Criticism of Wal-Mart
Encyclopedia
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
organizations, religious organizations, environmental groups and Wal-Mart customers. They have protested against Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
, the company's policies and business practices. Other areas of criticism include the corporation's foreign product sourcing, treatment of product suppliers, environmental practices, the use of public subsidies
Corporate welfare
Corporate welfare is a pejorative term describing a government's bestowal of money grants, tax breaks, or other special favorable treatment on corporations or selected corporations. The term compares corporate subsidies and welfare payments to the poor, and implies that corporations are much less...
, and the company's security policies. Wal-Mart denies doing anything wrong and maintains that low prices are the result of efficiency.
In 2005, labor unions created new organizations and websites to influence public opinion against Wal-Mart, including Wake Up Wal-Mart
Wake Up Wal-Mart
Wake Up Wal-Mart is a campaign group founded by United Food and Commercial Workers Union. It is based in Washington, D.C. and is often critical of the business practices of Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, and the largest private employer in the United States...
(United Food and Commercial Workers
United Food and Commercial Workers
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in many industries, including agriculture, health care, meatpacking, poultry and food processing, manufacturing, textile, G4S Security, chemical...
) and Walmart Watch (Service Employees International Union
Service Employees International Union
Service Employees International Union is a labor union representing about 1.8 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States , and Canada...
). By the end of 2005, Wal-Mart had launched Working Families for Wal-Mart
Working Families for Wal-Mart
Working Families for Walmart is an advocacy group formed by Walmart and the Edelman public relations firm on December 20, 2005. It has been used to praise Wal-Mart in a show of opposition to union-funded groups such as Wake Up Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart Watch. The group is financially supported by...
to counter criticisms made by these groups. Additional efforts to counter criticism include launching a public relations campaign in 2005 through its public relations website, which included several television commercials. The company retained the public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
firm Edelman
Edelman (firm)
Edelman is a global public relations firm with consumer, finance, healthcare, technology and industrial practices. It employs over 3,600 people in 53 offices around the globe. Edelman was founded in 1952 by Daniel J. Edelman and is today led by his son President & CEO Richard Edelman...
to interact with the press and respond to negative media reports, and has started interacting directly with bloggers by sending them news, suggesting topics for postings, and sometimes inviting them to visit Walmart's corporate headquarters.
Economists at the Cato Institute
Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...
suggest that Wal-Mart is a success because it sells products that people want to buy at low prices, satisfying customer's wants and needs. However, Wal-Mart critics argue that Wal-Mart's lower prices draw customers away from other smaller businesses, hurting the community.
Local communities
Absentee landlord
Absentee landlord is an economic term for a person who owns and rents out a profit-earning property, but does not live within the property's local economic region. This practice is problematic for that region because absentee landlords drain local wealth into their home country, particularly that...
ism, bad public relations, low wages and benefits, and predatory pricing
Predatory pricing
In business and economics, predatory pricing is the practice of selling a product or service at a very low price, intending to drive competitors out of the market, or create barriers to entry for potential new competitors. If competitors or potential competitors cannot sustain equal or lower prices...
. Opposition sometimes includes protest marches by competitors, informed citizens, activists, labor unions, and religious groups. In some instances, activists demonstrated their opposition by causing property damage to store buildings or by creating bomb scares. Some city councils have denied permits to developers planning to include a Walmart in their project. Those who defend Walmart cite consumer choice and overall benefits to the economy, and object to bringing the issue into the political arena.
A Walmart Superstore opened in 2004 in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, 1.9 miles away from the historic Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan – also written Teotihuacán, with a Spanish orthographic accent on the last syllable – is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, just 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas...
archaeological site and Pyramid of the Moon
Pyramid of the Moon
The Pyramid of the Moon is the second largest pyramid in Teotihuacan after the Pyramid of the Sun. It is located in the western part of Teotihuacan and mimics the contours of the mountain Cerro Gordo, just north of the site...
. Although Walmart's proposal received protest and media attention, the location was supported by Mexico's National Anthropology Institute, the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, and the Paris-based International Council on Monuments and Sites
International Council on Monuments and Sites
The International Council on Monuments and Sites is a professional association that works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the world...
. Local merchants, helped by environmental groups
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
and anti-globalization
Anti-globalization
Criticism of globalization is skepticism of the claimed benefits of the globalization of capitalism. Many of these views are held by the anti-globalization movement however other groups also are critical of the policies of globalization....
groups opposed the construction, and poet Homero Aridjis
Homero Aridjis
Homero Aridjis is a Mexican poet, novelist, environmental activist, journalist and diplomat known for his independence.-Family and Early Life:...
joined the protest characterizing the opening as "supremely symbolic" and "...like planting the staff of globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
in the heart of ancient
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
."
Archaeologists oversaw construction and discovered a small clay and stone altar along with some other artifacts where the store's parking lot is now located.
In 1998, Walmart proposed construction of a store off Charlotte Pike near Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
. The building site was home to both Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
burial grounds and a Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
battle site. Protests were mounted by Native Americans and Civil War interest groups, but the Walmart store was eventually constructed after moving graves and some modifications of the site so as not to interfere with the battlefield. Civil War relics were also discovered at the site. The project developers donated land to permit access to the Civil War historic site. The Indian burials were removed and re-buried.
In 2005, developers tore down the long-closed Dixmont State Hospital
Dixmont State Hospital
Dixmont State Hospital was a hospital located northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
in Kilbuck Township, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
near Pittsburgh, with plans to build a shopping complex anchored by a Walmart on the site. While there were initially no general objections to Walmart itself, many residents didn't want to see Dixmont torn down, despite the fact that the Dixmont complex—having been abandoned in 1984—was beyond maintainable condition and teenagers were dangerously trespassing onto the property on a regular basis. However, while the land was being excavated after the complex was torn down in order to create a plateau
Plateau
In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...
for the Walmart to sit on, a landslide
Landslide
A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments...
covered Pennsylvania Route 65
Pennsylvania Route 65
Pennsylvania Route 65 is a major state highway located in western Pennsylvania, United States. The route, traveling north–south from the Interstate 279/U.S...
and the railroad tracks in between PA 65 and the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
, shutting down both routes for weeks. While Walmart did "stabilize" the landslide, many residents argued that Walmart merely stabilized the hillside so that it could continue with work to build the store. Ultimately, in 2007 Walmart decided against developing the site, allowing the land to return to nature
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
. PA 65 remains restricted to one lane northbound near the site for safety concerns, though the entire roadway has since been cleared of debris. Despite this, Walmart is the largest retail chain in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, and is the second-largest grocery store
Grocery store
A grocery store is a store that retails food. A grocer, the owner of a grocery store, stocks different kinds of foods from assorted places and cultures, and sells these "groceries" to customers. Large grocery stores that stock products other than food, such as clothing or household items, are...
to locally-based Giant Eagle
Giant Eagle
Giant Eagle, Inc., is a supermarket chain with stores in the U.S. states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Maryland. The company was founded in 1918 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Supermarket News ranked Giant Eagle No. 21 in the 2009 "Top 75 North American Food Retailers" based on 2008...
.
Allegations of predatory pricing and supplier issues
In May 2010, Walmart's US stores pulled its "Miley CyrusMiley Cyrus
Miley Ray Cyrus is an American actress and pop singer-songwriter. She achieved wide fame for her role as Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana....
" line of necklaces and bracelets, three months after the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
informed the chain that the jewelry contained harmful amounts of the toxic metal cadmium
Cadmium
Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, bluish-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Similar to zinc, it prefers oxidation state +2 in most of its compounds and similar to mercury it shows a low...
. Long-term exposure to cadmium can lead to bone softening and kidney failure. It is also a known carcinogen
Carcinogen
A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that is an agent directly involved in causing cancer. This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes...
, and research suggests that it can affect brain development in the very young. Cadmium in jewelry is not known to be dangerous if the items are simply worn, but concerns come when youngsters bite or suck on the jewelry, as many children do. Walmart said that while the jewelry is not intended for children, "it is possible that a few younger consumers may seek it out in stores." "We are removing all of the jewelry from sale while we investigate its compliance with our children's jewelry standard," Walmart said. The tainted jewelry was made at a Chinese manufacturer.
Walmart has been accused of selling merchandise at such low costs that competitors have tried to sue it for predatory pricing
Predatory pricing
In business and economics, predatory pricing is the practice of selling a product or service at a very low price, intending to drive competitors out of the market, or create barriers to entry for potential new competitors. If competitors or potential competitors cannot sustain equal or lower prices...
(intentionally selling a product at low cost in order to drive competitors out of the market). In 1995, in the case
Legal case
A legal case is a dispute between opposing parties resolved by a court, or by some equivalent legal process. A legal case may be either civil or criminal...
of Walmart Stores, Inc. v. American Drugs, Inc., pharmacy retailer American Drugs accused Walmart of selling items at too low a cost for the purpose of injuring competitors and destroying competition. The Supreme Court of Arkansas ruled in favor of Walmart saying that its pricing, including the use of loss leader
Loss leader
A loss leader or leader is a product sold at a low price to stimulate other profitable sales. It is a kind of sales promotion, in other words marketing concentrating on a pricing strategy. A loss leader is often a popular article...
s, was not predatory pricing. In 2000, the Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection accused Walmart of selling butter, milk, laundry detergent, and other staple goods at low cost, with the intention of forcing competitors out of business and gaining a monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
in local markets. Crest Foods filed a similar lawsuit in Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, accusing Walmart of predatory pricing on several of its products, in an effort to drive Crest Foods's own company-owned store in Edmond, Oklahoma
Edmond, Oklahoma
Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area in the central part of the state. As of the 2010 census, the population was 81,405, making it the sixth largest city in the state of Oklahoma....
out of business. Both cases were settled out of court.
In 2003, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
's antitrust agency, the Federal Competition Commission, investigated Walmart for "monopolistic practices" prompted by charges that the retailer pressured suppliers to sell goods below cost or at prices significantly less than those available to other stores. Mexican authorities found no wrong-doing on the part of Walmart. However, in 2003, Germany's High Court ruled that Walmart's low cost pricing strategy "undermined competition" and ordered Walmart and two other supermarkets to raise their prices. Walmart won appeal of the ruling, then the German Supreme Court overturned the appeal. Walmart has since sold its stores in Germany.
Walmart has been accused of using monopsony
Monopsony
In economics, a monopsony is a market form in which only one buyer faces many sellers. It is an example of imperfect competition, similar to a monopoly, in which only one seller faces many buyers...
power to force its suppliers into self-defeating practices. For example, Barry C. Lynn, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation
New America Foundation
The New America Foundation is a non-profit public policy institute and think tank with offices in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento, CA. It was founded in 1999 by Ted Halstead, Sherle Schwenninger, Michael Lind and Walter Russell Mead....
(a think tank), argues that Walmart's constant demand for lower prices caused Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...
to "shut down thirty-nine plants, to let go [of] 13,500 workers, and to eliminate a quarter of its products." Kraft was unable to compete with other suppliers and claims the cost of production had gone up due to higher energy and raw material costs. Lynn argues that in a free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
, Kraft could have passed those costs on to its distributors and ultimately consumers.
For example, most Walmart store pharmacies fill many generic prescriptions for $4 for a month's supply. However, in California and ten other states, complaints from other pharmacies have resulted in Walmart being required to charge at least $9 for a month's supply of certain drugs.
The 2010 remodelings of their smaller stores shifting emphasis away from non-grocery products towards carrying grocery items carried by their supercenters, has created a small backlash amongst some customers. The smaller and larger sizes in the adult clothing were discontinued as well as other available styles, forcing adult customers to look for clothing in
the children's section, or shop with more expensive specialty "Big and Tall" stores for basic items such as jeans. Their popular Wrangler and Faded Glory brands are not readily available through their on-line stores in the larger sizes, causing many of their customers to feel that Walmart has abandoned their needs.
The incomplete labeling system of the Great Value product line, to the dismay of consumers, usually does not list location of manufacture of the product.
Employee and labor relations
With close to two million employees worldwide, Walmart has faced a torrent of lawsuits and issues with regards to its workforce. These issues involve low wagesWage
A wage is a compensation, usually financial, received by workers in exchange for their labor.Compensation in terms of wages is given to workers and compensation in terms of salary is given to employees...
, poor working conditions
Occupational safety and health
Occupational safety and health is a cross-disciplinary area concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment. The goal of all occupational safety and health programs is to foster a safe work environment...
, inadequate health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
, as well as issues involving the company's strong anti-union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
policies. Critics point to Walmart's high turnover
Turnover (employment)
In a human resources context, turnover or staff turnover or labour turnover is the rate at which an employer gains and loses employees. Simple ways to describe it are "how long employees tend to stay" or "the rate of traffic through the revolving door." Turnover is measured for individual companies...
rate as evidence of an unhappy workforce, although other factors may be involved. Approximately 70% of its employees leave within the first year. Despite the turnover rate the company still is able to affect unemployment rates. This was found in a study by Oklahoma State University which states, "Walmart is found to have substantially lowered the relative unemployment rates of blacks in those counties where it is present, but to have had only a limited impact on relative incomes after the influences of other socio-economic variables were taken into account."
Wages
The activist group Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) said "in 2006 Walmart reports that full time hourly associates received, on average, $10.11 an hour." It further calculated that working 34 hours per week an employee earns $17,874 per year and claimed that is about twenty percent less than the average retail worker. (The number of hours the "average retail worker" worked was not specified.) The report from LAANE further opines that this pay is "over $10,000 less than what the average two-person family needs." Walmart managers are judged, in part, based on their ability to control payroll costs. Some say this puts extra pressure on higher-paid workers to be more productive.By contrast, Walmart insists its wages are generally in line with the current local market in retail labor, although direct comparisons are complicated because Walmart employs more part time workers, and the company's more extensive training, supervision, and automation provides opportunity to workers with little or no experience or skills, which may account for wage differences. Walmart grants "full time" benefits to those working as little as 34 hours per week, but does not limit workers to just 34 hours per week. The company does control labor costs by such ways as discouraging overtime, and by the use of "off the clock" labor. There have been numerous lawsuits against Walmart by former employees because of this problem.
Other critics have noted that in 2001, the average wage for a Walmart Sales Clerk was $8.23 per hour, or $13,861 a year, while the federal poverty line for a family of three was $14,630. Walmart founder Sam Walton
Sam Walton
Samuel Moore "Sam" Wallballs was a businessman, entrepreneur, and Eagle Scout born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma best known for founding the retailers Wal-Mart and Sam's Club.-Early life:...
once said, "I pay low wages. I can take advantage of that. We're going to be successful, but the basis is a very low-wage, low-benefit model of employment."
In August 2006, Walmart announced that it would roll out an average pay increase of 6% for all new hires at 1,200 U.S. Walmart and Sam's Club locations, but the same time would institute pay caps on veteran workers. While Walmart maintains that the measures are necessary to stay competitive, critics believe that the salary caps are primarily an effort to push higher-paid veteran workers out of the company.
Because Walmart employs part-time and relatively low paid workers, some workers may partially qualify for state welfare programs. This has led critics to claim that Walmart increases the burden on taxpayer-funded services. A 2002 survey by the state of Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
's subsidized healthcare system, PeachCare
PeachCare
PeachCare for Kids is a low-cost health insurance program for children of uninsured, low-income families in the state of Georgia who do not qualify for Medicaid...
, found that Walmart was the largest private employer of parents of children enrolled in its program; one quarter of the employees of Georgia Walmarts qualified to enroll their children in the federal subsidized healthcare system Medicaid
Medicaid
Medicaid is the United States health program for certain people and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, and is managed by the states. People served by Medicaid are U.S. citizens or legal permanent...
. A 2004 study at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
charges that Walmart's low wages and benefits are insufficient, and although decreasing the burden on the social safety net to some extent, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
taxpayers still pay $86 million a year to Walmart employees.
Working conditions
Walmart has also faced accusations involving poor working conditions of its employees. For example, a 2005 class action lawsuit in MissouriMissouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
asserted approximately 160,000 to 200,000 people who were forced to work off-the-clock, were denied overtime
Overtime
Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. Normal hours may be determined in several ways:*by custom ,*by practices of a given trade or profession,*by legislation,...
pay, or were not allowed to take rest and lunch breaks. In 2000, Walmart paid $50 million to settle a class-action suit that asserted that 69,000 current and former Walmart employees in Colorado had been forced to work off-the-clock. The company has also faced similar lawsuits in other states, including Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, and Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. Class-action suits were also filed in 1995 on behalf of full-time Walmart pharmacist
Pharmacist
Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...
s whose base salaries and working hours were reduced as sales declined, resulting in the pharmacists being treated like hourly employees.
Walmart has also been accused of ethical problems. It is said that the Walmart employees are gender discriminated when trying to be hired and discriminated against in the work area. Duke vs. Walmart inc. was a discrimination case on behalf of more than 1.5 million current and former female employees of Walmart’s 3,400 stores across the United States. (9th circuit 2007) Dr. William Bliebly who evaluated Walmart’s employment policies "against what social science research shows to be factors that create and sustain bias and those that minimize bias” (Bliebly) and he finished by saying, the men and women not being created equal in the workforce is what Walmart is doing and what they should essentially not be doing.
On October 16, 2006, approximately 200 workers on the morning shift at a Walmart Super Center in Hialeah Gardens, Florida
Hialeah Gardens, Florida
Hialeah Gardens is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The population was 19,297 at the 2000 census. As of 2005, the population recorded by the U.S...
walked out in protest against new store policies and rallied outside the store, shouting "We want justice" and criticizing the company's recent policies as "inhuman." This marks the first time that Walmart has faced a worker-led revolt of such scale, according to both employees and the company. Reasons for the revolt included cutting full-time hours, a new attendance policy, and pay caps that the company imposed in August 2006, compelling workers to be available to work any shift (day, swing or night), and that shifts would be assigned by computers at corporate headquarters and not by local managers. Walmart quickly held talks with the workers, addressing their concerns. Walmart asserts that its policy permits associates to air grievances without fear of retaliation.
The 2004 report by U.S. Representative George Miller alleged that in ten percent of Walmart's stores, nighttime employees were locked inside, holding them prisoner. There has been some concern that Walmart's policy of locking its nighttime employees in the building has been implicated in a longer response time to dealing with various employee emergencies, or weather conditions such as hurricanes in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. Walmart said this policy was to protect the workers, and the store's contents, in high-crime areas and acknowledges that some employees were inconvenienced in some instances for up to an hour as they had trouble locating a manager with the key. However, fire officials confirm that at no time were fire exits locked or employees blocked from escape. Walmart has advised all stores to ensure the door keys are available on site at all times.
Child labor violations
In January 2004, The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported on an internal Walmart audit conducted in July 2000, which examined one week's time-clock records for roughly 25,000 employees. According to the Times, the audit, "pointed to extensive violations of child-labor laws and state regulations requiring time for breaks and meals," including 1,371
instances of minors working too late, during school hours, or for too many hours in a day. There were 60,767 missed breaks and 15,705 lost meal times. Walmart’s vice president for communications responded that company auditors had determined that the methodology used was flawed, and the company "did not respond to it in any way internally."
Use of illegal workers
Walmart has been accused of allowing illegal immigrantsIllegal immigration
Illegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...
to work in its stores. In one case, federal investigators say Walmart executives knew that contractors were using illegal immigrants as they had been helping the federal government with an investigation for the previous three years. Some critics said that Walmart directly hired illegal immigrants, while Walmart claims they were employed by contractors who won bids to work for Walmart.
On October 23, 2003, federal agents raided 61 Walmart stores in 21 U.S. states in a crackdown known as "Operation Rollback," resulting in the arrests of 250 nightshift janitors who were undocumented. Following the arrests, a grand jury convened to consider charging Walmart executives with labor racketeering crimes for knowingly allowing illegal immigrants to work at their stores. The workers themselves were employed by agencies Walmart contracted with for cleaning services. Walmart blamed the contractors, but federal investigators point to wiretapped conversations showing that executives knew some workers did not have the right papers
Identity document
An identity document is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a person's personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card...
. The October 2003 raid was not the first time Walmart was found using unauthorized workers. Earlier raids in 1998 and 2001 resulted in the arrests of 100 workers without documentation located at Walmart stores around the country.
In November 2005, 125 alleged undocumented immigrants were arrested while working on construction of a new Walmart distribution center in eastern Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. According to Walmart, the workers were employees of Walmart's construction subcontractor.
Employees Using Prescription Drugs
In November 2009, Joseph Casias was fired from Walmart in Battle Creek, Michigan, for using medical marijuana. Joseph Casias was a cancer patient with a prescription for marijuana. WalMart spokesman Greg Rossiter claimed that Walmart policy is to terminate employees who take certain prescription medications, and he believed that this policy complied with the law.Health insurance
As of October 2005, Walmart's health insurance covered 44% or approximately 572,000 of its 1.6 million U.S. workers. In comparison, Walmart rival and wholesaler CostcoCostco
Costco Wholesale Corporation is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States. it is the third largest retailer in the United States, where it originated, and the ninth largest in the world...
insures approximately 96% of its eligible workers, although Costco has been criticized by investors for its high labor costs. Walmart spends an average of $3,500 per employee for health care, 27% less than the retail-industry average of $4,800. When asked why so many Walmart workers choose to enroll in state health care plans instead of Walmart's own plan, Walmart CEO Lee Scott acknowledged that some states' benefits may be more generous than Walmart's own plan: "In some of our states, the public program may actually be a better value - with relatively high income limits to qualify, and low premiums." Critics of Walmart argue in Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price is a 2005 documentary film by director Robert Greenwald. The film presents an unfavorable picture of Wal-Mart's business practices through interviews with former employees, small business owners, and footage of Wal-Mart executives...
that employees are paid so little they cannot afford health insurance.
According to a September 2002 survey by the state of Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, one in four children of Walmart employees were enrolled in PeachCare for Kids, the state's health-insurance program for uninsured children, compared to the state's second-biggest employer, Publix
Publix
Publix Super Markets, Inc. is an American supermarket chain based in Lakeland, Florida.Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, it is an employee-owned, privately held corporation. Publix is currently ranked No. 86 on Fortune magazine's list of 100 Best Companies to Work For 2010 and was ranked No...
, which had one child in the program for every 22 employees. A December 2004 nationwide survey commissioned by Walmart showed that the use of public-assistance health-care programs by children of Walmart workers was at a similar rate to other retailers' employees, and at rates similar to the U.S. population as a whole.
On October 26, 2005, a Walmart internal memo sent to the firm's Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
advised trimming over $1 billion in health care expenses by 2011 through measures such as attracting a younger, implicitly healthier work force by offering education benefits. The memo also suggested giving sedentary Walmart staffers, such as cashiers, more physically demanding tasks, such as "cart-gathering," and eliminating full-time positions in favor of hiring part-time employees who would be ineligible for the more expensive health insurance and several policy proposals which may violate the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is a law that was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1990. It was signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H. W. Bush, and later amended with changes effective January 1, 2009....
. The memo also accused Walmart's lower paid employees of abusing emergency room visits, "possibly due to their prior experience with programs such as Medicaid," whereas such visits may actually be due to the reduced ability of uninsured or underinsured people to make timely appointments to see a regular physician. Critics point to this internal memo as evidence that Walmart purports to be generous with its employee benefits, while in reality the company is working to cut such benefits by reducing the number of full-time and long-term employees and discouraging supposedly unhealthy people from working at Walmart.
On January 12, 2006, the Maryland legislature enacted a law requiring that all corporations with more than 10,000 employees in the state spend at least eight percent of their payroll on employee benefits, or pay into a state fund for the uninsured. Walmart, with about 17,000 employees in Maryland, was the only known company to not meet this requirement before the bill passed. On July 7, 2006, the Maryland law was overturned in federal court by a U.S. District judge who held that a federal law, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
Employee Retirement Income Security Act
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 is an American federal statute that establishes minimum standards for pension plans in private industry and provides for extensive rules on the federal income tax effects of transactions associated with employee benefit plans...
(ERISA), preempted
Federal preemption
Federal preemption refers to the invalidation of US state law when it conflicts with Federal law.-Constitutional basis:According to the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution,...
the Maryland law. In his opinion, the judge said that the law would "hurt Walmart by imposing the administrative burden of tracking benefits in Maryland differently than in other states." Similar legislation in Wisconsin days later was defeated in the state legislature.
On April 17, 2006, Walmart announced it was making a health care plan available to part-time workers after one year of service, instead of the prior two-year requirement. One criticism of the new plan is that it provides benefit only after a $1,000 deductible is paid ($3,000 for a family). These deductibles may financially be out of reach for eligible part-time workers. Walmart estimates this change can add 150,000 workers to health coverage plans, if all who are eligible take part. By January 2007, the number of workers enrolled in the company's health care plans increased by 8%, which Walmart attributed to the introduction of less expensive insurance policies. However, even with this increase, less than half of Walmart's employees, or 47.4%, received health insurance through the company, with 10%, or 130,000, receiving no coverage at all.
In October 2001, a class action sexual discrimination lawsuit, Mauldin v. Walmart Stores, Inc., was filed against Walmart challenging the company's denial of health insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives. The lawsuit was certified for class action status, but later dropped by the plaintiffs in 2006 once Walmart agreed to change its health insurance policies.
In March 2008, Walmart sued a former Walmart employee, Deborah Shank, to recover the money it spent for her health care after she was brain-damaged, restricted to a wheelchair, and nursing home-bound after her minivan was hit by a truck. Walmart sued the former employee for $470,000 after she received a settlement from the accident, citing that company policy forbids employees from receiving coverage if they also win a settlement in a lawsuit. After a wave of bad publicity, Walmart dropped its suit.
New, full-time Walmart associates must work at least six months before being eligible to purchase the company's primary health insurance.
Labor union opposition
Walmart has been criticized for its policies against labor unions. Critics blame workers' reluctance to join the labor union on Walmart anti-union tactics such as managerial surveillance and pre-emptive closures of stores or departments who choose to unionize. Walmart states that it is not anti-union but, "pro-associate," arguing that its employees do not need to pay third parties to discuss problems with management as the company's open-door policy enables employees to lodge complaints and submit suggestions all the way up the corporate ladder. In 1970, company's late founder Sam WaltonSam Walton
Samuel Moore "Sam" Wallballs was a businessman, entrepreneur, and Eagle Scout born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma best known for founding the retailers Wal-Mart and Sam's Club.-Early life:...
resisted a unionization push by the Retail Clerks International Union
Retail Clerks International Union
The Retail Clerks International Union , was a labor union that represented retail employees. The RCIU was chartered as the "Retail Clerks National Protective Union" in 1890 by the American Federation of Labor. It later adopted the name Retail Clerks International Association, and subsequently...
in two small Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
towns by hiring a professional union buster
Union busting
Union busting is a wide range of activities undertaken by employers, their proxies, and governments, which attempt to prevent the formation or expansion of trade unions...
to conduct an anti-union campaign. On the union buster's advice, Walton also took steps to show his workers on how the company had their best interests in mind, encouraging them to air concerns with managers and implementing a profit-sharing program. A few years later, Walmart hired a consulting firm, Alpha Associates, to develop a union avoidance program.
In 2000, meat cutters in Jacksonville, Texas
Jacksonville, Texas
Jacksonville is located in Cherokee County, Texas, United States. The population was 13,868 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of the Jacksonville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Cherokee County and part of the larger Tyler-Jacksonville Combined Statistical...
voted to unionize and Walmart subsequently eliminated in-house meat-cutting jobs in favor of prepackaged meats on the claims that it cut costs and was a preventive measure to lawsuits. Walmart claimed that the nationwide closing of in-store meat packaging had been planned for many years and was not related to the unionization. In June 2003, a National Labor Relations Board
National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
judge ordered Walmart to restore the meat department to its prior structure, complete with meat-cutting, and to recognize and bargain with the union over the effects of any change to case-ready meat sales.
Walmart's anti-union policies also extend beyond the United States. The documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, shows one successful unionization of a Walmart store in Jonquière, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
(Canada) in 2004, but Walmart closed the store five months later because the company did not approve of the new "business plan" a union would require. In September 2005, the Québec Labor Board ruled that the closing of a Walmart store amounted to a reprisal against unionized workers and has ordered additional hearings on possible compensation for the employees, though it offered no details.
In March 2005, Walmart executive Tom Coughlin was forced to resign from its Board of Directors, facing charges of embezzlement
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
. Coughlin claimed that the money was used for an anti-union project involving cash bribes paid to employees of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in exchange for a list of names of Walmart employees that had signed union cards. He also claimed that the money was unofficially paid to him, by Walmart, as compensation for his anti-union efforts. In August 2006, Coughlin pleaded guilty to stealing money, merchandise, and gift cards from Walmart, but avoided prison time due to his poor health. He was sentenced to five years probation and required to pay a $50,000 fine and $411,000 in restitution to Walmart and the Internal Revenue Service. A U.S. attorney has stated that no evidence was found to back up Coughlin's initial claims, and Walmart continues to deny the existence of the anti-union program, though Coughlin himself apparently restated those claims to reporters after his sentencing.
Walmart has also had some run-ins with the German Ver.di labor union as well. These issues, combined with cultural differences and low performing stores, led Walmart to pull out of the German market entirely in 2006.
In August 2006, Walmart announced that it would allow workers at all of its Chinese stores to become members of trade unions, and that the company would work with the state-sanctioned All-China Federation of Trade Unions
All-China Federation of Trade Unions
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions , is the sole national trade union federation of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest trade union in the world with 134 million members in 1,713,000 primary trade union organizations...
(ACFTU) on representation for its 28,000 staff. However, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions has been criticized because it is the only trade union in China and as a tool of the government, ACFTU has been seen as not acting in the best interest of its members (workers), bowing to the government pressure on industry growth and not defending workers' rights.
Imports and globalization
As a large customer to most of its vendors, Walmart openly uses its bargaining power to bring lower prices to attract its customers. The company negotiates lower prices from vendors. For certain basic products, Walmart "has a clear policy" that prices go down from year to year. If a vendor does not keep prices competitive with other suppliers, they risk having their brand removed from Walmart's shelves in favor of a lower-priced competitor. Critics argue that this pressures vendors to shift manufacturingManufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
jobs to China and other nations, where the cost of labor is less expensive.
In the mid-1990s, Walmart had a "Buy American" campaign. Yet by 2005, about 60% of Walmart's merchandise was imported, compared to 6% in 1995. In 2004, Walmart spent $18 billion on Chinese products alone, and if it were an individual economy, the company would rank as China's eighth largest trading partner, ahead of Russia, Australia, and Canada. One group estimates that the growing US trade deficit with China, heavily influenced by Walmart imports, is estimated to have moved over 1.5 million jobs that might otherwise be in America to China between 1989 and 2003. According to the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), "Walmart is the single largest import
Import
The term import is derived from the conceptual meaning as to bring in the goods and services into the port of a country. The buyer of such goods and services is referred to an "importer" who is based in the country of import whereas the overseas based seller is referred to as an "exporter". Thus...
er of foreign-produced goods in the United States", their biggest trading partner is China, and their trade
Trade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
with China alone constitutes approximately 10% of the total US trade deficit with China .
While the company certainly imports many products, it points out that it purchases goods from more than 68,000 US vendors, spending $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
137.5 billion in 2004, and supporting more than 3.5 million supplier jobs in the US.
Overseas labor concerns
Walmart has been criticized for not providing adequate supervision of its foreign suppliers. It has also been criticized for using sweatshopSweatshop
Sweatshop is a negatively connoted term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may be violated. Sweatshops may have...
s and prison labor. For example, in 1995, Chinese dissident Harry Wu
Harry Wu
Harry Wu is an activist for human rights in the People's Republic of China. Now a resident and citizen of the United States, Wu spent 19 years in Chinese labor camps. In 1992, he founded the Laogai Research Foundation. In 1996 the Columbia Human Rights Law Review awarded Wu its second Award for...
charged that Walmart was contracting prison labor in Guangdong Province. However, Walmart says it does not use prison labor. There have also been reports of teenagers in Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
working in sweatshops 80 hours per week at $0.14 per hour, for Walmart supplier Beximco
Beximco
The Beximco Group is the largest private sector conglomerate in Bangladesh. The group has interests in pharmaceuticals, textiles, ceramics, jute, aviation, media, finance, real estate, construction and energy. It is also the parent company of GMG Airlines and Independent Television ....
. The documentary film Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price is a 2005 documentary film by director Robert Greenwald. The film presents an unfavorable picture of Wal-Mart's business practices through interviews with former employees, small business owners, and footage of Wal-Mart executives...
shows images of factories that produce goods for Walmart that appear in poor condition, and factory workers subject to abuse and conditions the documentary producers consider inhumane.
According to Walmart and many self-described advocates of free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
, comparisons of wage levels between vastly different countries is not a useful way to assess the fairness of a trade policy. The company also points out that wages paid to overseas workers are comparable to or exceed local prevailing wages. In that case, the company claims that the overseas manufacturing jobs it creates are often an improvement in the quality of life for its employees. They have also drawn attention to the fact that factory jobs with its suppliers are often safer and healthier than local alternatives, which may include prostitution, the drug trade, or scavenging.
Walmart currently uses monitoring which critics say is inadequate and "leaves outsiders unable to verify" conditions. Since Walmart will not release its audits or factory names, outside organizations are left to simply take Walmart's word. Critics suggest an agency such as Social Accountability International or the Fair Labor Association
Fair Labor Association
The Fair Labor Association , a non-profit labor rights organization, is a multi-stakeholder initiative bringing together companies, colleges and universities, and civil society organizations to improve working conditions worldwide by promoting adherence to international and national labor laws...
should do the monitoring. In 2004, Walmart began working with Business for Social Responsibility, a San Francisco, California-based nonprofit organization
Nonprofit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
, to reach out to groups active in monitoring overseas plants.
In June 2006, Walmart was excluded from the investment portfolio of The Government Pension Fund of Norway
The Government Pension Fund of Norway
The Government Pension Fund of Norway comprises two entirely separate sovereign wealth funds owned by the Government of Norway:* The Government Pension Fund - Global...
, which held stock values of about US$ 430 million in the company, due to a social audit into alleged labor rights violations in Walmart operations in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Although Walmart did not respond to questions from the fund's auditors, it later claimed the decision "[doesn't] appear to be based on complete information".
Product selection
Walmart's product selection has been criticized by some groups in the past, primarily as viewed as a promotion of a particular ideology or as a response to its original rural, religious and conservative target market. In 2003, Walmart removed certain men's magazines from its shelves, such as MaximMaxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
, FHM
FHM
FHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.- History :The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994 when Emap Consumer Media bought the magazine, although the full For...
, and Stuff
Stuff (magazine)
Stuff is a men's magazine featuring reviews of consumer electronics, and other articles of interest to a predominantly male audience.- UK edition :...
, citing customer complaints regarding their racy content. Later that year, it decided to partly obscure the covers of Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan (magazine)
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...
, Marie Claire
Marie Claire
Marie Claire is a monthly women's magazine first published in France but also distributed in other countries with editions specific to them and in their languages. While each country shares its own special voice with its audience, the United States edition focuses on women around the world and...
, and Redbook
Redbook
Redbook is an American women's magazine published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the "Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines.-History:...
on store shelves due to "customer concerns", and refused to stock an issue of Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
's swimsuit special because it took exception to one photograph. It has also refused to sell the December 2011 issue of WWE Magazine
WWE Magazine
WWE Magazine is the official professional wrestling magazine of WWE. This incarnation of the magazine contains lifestyle sections, a monthly calendar, entertainment, work out tips, and other information.-History:...
due to its controversial cover depicting The Rock doused with fire.
Since 1991, Walmart also has not carried music albums marked with the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
's (RIAA's) Parental Advisory Label
Parental Advisory
Parental Advisory is a message affixed by the Recording Industry Association of America to audio and recordings in the United States containing excessive use of profane language and/or sexual references. Albums began to be labeled for "explicit lyrics" in 1985, after pressure from the Parents...
(contradictory to the allowance of R-rated movies and video games rated Mature), although it carries edited versions of such albums, with obscenities removed or overdubbed with less offensive lyrics. In one example in 2005, Walmart rejected the original cover of country singer Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
's reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
album, Countryman, which featured marijuana
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
leaves, in an apparent pro-marijuana statement. To satisfy Walmart, the record label, Lost Highway Records, issued the album with an alternative cover, without recalling the original cover. Walmart has never carried Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
albums, solely because of the controversy surrounding the group, but recently began selling Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
albums after rejecting them for years.
In fact, some albums that do not carry "Parental Advisory" stickers, include profanities and are not edited. Such albums include Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
's The Dark Side of the Moon
The Dark Side of the Moon
The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released in March 1973. It built on ideas explored in the band's earlier recordings and live shows, but lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their work following the departure...
and Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys are an English indie rock band. Formed in 2002 in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield, the band currently consists of Alex Turner , Jamie Cook , Nick O'Malley and Matt Helders...
' Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not is the debut album by English indie rock band Arctic Monkeys, released on 23 January 2006. The album became the UK's fastest selling debut album, shifting over 360,000 copies in its first week, and remains the fastest selling debut album by a band. It...
. In 2009 Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
refused to make an edited version of their album 21st Century Breakdown
21st Century Breakdown
21st Century Breakdown is the eighth studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It is the band's second rock opera, following American Idiot, and their first album to be produced by Butch Vig. Green Day commenced work on the record in January 2006...
for Walmart, with frontman Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong is an American rock musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, main songwriter and lead guitarist for the American punk rock band Green Day...
claiming "You feel like you're in 1953 or something", thus the album is not carried by Walmart stores. However, Walmart's policy on carrying albums with the Parental Advisory Label seems to vary by country, as albums containing the label can be found in Canadian Walmart stores, for example.
In 1999, Walmart announced that it would not stock emergency contraception
Emergency contraception
Emergency contraception , or emergency postcoital contraception, refers to birth control measures that, if taken after sexual intercourse, may prevent pregnancy.Forms of EC include:...
pills in its pharmacies, not citing any particular reasons except for a "business decision" that was made earlier. The move was criticized by family planning advocates, citing that women in small towns where Walmart pharmacies had little competition would have greater difficulties in obtaining the drug. The decision was challenged in 2006, as three Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
women filed suit against the company after they were unable to purchase emergency contraception at their local Walmart stores, resulting in a ruling that required Walmart to stock the drug in all of its pharmacies in Massachusetts. Expecting that other states would soon do the same, Walmart reversed its policy and announced that it would begin to stock the drug nationwide, while at the same time maintaining its conscientious objection
Conscience Clause (medical)
Conscience clauses are clauses in laws in some parts of the United States which permit pharmacists, physicians, and other providers of health care not to provide certain medical services for reasons of religion or conscience. Those who choose not to provide services may not be disciplined or...
policy, allowing any Walmart pharmacy employee who does not feel comfortable dispensing a prescription to refer customers to another pharmacy.
Walmart has also been criticized for selling some controversial products. For example, in 2004 Walmart carried the anti-Semitic hoax The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a fraudulent, antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for achieving global domination. It was first published in Russia in 1903, translated into multiple languages, and disseminated internationally in the early part of the twentieth century...
in its online catalogue and Walmart's online product description suggested the text might be genuine. The Jewish civil rights organization Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
wrote to the President of Walmart on September 2008 noting the text, "has been the major weapon in the arsenals of anti-Semites around the world," and called on Walmart to, "unequivocally state the nature of the book and to disassociate itself from any endorsement of it." Walmart stopped selling the book shortly thereafter.
In October 2004, Walmart canceled its order for The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
's America (The Book)
America (The Book)
America : A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction is a 2004 non-fiction book written by Jon Stewart and other writers of The Daily Show that parodies and satirizes American politics and worldview...
after discovering a page that depicts each US Supreme Court judge nude. A week later, it returned copies of comedian George Carlin
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....
's When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?
When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?
When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? is the penultimate book written by George Carlin. He came up with the title because it offends three major religions . The book at first was not sold at Wal Mart for its cover, which portrays Da Vinci's The Last Supper with Carlin sitting next to the empty...
, with a cover recreating The Last Supper with Jesus' seat empty and Carlin (an avowed atheist) seated next to it. The company claimed that the copies were shipped to it by mistake and a Walmart spokeswoman said she did not "believe this particular product would appeal" to its customer base.
In January 2006, Walmart was criticized for the recommendation system on its website which suggested that some black-related DVDs, such as Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge is a television film directed by Martha Coolidge. Filmed over a span of a few weeks in early 1998, the film was aired in the United States on August 21, 1999. The original music score was composed by Elmer Bernstein. The film is marketed with the tagline: "Right woman....
and documentaries on Baptist minister and civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
were similar to the Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes (TV series)
Planet of the Apes was a short-lived American science fiction television series that aired on Friday evenings at 8:00 PM Eastern/7:00 PM Central on CBS in 1974. The series starred Roddy McDowall, Ron Harper, and James Naughton, Mark Lenard and Booth Colman...
television series DVD box set. It quickly corrected the page, saying that it was a software glitch, but ultimately blamed the matter on human error.
Taxes
Until the mid-1990s, Walmart took out corporate-owned life insuranceCorporate-owned life insurance
Corporate-owned life insurance , also known as dead peasant life insurance or janitors insurance, is life insurance on employees' lives that is owned by the employer, with benefits payable to the employer...
policies on its employees including "low-level" employees such as janitors, cashiers, and stockers. This type of insurance is usually purchased to cover a company against financial loss when a high-ranking employee (i.e. management) dies, and is usually known as "Key Man Insurance." Critics derided Walmart as buying what they called "Dead Peasants Insurance" or "Janitor Insurance." Critics, as well as the U.S. Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
, charge that the company was trying to profit from the deaths of its employees, and take advantage of the tax law which allowed it to deduct the premiums. The practice was stopped in the mid-1990s when the federal government closed the tax deduction and began to pursue Walmart for back taxes.
2010 Race Incident
On March 18, 2010 at the store in Washington Township, Gloucester County, New JerseyWashington Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey
Washington Township is a township in Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States. In the 2010 United States Census, Washington Township's population was 48,559, having grown from 47,114 in the 2000 Census....
an announcement was made allegedly saying: "Attention Walmart customers - all black people leave the store now". Company spokesperson Ashley Hardie described the incident as 'unacceptable'. Walmart has said they will change their policy with regard to who can have access to their public address system. The intercom system at the particular store was modified to prevent such breaches in future.
Two days later, on March 20, the suspect, a 16-year-old male, was arrested and charged with bias intimidation and harassment by Washington Township police. It seems the youth is suspected of being the perpetrator in a similar but less substantiated earlier incident at the same store.
The NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
President for the state of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
said the incident was a reminder we have a way to go before we arrive at 'decency and equality' but on the other hand the NAACP has acknowledged the steps Walmart has taken for diversity.
Harm to endangered species
In 2007, it was revealed that furniture sold at Walmart was made from wood which had been illegally logged in protected Russian habitats for Siberian tigers and other wildlife. Walmart promised to stop selling products that used wood from those areas, but not until the year 2013.Homage to Augusto Pinochet
On January 3, 2011 it was discovered that the entrance to one of the holding corporate buildings of Walmart Chile, had a plate in homage to Augusto PinochetAugusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
, ex Chilean dictator responsible of various human rights abuses, only after much controversy Walmart Chile decided to remove said plate.
See also
- Al NormanAl NormanAl Norman is the founder of Sprawl-Busters, a noted anti-sprawl activism organization. He achieved national notice in 1993 during a protracted battle to prevent a Wal-Mart store from being opened in Greenfield, Massachusetts....
- Hell Comes to QuahogHell Comes to Quahog"Hell Comes to Quahog" is the third episode of the fifth season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox on September 24, 2006. The episode follows teenage daughter Meg after she requests that her parents buy her a car. At the showroom, however, her father, Peter,...
Family Guy Episode - People of WalmartPeople of WalmartPeople of Walmart is a comedy website that features user-submitted photos of overweight, poorly dressed, or awkward looking people shopping at Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer. The site has been promoted largely on sites like Digg and Funny or Die, and linked on Facebook and Twitter...
- Something Wall-Mart This Way ComesSomething Wall-Mart This Way Comes"Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes" is episode 120 of Comedy Central's South Park. This episode originally aired on November 3, 2004. Its title and theme were inspired by the 1983 Disney movie Something Wicked This Way Comes based on the 1962 novel by Ray Bradbury.-Plot:The episode begins with...
- WalmartingWalmartingWalmarting is a neologism referring to U.S. discount department store Walmart with three meanings.* The first use is similar to the concept of globalization and is used pejoratively by critics and neutrally by businesses seeking to emulate Wal-Mart's success....
- Whirl-MartWhirl-MartWhirl-Mart is a culture jamming ritual aimed at retail superstores and described by participants as "art and action."An event consists of a group of supposed shoppers who congregate at a large superstore and slowly push empty shopping carts silently through store aisles...
External links
- Is Walmart Good For America?
- WalmartWorkforce.org Where Associates Learn How to Live Better
- Walmart Watch
- Articles, Studies and Resources on Walmart
- Moms vs. Walmart
- Sprawl Busters
- Federal Competition Commission
- Walmart and Big Box Retail Economic Impact Studies
- Discounting Rights: Walmart's Violation of US Workers’ Right to Freedom of Association
- Watch the documentary Wal-Town
- WalmartSucks.org
- Il Vendetta - A novel about the largest retailer in the world
News articles
- Could the "Walmart Effect" impact Real Estate?
- How Costco Became the Anti-Walmart
- In Walmart's America
- Norway dumps Walmart stock
- Stop the Attack on Walmart
- The Costco Alternative
- The Walmart You Don't Know
- Walmart to cut ties with Bangladesh factories using child labour
- What's Good for Walmart...
- The Man Who Said No to Walmart
- Walmart sustainability programme faces criticism