This is the first of a three part series on Wal-Mart. I was 8th in the state of California in Original Advocacy for this speech. I hope this changes your shopping habits.
A virus is sweeping across our nation. On appearance, it seems to benefit our lives, but in the long run, it may destroy the lives of millions. Job by job it kills the American dream. This epidemic has created 1.6 million jobs (CBS market watch), most of which pay below poverty level wages. In its rampage, it has destroyed manufacturing jobs that paid decent wages and it has killed small businesses and large corporations alike. Wal-Mart is infecting the United States, and is rolling back on America.
Wal-Mart has been spreading virtually unchecked since founder Sam Walton’s Death in 1992 (encyclopedia). It has become a 312 billion dollar company( Los Angeles Times). Wal-Mart has metastasized beyond its original identity as a discount warehouse of consumer goods to the mega one-stop shop that it is today, which is why journalist Geoffrey Colvin writing for Fortune Magazine asked, “Will we all work for Wal-Mart?”(Norman 1)
Why would working for Wal-Mart be a problem? Well for one thing, you probably won’t be in the ranks of the employed for long. Wal-Mart has the largest turnover rate in the United States. Over 630,000 Wal-Mart employees will quit this year(6). Why would that many people quit? Because Wal-Mart does not provide a living wage for its workers. The majority of its employees earn just over $8 an hour (Featherstone 11), which wouldn’t be so bad if you were working a 40 hour week job with benefits and some occasional paid overtime, but Wal-Mart’s idea of full time work is 28 hours a week( Norman 8). Wal-Mart knows that they do not pay their employees enough to live on and even admitted to Los Angeles Times Reporters Abigail Goldman and Nancy Cleeland that a full time employee could not support a family on Wal-Mart wages (Los Angeles Times). Wal-Mart even shows its employees how to apply for welfare to make up for its shortfall. California Assemblywoman Sally Lieber found documents with the Wal-Mart seal that had instructions on how to apply for food stamps, Medi-Cal and other welfare services (Featherstone 14). In fact, according to the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the U.S. House of Representatives, Wal-Mart employees collected over 1 and a half billion dollars in welfare last year (Norman 9). In other words, the United States government, and by extension, your tax dollars and mine, subsidize Wal-Mart’s hefty profit margin. That’s a hidden fee no one should have to pay for a multibillion dollar company.
