[Vision2020] Learn more about WakeUpWalMart.com and join today

Sun Dec 4 08:30:53 PST 2005

Tim,

 Sweatshop factories are a concern  for me. I think it is important that every worker in the world be given  certain rights in the work place.

 It concerns me that  governments and corporations take advantage of those who have little  other choice but to accept horrible working conditions or go back to  prostitution or farming which pays less and is more dangerous.

  However, I feel that smashing one company simply because it is the  largest by pumping out biased, skewed, and other incorrect data and  information does your cause great damage.

 First, almost all  companies in the United States use labor from sweatshops. So attacking  Wal-Mart is pointless. Target, JC Penny, Sears, Macy's, The Bon,  ShopKO, KMart, all of them, use sweatshops. If you take out Wal-Mart,  the other retail stores will only take the place of Wal-Mart. It will  do nothing to improve the working conditions of people in sweatshops.  Wal-Mart has the largest number of violations because it is largest  organization. Wal_mart also pays the same as or greater than the amount  as other corporations like Target and KMart.

 Second, any laws  passed in the United States will not impact labor conditions in foreign  nations.  The United States cannot force labor conditions in China  or Indonesia, it does not have the legal authority to do so. 

  Third, all of the data collected and presented is biased and usually  taken from studies that have an agenda against Wal-Mart. This to me  takes away any credibility of the sites you listed. For Example:

  Many of the studies were conducted by Union organizations, which are  the ones that lose most heavily and gain most by people shopping at  Union grocery stores.

 They list that 48% of Wal-Mart  employees are not insured through Wal-Mart. They neglect to mention  that many employees already have insurance through their parents  because they are under 21 years old and students, or through their  spouse because they are only working part-time, or through medicaid,  medicare, because they have a disability, or they are retired. They  also fail to compare Wal-Mart's insurance to Kmart, Target, ShopKo, and  other similar retail stores, WHY? 

 They state that Wal-Mart  employees make up the number one group of people on government  assistance. But they are also the largest employer of unskilled labor.  Does it not follow that they would also have the largest number of  employees on government assistance? 

 Wal_Mart is paying $8  an hour-- So what, that is more than UI work study and student jobs,  Shop Ko, McD's, Zip's, and most other unskilled  labor jobs in  Latah, Whitman, and Nez Pierce, why not get  bent out of shape  over that? Remember, minimum wage in Moscow is $5.15 an hour. Wal-Mart  pays 55% over what it legally has to pay. If $8 buck an hour is bad,  how about changing the $5.15 an hour instead? 

 Having a  campaign to just BASH Wal-Mart is destructive, unproductive and  pointless. If your goal is to raise the minimum wage, I am with you. If  your goal is to require large corporations to improve labor conditions,  I am with you. If you goal is to provide better health care to  everyone, I am with.

 However, I think the tactic of just  cherry picking data about Wal_mart and bashing the company for doing  what Target, ShopKo, Macy's, JC Penny, Sears, and every other  corporation does too while having no other strategy to improving  conditions for workers, is just wasting everyone's time. 

  Remember, Wal-Mart is here already. They are just adding a grocery  store which does not use sweat shops or import foreign goods from third  world nations. They will decrease the cost of food, which the second or  third largest cost for the poor. 

  Take Care,

  --DJA

Tim <tim.rigsby at hotmail.com> wrote:  
Dear vision2020 at moscow.com,

Will  you join my fight to change Wal-Mart and build a better America? More  than 130,000 supporters in all 50 states have already joined the  fastest growing social movement in America - WakeUpWalMart.com.

Please join me in becoming a part of the WakeUpWalMart.com movement:

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/signup/ 

Wal-Mart  is America’s largest employer, 1.3 million employees, with over $10  billion in profit. Yet, Wal-Mart pays poverty level wages, leaves  600,000 of its workers without company health care, faces the largest  gender discrimination lawsuit in the country affecting 2 million female  workers, shuts down small businesses and helps ship our jobs overseas.

The  fight to change Wal-Mart is a fight for what kind of America we want to  live in. In our America, people come first. Multi-billion dollar  corporations shouldn’t be able to hide behind their special interest  lobbyists and billion dollar ad campaigns.

Wal-Mart must answer to the American people.

That  is why we are building the largest grassroots campaign to change a  corporation in history. By changing Wal-Mart, we improve people’s  lives, help our community and build a better America.

Please join me today and tell Wal-Mart to change.

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/signup/ 

We have the power to change Wal-Mart, but it starts with you.

Thanks,

Tim Rigsby
( tim.rigsby at hotmail.com )

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