As college students, my roommates and I thrived on going to Wal-Mart. 24-hour Wal-Marts were even better as we could go late at night when there would be no crowds; so we'd find ourselves shopping there at midnight or something close to that. Since then I've not gone as there are very few Wal-Marts in the Los Angeles area. Most Wal-Marts are about 45 minutes away from where I live, so I've found other places to shop. But in recent years I've heard some questionnable things about how Wal-Mart goes about doing business and it has not been positive. And...it continues.
Human Rights Watch published an article on 5/1/07 regarding the labor practices of Wal-Mart and their abuses of weak US labor laws. For more specifics and to watch the media presentations, click here. The primary concern was the anti-union stance this retail giant continues to present. Workers are discouraged to organize into unions and many fear loss of jobs and/or benefits if any attempts are made to organize. The company prohibits any distribution of union flyers or talks about unions while other non-union related materials are allowed to circulate.
For those of you who shop regularly at Wal-Mart, this may come as a shock; it did for me years ago. But I think we must be informed consumers and shoppers. I for one refuse to spend my money shopping somewhere that continually violates workers' rights. What do you think? Read the article from Human Rights Watch, or at least see the videos the article has a link to, and decide for yourself.
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