What’s At Stake
Working families choose to shop at their neighborhood Wal-Mart stores to save money, save time and to get everything they need in one convenient place. But they also shop at Wal-Mart because the corporate giant has destroyed small business America – and consumers have little choice to shop elsewhere.
Associates choose to work at Wal-Mart – until they discover that the job offers poor wages, meager benefits, and no chance at a career. That's why 70% of employees quit within their first year on the job.
Consumers across the country want families to benefit from Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart blocks every attempt by local employees to organize for fair wages, health care benefits and equal employment opportunities – silencing those who stand up for their rights.
Wal-Mart launched its own campaign, Working Families for Wal-Mart, with one goal: to attack working families for wanting to make Wal-Mart a better company. Wal-Mart's public relations firm, Edelman Worldwide, created Working Families for Wal-Mart to put a friendly face on one of the world's most worker-unfriendly companies, providing a way to obscure the funding for "astro-turf" projects like "Wal-Marting Across America."
With millions of dollars at their disposal for PR consultants, lobbyists and lawyers, Wal-Mart is determined to defend its business practices at any cost. And they're doing so while their employees struggle to put food on their tables and pay their children's medical bills. That's wrong.
Real working families everywhere know what Wal-Mart won't acknowledge: Wal-Mart is destroying our economy, environment and culture. Working families continue to shop at Wal-Mart and line up for jobs because they have nowhere else to go. It really is time for Wal-Mart to become a better employer, neighbor, and corporate citizen.