html
5
Bhatnagar, Parija. “Wal-Mart seeks to ‘organize’ labor its own way” (04/25/2006) http://money.cnn.
com/2006/04/25/news/companies/walmart_labor/
10
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
sociate from store #2418 in Placerville, California.
“If that happens, that means I lose all insurance
for my son.”
“If I were full-time,” said Raphael, “my entire
family would have health benefits, and then I
would be able to have sick time. They make me
work 32 hours in five days. I have to go to work
almost every day just like I was working full time,
but in reality I don’t work full-time.”
Two leading scholars on work flexibility published
a paper in 2010 addressing the distinction between employer- and employee-driven scheduling Floyd Kelly works at a Sam’s Club in Renton,
in low-wage work as it relates to “work-to-family
Washington. He started his career in March 2004
conflict, perceived stress and interference with
as an overnight stocker at a Walmart in Grossmont,
California
workers’ ability to plan and structure non-work
6
time.” They found that schedule unpredictability
promotes work-family conflict, interferes with non-work activities, and brings about mental stress
for employees, whereas employee-driven flexible scheduling helps make these problems less
likely.
Raphael started a second job in 2008 to support his family. He works another 30 hours or so at
this second job, for a total of more than 60 hours a work week just to try and make ends meet.
Raphael continues to ask for full-time hours at work, and was told recently that the only full-time
position available is at another store in maintenance. To work in maintenance instead of dairy
would mean a cut in pay for Raphael, who currently makes $11 an hour. In other words, getting a
pay cut is the only way for Raphael to get full-time status and benefits.
Meanwhile, other associates are told the only way to get full-time hours is to “open up” their
schedule, which at a 24-hour Supercenter means being available to work any hour of the day,
seven days a week, with no guarantee of having two consecutive days off.
According to a 2007 Wall Street Journal article 7 reported that “while the new systems are expected to benefit both retailers and customers, some experts say they can saddle workers with
unpredictable schedules. In some cases, they may be asked to be ‘on call’ to meet customer surges,
or sent home because of a lull, resulting in less pay. The new systems also alert managers when a
worker is approaching full-time status or overtime, which would require higher wages and benefits, so they can scale back that person’s schedule.”
Floyd Kelly currently works at a Sam’s Club in Renton, Washington. He started his career in
March 2004 as an overnight stocker at a Walmart in Grossmont, California. He worked full-time
as an overnight stocker for five years, transferring from California to Arkansas to Oregon and back
to Washington, the state where he’d grown up.
Henly, J and S. Lambert (2010), Schedule Flexibility and Unpredictability in Retail: Implications
for Employee Work-Life Outcomes. University of Chicago.
6
7
Maher, Kris. “Wal-Mart seeks new flexibility in worker shifts” (01/04/2007) Wall Street Journal http://www.
post-gazette.com/pg/07004/750964-28.stm
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
11
When Floyd decided to move back to the Seattle area in 2009, he was told he could retain his fulltime status. Once he’d transferred, though, the manager told him they had no full-time positions
and that he could either be a part-time associate or not have a job, the choice was his.
“Me being part-time status, they don’t have to give me full-time hours,” said Floyd. “Whereas if I
was able to get my full-time status they would have to increase my hours back to reflect that. At
least in this state, anything over 32 hours a week would be considered full-time.
“If you work over 34 hours a week for a certain number of consecutive weeks they have to make
you full-time at that point so they really monitor those hours. Personnel monitors your hours and
lets the assistant manager know when you’re at that point where they need to cut your hours for
you not to be full-time. I’ve specifically heard them talk about this.
“Over the last year and a half I’ve averaged about 22 hours a week. On my seventh anniversary I
got 22 hours vacation time because I’m a part-time associate. If I was full-time I would have gotten two weeks plus a certain amount of paid personal time.”
The fact that Floyd cannot convince management to make him a full-time associate would logically lead one to believe that the store is not hiring new associates. But Floyd says this is not the
case at his Sam’s Club.
“They are hiring left and right,” said Floyd. “As people
leave full-time positions they refuse to hire anybody fulltime. They make that job into two or three part-timers.”
“I think Walmart looks at someone like me as a liability
now because I am long-term and I have benefits they
aren’t offering new people because I was grandfathered
in,” said Jackie Goebel, a 23-year associate from Kenosha,
Wisconsin.
“They’ve made that real clear. We had a door greeter
who’s been here, I’m not exactly sure how long but she’s
old enough to collect Social Security. She’s quite a reliJackie GoebeL of Wisconsin has been a Walmart
gious woman, and all of a sudden they told her she had to
associate for many years and has been tragically
open up her availability to work Sundays,” Jackie continimpacted by Walmart’s diminishing concern for and
ued. “She was very involved with her community and her
treatment of its employees
church, and I talked to her numerous times on breaks and
she was very distraught about this. I hadn’t seen her in a few weeks, and I asked where she was.
Apparently she was told, ‘If you don’t change your availability there aren’t any hours for you.’”
12
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
Trying to Make it
Work While Working
at Walmart
Barbara Collins has two children, and though
she’s not proud to say it, she has a difficult time
keeping them fed during the summertime when
school is out. She works at the only Walmart in
Placerville, a small town east of Sacramento in
the mountains of northern California.
Barbara collins works at the Placerville,
California Walmart
“When the kids are in school, they get breakfast and lunch, and then when they get home I only
have to do snack and dinnertime,” said Barbara, who was hired as a cashier in November 2005.
“But in the summer, when they wake up they have breakfast, snack, another snack, lunch, more
snacks, dinner, dessert; they’re bottomless.”
Though Barbara makes so little that her children qualify for free meals at school, she cannot get
food stamps to help relieve the burden of providing summer meals at home.
“If I go to the county and ask for assistance, I’ll always get denied because I have over $2000 in
my 401k,” said Barbara. “I think that is the worst mistake I ever made in my entire life was to
prepare for my future. And Walmart will not let you cash out, because it is their policy. I could try
to file for hardship for all my other medical bills and credit cards, but that is only if Walmart and
Merrill Lynch [who manages her 401k] say I qualify. They don’t consider all my bills to be a hardship.”
Barbara knows she is not making it. “I am 100% in debt,” she said. “I owe on three credit cards, I
owe my dentist money, I owe Kaiser (Barbara’s health insurance provider) money. I have to register my car this month, with what money I don’t know.”
Walmart’s hostility toward workers with medical issues has been long-established. An infamous
memo from Walmart’s then Vice President of Benefits and now Executive Vice President, People
Division, Susan Chambers. The memo suggested strategies for Walmart to remove the sick from
the payrolls.8
Even those whose children are grown and out of the house have a difficult time making ends meet
while working at Walmart.
“I do a lot of odd type jobs like working on apartments,” said Floyd, the Sam’s Club associate from
Renton, Washington who averages only 22 hours a week despite wanting to be full-time. “Most of
the associates I have socialized with on the job, most of them are working at least two jobs if they
can find them. And the ones that can find full-time work elsewhere, they are just leaving altogether.”
8
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/business/26walmart.ready.html?pagewanted=all
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
13
Jackie Goebel has seen many changes in her decades working at Walmart in southeast Wisconsin.
“There’s such a contrast between 20 years ago and today,” said Jackie. “I look back at when Sam
Walton was alive and coming to the stores and the way he treated people, it didn’t make a difference what position you held, he valued you as a human being, as an idea generator. I mean, now,
associates hold no value to the company as a whole.”
Jackie saw firsthand how undervalued store
associates are when her own daughter got sick
while working at Walmart. Afraid of losing her
job, Jackie’s daughter delayed going to the doctor – only to learn she had cancer once it was
too late to treat.
“There’s such a contrast between 20 years
ago and today ... I look back at when Sam
Walton was alive and coming to the stores
and the way he treated people, it didn’t
make a difference what position you held,
he valued you as a human being, as an idea
generator ... Now, associates hold no value
to the company as a whole.”
“My daughter worked at Walmart and as far as
I’m concerned Walmart killed her,” said Jackie.
“I don’t blame Walmart for the fact that she
-Jackie Goebel, Walmart associate
had cancer, certainly, but the reason she didn’t
go have treatment was she was afraid Walmart would fire her if she took the time off. She’d been
off all summer already for her son who had a lot of problems, physical and mental, and she took
the maximum time off with FMLA.”
FMLA is the Family and Medical Leave Act9 and applies to any company with 50 or more employees, which includes Walmart. These employers must provide an eligible employee with up to
12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a year for certain family and medical reasons. It also
requires that group health benefits be maintained during the leave.
Associates often delay
or forego medical care
altogether,
because
they can’t get the time
off or can’t afford the
treatment
Understandably, Jackie gets emotional when talking about her daughter,
who died January 14, 2006.
“I truly believe she was so afraid to lose her job,” said Jackie. “She had two
young children to support and she thought it was just ovarian cysts, I can
get by. And that’s what Walmart does to people, they put the fear of God
in them.”
Jackie’s daughter’s death, while an extreme story, is not an isolated occurrence. Associates often delay or forego medical care altogether, because they can’t get the time off or can’t afford the
treatment.
“I was out in DC a few years ago, and I talked to an associate from Maryland and she showed me
this picture of this very attractive woman and these three beautiful children,” said Jackie. “The
woman in the picture hadn’t been feeling well, but she couldn’t afford to go to the doctor or take
time off from work. She had this terrible headache but she came in anyway, and she fell and hit
the floor at work. It was a brain aneurysm and she passed away.”
9
14
http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/benefits-leave/fmla.htm
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
Discrimination and Harassment: The
Experience of Women and People of Color
at Walmart
Walmart is a self-reported leading employer of minorities in the U.S. (minorities make up 35.33%
of Walmart’s U.S. associates10) with more than 208,000 African-American associates.11 Women
make up 57.76% of Walmart’s U.S. Associates.12
The company touts itself as a great place for racial minorities and women to work. The reality,
though, is that many associates experience forms of harassment, discrimination or racism at
Walmart, and often those who perpetuate it are promoted anyway or are already managers. Sexual Harassment
Girshriela Green of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza store in southern California experienced
sexual harassment while working at Walmart in 2010.
“I was a department manager harassed by a zone manager, my supervisor,” said Girshriela.
“When I tried to resolve this through an ‘Open Door,’ I was bullied.”
Walmart utilizes the “Open Door” policy, which means that associates can go to any salaried superior with their complaints. Associates are promised an investigation of the issue and shielding
from any retaliation. Some have criticized this system, suggesting that instead of shielding associates, it actually identifies them to management as “troublemakers” and invites retaliation.13
“I was told I wasn’t being harassed,” said Girshriela. “I was told my ego might have got in the way.
I was told [the harasser] might have disrespected me but he didn’t harass me, I was refused to
turn in a written report, and I was told to go home and come back the next day. I asked before I
left if anyone had anything to say to me; they were like, suck it up, go home, he’ll still supervise
Walmart 2010 Workforce Diversity Report http://walmartstores.com/download/4935.pdf. See
page 3, “35% of our workforce is minority,” “57% of our workforce is female,” and see page 3 for “Walmart’s
U.S. workforce is comprised of more than 815,000 female associates; more than 248,000 African-American
associates; more than 167,000 Hispanic associates; more than 42,000 Asian and 5,000 Pacific Islander
associates; and, more than 14,000 American Indian and Alaska Native associates.”
10
“Wal-Mart’s Commitment to Diversity Translates Into Action for African-American Communities,”
Atlanta Inquirer, 18 Feb 2006
11
12
Ibid
13
Language taken from the employee handbook about the open door policy: “Our Open Door Policy says that
if you have an idea or a problem, you should go to your Supervisor to talk about it without fear of retaliation. Faster
resolution may occur when the Associate goes through the immediate Supervisor first. However, if the Associate feels
the Supervisor is the source of the problem, or if the problem has not been addressed satisfactorily, the Associate may
go to any level of management in the Company. Remember, while the Open Door promises that you will be heard, it
cannot promise that your opinion will always prevail. Any Suppression of, or retaliation for using the Open Door Policy
by a Supervisory Associate may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.” (Quoted in: ABRAHAM
SANDAL vs. WAL-MART # 1535, CIV 05-4002. US District Court for the District of South Dakota, Southern Division.
March 7, 2006.)
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
15
you he just won’t be disrespecting you anymore.”
After her failed “Open Door,” Girshriela called an associate hotline and human resources to
try and get the issue properly resolved.
“My harasser was then pulled out of the store for two weeks without pay while human resources investigated. After that, I was told that all three managers involved had disciplinary
action taken against them. But the zone manager who harassed me is still there, still working in the store, after the things that he said and did to me.”
Walmart has faced multiple lawsuits over the years regarding sexual harassment claims
made by associates and retaliation against those who make such claims. 14
Most recently, on August 18, 2011, Walmart paid $27,500 to settle a sexual harassment
lawsuit filed by the EEOC on behalf of Paula Barstad. In the suit, which was settled with a
2-year consent decree, the EEOC claimed that Walmart subjected Ms. Barstad to repeated
sexual harassment when she was an overnight stocker at a store in Midland, Texas. According to the suit, a male security guard harassed the woman repeatedly, including unwanted
verbal comments as well as physical touching. When Ms. Barstad reported the harassment
to store managers multiple times, her complaints were ignored. 15
Pay Discrimination
In 2001, six female employee filed Dukes v. Walmart, a case alleging the company systematically
discriminated against women in its promotion and compensation practices. The case expanded to
include more than one million women when it was certified June 21, 2004 as the largest class action lawsuit and largest employment discrimination case in U.S. history. The U.S. Supreme Court
ruled in June 2011 that Dukes v. Walmart could not proceed as a class action. This means the
women of Dukes must each file individual suits to have their problems of unequal pay and promotions addressed – something that is simply out of financial reach for many Walmart associates.
Female associates were disproportionately represented in the lowest paid positions, such
as cashiers and sales associates in 2001. 65% of hourly associates at Walmart were women,
while only 33% of salaried managers were women. 16 In 2001, Women were promoted to
management much less often than men, despite higher performance ratings and longer average seniority than men (4.47 years for women, 3.13 years for men). 17
14
“Harassment claim advances; Court Report; cases between Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Jenna Aryai.” By Jennifer M. Thiel. HRMagazine Vol. 53, No. 10. October 1, 2008; “Supreme Court upholds $2 million ruling in Wal-Mart
harassment case.” The Associated Press State & Local Wire. February 24, 1999; JACQUELINE M. MASON v. WALMART STORES, INC. D/B/A SAM’S WHOLESALE CLUB and JOHNNY ROWLAND. [Circuit Court of Jackson County
(Missouri)]; JANIS BLACKMON v. WAL-MART STORES EAST, L.P. [US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit];
EEOC v. WAL-MART STORES, INC. and WAL-MART STORES EAST, INC. [US District Court for the District of New
Mexico]; KEELY DAVIS v. WAL-MART STORES, INC. [US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas
Division]; ONENETTA LABEACH v. WAL-MART STORES, INC. and JOHN ZAPF [US District Court for the Middle
District of Georgia, Macon Division]; STEPHANIE BECKEL v. WAL-MART STORES, INC. [US Court of Appeals for the
Seventh Circuit]; CANDANCE CROOKS v. WAL-MART STORES OF TEXAS, LLC [US District Court for the Northern
District of Texas, Fort Worth Division]; ELAINE MOORMAN v. WAL-MART STORES, INC. [US District Court for the
Southern District of Illinois].
15
“Wal-Mart Settles Sexual Harassment Suit with EEOC.” State News Service. August 18, 2011.
Walmart’s 2011 Global Responsibility Report states that the percentage of female officials and
managers has increased to 41.1%. It is not clear whether or not all of the included positions are salaried.
16
17
16
Drogin, Richard, Ph.D. “Statistical Analysis of Gender Patterns in Wal-Mart Workforce.” 2003. Available at:
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
At all levels, female associates earned less than their male counterparts in 2001. 18
In that year, women in all positions at Walmart earned $5,200 less per year than men, on
average.19 In the same year, women in hourly jobs, where the average yearly earnings totaled $18,000, earned $1,100 less per year, or $1.16 less per hour, than men in the same
position.20
When Cynthia Haddad, a pharmacist at a Massachusetts Walmart for ten years, discovered that
she was paid much less than her male counterparts, she was fired after bringing up the issue with
her superiors in 2004.
Vera Moss, Barbara Norton and Pamela Bell claimed that they faced prolonged sexual harassment
from their male manager at a Louisiana store in 2002 and 2003. The women notified their superiors of the issue multiple times, but no action was taken.21
The women then filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Two of the women were let go a month later and the third resigned as a result of “constant isolation and estrangement” at work that she experienced after speaking out about the harassment. In
a civil suit against the company, the three women claimed that Walmart retaliated against them
for taking their problem to the EEOC.22
Racial Discrimination
The experiences of many racial minority associates at Walmart is also unjust. In April 2011,
Walmart paid $440,000 in a settlement of an EEOC suit claiming harassment of Latinos at a
Sam’s Club in Fresno, California.
“The EEOC contends that at least nine employees of Mexican descent at the Sam’s Club in Fresno,
along with one who was married to a Mexican, endured ethnic slurs and derogatory remarks by a
fellow co-worker who is Mexican-American. Since late 2005, the victims were barraged with neardaily insults about Mexicans such as “f----n’ wetbacks,” and references to Mexicans only being
good for cleaning the harasser’s home, according to the EEOC. The harasser even threatened to
report three of the victims to immigration authorities despite their legal status.”23
When Floyd Kelly was working at a Walmart in Oregon, there were a number of repeated theft
incidents. In 2005, when a member of loss prevention came in to address a group of associates
about it, Floyd was the only African American in the group. This person had never mentioned race
before in terms of who was stealing things, but this time he did.
“He looked at me and said, ‘These people who are stealing are black,’” said Floyd. “When he said
http://www.walmartclass.com/staticdata/reports/r2.pdf. In Drogin’s analysis, these numbers all have a high degree of
statistical significance.
18
Drogin, 2003
19
ibid
20
ibid
21
Vera D. Moss, Barbara J. Norton, and Pamela R. Bell v. Wal-mart Stores, Inc. and Wal-mart Associates, Inc.
CIVIL ACTION NO. 04-3090 SECTION: “C”. US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. 18 March 2007.
22
Ibid
23
“Walmart to Pay $440,000 to Settle EEOC Suit for Harassment of Latinos.” 4-14-11. EEOC Press Release.
http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/4-14-11.cfm
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
17
65%
Percentage of Walmart Associates
who are women
33%
Female representation in salaried
management
3.13
Number of years, on average, a
male associate works for a
management promotion
4.47
Number of years, on average, a
female associate works for a
management promotion
it everyone turned and looked at me! He winded up getting in
trouble for that particular incident.”
But perhaps one of the more chilling stories of racial discrimination at Walmart happened to Joyce Young, an African American
woman at store #5092 in Lewisville, Texas. After working two
years in the deli department slicing cold cuts, Joyce was transferred to the seafood department in 2007.
“I used to put fresh product into the case and we had to make a
sticker with the date that we put it in and the amount of time it
would stay in there,” said Joyce. “We had to throw it away and put
fresh in there after it expired. A lot of the guys I worked with on
the night shift, managing the freshness it was too much for them.
I had Friday and Saturday off, and Sunday would always be my
hardest day because I’d have to put everything fresh in the case
because they hadn’t done it.”
Concerned about the health and safety of her customers, Joyce began showing the paperwork documenting the seafood’s freshness
to her department manager in 2007.
“This dude got upset with me because he heard me talking to the department manager and showing him the paperwork,” said Joyce. “I guess he already had the noose in his car, cause he went and
got it. I was walking from the seafood to the meat department area, and that’s when I saw a noose
laying on the table. When I came back through from meat to seafood, the dude was standing on the
prep table there and hooking it [the noose] up over the top of a pipe coming out of the ceiling.”
Joyce was outraged that in the 21st century she was being threatened with the symbol of lynching. She said, “When I saw him hanging it up I got very, very angry at that point. The department
manager stepped in then and said, ‘I want you to know right now that’s a firing offense, what you’re
doing, and you really should be ashamed of yourself, what you’re doing.’
“That incident never happened again, but the following Monday, everyone was apologizing and
telling me how they didn’t tolerate racism and discrimination and he would be dealt with. After
a week went by, they called me to the office and told me the corporate office didn’t see anything
racially discriminating in what he did because he said he was just playing, and that there was basically nothing I could do. They gave him a write-up and a coaching [verbal disciplinary action] and
that’s all he got. They didn’t do much cause he’s still employed. He’s still there.”
Speaking about racism at her store in general, Joyce said, “I can tell you there was a lot of it, and a
lot of it was raked under the rug and a lot wasn’t done about the majority of it.”
In December 2010, Sylvester Johnson, a former manager at Walmart in the Charlotte region who
worked for the company from 1996 until 2009, filed a racial discrimination suit against the company. His complaint alleges that he was paid less than his white counterparts and that he was
“forced to work with the chain’s sub-par employees.”24 The case also alleges that Johnson was fired
in retaliation for raising concerns about manipulation of inventory by the company. The trial is
scheduled for late 2012.
24
18
“Ex-manager alleges bias in Wal-Mart suit.” By Ely Portillo. Charlotte Observer. Dec. 22, 2010.
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
Independent Polling Confirms the Larger Problem
A 2011 poll of 501 Walmart associates nationwide conducted by Lake Research Partners indicates
the above stories are not isolated incidents, but part of a larger problem at Walmart. This poll was
believed to be the first-ever independent poll not overseen by Walmart management, exclusively
of people who currently work at Walmart.
On several issues, Hispanic and Latino and African American
associates fare worse at the nation’s largest private employer
– from concerns over take-home pay and receiving enough
hours to inadequate staffing, a lack of respect at work, and
unfair, discriminatory treatment. Eleven percent of the survey sample identified as Hispanic or Latino, while 30% of the
survey sample identified as African American.
“If what’s going on at Walmart
happened at a small company,
it would be bad enough ... [but]
Walmart’s the nation’s largest
employer and sets standards for our
communities and other companies,
this is a full-scale epidemic that
needs the attention of the Senate,
the courts, the media and—I’m
proud to say—Associates ourselves.
Hispanic and Latino associates are more than twice as likely
to be only part-time workers relative to their white counterparts (45 percent versus 21 percent). More than a quarter (27
- Maggie VanNess, Walmart
percent) report that they and/or their families have relied on
associate
public assistance in the past two years. Just 45 percent get
their health insurance through Walmart, as compared to 56 percent of their white coworkers and
52 percent of their African American coworkers.
87% of African American poll respondents said they and their families were living “paycheck to
paycheck” or “just getting by” or “struggling” or “not making it.” Just 12 percent described their
circumstance as “comfortable.”
Nearly two in five African Americans (39 percent) “strongly disagreed” that Walmart will help
them achieve the American Dream—a rate higher than those of white and Hispanic and Latino
Associates, but within the margin of error. Another 20 percent of African Americans simply “disagreed” that Walmart is the path to the American Dream.
Women have had a particularly rough time working at Walmart, despite making up the majority
of hourly associates. “If what’s going on at Walmart happened at a small company, it would be
bad enough,” said Maggie Van Ness, a Walmart associate in Lancaster, California. “But because
Walmart’s the nation’s largest employer and sets standards for our communities and other companies, this is a full-scale epidemic that needs the attention of the Senate, the courts, the media
and—I’m proud to say—Associates ourselves. The poll data show widespread problems that are
especially bad for women, who need these jobs.”
Of the more than 500 poll respondents, 311 (62 percent) were women. About six in ten have children. By contrast, half the men have children. And while 48 percent of men said Walmart does a
poor or just fair job of providing the training and mentoring that allows them to earn promotions,
a full 59 percent of women responded similarly.
“It’s not that working at Walmart is a wonderful experience for people of any demographic group,
on average,” said pollster Celinda Lake. “Walmart is a tough place to work, according to the data,
with 84 percent of all respondents saying they’d take a better job if they could find one.”
Given the poll data, working at Walmart isn’t great for anyone, but it is especially bad for women
and minorities.
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
19
How to Change Walmart
OUR Walmart
members gathered in
Bentonville, Arkansas in
June 2011.
For America to get back on track, we don’t just need any jobs: we need jobs that treat people like
human beings and pay enough to actually live on. As these stories show all too clearly, Walmart is
not currently offering those kind of jobs to many of its associates.
So, Walmart associates from across the country are coming together to improve the quality of
their jobs and the quality of their lives. They have formed the Organization United for Respect at
Walmart, or OUR Walmart for short. OUR Walmart is a nationwide movement of Walmart associates coming together in their stores, in their communities, and online to push for improved
wages, benefits, treatment, and schedules. Founded in the fall of 2010, OUR Walmart is growing
rapidly.
In June 2011, OUR Walmart held an official founding meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas—the
home of Walmart’s corporate offices. During this meeting, associates from around the country
came together for the first time to share their experiences, hear the results of a nationwide survey
of Walmart employees, and write their own Declaration of Respect. This Declaration defines what
the organization is all about. (See sidebar on page 22 for all the points covered in the Declaration)
After writing their Declaration, OUR Walmart members asked for a meeting with Mike Duke,
Walmart’s CEO, to submit their Declaration and talk about their concerns. Duke did not grant
them a meeting, but Karen Casey, Walmart’s Senior Vice President of Global Labor Relations and
Mona Williams, Vice President of Corporate Communications, told the OUR Walmart members
standing in the Home Office parking lot that they would only allow four representatives of OUR
Walmart to come inside and have a meeting with management.
The OUR Walmart members present stood firm: Either Casey & Williams met with all the OUR
Walmart members, or they met with none. They were all leaders of the organization.
The two executives then met with the entire group for over an hour while OUR Walmart members laid out many of the concerns they have—inadequate staffing levels, intimidation of associ20
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
ates who dare to speak up about problems, poverty-level wages, hours being cut, and retaliation
against associates who come together to try and form a collective voice for change.
Casey and Williams promised to take the Associates’ concerns back to senior Walmart leadership so they could be studied. More importantly, Casey promised all OUR Walmart members that
they would not be retaliated against for joining OUR Walmart or speaking up about how Walmart
should be better.
However, Walmart has refused to meet with or work with OUR Walmart as an organization to
resolve these issues and has run a campaign of disinformation to attempt to keep associates from
joining together. Since that meeting, many associates who went to Bentonville have seen their
hours cut and other forms of retaliation. But, each time, associates, sometimes with community
support, have stood up to local managers and gotten their hours reinstated. This is the kind of
accountability that OUR Walmart continues to bring to Walmart to make the company follow its
own policies and promises, and to make
improvements.
Associates are not the only ones holding Walmart accountable. Across the country, community
and religious leaders, union members, politicians, small business owners, women’s organizations, racial minority coalitions, and others are coming together to stand with Walmart Associates
through a campaign called Making Change at Walmart. The campaign, started by the United Food
and Commercial Workers, is challenging Walmart to share our vision for a new way forward — a
way that lifts all of us up, rather than just a few.
“Knowing that there are people willing to back us is just amazing,” said Lanette Raven, an associate from store #3757 in Arlington, Washington.
One example of Making Change at Walmart strengthening the work of Walmart associates occurred recently in Baldwin Park, California. Angie Rodriguez has been an overnight stocker at
Walmart for the past seven years. She is also one of the strongest OUR Walmart leaders in her
store. Angie is not afraid to speak out publicly about how severe understaffing is putting unrealistic workload pressure on her and her coworkers.
On multiple recent occasions Angie was berated in front of customers and her fellow associates by
a lower-level manager. She was once was told to work as a door greeter and stand in one spot for
the entire shift so this manager could “keep an eye on her.” When Angie moved slightly to make
room for customers leaving the store, the manager began to yell at her loudly, embarrassing Angie
in front of the customers and staff. She tried to utilize Walmart’s “open door” policy with her store
manager, but did not get a satisfactory response to her concerns.
Disheartened and convinced that her treatment was a direct response to her involvement with
OUR Walmart, Angie considered quitting her job.
However, a group of OUR Walmart leaders encouraged her not to quit, but to approach the manager who was harassing her. The leaders agreed to join her in a delegation to store management to
protest her treatment. So, 12 Walmart associates from four different stores, California Assembly
Member Roger Hernandez, Baldwin Park Council Member Susan Rubio, Mayor Andre Quintero
of El Monte, UFCW Local 1428 President Connie Leyva and other concerned citizens, religious
leaders and union members went with Angie to speak with her store manager.
Together, they explained Angie’s situation and reminded the manager that the way Angie was
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
21
OUR Walmart’s
Declaration of Respect
Read the entire OUR Walmart declaration online at the
OUR Walmart website www.ForRespect.org
In
§§
§§
§§
§§
§§
§§
§§
§§
§§
§§
§§
summary, the Declaration calls on Walmart to:
Listen to its Associates
Have respect for the individual
Recognize freedom of association and freedom of
speech
Fix the “open door” policy: Improve the grievance
process by ensuring confidentiality, providing promised
resolutions in writing, and allowing Associates to bring
a co-worker in as a witness
Pay a minimum of $13 an hour and make full-time jobs
available for Associates who want them
Create dependable, predictable work schedules
Provide affordable healthcare
Not retaliate against Associates who speak up about
problems at work
Provide every Associate with a policy manual, ensure
equal enforcement of policy and no discrimination,
and give every Associate equal opportunity to succeed and advance in his or her career
Adopt affirmative policies that secure full access to
opportunity and equal treatment to all Associates
regardless of gender, race, disability or age
Require that suppliers and stores around the globe
operate with the highest standards and ensure that
workers’ freedom to associate is respected.
Adopting this Declaration will make Walmart a better
company for Associates, customers and the communities in
which it operates. As Sam Walton said, “Share your profits
with all your Associates, and treat them as partners.”
22
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
being treated went against
Walmart’s policies and Karen
Casey’s promise not to retaliate
against associates for organizing.
Angie is no longer the target of
harassment by management.
In addition to standing with
Walmart associates, Making
Change at Walmart is working to
raise standards at the company
by joining with community leaders in major cities across America
to make sure Walmart’s desire to
open stores is met with enforcement of strong labor, environmental, and community standards or rejected. Internationally,
Making Change at Walmart is
joining with global partners in
countries such as South Africa
as they work to do the same (see
sidebar, page 27).
Walmart Jobs Set the Standard
ANGIE RODRIGUEZ has been an overnight stocker at Walmart for
Most jobs in this country are service
based. Retail jobs are the fastest
growing part of the U.S. economy.
As the economy slowly recovers, it
is retail jobs that are being added.
Like manufacturing once did, retail
defines how it is to live and work in
America in the 21st century in every
city and town, urban, suburban and
rural area. That’s why it’s critically important that retail employers compensate their workers with
pay and benefits that allow them to
afford homes, send their kids to college, and live the American dream.
the past seven years
When the Fortune 500 list was created in 1955, the list included a “who’s-who” of leading industrial giants, such as General Motors,
US Steel, and General Electric.25 Even billion-dollar retail firms like Sears and Woolworth were
not considered for the list because, as Nelson Lichtenstein argues, “Editors at Fortune, reflecting
the views of economists and businessmen in general, thought the mere selling and transport of
consumer goods a derivative, subordinate, dependent function within the more important and far
larger industrial, factory based economy.”26 Not until 1995, in recognition of the changing U.S.
economy were service and retail firms added to the list. 27 Now, Walmart has been in the first or
second position every year since 2000, and, since 2007, has been on top every year but one.28
This tilting of the labor market toward the service-sector is projected to continue. In summarizing their projections for employment changes from 2008-2018, the Bureau of Labor Statistics
stated, “Projected employment growth is concentrated in the service-providing sector, continuing
a long-term shift from the goods-producing sector of the economy.”
From 1998 to 2008 the service producing sector grew at a rate of 1.3% a year, faster than any other
segment of the economy. 29 From 2008 to 2018, service-providing industries are projected to add
25 http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500_archive/full/1955/, Accessed August 5, 2011
26
Lichtenstein, Nelson. The Retail Revolution: How Walmart Created a Brave New World of Business. 2009
Page 4. Metropolitan Books.
27
“Service Firms Join Elite `500’ Team: Fortune Shift Reflects Changing Economy”, Chicago Tribune, Casey
Bukro, April 26, 1995
28 http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500_archive/full/1955/, Accessed August 5, 2011
29
http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_201.htm
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
23
Urban Communities: Final US Frontier for Walmart Offers
the Opportunity to Make Real Change
Walmart has essentially saturated rural and suburban America. The company has very
few places left in these areas to open stores that will not cannibalize sales from another
Walmart.1 But, the same is not true in urban communities such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston. In these areas, Walmart has very little, if any, presence. Walmart
has historically been thwarted in its bids to build stores in these cities because leaders were
opposed to allowing an employer famous for depressing industry wages and ignoring workers’ rights open in their communities.2
However, Walmart’s same store sales (the measure of sales at stores that have existed for
more than a year) have been in decline for nine quarters—more than two years. Originally,
this drop in sales was attributed to the recession, but as other businesses are slowly recovering, Walmart still continues to flounder. Many analysts attribute these sales drops to a series
of management missteps by Walmart.3
Walmart’s stock performance, executive compensation, and core business strategy is built
on growth. The company’s stock price has been relatively flat for the past ten years. In short,
Walmart is now more desperate than ever to find a way to open more stores in urban communities.
“We’ve seen that Walmart is infiltrating Chicago at an incredibly aggressive pace,” said Suzanne Keers, co-founder and executive director of Local First Chicago. “We can see that none
of the recently announced stores are in areas with food access issues, and that shows that
they are basing their decision on profits, rather than community needs. Either way, we think
that neighborhoods should have a voice, when a large outsider like Walmart is coming into
their neighborhood.”
Some cities have chosen an innovative strategy to try and make Walmart’s desire to come to
their communities a win for all residents, not just Walmart executives. Leaders in cities like
1
Mike Duff, Walmart: too big to succeed?, BNEt accessed 9/27/2010http://www.bnet.com/blog/retail/
walmart-too-big-to-succeed/9191
2
“Lompoc Citizens Against Walmart Expansion moving forward.” by Robert Cuthbert. Central Coast
Democrat Examiner. Oct. 29, 2009. http://www.examiner.com/central-coast-democrat-in-los-angeles/lompoccitizens-against-walmart-expansion-moving-forward
“Controller Endorses Superstore Ordinance.” Los Angeles Times. August 4, 2004. http://articles.latimes.
com/2004/aug/10/local/me-briefs10.2
Chicago: “Wal-Mart issue resurfaces with living wage ordinance, plan commission vote.” by Hal Dardick. Clout
Street, Chicago Tribune’s Local Political Coverage. April 14, 2010. http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_
st/2010/04/wal-mart-aldermen-chicago.html
New York: “With Wal-Mart Silent on Plans, Critics Focus on Rumored Site.” by Elizabeth A. Harris. The New
York Times. February 11, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/nyregion/12metjournal.html
“No Wal-Mart for NYC after heavy opposition by unions, neighbors, politicians.” By Timothy Williams. The Associated Press. February 24, 2005.
3
Jon Springer, Supermarket News, “Giant Fix” Supermarket News 6/27/2011
continued on pg. 25
24
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
continued from pg. 24
Washington, DC; Seattle; and Boston are pushing Walmart to sign a Community Benefits
Agreement (CBA) in order to open shop in their communities. A CBA is a legally enforceable
document binding the company to provide better pay and benefits, hire locally, pledge that
Associates will be allowed to choose freely whether they would like to form a union without
intimidation or interference from the company, agree to environmental protections, security
measures, and other provisions.
“Because of the slow economic recovery, communities are at risk of accepting any jobs offered rather than insisting on jobs that can support a family,” said Russ Davis, Executive Director of Massachusetts Jobs with Justice and a leader pushing for a CBA in Boston. “Boston
residents have leverage to set standards now because Walmart has saturated its other markets. We are using our power to stop a race to the bottom.”
14.6 million jobs, or 96 percent of the increase in total employment.”30 (Emphasis added).
Retail jobs are a leading source of growth of overall service sector employment. Today, the retail
trade employs more than 14.4 million workers, more than all of manufacturing.31 In fact, in May,
2011, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that:
“Retail salespersons and cashiers were the occupations with the highest employment in 2010…
These two occupations combined made up nearly 6% of total U.S. employment, with employment
levels of 4.2 and 3.4 million, respectively.”32
30
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecopro.nr0.htm
31
Bureau of Labor Statistics – Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector. Table B-1, http://www.bls.
gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
32
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ocwage.pdf
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
25
Nature of Economic Recovery Means Even
More Retail Jobs
During the recent recession, retail employment declined at a rate of 6.7%, a rate generally consistent with the general private industry decline of 6.6%.33 Now, the nature of the fledgling economic recovery appears to be tilting the labor market further toward service sector jobs. While
overall employment remains down 4.3% from early 2008, low-wage jobs have returned in higher
numbers and are down just 0.3% over the same period.34
In fact, the occupation with the largest growth from the first quarter of 2010 to the first quarter of
2011 was retail salespersons and the occupation with the third largest growth for that period was
cashiers.35 Clearly, retail workers represent an increasing share of the labor force. Because of its
size, Walmart is currently setting the standard for these jobs. Walmart is the largest retailer in the
United States by a factor of four (meaning it does six times the business of its next largest competitor, Target.) It operates more than 4300 stores in the United States. Walmart did $405 billion
in global sales in fiscal year 201036 and had profits of more than $16 billion. If Walmart was a
country and sales were viewed as GDP, it would be 22nd largest in world, twice the size of Ireland.
Walmart sells 30% of the groceries in the United States. No other retailer or grocery chain comes
close to rivaling Walmart in terms of sales, employment, or influence on suppliers.
Walmart currently employs 1.4 million Americans, making it our country’s largest private employer. In 2001, one in every 16 retail workers was employed by Walmart. Now that number is one in
10.
Because of its dominance of the retail industry, every retailer—from Target to your local momand-pop-shop—is forced to compete with Walmart. To do that, most have adopted the same lowwage job model as Walmart. So to fix America, we must fix Walmart. Changing Walmart is central
to restoring our economy, ensuring the way out of poverty jobs in this country, and entirely possible.
Although the company will often claim higher average wages (without explaining how it calculates
the figures), IBISWorld, an independent market research group recently found that Walmart sales
associates receive just $8.81/hour, on average. 37 This translates to annual pay of $15,576, based
upon Walmart’s definition of full-time status as 34 hours per week or less than 70% of the 2010
poverty line for a family of four.38 So, if you can work full time for Walmart and still live in poverty, then you have what can be called a “poverty job.”
33
http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2011/04/art8full.pdf
34
The Good Jobs Deficit: A Closer Look at Recent Job Loss and Job Growth Trends Using Occupational Data,
National Employment Law Project, July 2011. The low wage jobs group had median wages between $7.51 and $13.52.
35
Ibid
36
“Corporate Facts: Walmart by the Numbers”, walmartstores.com
37
http://www.gothamgazette.com/print/3463
38
26
http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/11poverty.shtml
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
Global: When Government Plays its Part, Communities and
Workers Win
Walmart operated until very recently in 15 nations. Since acquiring a majority stake in
retailer Massmart this year, the company now has a presence in 28 countries, including for
the first time stores in Africa.1
Walmart announced its intention to purchase outright the South African retailer Massmart
in September 2010. Under South African law, the proposed transaction had to be reviewed
by that nation’s Competition Commission. Unlike most nations’ competition laws, South
Africa’s statute requires regulators to evaluate the public interest impacts of the proposed
deal along with traditional competition considerations. If the law was limited to traditional
competition considerations Walmart’s proposed purchase would have sailed through the
review process. But instead Walmart had to navigate new waters. If the company wanted
the deal to succeed, it needed to engage with stakeholders in a way that it often doesn’t
have to in the United States.
After widespread concerns were raised by many in South Africa about the possible takeover
by Walmart, the company announced it had changed its offer and now proposed to buy
only 51% of Massmart shares, instead of an 100% buyout.
In an attempt to address public interest concerns, South African government ministers facilitated discussions for Walmart with both public and private sector stakeholders. Simultaneously, the Competition Commission began its review of the proposed transaction. The
Commissioners were aware of the government-facilitated discussions and assumed that
those discussions would reach a satisfactory outcome. As a result, the Competition Commission recommended that Walmart’s acquisition of Massmart be approved without any
conditions, and in its decision noted the discussions and the expected successful resolution
of them.
However, once Walmart had the approval in hand its tone in the discussions changed. It
no longer had a willingness to enter into a written agreement to address public interest
concerns, instead making vague and unenforceable promises.
Luckily for the stakeholders, the Competition Commission’s decision was to be reviewed by
the Competition Tribunal. This body reviews the Commission’s decision and hears arguments from those concerned about the merger. The Tribunal can issue enforceable conditions on deals or even block them. During the hearings, the Tribunal heard testimony from
unions, government and small businesses from around the world about the potential negative public interest impacts that would occur if the transaction were approved without any
conditions. Throughout the hearing, Walmart argued that no conditions were necessary.
But after six days of hearings, which included the cross-examination of top executives and
1
Walmart in South Africa, Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/18/walmart-insouth-africa_n_863655.html
continued on pg. 28
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
27
continued from pg. 27
much national press scrutiny, Walmart recognized that it might lose and offered to agree
to a set of written conditions. The Competition Tribunal incorporated those conditions
in its decision and expressly stated that if Walmart failed to abide by the conditions, the
Tribunal had the power to enforce them, and could, in fact, unwind the deal if it believed
that Walmart had failed to abide by the decision.2
The outcome was that Walmart was forced to agree to give rehiring preference to 503
Massmart employees laid off in June 2010, agree to not challenge the status of South
Africa’s retail workers union, SACCAWU, as the largest representative of workers in its
divisions and allow the union to operate for at least three years, and to address concerns
that Massmart would shift from local suppliers to sourcing from cheaper imports. These
conditions made the deal better for Massmart’s workers, local South African suppliers
and the country as a whole.3
2
Tribunal could alter Walmart conditions, Business Report, Ann Crotty, 7/25/2011 http://www.iol.
co.za/business/business-news/tribunal-could-alter-walmart-conditions-1.1104856
3
SA approves Wal-Mart deal with conditions, Business Report May 31, 2011, http://www.iol.co.za/
business/companies/sa-approves-wal-mart-deal-with-conditions-1.1076442
Walmart Associates earn substantially less than retail workers in similar establishments. Although public data on a company by company basis is difficult to obtain, multiple studies have
shown significant wage gaps between Walmart Associates and employees of comparable retailers.
A 2005 UC Berkeley study found Walmart workers earn an estimated 12.4% less than retail workers as a whole, and 14.5% less than workers in large retail.39 A 2007 study comparing Walmart to
other general merchandising employers found a wage gap of 17.4%.40
Sam Walton (the founder of Walmart) set up his business so that most of the stock and control
would remain with him and his family. His children—Rob, Alice, John and Jim Walton-- have inherited their parents’ share of the company (Sam died in 1992 and his wife Helen passed away in
2007). Although their control has always been substantial (historically they’ve collectively owned
about 40% of the stock), through a series of recent stock buy backs, the Walton family owns
nearly 50% of the company. If this trend continues, sometime in 2011, they are expected to take
majority control.
To say that they have inherited a fortune would be a gross understatement. Together, Rob, Alice
and Jim Walton are worth about $90 billion. They are the richest family in the world. In 2010,
they made an estimated $2 billion in dividends from their Walmart stock.
Making the kind of changes Walmart associates are advocating for through OUR Walmart would
be relatively inexpensive. A 2011 report from the University of California Berkeley Labor Center
Dube, Arindrajit & Steve Wertheim, “Walmart and Job Quality – What Do We Know and Should
We Care” October 16, 2005 http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/retail/walmart_jobquality. Research and
Education.
39
Dube, Arindrajit, T. William Lester, Barry Eidlin, 2007. A Downward Push: The Impact of WalMart Stores on Retail Wages and Benefits.
40
28
MakingChangeatWalmart.org
found that if Walmart started every employee at a minimum wage of $12 an hour and passed
100% of that cost increase on to the customer, it would only cost an average of $.46 per shopping
visit. For most customers, that would come out to about an extra $12 a year (check.) So, for less
than the cost of a pack of gum at the register, all Walmart Associates could be making a living
wage.
Paying every associate a living wage and allowing those who want
full-time work to get it would bring tens of thousands of Walmart associates and their families out of poverty. For example, if the 12,000
associates in Los Angeles County were to get a pay raise to $13 an
hour, it would put more than $30 million into the pockets of these
associates annually. This would save taxpayers money by getting
Walmart workers off public assistance.
Walmart and the Walton Family Foundation give hundreds of millions a year annually to charities, and should be applauded, but when
Walmart’s core business model results in keeping its associates poor,
charity is just window dressing. The company should first make sure its
employees don’t have to rely on food stamps, live in poverty or go without
health care.
REV. ERIC LEE of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference of
Greater Los Angeles
Walmart, America’s largest employer should lead the way in its respect
of its associates, of all races, genders, and ages. This is simply adopting
American values and will impact all other employers and our communities
positively.
“This could really be a win-win for Walmart, for consumers, and for associates,” said Gary Flowers, the director of the Black Leadership Forum, an alliance of 51 national African
America organizations linked to progressive policy affecting Black people in the US. “The Black Leadership Forum is proud to join in Making Change at Walmart, because we know standing with Walmart
associates is central to rebuilding our economy. A rising tide of wages and benefits for Walmart workers
will lift the quality of life for millions of families.”
As Walmart seeks to enter new urban communities and faces opposition, it is making many promises in terms of wages, number of full time jobs, and ways it intends to be a good corporation in
communities. But, up until now, the company has refused to codify those promises in a Community
Benefits Agreement. But, city leaders are standing up and saying Walmart cannot just make promises it doesn’t intend to keep. Rev. Eric Lee, of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of
Greater Los Angeles has been working with other religious and community leaders to hold Walmart
accountable for what the company has promised in Los Angeles.
“As the largest retailer in the world, Walmart has the moral and ethical obligation to set the standards for the entire retail industry that respect the rights and affirm the dignity of the associates
that make enormous profits possible. I was told personally by a Walmart executive that Associates
in L.A. would be making $13 an hour in our community,” said Rev. Lee. “Now, talking to Associates
from the Crenshaw store, I have learned this simply is not true. People are making $10 an hour or
less and living in poverty. The company needs to pay what is says. Walmart is going to need to start
living up to its promises.”
And as we have seen throughout history, to truly change a giant like Walmart, the demand has to
first come from a company’s employees. That’s why the work of OUR Walmart is so inspiring and
important. To make Walmart jobs better, Walmart Associates are coming together. From Miami, to
Texas, to Seattle, they have already won important victories at the store level. Now, they are standMakingChangeatWalmart.org
29
ing together to achieve higher wages and better benefits.
Because America can’t be the place where a few people
become billionaires while everyone else eats crumbs. People
who are willing to work hard and play by the rules shouldn’t
have to live in poverty or rely on government assistance to
get by. To rebuild America, we must respect work.
And, with powerful community allies standing with them,
associates have the power to change this company. As Rev.
Lee said recently, “Together, we can bring Walmart to the
table and win better conditions for associates while improving our communities. We must for the future of America,
and we will.”
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MakingChangeatWalmart.org
“I was told personally by a Walmart
executive that Associates in L.A. would be
starting at $13 an hour in our community,”
said Rev. Lee. “Now, talking to Associates
from the Crenshaw store, I have learned
this simply is not true. People are making
$10 an hour or less and living in poverty.
The company needs to pay what is says.
Walmart is going to need to start living up
to its promises.”
- Rev. Lee, Southern Christian Leadership
Conference of Greater Los Angeles