Posted on 02/18/2004 11:27:00 AM PST by Modernman
CONCORD - Colossus retailer Wal-Mart drains government resources because its low-paid, under-insured or non-insured workers have to rely on public subsidies, such as school lunch programs and Section 8 housing, according to a congressional report Rep. George Miller released here Monday.
With supporters of a March ballot measure to ban Wal-Mart superstores and other "big-box" businesses in unincorporated Contra Costa County flanking him, Miller, D-Martinez, ripped the Arkansas-based corporation for creating "downward spirals in communities," violating child labor and workplace safety laws and "paying wages below industry averages."
The report, which the Democratic staff of the House Education and Workforce Committee prepared, estimates that taxpayers bear $420,750 in social services costs for each Wal-Mart store with 200 workers. The company is the nation's largest employer with an estimated 1.2 million employees and more than 3,200 stores.
"Wal-Mart puts a great deal of pressure on its competitors to lower prices," said Miller at a Presidents Day news conference at his district office. "This is about the real price of Wal-Mart."
By not providing health insurance to workers who log less than 34 hours a week, "those workers go to public hospitals and everybody picks up the tab," he said.
Forcing employees to go back to work after punching out at time clocks and locking them inside stores on overnight shifts so they can't leave to seek medical attention also have been commonplace for the company, which Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, said was "built on human misery."
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams called the report irresponsible and said Miller was pandering to labor unions that make up much of his political base. Wal-Mart stores are non-unionized.
"We have no idea where these numbers came from," she said of figures Miller released. The company, she said, has provided jobs and health benefits to thousands of people "who would not have had jobs at all."
Contrary to news accounts, the chain does not force employees to work without pay, nor does it bar them access to emergency exits on overnight shifts in locked stores, she said.
"I am sure it has occurred," she said. "We should not be judged by those exceptions."
Miller and proponents of Measure L, which would ban retail stores of more than 90,000 square feet that devote more than 5 percent of their shelf space to non-taxable items, such as groceries, dovetailed their messages Monday.
County supervisors Mark DeSaulnier and John Gioia said the measure is aimed at blocking retail super stores because of fears of traffic congestion.
"It is about Wal-Mart. They created the model" for huge retail stores to sell not only items typically associated with lower-end department stores, but also the grocery business under the same roof, DeSaulnier added.
Miller and others said they believe the company intends to build 40 such superstores in California and the threat of non-unionized workplaces paying low wages is the primary subtext of the Southern California grocery workers strike.
"Wal-Mart puts a great deal of pressure on competitors to lower wages," Miller said.
Barbara Carpenter, president of United Food and Commercial Workers local 79 said Wal-Mart's superstores "have had a devastating impact on working men and women. They have a profit-first mentality."
DeSaulnier and Gioia said they would support Measure L whether or not Wal-Mart was unionized.
But Miller did not shy away from his labor roots.
"Unions have created the middle-class wage base in this country," he said.
Having said all this, I should add that I wouldn't shop at Wal-Mart if it were the last retailer standing. Their stores are filthy and their merchandise is crap.
Jobs and sales taxes are the big draw.
That's for sure...the first week in March, WalMart's first Supercenter (including grocery) is scheduled to open up right here in La Quinta, California. If the food portion of that store is anywhere near as scuzzy as our existing WalMart, the authorities will shut it down pronto.
Agreed. My favorite big box retailers are Meijers and Target.
That's it in a nutshell. I'm all for capitalism. They're not breaking any laws.
The Walmart is Pocatello is very clean and well stocked. I often shop there after midnight because my wife finishes work at that hour. The floors are scrubbed daily. The employees are nearly 100% white, ages 16 to 25 plus a few seniors in the 65+ range as greeters. The young employees are high school kids or students from the local university.
I submit that the condition of your Walmart may be more a function of the quality of the local labor population.
Barbara, here's a quarter to buy a clue.
If you are working for a company whose primary goal isn't "to make money," you won't be working for them for very long.
A company's goal isn't to "pay great wages" or "offer low prices" or even "highest quality" - those are all secondary - because if they aren't looking at making money, then they can't pay great wages, offer low prices, or offer the highest quality.
Get a clue and get out of the union "me-first-to-hell-with-the-company" mentality that will only cost you your job in the long run...
I agree. I don't have a strong opinion on them and I generally don't shop there. However, in some small towns, Wal-Mart does a very good job of wiping out local stores.
But how long will it take for new laws to be created?
Nobody ever claimed that small town government officials were good at economics.
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