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Wal-Mart deals with issues plaguing company

Michael Rispoli

Issue date: 9/16/04 Section: Opinion
Wal-Mart employs more than 1.2 million people in the United States currently, and none of them belong to a union.

Same goes for all former employees because Wal-Mart forbids their workers from unionizing. Over two-thirds of these workers are women, but over ninety percent of all store managers are male. Less than one third of all the store management positions are female, which is fifty-six percent lower than their major competitors.

Wal-Mart does have some places where men and women earn equal wages. They are in the factories of outsourced jobs in third world countries with which Wal-Mart does business. Wal-Mart offers great prices on quality clothing. Eighty-three percent of this exclusive apparel is from factories outside the U.S.

Wal-Mart clothing factory employees in Saipan work 10-12 hour shifts seven days a week, and earn about $3 dollars an hour. What happens if you fall in love and get pregnant? Fired! Problem with the conditions? Fired! And forget about worshiping or going to a political function, because the factory forbids religious activity or active political affiliation. Keep those prices rolling back!

Women struggling for equal pay is not new, but in a time where women are supposed to be treated equal, the giant corporation denies women these rights.

The largest class action suit ever against a private employer was filed in June 2001 and is in the process of going through appeals and the court system. All female employees since Dec. 26, 1998, a number is estimated to be about 1.6 million women, are involved in the class action suit.

In all of this, it may be lost that Wal-Mart does employ the most women in the nation. So, maybe taking these women's thoughts into consideration would be a good idea when having business meetings. After all, they do represent your general work force right. That is probably why female Wal-Mart employees were required to attend meetings and outings at Hooters and strip clubs. If not, they would probably end up like their female counterparts in the factories who also stood up to authority.
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