Facts About Wal-Mart And International Worker Rights

“[T]he factory certification process was designed only to create the impression that Wal-Mart was producing its goods under humane working conditions when, in fact, working conditions at the factories were terrible and violated the rules and regulations of Wal-Mart.”

-- James W. Lynn, former Wal-Mart Global Services Manager. [New York Times, 7/1/05]

Wal-Mart has a Long and Disgraceful Record of Exploiting Workers in Sweatshops

Wal-Mart Executive Says He Was Fired For Being Too Aggressive About Finding Workplace Violations. Wal-Mart executive James W. Lynn is suing the company and says he was terminated in 2002 “for truthfully reporting the abysmal working conditions in Central American factories utilized by Wal-Mart and for refusing to comply with Wal-Mart's demand that he certify factories in order to get Wal-Mart's goods to market.” [New York Times, 7/1/05]

After 13 Years And Numerous Violations, Wal-Mart Has Failed Do Anything About Sweatshops, Which Endanger The Lives of Thousands of Workers. In 1992, NBC’s Dateline broke a story about 11 year old workers from Bangladesh who were making t-shirts for Wal-Mart. Due to the moral outrage, Wal-Mart promised to reform its ways but they failed repeatedly. After the exposing of Kathy Lee Gifford’s Wal-Mart clothing line for its human right violations just a few years later, no significant changes have been made. In 2000, The National Labor Committee reported that workers at Qin Shi Handbag factory in Zhongshan, China were forced to work 14-hour shifts, seven days a week for little or no money.” [New York Times, 12/24/92; Washington Post, 5/30/96; National Labor Committee, “Made in China: The Role of U.S. Companies in Denying Human and Worker Rights.”]

® Wal-Mart Has Dismissed Human Rights Violations as “Common.” A recent report highlighted labor violations at a Wal-Mart apparel contractor in Bangladesh. Wal-Mart's director of international corporate affairs, Bill Wertz defended the company and dismissed the violations. Women’s Wear Daily reported, “Wertz said the labor violations depicted on ‘Dateline NBC’ are common.” [Woman’s Wear Daily, 6/21/05]

Wal-Mart’s Toleration of Sweatshops Led To Its Removal from the Domini 400 Social Index. The Domini 400 Social Index described as “the first benchmark for stock funds to screen for social responsibility.” In 2001, Kyle Johnson, the project manager for the index, stated “Wal-Mart is a market leader in retail, yet has not taken a leadership position on labor issues and has been unresponsive to calls for change from shareholders...Given that we had removed Nike for similar reasons back in 1997, we could not justify keeping Wal-Mart.” [Palm Beach Daily News, 6/12/05; International Shareholder, 4/17/01]

Wal-Mart Pays Sub Par Wages

Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott, Jr. (based on $17,543,739 per year, 40 hours per week)	$8,434.49
Ave. Full-time U.S. Wal-Mart Employee	$9.68
Select Wal-Mart subcontractors:
Bangladesh	$0.17
China	$0.17
Indonesia	$0.46
Nicaragua	$0.23
Swaziland	$0.53

Source:  Institute for Policy Studies, “Wal-Mart’s Pay Gap,”

http://www.ips-dc.org/projects/global_econ/walmart_pay_gap.htm