Pros And Cons Of Walmart: Scapegoat Vs Sweatshop
Assignment 3.2: Wal-Mart — Sweatshop or Scapegoat?
In 1991, Walmart became an international company when they opened a Sam's Club near Mexico City. Just two years later, Walmart International was created. Today, Walmart International is a fast-growing part of Walmart's overall operations, with 4,112 stores and more than 680,000 associates in 14 countries outside the continental U.S.
Sweatshops are workplaces where basic worker rights are not respected. In the US, sweatshops at the turn of the 20th century were plentiful and trade unions worked to organize workers and enact important legislation including minimum wages, child labor laws, and health and safety regulations. In the 1990s when the focus was on factories labeled as sweatshops …show more content…
Wal-Mart became the world's largest retailer by buying cheap, foreign-made goods and selling them to consumers at rock-bottom prices every day. In late 2005, the ILRF on behalf of factory workers from Indonesia, China, Bangladesh, Nicaragua, and Swaziland filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores charging that Wal-Mart knowingly and systematically violated its Standards for Suppliers. On July 10, 2009, this lawsuit was dismissed by the 9th Circuit court in California.
In February 2009, the Clean Clothes Campaign launched the Better Bargain campaign targeted at reforming the purchasing policies of Walmart, Carrefour, Tesco, Lidl, and Aldi. The violations at Walmart factories are symptoms of a larger problem caused by unsustainable buying practices.
ILRF identified the following labor violations at Wal-Mart …show more content…
Workers in six countries filed a class-action lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The suit, filed in California state court in Los Angeles, lists as plaintiffs 15 workers in Bangladesh, Swaziland, Indonesia, China and Nicaragua. They claim they were paid below minimum wage, forced to work unpaid overtime and in some cases even endured beatings by supervisors. The lawsuit also lists four California plaintiffs, including two unionized workers at Kroger Co. unit Ralph's and Safeway Inc. grocery stores, who claim Wal-Mart's entry into Southern California, forced their employers to reduce pay and benefits.
The suit could cover anywhere from 100,000 to 500,000 workers, according to attorney Terry Collingsworth of the International Labor Rights Fund, which represents the plaintiffs. Wal-Mart's potential liability could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Critics, however, say that low-price obsession has pressured store managers to overwork nonunion employees and the retailer has been hit with dozens of lawsuits claiming violations of wage-and-hour
In 1991, Walmart became an international company when they opened a Sam's Club near Mexico City. Just two years later, Walmart International was created. Today, Walmart International is a fast-growing part of Walmart's overall operations, with 4,112 stores and more than 680,000 associates in 14 countries outside the continental U.S.
Sweatshops are workplaces where basic worker rights are not respected. In the US, sweatshops at the turn of the 20th century were plentiful and trade unions worked to organize workers and enact important legislation including minimum wages, child labor laws, and health and safety regulations. In the 1990s when the focus was on factories labeled as sweatshops …show more content…
Wal-Mart became the world's largest retailer by buying cheap, foreign-made goods and selling them to consumers at rock-bottom prices every day. In late 2005, the ILRF on behalf of factory workers from Indonesia, China, Bangladesh, Nicaragua, and Swaziland filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores charging that Wal-Mart knowingly and systematically violated its Standards for Suppliers. On July 10, 2009, this lawsuit was dismissed by the 9th Circuit court in California.
In February 2009, the Clean Clothes Campaign launched the Better Bargain campaign targeted at reforming the purchasing policies of Walmart, Carrefour, Tesco, Lidl, and Aldi. The violations at Walmart factories are symptoms of a larger problem caused by unsustainable buying practices.
ILRF identified the following labor violations at Wal-Mart …show more content…
Workers in six countries filed a class-action lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The suit, filed in California state court in Los Angeles, lists as plaintiffs 15 workers in Bangladesh, Swaziland, Indonesia, China and Nicaragua. They claim they were paid below minimum wage, forced to work unpaid overtime and in some cases even endured beatings by supervisors. The lawsuit also lists four California plaintiffs, including two unionized workers at Kroger Co. unit Ralph's and Safeway Inc. grocery stores, who claim Wal-Mart's entry into Southern California, forced their employers to reduce pay and benefits.
The suit could cover anywhere from 100,000 to 500,000 workers, according to attorney Terry Collingsworth of the International Labor Rights Fund, which represents the plaintiffs. Wal-Mart's potential liability could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Critics, however, say that low-price obsession has pressured store managers to overwork nonunion employees and the retailer has been hit with dozens of lawsuits claiming violations of wage-and-hour