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Retailers among the
super-rich of the world: Five Waltons in top ten, Aldi owners number five Retailing can make you super-rich. Not if you are a worker, though. Six out of the global top ten are owners of retail companies. Jim, John, Alice, Robson and Helen are all there, heirs to Sam Walton of Wal-Mart. This is the company that cannot afford collective agreements for its American personnel. The list of the world's richest people, compiled by US business magazine Forbes, is topped by Bill Gates of Microsoft. The top retailers are the Albrecht brothers, Theo and Karl, who own Aldi. Of course, Aldi is not a multinational and does not have a European Works Council. Formally, it is a loose grouping of small enterprises. Neither is it a well organised company, so the owners can concentrate on enriching themselves without giving much thought to the personnel. The one million Wal-Mart workers, often working without medical insurance and well below collective agreement wage levels, have really fattened up the coffers of the Walton family. The five heirs, listed by Forbes in places 6 to 10, have a fortune of altogether over 90 billion USD, against Bill Gates' 58 billion. Ikea's founder Ingvar Kamprad can be found in place 17, completing the retailer presence among the 50 richest of the world. These corporate owners are of course in a class of their own. But they are not the only ones who have made it in commerce. The over-dimensioned bonuses paid to managers of top multinationals, such as Marks & Spencer and Kingfisher, have attracted much attention. Shareholders have complained, but also workers have a reason to be unhappy. Commerce is still largely a low wage industry and it is both tasteless and wrong to pour money on the top bosses like has been done.
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