Wake Up Wal-Mart

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Wake Up Wal-Mart is a union-backed campaign group affiliated with the UFCW. It is based in Washington DC and is often critical of the business practices of Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, and the largest private employer in the United States. The group claims Wal-Mart is currently offering its employees substandard wages and health care benefits, and has called on the retailer to improve both. Wake Up Wall-Mart was founded April 5, 2005 and maintains the web site WakeupWalMart.com, the centerpiece of the organization.^[1]

The campaign's director is Paul Blank, a graduate of Duke University and the political director for the Dean campaign. According to CNN.com's biorgraphy for the program, "True Believers," Blank managed North Carolinian Chris Kouri's campaign for Congress in 2002. He also worked for Democrat Harvey Gantt's 1996 Senate race in North Carolina. ^[2]

1 Rationale
2 Website
- 2.1 Group's information on Walmart
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Rationale

"All across America, consumers and taxpayers are waking up to the high cost of Wal-Mart's poverty wages, reliance on taxpayer funded state health care programs and devastating impact on communities. Wal-Mart's values are not America's values," stated Blank. "There is only one force powerful enough to change the largest corporation in the world, the largest retailer in the world and the largest employer in the world -- the American people. We are Wal-Mart's consumers and it is time for Wal-Mart to wake up and start doing what is right for its employees, our families, and our country."^[3]

[edit] Website

[edit] Group's information on Walmart

The group asserts problems in the following areas and makes and provides its documentation for its claims. It provides brochures on these issues in downloadable pdf format.

[edit] Workers' wages and rights

^[4]

A substantial number of associates earn far below the poverty line according to “Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful?” which appeared in Business Week on October 6, 2003 and to United States Department of Health and Human Services 2001 Poverty Guidelines and “Statistical Analysis of Gender Patterns in Wal-Mart’s Workforce” by Dr. Richard Drogin from 2003.

Associates cannot earn enough to support a family according to “Poverty and Family Budgets” online at www.epinet.org.

Wal-Mart can afford wage increases according to the group's analysis of the Wal-Mart Annual Report 2005

Wal-Mart forces employees to work off-the-clock, based on wage and hour lawsuits listed in that same report. The group also refers to the Associated Press article, "Federal Jury Finds Wal-Mart Guilty in Overtime Pay Case," which appeared in the Chicago Tribune, which appeared on Business section page 3, on December 20, 2003, and to Steven Greenhouse's article, “Suits Say Wal-Mart Forces Workers to Toil Off the Clock,” which appeared in the New York Times on page A1 on June 25, 2002.

Wal-Mart violates the Fair Labor Standards Act by having minors work too late, during school hours, or for too many hours in a day and by having associates miss breaks and lose meals according to the Greenhouse article.

[edit] Health care

^[5]

Its plan fails to cover over 600,000 employees according to its own reports.
The falls far short of the industry average according to the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust's 2004 report.
Waiting periods for associates are longer than the national average, while managers face no waiting period according to the Wal-Mart 2005 Associate Guide and the cited Kaiser report.
Its most affordable plan includes high deductibles that make it costly, especially for family plans, according to the Wal-Mart 2004 Associate Guide and UFCW analysis.
Wal-Mart admits public health care assistance is a “Better Value” despite $10 billion in profits, according the transcript of CEO Lee Scott's April 5, 2005 speech.
Premiums are increasing more rapidly than other employers', according to UFCW analysis of annual Wal-Mart Associate Guides and the Employer Health Benefits: 2004 Annual Survey by Kaiser.
Employees pay more for health care costs than those of other large companies, according to 5500 Filings and the Kaiser report*
Wal-Mart spends less on health care than industry and national averages, as reported in the Wall Street Journal by Bernard Wysocki, Jr. and Ann Zimmerman in their September 39, 2003 page one article, “Wal-Mart Cost-Cutting Finds a Big Target in Health Benefits.”
Wal-Mart only spends 75 cents per hour per employee on health benefits, according to its 5500 Filings and annual report.
Wal-Mart increased advertising more than health care in 1995, 1996, 1997-1999, 2003 and 2004, according to its annual reports and 5500 filings.
One out of seven employees has no coverage, double the national average for large firms according to the annual report and to "Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Coverage: Sponsorship, Eligibility, and Participation Patterns in 2001,” Bowen Garrett, Ph.D., released by the Kaiser Family Foundation September 2004.

[edit] Taxpayer costs

The group references two articles, “Everyday Low Wages: The Hidden Price We All Pay for Wal-Mart," by the Democratic staff of the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce published on February 16, 2004 and “Shopping For Subsidies: How Wal-Mart Uses Taxpayer Money to Finance Its Never-Ending Growth,” by Good Job First in May 2004.

^[6]