Wal-Mart’s Offence Against Human Rights

Wal-Mart’s Offence Against Human Rights

Wal-Mart. The super store of America serves over 100,000,000 customers per week, employs over 2,000,000 people, makes $36,000,000 every hour, and earns $405 billion annually (Wal-Mart Company Statistics). The convenience that Wal-Mart provides Americans is undeniable; with its always-low prices, over 4,000 stores, and twenty-seven Wal-Mart brands, this family friendly store has become a phenomenon in the last decade. Yet consumers don’t see all the blood, sweat, and human cost it takes to be the number one retailer in the nation. While Wal-Mart claims to be an asset to society, there is a dark side to the super store. With its unlivable wages, history of instilling fear in workers, child labor, and disregard for working conditions, Wal-Mart is the perfect example of a company that is blind to human rights.
The word “sweatshop” carries a terrible connotation: a shop or factory in which employees work long hours at low wages under poor conditions. In these types of factories, workers rights are disregarded and abused, yet these are the types of factories Wal-Mart generally works with. The company rarely takes into consideration the happiness or well being of its millions of foreign workers in over forty-eight different countries. In the end, these factory workers are the ones that pay for Wal-Mart’s every- day low prices (Bauer).
On September 25, 2005, fifteen workers from six different countries filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart claiming that this company has done nothing to correct sweatshops, working conditions, or employee rights issues. The complaint was supported by evidence from factory workers who had experienced horrible violations of human rights. One worker spoke about how she was forced to work every day for six months straight, and was still unable to earn a living wage. Another explained how she was brutally beaten because she was unable to meet an extremely high quota. One plaintiff said she was forced to work sixteen hours straight in a factory where they locked the doors prohibiting anyone to leave. In defense against these allegations Wal-Mart said, “We are going to do every thing that we can to verify that factories are in compliance with labor laws, but realistically violations are going to occur” (Bauer). Even more disturbing than the violation of human rights adults have been exposed to, is the way children have been treated in Wal-Mart factories for years. Children between the ages nine and fourteen have been subjected to some of the most intolerable working conditions of the twenty-first century. In Bangladesh, children were forced to work past midnight making clothing, making only five cents an hour. In Honduras, children were discovered working thirteen hours daily sewing twenty-dollar jeans, while earning twenty-five cents an hour. During the thirteen hours these children had to work they were restricted from bathroom breaks and were beaten for their mistakes. This type of cruel treatment has been hidden from the world because Wal-Mart feels that the locations of its factories are at their disclosure. The company says, “Wal- Mart strives to do business only with factories run legally and ethically” (Bauer). Children trapped behind barbed wires, metal gates, and experiencing exploitation, must fit the Wal-Mart standard for ethical.
In order to make a difference all one would have to do is create a Facebook page stating a time and place for an organized protest. On November 23, 2012, this is exactly what Riverside community members did. Occupy Riverside was organized by a local union. For hours workers and community members protested and demanded that Wal-Mart give better treatment and wages for workers. The protest consisted of picketing signs saying, “Wal-Mart is how the 1% keeps the 99% down. Almost 80% of Wal-Mart workers are so poor they need food stamps and other government benefits to survive.” Letters also were summited to nearby newspapers, and online blogging was done to inform the public of Wal-Mart’s wrong doings (Riverside Union).
On multiple occasions, Wal-Mart has announced that they were going to enforce stricter standards for their overseas suppliers, yet company headquarters has not confirmed how the company will be doing this (Bauer). In states all across America people have protested against the inhumane treatment of Wal-Mart’s workers. According to organizations supporting union rights, hundreds of workers and thousands of supporters have railed in over one hundred cities. Amongst these cities are Miami, New York City, Dallas, and Oakland (Fox). Vermont has never experienced a protest of this size, yet all it would take is one person to create a Facebook page and there could be a protest in Burlington. The public must be informed about the crimes against humanity Wal-Mart has committed; if not, each day children will continue to lose their childhood.

Works Cited
Bauer, Monica. "Always Low Prices, Rarely Human Rights: Wal-Mart and Child Slave Labor." IHS Child Slave Labor News. N.p. Nov. 2005. Web. 21 Jan. 2013.
Fox, Emily J. "Wal-Mart Protests Draw Hundreds Nationwide." CNN Money 23 Nov. 2012: 1. Print.
Riverside Union. "Black Friday Strike." Facebook. N.p., 23 Nov. 2012. Web. 29 Jan. 2013.

"Wal-Mart Company Statistics." Statistic Brain. N.p. 31 July 2012. Web. 21 Jan. 2013.

Cited: Bauer, Monica. "Always Low Prices, Rarely Human Rights: Wal-Mart and Child Slave Labor." IHS Child Slave Labor News. N.p. Nov. 2005. Web. 21 Jan. 2013. Fox, Emily J. "Wal-Mart Protests Draw Hundreds Nationwide." CNN Money 23 Nov. 2012: 1. Print. Riverside Union. "Black Friday Strike." Facebook. N.p., 23 Nov. 2012. Web. 29 Jan. 2013. "Wal-Mart Company Statistics." Statistic Brain. N.p. 31 July 2012. Web. 21 Jan. 2013.