Labouring the Walmart Way Essay

1 Always low prices. Always. This is the slogan of the worlds largest corporation, a U.S.-based retailer whose big-box stores tender a one-stop shop, from groceries to garments to garden hoses. The secret of Walmarts success is to give consumers the lowest prices-14 percent lower than its competitors (Greenho handling, 2003)-by increasing the efficiency of the supply chain, the productivity of the labour force, and the use of labour saving technology. Competitors must adopt a similar business plan, offer something Walmart does not, or go out of business-as Woolco, Eatons, Simp sons, and Woodwards have in Canada (Moore & Pareek, 2004). The influence of the Walmart fabric is not likely to wane in the near future. With over 235 stores in Canada and plans for rapid expansion, Walmart and its effects on labour are worth considering. Are its offers of jobs, its status toward unionization, and its influence on industry labour practices worth the low price on the shelf?2 One of the most f requent complaints about Walmart, which employs 1.4 trillion people worldwide, is its failure to pay workers a living wage. Store employees are paid 20-30 percent less than the industry average, making many of them eligible for kindly assistance. It is estimated that American taxpayers fork out $2.5 billion a year in welfare payments to Walmart employees (Head, 2004). Because the retailer hires hard-to-place workers, like recent immigrants, seniors, and single mothers, its employees are often hangdog they will not find work elsewhere. The kind of work Walmart does offer is gruelling stores are intentionally understaffed-the strategy behind the companys legendary productivity gains-so that existing employees will work harder (Head, 2004). It is alleged that systemic discrimination against women within the corporation has denied the majority of Walmart workers the chance at promotion, a charge that is flat the subject of the largest civil-rights suit in U.S. history.