UNI COMMERCE WAL-MART REPORT - UPDATED 21 DECEMBER 2005 (PDF FILE)

UNI REPORT ON WALMARTIZATION  AND UNI's GLOBAL RESPONSE - 2005 

Wal-Mart movie site 
- The High Cost of Low Price

The confidential Wal-Mart Memo on "supplemental benefits documentation"

American Rights at Work’s report, “WAL-MART: Rolling Back Workers’ Wages, Rights, and the American Dream

^{UFCW BROCHURE (PDF)}

University of California Berkeley Study on Social Assistance to Wal-Mart Workers Link 8/2004

ver.di Wal-Mart brochure
in German (PDF)
^{(18 November 2002)}

^{Wal-Mart Bull Buster}

Wal-Mart's fundraising invitation for the governor who tried to help them get away from paying health care costs 

Report by walmartwatch.com
PDF File 2.7 Mb

Read the Institute for America’s Future report on Wal-Mart’s holiday cost to communities
PDF file - January 2006

Blood & Exhaustion
Behind Bargain Toys Made in China for
Wal-Mart and Dollar General
- PDF Report by
China Labor Watch and
National Labor Committee
December 2005

Wal-Mart Real Wage and Turnover Study
PDF File - AFL-CIO Website
November 2005

Stories archive 1998 to 2005

Wal-Mart now has its first collective agreement in North America. Eight workers at the retail giant's Tire and Lube Express garage in Gatineau in Quebec, next to the Canadian capital Ottawa, joined UFCW in 2005 and have ever since tried to gain a contract. Now finally, a government arbitrator put and end to Wal-Mart's efforts to evade this responsibility, and imposed a collective agreement on the site.

The Canadian collective agreement is not the only concern for the world's largest retailer. At home in the United States, the next president is very likely to be Barack Obama. He and the Democratic Party have signalled that they will give workers a fair chance to decide on trade union representation without employers being able to block it as they can do today.

Full story 17 August 2008

Wal-Mart is under fire again:
Shareholders ask for decent work

The continued violation of core ILO Conventions and the active anti-union policies pursued by Wal-Mart has prompted some of the biggest shareholders to demand that Wal-Mart clean up its act and start behaving according to its own governance standards.

12 June 2008 - Full story

Mexican teenagers work without wages:
Wal-Mart caught once again for misusing young workers

Wal-Mart is doing well in Mexico, at least if one is to believe the company itself. But once again, reality is catching up with the US retail giant. According to Newsweek magazine, the Bentonville-based multinational employs thousands of young people to pack its customers' bags. But the 4,300 young teenagers don't receive any pay from Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart systematically violates workers' rights, new report says

A new report entitled Discounting Rights released by Human Rights Watch outlines the systematic denial of Wal-Mart workers’ right to organize. It confirms what Wal-Mart workers have been saying for years.

Wal-Mart manager's India visit clouded by shopkeeper protest

Wal-Mart continues to receive a less than enthusiastic welcome in India. Michael Duke, vice chairman in charge of international operations, arrived in the country this week, to prepare the American retail giant's planned market entry. The Bentonville executive was left in no doubt about the feelings generated by his company as protesting demonstrators marched on government buildings in New Delhi, burning a Wal-Mart effigy in the process.

22 February 2007 - Full story

Over 2,000 workers face unemployment and insecurity if Metro goes ahead with its plans to close a large number of the Wal-Mart stores which the German commerce giant bought last year. Hundreds of them will gather today outside the Metro Group headquarters in Düsseldorf, to defend their employment.

Wal-Mart could have to pay billions of dollars if found guilty of having discriminated against its women workers

Wal-Mart faces a class action lawsuit that includes all the women who have worked for the retail giant since 1998. Originally initiated by six women workers, the lawsuit was granted class action status by a federal appeals court in San Francisco yesterday. If Wal-Mart is indeed found guilty of discriminating against the 1,5 million present and former workers involved in the case, it may have to pay billions of dollars in damages.

7 February 2007 - Full story

Sonia Gandhi said to caution Indian government against allowing Wal-Mart to enter

According to Indian press reports today, Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi is said to caution the government against allowing Wal-Mart to enter the country's retail scene. In her letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who also represents the Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi reportedly says that the proposed venture with Indian telecom conglomerate Bharti still needs to be examined.

Senator Hillary Clinton meets UFCW Board underlining the importance of the UNI affiliate

Hillary Rodham Clinton, the United States Senator from New York, has met the board of UNI Commerce affiliate UFCW. Senator Clinton's visit to the board meeting in Naples, Florida, underlines the union's importance also for the US presidential campaign, that is now being launched. The recent Democratic victory in the US Congressional elections and the decline of the George W. Bush administration redefines the political scene and gives an increasing weight both to organised labour and to the Democratic Party.

Metro Group closes large numbers of former Wal-Mart stores in Germany - ver.di announces protest manifestation in Düsseldorf

German commerce multinational Metro wants to close 16 Wal-Mart hypermarkets and the company's Wuppertal headquarters. The announcement has both surprised and angered the company's German employees, who see the Düsseldorf-based commerce giant's decision as arrogant and unfounded. UNI Commerce affiliated ver.di has summoned members to a manifestation outside the group's headquarters on 21 February.

Wal-Mart workers say goodbye to predictable work schedules as the retail giant  squeezes the last drop

Those who thought that Wal-Mart was already treating its US workers so badly that the bottom had been reached were mistaken. Just after the Christmas holidays, the Bentonville supermarket giant announced yet another turn in its downward spiral of 'walmartizing' working and employment conditions. Now, everyone working for the retail behemoth has to be prepared to jump in and out of the job, responding to the number of customers in the stores.

Wal-Mart loses court battle, has to accept union in Canada

Wal-Mart has lost an appeal against a labour board decision, in the Quebec Court of Appeal, and must now accept a UFCW presence in its Canadian store in Gatineau. The board had decided that the store's workers have the right to be represented by their UFCW Local, as the required between 35 and 50 per cent of them have signed union cards.

8 December 2006 Full story

Women and families deserve better than Wal-Mart, US campaigners say

Put an end to Wal-Mart's anti-family policies by Christmas Day. This is the "wake-up-call" to the company's CEO Lee Scott when WakeUpWalMart.com launches a nationwide campaign in the United States, "Women and Families Deserve Better than Wal-Mart". Wal-Mart’s anti-family policies have led to over 775,000 Wal-Mart employees and their families without company health care, penalized workers and their families for taking a day off to care for a sick child, repeated child labour law violations and the largest gender discrimination lawsuit in U.S. history.

8 December 2006 Full story

Finnish Services Union United publishes critical Wal-Mart book, deepens its cooperation with UNI

PAM – the 200.000 strong united services union of Finland has just published a book exposing the Wal-Mart business model, to coincide with the union's second Congress. In his address to the conference, UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings called for decent work, social safety nets and active labour market policies instead of the Wal-Mart way of "always lower prices" whatever the social consequences.

Opposition to Wal-Mart's India entry

There have been political protests in India over the tie up between US retail giant Wal-Mart and Indian telecom to retail conglomerate Bharti. The Commerce and Industry Minister has told the Indian media that he will be reviewing the agreement.

5 December Full story

Swedish national pensions fund gets rid of its Wal-Mart shares, says workers' rights violations are systematic

Sweden pulls its pensions money away from Wal-Mart. In a press statement issued in Stockholm yesterday, Sweden's Second National Pensions Fund - Andra AP-Fonden - says that all its shares and obligations in Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart Mexico have been sold. In a press statement from Stockholm yesterday, the fund says that Wal-Mart is systematically violating workers' rights and all attempts to bring about a change in this behaviour have failed.

8 September 2006 - Full story

Wal-Mart has gone too far in pressing down the social conditions of its workers and their families. In a resounding way, ordinary Americans are now saying that enough is enough and Wal-Mart must change.

The WakeUpWalMart.com Bus Tour which ends today in Seattle on the US West Coast has been an enormous success. The momentum is building up fast and the end to Walmartization could be closer than we have thought.

4 September 2006 Full story

Wal-Mart tries to deny its German personnel representatives their right to participate in training sessions. The unionists had wanted to add to their knowledge and skills with a view of being better able to handle their tasks in the ongoing process of selling the company to the Metro Group. The Bentonville multinational will now be taken to court by its own workers, in what could be characterised as an expected end to its failed adventure.

4 September 2006 - Full story

WakeUpWalMart Bus Tour makes Bentonville managers nervous:
Wal-Mart pays millions to former Clinton aide for help to fend off growing criticism

Wal-Mart's infamous wage cap seems to apply only to greeters, cashiers, cleaners, guards and ordinary people. When it comes to the top management in Bentonville, it is another story. Under hard pressure from the highly successful WakeUpWalMart Bus Tour through the United States, the Bentonville multinational is buying the services of a former top communications operator in the Clinton Administration for a huge amount of dollars. This will surely not be well received by his former employers nor by Democratic Party leaders or members as the popular movement calling on Wal-Mart to change is gaining momentum day for day. Neither will new smokescreens help the company out of its growing dilemma, only real changes can be a way out.

1 September 2006 - Full story

Wal-Mart in deep waters with its failing PR campaign as one disaster follows another

Canadian Wal-Mart workers in Jonquiere were thrown out on the street when they joined UFCW and wanted to negotiate a collective agreement. The company's aggressive behaviour and refusal to recognise the fundamental rights of its workers have sparked strong reactions among the American public, and the movement to wake up Wal-Mart is growing day by day. Even Smiley's mouth corners are now pointing down.

Is it a downward spiral or already a free fall? Wal-Mart's costly public relations campaign is turning sour as one disastrous mistake follows another. At the same time, WakeUpWalMart.com is scoring a huge success with its bus tour through the United States.

First, the company's paid PR-front, Ambassador Andrew Young, had to leave, after accusing Jewish, Korean and Arab shopkeepers of exploiting their African-American customers. Now, a prominent member of the same front 'organisation' - Working Families for Wal-Mart - has labelled Wal-Mart critics as 'hezbocrats', in an ill advised reference to Hezbollah.

Wal-Mart gets its first communist party local in China

Wal-Mart's lack of sensitivity when expanding in China has got an abrupt end. Only a few weeks ago, the country's top trade union leader Wang Zhaoguo singled out the retail giant as a particularly bad case of anti-union behaviour.  It did not take long before the first local trade union emerged in a Wal-Mart store in in Quanzhou in south-western China. Today, news was finally out that the first Wal-Mart store had got its Communist Party and Communist Youth-League locals as well.

Wal-Mart made record losses in Japan - consumers world-wide seem to shun its social dumping and doubt its quality

Wal-Mart lost almost half a billion USD in Japan during the six first months of this year. This adds to what is emerging as an embarrassing failure in trying to export the company's operating concept abroad. Earlier in the summer, Wal-Mart has thrown in the towel in Germany and sold its unsuccessful Korean operations to local competitor Shinsegae. The Bentonville concept - or Walmartization - does not seem to get consumer acceptance.

Wal-Mart's 'wage increases' exposed at bus tour:
"She will never get a raise working at Wal-Mart again"

WakeUpWalMart.com is on a bus tour through the United States. Among the many people who came to the bus during its stops was 'a middle aged guy', who had been at a diner to take home some food for his wife, who had not had a good day at work. "Guess where she worked? asks WakeUpWalMart.com director Paul Blank in his blog, and answers himself: Wal-Mart. She had just had her in-store meeting to learn that she is now capped out and will never get a raise working at Wal-Mart again.

Read Paul Blank's blog entry from 8 August:

Wal-Mart will now enter into discussions with China's trade union confederation ACFTU - how about social dialogue at home in America?

With the score ACFTU Three, Wal-Mart Zero, the US retail giant is caving in and has agreed to talks with the Chinese trade union confederation. Is this a  lesson also for the home turf of the retail giant, where it is under increasing pressure to give up its bad employer attitudes and allow its workers to organise.

Wal-Mart's anti-union bastion is crumbling in China as once again a store is unionised

One by one, China's Wal-Mart stores seem to go union. The third union in a Chinese Wal-Mart was established in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province. Wu Yinzheng, a 22 year old middle manager, was elected president.

Wal-Mart lost 4.5 Billion Dollars on its German fiasco

This Wal-Mart store in Berlin is one of the 85 markets that the company has sold to Metro, the third largest global trader. The Bentonville multinational's German adventure proved to be a costly flop, with losses estimated to anywhere between 4.2 and 4.5 Billion US Dollars. Walmartization does not travel, this became obvious already earlier this summer when the retail giant left South Korea.

Wal-Mart's losses in Germany were even bigger than thought. The country's leading industry magazine Lebensmittelzeitung estimates that the Bentonville multinational burned altogether 3.5 Billion Euro, that is 4.5 Billion USD, before it finally decided to leave. The operative losses alone for the years 2000 to 2004  amounted to a staggering 1.8 Billion Euro, or 2.3 Billion USD. Real, Metro's chain of hypermarkets and large supermarkets will now take over the 85 Wal-Mart stores, which employ a total of 11,000 workers.

7 August 2006 - Full story

Wal-Mart gets second ACFTU Union Local in China

Wal-Mart has now got its second ACFTU union local in China. This was established by workers in a store in Shenzen. Last week saw a local trade union structure emerge in the Fujian province.

- These developments should convince Wal-Mart that wherever it goes, it will have to adapt to working with unions, said UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings. UNI is scheduled to meet ACFTU in the near future.

Wal-Mart employs some 3,000 workers in its 59 stores in China.

7 August 2006

Wal-Mart gets its first ACFTU Union Local in China

Wal-Mart workers in Quanzhou in south-western China, have formed a local union. As foreseen by Chinese legislation, this is a local of the All China Federation of Trade Unions ACFTU. Workers do have the right to form local unions, but until now, Wal-Mart has effectively held ACFTU outside its markets.

Wal-Mart throws in the towel in Germany as social dumping did not work

Wal-Mart has thrown in the towel in Germany and will sell its 85 hypermarkets to the Metro Group. The American retailer was never able to run its German operations profitably. From morning cheers to cutting personnel and closing stores, almost everything was tried, but still it did not work. Walmartization is not possible where unions are strong.

28 July 2006 - Full story

UNI Congress in Chicago turned poverty spotlight on Wal-Mart, now the host city gives workers a minimum wage

Carolyn Sapp, former Miss America and active campaigner for women's and children's rights gave Congress delegates from all around the world a spell-binding picture of how difficult it is to work for Wal-Mart in the United States. After her intervention and dialogue with delegates, there was no question about the resolve of these two thousand international unionists to join the host country workers' struggle against Walmartization.

In August last year, the UNI World Congress turned the spotlight on Wal-Mart when it assembled a broad labour coalition against poverty and social injustice. Yesterday, eleven months later, the host city acted. A new ordinance gives workers in big box stores the right to a 10 dollar hourly minimum wage and to a 3 dollar hourly minimum for other benefits. The UNI World Congress surely strengthened their resolve to fight Walmartization and to ensure decent work for people, says UNI general secretary Philip Jennings, welcoming the Chicago City Council decision.

27 July 2006 Full story and more pictures

Wal-Mart tried to influence voters through costly campaign - fined for failing to register it

Last year, Wal-Mart financed a campaign in Monroe, Wisconsin to get the voters to approve the construction of a supercenter. This was after a referendum had been called to ask the population whether they wanted to have these big box stores in the city. Now, the Bentonville retail giant has agreed to pay a fine for failing to register its campaign.

City Council adopted big box ordinance:
Wal-Mart stays out of Chicago city limits rather than paying its workers a living wage

The Chicago City Council adopted a bill yesterday that requires Wal-Mart and other big box stores to pay their workers a living wage. The Bentonville multinational's reactions indicate that it will try to steer clear of city limits and go to the suburbs rather than paying its workers the required 10 USD hourly minimum.

Wal-Mart runs on ground in Canadian courts, exposed for its bad behaviour

The Canadian legal system does not play Wal-Mart's game, if the company now thought they would. In two recent court decisions, the retail giant has been mercilessly exposed for its repressive and anti-social behaviour.

26.07.2006 Full story

Wal-Mart sparks Chicago politicians to set minimum wages for the city's big box stores

A year ago, on the streets of Chicago, UNI congress delegates rallied against poverty. The manifestation, as well as the World Congress itself, marked the launch of a concerted global effort to combat Walmartization and to promote economic and social justice and well-being. The host city, well known for its proud labour history, has not deceived their expectations now but instead acted decisively against the giant retailer's social dumping.

Wal-Mart could find itself forced to pay an hourly living wage of at least 10 USD if it wants to keep and expand its store network in Chicago. In addition, the Bentonville-based multinational will have to pay at least 3 USD per hour in benefits.

This is the scenario if the City Council approves of a proposed ordinance when it votes later this week. The ordinance would require all so-called 'big box stores' with a floor space over 90,000 square feet (10,000 m²) to pay a living wage and use a minimum amount for benefits.

Wal-Mart lost in California Supreme Court - communities can stop big box stores

In an important decision, the California Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that cities and counties can forbid the construction of big box stores (superstores-hypermarkets). This can be an important prejudice, giving communities both in the United States and world-wide better tools for their fight against walmartization.

14 July 2006 Full story

Wal-Mart sends employees to search for bomb rather than evacuating them

Wal-Mart has scored a new low point when it sent some forty Canadian employees to look for a bomb in a store instead of evacuating the premises. This followed a bomb threat received at a Wal-Mart store some 60 km from Montreal, in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu.

12 July 2007 Full story

Wal-Mart singled out as anti-union by the top Chinese trade union leader

Wang Zhaoguo, president of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, has expressed serious concern over low trade union organising rates in the country's fast growing foreign enterprise sector.

Wang pointed at Wal-Mart as a particularly bad example when it comes to disrespect for workers' rights. He said that special legislation may be needed to ensure that also foreign enterprises allow their workers to establish ACFTU locals.

7 July 2006 Full story

Click to watch
Garth Brooks in
Friends With Low Wages

Stories 2007 :

14.08.2007

• Wal-Mart caught in Mexico for misuse of young workers

02.05.2007

• Wal-Mart systematically violates workers' rights, new report says

22.02.2007

• Wal-Mart manager's India visit clouded by shopkeeper protests

21.02.2007

• Former Wal-Mart workers in Germany face mass unemployment as Metro wants to close stores

07.02.2007

• Wal-Mart could have to pay billions of dollars if found guilty of having discriminated against its women workers

06.02.2007

• Sonia Gandhi said to caution Indian government against allowing Wal-Mart to enter

31.01.2007

• Senator Hillary Clinton meets UFCW board underlining the importance of the UNI affiliate

25.01.2007

• Metro Group closes large number of Wal-Mart's former German stores, union announces protest manifestation

05.01.2007

• Wal-Mart workers must say goodbye to predictable work schedules as retail giant squeezes the last drop

Stories 2006 :

08.12.2006

• Women and families deserve better than Wal-Mart, US campaigners say
• Wal-Mart loses court battle in Quebec, has to accept union in Canada

05.12.2006

• Finnish Services Union United published critical Wal-Mart book
• Opposition to Wal-Mart's India entry

14.11.2006

• UNI talks with Chinese unionists about Wal-Mart organising

8.9.2006

• Swedish national pensions fund gets rid of its Wal-Mart shares, says workers' rights violations are systematic

4.9.2006

• Wal-Mart summoned to German labour court during its last weeks in the country, refuses to pay for training of its staff representatives
• Wal-Mart Bus Tour ends today, is end close also for Walmartization as working families rise to defend dignity and living standards?

1.9.2006

• Bus tour makes nervous Wal-Mart pay millions for help from former Clinton aide

25.8.2006

• Wal-Mart in deep waters with its failing PR campaign

24.8.2006

• Wal-Mart gets its first communist party local in China

23.8.2006

• Wal-Mart suffered record losses in Japan - consumers reject social dumping and doubt its quality

10.8.2006

• Wal-Mart's so-called wage increases exposed at bus tour - 'she will never get a raise working at Wal-Mart again'

9.8.2006

• Wal-Mart will enter into discussions with ACFTU - how about social dialogue at home?

8.8.2006

• Wal-Mart's anti-union bastion is crumbling in China as once again a store is unionised

7.8.2006

• Wal-Mart lost 4.5 Billion Dollars on its German fiasco
• Wal-Mart gets second ACFTU union local in China

31.7.2006

• Wal-Mart gets its first ACFTU Union Local in China

28.7.2006

• Wal-Mart hands in the towel in Germany as social dumping did not work

27.7.2006

• UNI Congress in Chicago turned poverty spotlight on Wal-Mart, now the host city gives workers a minimum wage
• Wal-Mart stays outside Chicago city limits rather than paying its workers a decent wage
• Wal-Mart tried to influence referendum - fined for failing to register campaign

26.7.2006

• Wal-Mart runs on ground in Canadian courts, mercilessly exposed for bad behaviour

24.7.2006

• Wal-Mart sparks Chicago politicians to set minimum wages for the city's big box stores

14.7.2006

• Wal-Mart lost in California Supreme Court - communities can stop big box stores

12.7.2006

• Wal-Mart sends employees searching for bomb instead of evacuating them

7.7.2006

• Wal-Mart singled out by Chinese union leader as reason for new legislation on workers' rights

29.06.2006

• Wal-Mart ASDA strike was cancelled - agreement reached with TUC help

28.06.2006

• UNI support for Wal-Mart Asda strike, company explains their view in letter yesterday
• Wal-Mart ASDA is out to break the distribution centre workers' strike

27.06.2006

• Wal-Mart's British distribution centres will go on strike on Friday
• Wal-Mart leaves Korea - it was never a success story
• UNI Commerce Global Union creates Alliance Against Walmartization
• Verdi Commerce Conference in Germany turns spotlight on social costs of discount prices

26.06.2006

• Norway dumps Wal-Mart shares

15.05.2006

• Wal-Mart puts pressure on suppliers to defend its tarnished reputation, secret memo shows

09.05.2006

• Wal-Mart lost its complaint - Canadian St Hyacinthe are represented by UFCW

28.04.2006

• Carrefour sells Korean operations to textile retailer E.Land

12.04.2006

• Wal-Mart ASDA workers call of strike ballot at distribution centres

10.04.2006

• Wal-Mart ASDA distribution centre workers will vote on strike after Easter

21.03.2006

• Wal-Mart must be closed out if Carrefour sells its Korean operations
• Even Wal-Mart is overshadowed by Lidl - Germany's probably worst commerce employer rules over workers through intimidation and fear

10.03.2006

• Wal-Mart workers in Canada vote to join UFCW
• Wal-Mart workers in the UK were offered wage increase if they agree to leave union

13.02.2006

• Critical Wal-Mart documentary is well received at Germany's Berlin Film Festival

09.02.2006

• UNI welcomes Tesco's decision to take up Wal-Mart on US retail market
• UNI Statement on Tesco's announcement to enter the US market

06.02.2006

• Hillary Clinton refuses election support from Wal-Mart

24.01.2006

• Wal-Mart workers in Washington need more health care subsidies than thought, leaked reports say

23.01.2006

• Wal-Mart wants to pocket the money that badly disabled mother of three got for medical care after traffic accident

20.01.2006

• Wal-Mart must go to court for threatening workers that they lose benefits if they unionise

19.01.2006

• Wal-Mart's sweetheart deal with the Bush Labor Department was thrown into the waste bin

13.01.2006

• Wal-Mart's connections did not work - Maryland legislators override health care veto

02.01.2006

• Santa Claus did not shop at Wal-Mart this year - better behaviour could bring more business - union campaigning for decent work continues

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