Wal Mart: Rolling Back America. Part three: A possible solution and a summary.

    This is part three of my wal mart attack. If for some reason you cant get the first two parts, message me, and Ill repost them. I will later repost the entire thing on one setting.

    Liza Featherstone, a writer for The Nation, stated that “Wal-Mart is a grave threat to unionized workers’ jobs. It threatens all American ideals that are at odds with profit – justice, equality and [fundamental] fairness.” (14) What can be done to stop Wal-Mart before it bulldozes everything in its path?  Since California often leads the country in progressive legislation, and becomes the national exemplar, I advocate To the California State Legislature pass a bill that will require retail corporations that employ over 15,000 people in California to do the following three things: first, have a set minimum wage of 13 dollars an hour; second, offer a 40 hour a week job to at least 60% of their employees; and third, pay 80% of their employee’s health insurance premiums.  A middle class will struggle to exist if large corporations pay its employees $8 an hour with no benefits, and this bill will prevent them from doing so.  Retail corporations that employ 15,000 people make enough profit to follow these regulations. Wal-Mart employs over 15,000 people in Los Angeles County alone (Laedc).

            What Kind of company is Wal-Mart? It is a company that exploits its workers and shows them how to apply for welfare (Featherstone 14). A company that exploits more overseas labor than any other company in the United States, while shutting down middle class manufacturing jobs (Los Angeles Times). A company that is sexist, and is now facing a class-action lawsuit from over 1.5 million employees and ex-employees for denying promotions to women and paying them less than men (USA Today). A company in which 630,000 of its employees are not insured (Norman 12). A company whose CEO said on national television that a child slave labor at Wal-Mart’s production site in Bangladesh is fine with him (Norman 26). A company that is sued more than any other in the United States (Norman 18). A company whose idea of full time work is 28 hours a week at just over $8 an hour(Norman 8, Featherstone 11).  This is a company that does not care for the livelihood of its workers, or for the welfare for the people of the United States. This is a company for which unrestrained profit is its only motive. Companies like this need regulation, and my proposition will provide a better living for millions of Americans and help to re-establish the middle class that is rapidly disappearing. Wal-Mart and companies like it are killing the American Dream, but our democratic government can change that. Otherwise we might as well follow activist Al Normans sarcastic advice and re-write our pledge of allegiance to say: “I pledge my income to the store of the United States of Wal-Mart, and to its stockholders for whom it expands. One Workforce, underpaid, with Barbie dolls and cheap underwear for all.”(Norman i)