Walmart Is Not The Bargain You Might Think

[Umm Muhammad]

Walmart Is Not The Bargain You Might Think

 

People flock to Walmart for perceived bargains and convenience. Here are some facts that might keep them from adding their hard-earned cash to the profits of a company that's squashing lives and worker rights worldwide.

Next time someone tells you they shop at Walmart because it's cheap or convenient, share this.

Despite 1,500 protests nationwide against Walmart, the world's biggest retailer claimed its most lucrative Black Friday ever in 2013. Our friends and neighbors flock there.

They do - even those who have seen mom-and-pop stores shut down when Walmart moved into town, who miss being able to pick up one or two items and be out of a store in 10 minutes, who personally know Walmart employees relying on food stamps and who have heard how much money the Walton family continues to accumulate.

Walmart is the poster child for how huge corporations have undermined people's ability to make a living. It does this by sending manufacturing abroad to countries where labor is cheap, at the same time paying its own employees less than a living wage, using other unfair labor practices in numerous locations in the United States, and undercutting locally owned enterprises right out of business. It harms Main Streets and local commerce centers across the country and further drives people to malls. 

So why do people go there? When asked this question, Walmart shoppers uniformly respond that "it's cheap and convenient, and I can't afford to shop at [other places]."

I'd wager they never saw Robert Greenwald's chilling 2005 documentary for Brave New Films, Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price, or read some basic facts about Walmart put together in one place. I think they'd feel differently if shown ways to shop that are just as inexpensive. At least I hope so.

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/20440-walmart-is-not-the-barg...

[Umm Muhammad]

Walmart and Disney Refuse to Compensate Injured Bangladeshi Workers:

http://www.davidicke.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2013_..."/>

‘The Rana Plaza tragedy that took the lives of more than 1,100 garment workers in Bangladesh happened eight months ago, but for the women and men who survived the disaster, the pain and suffering go on. Those who suffered injuries including the loss of limbs and burns, and who helped to rescue people trapped under concrete and metal rods live daily with the horror of the collapse of the nine-story building. Compensation for them has only been slowly meted out, with American companies including Walmart having so far refused to participate in any long-term compensation...

After the Rana Plaza building collapsed, some European clothing manufacturers have signed onto an agreement calling for more extensive building codes and fire safety measures. No American companies have signed the accord yet, instead claiming they will create their heightened safety procedures and conduct their own inspections, but taking their time to do so.’

Read more: Walmart and Disney Refuse to Compensate Injured Bangladeshi Workers