Wal-Mart

Attention Wal-Mart shoppers, it may not have accored to you, but those s
o called â low pricesâ actually come at a rather high one. These prices include: low
pay, sexism, use of sweat shops, and the pushing out of small businesses. So, st
op shopping at Wal-Mart, a place of low morals and high prices.
Wal-Mart currently has the power to form profit-killing concessions from
sellers. To maintain business in the face of its pricing demands, product maker
s of everything from bicycles to blue jeans have had to lay off employees and cl
ose U.S. plants in favor of outsourcing products from overseas. Though American
companies have been moving jobs offshore long before Wal-Mart was a vending powe
r. But all in all, the chain is accelerating the loss of American jobs to low-wa
ge countries such as China. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Wal-Mart trumpete
d its claim to "Buy American," however, in recent years it has been doing everyt
hing to avoid doing so, doubling its imports from China in the past five years a
lone, buying some $12 billion in merchandise in 2002. Being around 10% of all Ch
inese exports to the United States.
Wal-Mart is a company responsible for pushing out small businesses inten
tionaly in order to lower the amount of competitive retailers. By doing this, ma
ny family owned shops have been closed down in order for Wal-Mart to form its pe
rfect monopoly. Good jobs are lost, and people are left jobless.
It is a well known fact that Wal-Mart discriminates against female emplo
yee's as far as pay and promotion go. Female employee's make up over 70 percent
of Wal-Mart's hourly employees but less than one-third of its management. Only o
ne of its top 20 officers is a woman. In 2001, the few female imployee's who bec
ame managers earned $14,500 less than their male counterparts. Female hourly wor
kers earn $1,100 less than male employee's with the same job.
Studies have found that Wal-Mart's prices are 8 percent to 39 percent be
low the prices of its competition. Many consumer's who shop at Wal-Mart go for t
he low prices of clothing and toys. Ironically, this seemingly low price comes a
t a rather high one. These great low prices of a $15 dollar shirt are made in sw
eat shops where the workers only get paid around nine cents an hour. Also, in or
der to provide us with these great low prices, Wal-Mart pays low wages to its wo
rkers. The company has the ability to give all of its workers a $1 per hour rai
se without affecting their annual profit of $12 billion, by simply raising price
s half a penny per dollar. As an example, a $2.00 pair of socks would then cos
t $2.01. That half of a cent would add up to a $1,800 raise for each employee.
Many U.S. citizens are under the impression that the clothing purchased
in American Wal-Mart stores is manufactured in America. In fact, the majority of
its private label clothing is produced in at least 48 countries around the worl
d, but not in America. Bangladesh workers earn as little as nine cents an hour m
aking shirts for Wal-Mart. American manufactures have been pushed towards cuttin
g good jobs and eliminating entire operations when Wal-Mart shifts to contractor
s with poverty-level wages. Some of these such abuses in foreign factories that
produce Wal-Mart goods include: Forced overtime, Locked bathrooms, Starvation w
ages, Pregnancy tests, Denial of access to health care, Workers fired and blackl
isted if they try to defend their rights.
So, if you want to support a store with no morals, than feel free to sho
p at Wal-Mart. However, if helping to keep a sweat shop based store in beisness
is not in your to-do list, than do the right thing, and take your buisness else
where.

Works Cited
Authorâ s Last, First. â Article.â Title of Large Source. Sponsoring Institution. Lates
update date. <"Wake-Up Wal-Mart: The Real Wal-Mart Facts." WakeUpWalMart.com -
Join the Fight to Change Wal-Mart and Change America. Web. 09 June 2010. > Date
Accessed . Rosen, Ellen. "Walmart and Women." Kansas WorkBeat. Web. 09 June
2010.
Wal-Mart: The High Cost Of Low Prices