If you listened to the elites talk about the economy, they usually have a litany of phony excuses for economic troubles: high taxes (phony), regulation (nonsense) and, of course, high wages for workers (never a word about CEO pay). But, the truth is much more about greed and corrupt management philosophy. And there is no better example than Wal-Mart.
I’ve written about the Beast of Bentonville for a very long time, from the greed of the Waltons themselves to the numerous workplace legal cases against the company to its vicious anti-unionism to its aggressive and creative corruption to its most recent refusal to sign on to a new safety code in Bangladesh . (after all, why worry about 1,200 dead people if they stand in the way of profit). It’s really hard to find a company that excels more than Wal-Mart at masking its corporate criminality behind a barrage of advertising that creates the veneer of respectability.
And here’s another brick in the wall of FACTS, not spin, to give a feel for the damage Wal-Mart does to the people. Updating a 2004 report, the House Democratic staff on the Committee on Education and the Workforce (though, folks, it would be good to spell “Workforce” correctly on the cover of the report…) gives the low down. I’ll pick a few nuggets but the entire report is worth reading:
Rising income inequality and wage stagnation threaten the future of America’s middle class. While corporate profits break records, the share of national income going to workers’ wages has reached record lows.Wal-Mart plays a leading role in this story. Its business model has long relied upon strictly controlled labor costs: low wages, inconsiderable benefits and aggressive avoidance of collective bargaining with its employees. As the largest private-sector employer in the U.S., Wal-Mart’s business model exerts considerable downward pressure on wages throughout the retail sector and the broader economy. This model has multiplied across the sector. While employers like Wal-Mart seek to reap significant profits through the depression of labor costs, the social costs of this low-wage strategy are externalized. Low wages not only harm workers and their families – they cost taxpayers.When low wages leave Wal-Mart workers unable to afford the necessities of life, taxpayers pick up the tab. Taxpayer-funded public benefit programs make up the difference between Wal-Mart’s low wages and the costs of subsistence. This public subsidization of the low-wage model of companies like Wal-Mart received significant attention in the early 2000s. With wage stagnation, income inequality, and federal budget deficits of increasing concern to public policy, this issue is due for a re-examination.
An essential component of Wal-Mart’s low-wage businessmodel is an uncompromising hostility towards union organizing. Wal-Mart’s efforts to prevent its workers from organizing and collectively bargaining have been well documented. According to Human Rights Watch, between 2000 and 2005, the National Labor Relations Board issued 39 complaints accusing Wal-Mart of violating the rights guaranteed to workers by the National Labor Relations Act.The complaints related to 101 cases in which NLRB attorneys found merit to charges including illegal firings, disciplinary action and discrimination against union supporters. Wal-Mart’s anti-union posture has chilled the exercise of workers’ rights there. In the years since 2005, efforts to formally unionize Wal-Mart workplaces have declined, and in turn, so have NLRB complaints against Wal-Mart.
