We’re chock full of info on the Beast of Bentonville. First,the Wal-Mart Alliance for Reform Now (WARN) and the
Wal-Mart Workers Association just released this report on working conditions for the Beast’s workers in Florida. Surprise, it’s not what the company says. From the conclusions of the report:

Even under the most conservative assumptions, it is inescapable that the bulk of Wal-
Mart positions pay extremely low wages and/or are part-time. Furthermore, the
effective pay rates for Wal-Mart workers are significantly lower than the figures the
company has repeatedly touted publicly.

Constant turnover is the norm for Wal-Mart’s workforce. At current rates, as many as
3 out of 4 workers who began or will begin work with the company at some point
during 2005 will no longer be with the company as of the beginning of 2006.

The combined effect of low wages, dependence on part-time workers and continuous
turnover is that the typical Wal-Mart worker is either a recent hire and/or earns a
poverty-level wage.

Turnover costs the company an astronomical amount of money (minimally $150
million in Florida in 2005). Reinvestment of this money in wages would promote
retention and significantly raise the income of thousands of Wal-Mart workers
earning at or below the poverty level.

And The Beast also suffered a setback in its efforts to open a new store on Staten Island, NY.

There seems to be some confusion about the difference between the WakeUpWalmart-run “Wal-Mart Workers of America”, which arose from the UFCW, versus the SEIU-UFCW-ACORN-run “Wal-Mart Workers Association”? Here’s how Wade Rathke, ACORN’s chief organizer, explains it: “There is no direct relationship between the Wal-Mart Workers Assoc and Wal-Mart Workers of America. UFCW is interested in trying to see if the early successes of the Florida-based WWA can be duplicated nationally, and is having their local unions leaflet stores after T-giving to see if they can identify interest. If they find interest, they may go forward in some way nationally with the ‘association’ model being pioneered by Wal-Mart Worekrs Association. If they do not find a lot of interest, they are likely to continue to monitor the progress in Florida and see what the experience and the experiment teaches.”

And the film “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price” is showing in communities all across the country. Get your copy here.