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Labor Slaps Wal-Mart Ahead Of Media Fest
Critics Slam Pay, Benefits and Business Practices As No. 1 Retailer
Gears Up For Press Event
CNN/Money - April 5, 2005
By Steve Hargreaves
Labor
groups trying not to let Wal-Mart steal the spotlight this week denounced
the retailer's business practices Monday, a day before Wal-Mart kicks
off a two-day media event at its Arkansas headquarters.
"The
company is having a huge impact on our public health system,"
Georgia state Rep. Nan Grogan Orrock said during a news conference
sponsored by the AFL-CIO, the nation's biggest labor group. "There
is quite an alarming reaction when taxpayers learn they are footing
the health insurance bill for Wal-Mart employees."
Orrock
said Wal-Mart's health insurance plans are so expensive or provide
such thin coverage that thousands of children in Georgia end up
on the state's health insurance plan.
But
criticism wasn't limited to just health coverage. Former and current
employees attacked the company's wage and promotion system, which
they said was discriminatory, and labor activists said the retailer
receives more than $1 billion a year in a variety of government
subsidies.
'What
Wal-Mart does is drive small business out of business," said
Marvin McMickle, a reverend and community leader who was active
in an anti-Wal-Mart campaign in the Cleveland area. "And they
provide relatively low wages with limited benefits."
A
Wal-Mart spokeswoman, responding in a prepared statement to questions
sent in advance, said the AFL-CIO charges are "yet another
desperate attempt to recycle misinformation" and said Tuesday's
media event is an effort for reporters to get the truth about Wal-Mart.
The
company has defended its business practices in the past, saying
it pays its workers around $10 an hour, nearly twice the federal
minimum wage, and that Wal-Mart's low prices provide significant
savings -- and hence more disposable income -- for millions of Americans.
Wal-Mart
(Research) is holding a two day media event at its headquarters
in northwest Arkansas Tuesday and Wednesday.
The
conference, a rarity for the company, is seen as an attempt to foster
better relations with the media after a number of public setbacks
for the retailer.
The
company has been hit with dozens of lawsuits alleging sexual discrimination
and practices which shortchange employees out of pay. It has also
settled charges it contracted illegal alien workers.
The
firm also continues to face opposition for community groups when
it tries to enter some cities and towns.
The
company last year announced it was overhauling its pay and promotion
policies.
Wal-Mart,
which for the fourth year in a row topped the Fortune 500 list of
America's largest companies ranked by sales, is the biggest private
sector non-union employer with 1.5 million workers.
The
retailer has been fighting union attempts to organize its stores
for years, with workers at a Colorado branch recently rejecting
a proposal to unionize shortly after Wal-Mart closed a store in
Canada where workers had voted to unionize and were still trying
to negotiate a first contract.
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