Was there ever a history of racism at Walmart?

[Patiod]

Not the "Planet of the Apes" thing (probably a single idiot hacker), or other single instances (individual shoppers being profiled by individual clerks or managers) which is what I'm finding when I Google the two terms.

More systemic discrimination.

My friend is from the Midwest, and says she "misses Walmart" because they've been kept out of a lot of the Philadelphia suburbs (thank God). She says she doesn't "feel sorry for those mom and pop stores, because they wouldn't have hired me 20 years ago, and they wouldn't have let me in their store 30 years ago." (she's African-American) She admits she isn't all that informed about Walmart's appalling treatment of its workers and other policies. And frankly, none of that really matters if she can "save $.0.89 on toilet paper."

About the only thing that might motivate her to look a little harder at Walmart would be if they had a history of racism.

[YOY]

1. There have been examples of racism and sexism in promotional patterns

n/t

[napi21]

2. Not racism, as far as I know, but many other infractions!

Employing undocumented workers.

Locking employees in the store aftr hours to finish their task OFF THE CLOCK!

Consistantly promoting men over women. Quite a few employees have WON lawsuites against them for this one!

Constant errors on paychecks, and MAGICLY it's always in the Co's favor!


But, as far as I know, I haven't heard anything about racism.

[Patiod]

4. Yeah, told her about those other things, but she's not swayed

Hey - $0.89 off on toilet paper (and no, it's not a necessity thing - she gets paid REALLY well)

[JackintheGreen]

3. I can't speak for Walmart

but I did grow up surrounded by mom and pops in small town Midwest. Yes, there was, and is, plenty of racism there. But those small stores damn well knew that they couldn't keep nonwhites out because that would heavily impact their bottom lines. They were in no position to turn away business because, even 20 years ago, there was plenty of big box competition. And once they started stocking groceries! Oy vey....

More than 20 years ago, I can't say. Hiring: yeah, there probably was discrimnination. But, oddly enough, I do live in Philadelphia now, and I taught in a grade school in the middle of a very depressing, but racially mixed (Latino, Black, Arab) neighborhood. And there is plenty of racism directed at us honkies at the mom and pops.

Places like Walmart don't remove racism, they just bury it beneath a pile a corporate red-tape.


Oh, and in the interest of full disclosure, my comments about the midwest are based on my growing up in central IL, twice as far from Chicago as from St. Louis. My HS competed against the likes of Beardstown, Pekin, Morris and Peoria, but not Fisher, Sibley, or Gibson City because out student population was too large.

[Patiod]

5. She was from Indiana

Don't get me started on our city neighborhoods and how depressing they can be.

[JackintheGreen]

8. What? Gary's nice.

And that bit near the State Museum in Indianapolis.

Seriously, though, we don't need to quibble about whose inner cities are the inner-citiest. Anyway, Detroit would win.

[Patiod]

11. Sorry, what I meant: I can't imagine anything worse than N Phila

posting online can be confusing - no coversational clues

And as a total non-sequitor, she's from a nice little small town somewhere in Indiana, from the sounds of it.

[JackintheGreen]

13. Ah, natch

And her town's prolly a lot like mine: The graveyard hops more than the downtown.

[ccpup]

6. At the WalMart in Anaheim, CA

I used to go sometimes with my Mom and I remember quite clearly some Supervisors (all white) standing by a large pile of stuff in the middle of an aisle that still needed to be shelved. First they were angry that the "night 'spics" hadn't done it yet and, second, it shouldn't be that hard for them to move heavy stuff anyway since "those people are used to carrying stuff on their backs".

Needless to say, I grabbed my Mom, made her drop her stuff right where she stood and hightailed it outta there. After I told her what happened, she called the Manager of the store (a worthless P of C if there ever was one) and then called their Head Offices in Bentonville, AR. Oh, she also dumped all of the WalMart stock she owned ... much to the chagrin of her Financial Advisor. And she's never gone back.

But, hey, if you can save .89 on toilet paper! :sarcasm:

[Sydnie]

7. Wasn't there an Ad not that long ago

that was very controversial ... something about nazi's or something like that.

Damn, I wish I could remember the details of that mess ....


Anyone remember what I'm talking about?

edit - here's the article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/13/AR2005051301423.html

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said yesterday that it made a "terrible" mistake in approving a recent newspaper advertisement that equated a proposed Arizona zoning ordinance with Nazi book-burning.

The full-page advertisement included a 1933 photo of people throwing books on a pyre at Berlin's Opernplatz. It was run as part of a campaign against a Flagstaff ballot proposal that would restrict Wal-Mart from expanding a local store to include a grocery.

The accompanying text read "Should we let government tell us what we can read? Of course not . . . So why should we allow local government to limit where we shop?" The bottom of the advertisement announced that the ad was "Paid for by Protect Flagstaff's Future-Major Funding by Wal-Mart (Bentonville, AR)."

[Breeze54]

9. Can we say..."Slave Labor"??????

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/tour/facts/

Snip-->

Wal-Mart's Chinese factory workers are treated poorly

Workers making clothing for Wal-Mart in Shenzhen, China filed a class action lawsuit
against Wal-Mart in September 2005 claiming that they were not paid the legal minimum wage,
not permitted to take holidays off and were forced to work overtime.
]b]They said their employer had withheld the first three months of all workers' pay, almost
making them indentured servants because the company refused to pay the money if they quit.
New York Times, September 14, 2005
Workers making toys for Wal-Mart in China’s Guangdong Province reported that they would have
to meet a quota of painting 8,900 toy pieces in an eight hour shift in order to earn the
stated wage of $3.45 a day. If they failed to meet that quota, the factory would only pay
them $1.23 for a day’s work. China Labor Watch, December 21, 2005

Elsewhere workers producing goods for Wal-Mart also face appalling conditions,
despite Wal-Mart’s factory inspection program

Workers from Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Nicaragua and Swaziland brought a class action lawsuit
against Wal-Mart in September 2005 asserting that the company’s codes of conduct were violated
in dozens of ways.
They said they were often paid less than the legal minimum wage and did not receive mandated
time-and-a-half for overtime, and some said they were beaten by managers and were locked in their factories.
New York Times, September 14, 2005

A female apparel worker in Dhaka, Bangladesh, said she was locked into the factory
and did not have a day off in her first six months. She said she was told if she
refused to work the required overtime, she would be fired.
Another worker said her supervisor attacked her “by slapping her face so hard that
her nose began bleeding simply because she was unable to meet” her “high quota.”
New York Times, September 14, 2005

In 2004, only 8 percent of Wal-Mart inspectors’ visits to factories were unannounced,
giving supervisors the chance to coach workers what to say and hide violations.
Wal-Mart claimed it planned to double unannounced visits by its inspectors but that
would still leave 80 percent of inspections announced.
CFO Magazine, August 2005
A former Wal-Mart executive James Lynn has sued the company claiming he was fired
because he warned the company that an inspection manager was intimidating underlings
into passing Central American suppliers.
Lynn documented forced pregnancy tests, 24-hour work shifts, extreme heat, pat-down searches,
locked exits, and other violations of the labor laws of these Central American countries.
New York Times, July 1, 2005 and James Lynn to Odair Violim, April 28, 2002,
www.nclnet.org <--snip


Wal-Mart & Gender Discrimination
Download the Wal-Mart and Gender Discrimination fact sheet - PDF
http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/downloads/wal-mart-gender-facts.pdf

Wal-Mart discriminates against women

In 2001, six women sued Wal-Mart in California claiming the company discriminated against women
by systematically denying them promotions and paying them less than men.
The lawsuit, Dukes v. Wal-Mart,
has expanded to include more than 1.6 million current and former female employees,
and was certified on June 21 2004 as the largest class action lawsuit ever. :wtf:
Mondaq Business Briefing, November 1, 2004

In 2001, while more than two-thirds of Wal-Mart's hourly workers were female,
women held only one-third of managerial positions and made up less than 15 percent of store managers.
This is all despite women having had on average longer seniority and higher merit ratings
than their male counterparts. Neil Buckley and Caroline Daniel,
“Wal-Mart vs. the Workers: Labour Grievances Are Stacking Up Against the World’s Biggest Company,"”
Financial Times 11, 11/20/03

In 2001, women managers on average earned $14,500 less than their male counterparts.
Female hourly workers earned on average $1,100 less than male counterparts.
Drogin 2003
In 2001, for the same job classification, women earned from 5 percent to 15 percent less than men,
even after taking into account factors such as seniority and performance.
Drogin 2003


Many more reasons at above link!
:grr:

[Rosemary2205]

10. Walmart does not promote minorities and never has

Only 4% of Walmart general store managers or higher are "non white" and only 13% are women (as of 2000). Their record is appalling and they are in a lawsuit over it.

[Patiod]

12. Ding! Ding! Ding! That's what I was looking for

My friend is management, and would NOT want to hear this about her favorite store!

[Breeze54]

14. What, slave labor wouldn't be enough to do it for her?

:sarcasm:

[Patiod]

15. Nope!

Oxes being gored and all that....

[Breeze54]

17. yeah, fuck the workers!

:sarcasm:

[Totally Committed]

16. Ask Hillary....

She used to be on their Board of Directors.

TC

[ccpup]

18. Just like anyone else

with power and connections in Arkansas. Does it mean she stayed there for a long time? No. Does it mean she supports and enables them to do what they do? No. Who knows? Perhaps she was the loud mouthed broad who wouldn't shut up about equal rights for workers and giving them a living wage! Maybe, just maybe, she was a huge thorn in the side of those who were hoping to sit down for some nice chit-chat and a nice paycheck? We don't know. But don't try and hang WalMart's evils on Hillary. It gets tiresome after awhile. It's almost as bad as the fundies blaming everything on the Clenis!