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Lawsuits
in the United States: Wal-Mart workers across the country have filed lawsuits against the company, claiming the giant retailer discriminates against women and doesn't pay employees for all the time they work. On June 19, 2001 six current and former Wal-Mart employees from California, Illinois, Ohio, Texas and Florida filed a massive nationwide sex discrimination class action lawsuit in U. S. District Court against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The suit charges that Wal-Mart discriminates against its female employees in promotions, compensation and job assignments. It claims that women are predominately assigned to the lowest paying positions and are systematically denied advancement opportunities. According to the lawsuit:
"The industry leader should not be the discrimination leader. If Wal-Mart's top competitors are able to promote qualified women to more than half of their management jobs, why can't Wal-Mart?" said plaintiffs' lead counsel Brad Seligman, Executive Director of The Impact Fund, a nonprofit civil rights organization based in Berkeley, CA. Other lawsuits filed by Wal-Mart workers in California, Georgia, Oregon, and West Virginia, to name a few, charge Wal-Mart with failing to pay workers for all they time the put in on the job. The newest suit filed by Iowa workers, claims Wal-Mart intentionally fails to record pay for off- the-clock work, altering time records, and preventing employees from taking rest breaks. Why are Wal-Mart workers having to resort to lawsuits? Go to court? Talk to judges? Give depositions?--Because it seems Wal-Mart prizes profits above all else. This multi-billion dollar company operates to cut expenses and make money, first and foremost. But sometimes cutting expenses means cutting wages, not giving promotions or filling jobs. It sometimes means longer hours, incomplete benefits and a stressful, unstable environment for workers. When this is the case the only choice workers have is to stand together and demand the respect they deserve. When workers stand united through a union, they win the respect that comes from having a true, independent voice on the job. The benefits of being unionized are significant. A union would make Wal-Mart a better place to work, because a union contract would spell out in writing specific procedures for how people—women and men—get promoted. It would keep people alert to guard against off-the- clock work, and provide a grievance procedure for workers to get a fair hearing whenever they believe they're being unfairly treated. Unionized workers' wages are 1/3 higher than nonunion workers in the retail food industry. For women working in the retail food industry the results are even more dramatic according to a nationwide study conducted by the Institute for Women's Policy Research, a national non-profit think tank. The report shows that unionized women are more than twice as likely to have health insurance with a three times higher average employer contribution than nonunion women. It also shows that these unionized women workers are more than twice as likely to receive a pension than their nonunion counterparts. Respect and fair treatment, that's what forming a union is all about, that's good for the company and the workers. |
