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Worst "Corporation" of the Week |
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Wednesday, 02 April 2008 |
There’s a certain place in Boone that attracts more people than any ski slope, restaurant, store or festival. It’s a place where you can buy anything from a shotgun and baby clothes to a lawnmower and a carton of eggs. Students depend on it, as do the economically disadvantaged members of the community. Even the affluent citizens of Boone can’t turn down the prices that are probably rolling back as I write.
Who can blame them?
Wal-Mart
has everything anyone could possibly need in a single trip. And the
greeters at the entrance are so welcoming and sincere.
It’s easy to see the benefits of this mega-store, but while you are pinching pennies on a toaster oven
made from the cheapest parts China could find, just hope that the precious greeter that made you feel
so at home doesn’t have an accident or fall ill.
A recent occurrence with a permanently disabled employee has landed Wal-Mart decision-makers in
hot water and has solidified the corporation as one of the greediest and most despicable companies in
the world.
Debbie Shank worked nights stocking shelves in a Missouri Wal-Mart. When a tractor-trailer decimated
her automobile eight years ago and left her with severe brain damage, Wal-Mart’s employee health plan
fully covered her hospital costs.
However, when Shank sued the tractor-trailer company and was rewarded $417,477 after attorney fees,
Wal-Mart sued Shank for $469,217 in hopes of getting compensation for her medical expenses.
This is a 52-year-old woman who is confined to a nursing home for the rest of her life and has lost most
of her memory and the ability to communicate.
This is a women who was employed by a corporation that netted $106.269 billion in the fourth quarter of
2007 alone.
After intense pressure from advocacy groups and cable media, Wal-Mart executives decided to back
off the subrogation suit, which was intended to obtain money from a family who’s financial
compensation fund is already down to $270,000 since the ongoing extensive medical bills.
This mistreatment of a Wal-Mart employee should come as no surprise. No corporation has more
disproportionate wages between executives and laborers in the world.
It’s no wonder that a PBS investigation found that about 70 percent of employees leave within the first
year – a turnover rate not even Appalachian Food Services can match.
And although women make up a considerable majority of Wal-Mart’s hourly-paid workforce, they are
terribly underrepresented in management levels. The lack of opportunities for women to get their hands
on any of the endless cash has led to an ongoing gender discrimination lawsuit, which estimates over
a million women earned less than men and were bypassed for promotions.
I always found it funny that Wal-Mart has become an archetype for American consumerism.
Sure, the corporation embraces the framework of free-market capitalism (even though capitalism does
require competition to be successful), but Wal-Mart is involved with policies that would be considered
egregious by most of their shoppers if they were somewhat aware.
Wal-Mart shoppers are overwhelmingly patriotic, social conservatives who pride themselves in owning
dozens of American flags and pulling the straight G.O.P. ticket whenever they get the chance. Yet,
Wal-Mart, which once carried an overwhelming amount of products that were assembled domestically,
receives a vast majority of its products from China and has even been found in many cases to have
hired…(gasp)…illegal immigrants!
Sometimes, instead of hiring illegal immigrants, it pays to cut out the middle-man and go straight to the
source in Bangladesh, where 14-year-old children will work 80 hours a week for less than a dollar an
hour.
As long as we continue to turn a blind eye to why that microwave was $20 and why that 70-year-old
woman is stocking shelves in the middle of the night, Wal-Mart executives will continue to thrive and
incidents like Debbie Shank’s will continue to fly under the radar.
If low-wages, sexism, clandestine overseas operations and shoddy products don’t turn you off, you can
at least buy your albums from a store that doesn’t engage in censorship. “I mean, the new (insert
marginally talented artist) is edited, dude."
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