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Page 2 of 2 Wal-Mart employees earn 20 percent less than what the average retail worker earns, and over $10,000 less than what the average two-person family needs to meet its basic needs. The company enrolls fewer than half of its employees in its costly health insurance plan, compared to 67 percent for the average large employer. As a result, taxpayers end up subsidizing health care for the company's workers. In California alone, taxpayers pay $32 million annually in medical care for Wal-Mart employees.
Despite a growing chorus of criticism, Wal-Mart has moved recently to reduce the number of full-time jobs, establish wage caps on hourly jobs and institute scheduling rules in an effort to weed out older employees and employees with family responsibilities.
Several of the participants in today's press conference challenged the argument voiced by Wal-Mart and its supporters that the retailer should be embraced by urban communities with high unemployment. "Too often, we hear that for our communities, any job is a good job," said Rev. Lennox Yearwood, CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus in Washington, D.C. "We reject the idea that minority communities should settle for low-paying jobs without a future."
California State Senator Gil Cedillo, who represents Los Angeles, noted Wal-Mart's penetration into Latino as well as African American communities and said that the company's low prices come at too high a cost. "In order for our communities to achieve the American Dream, we need more than poverty-wage jobs. We need economic development that meets the real needs of our communities--good jobs that allow working people to support their families and provide a better life to their children."
Cedillo and other speakers made clear that while Wal-Mart must make fundamental changes, responsibility for creating good jobs in urban neighborhoods also lies with public officials. "We encourage elected officials throughout the country to join us in holding Wal-Mart accountable and for them to pledge to establish policies across urban America that promote good jobs and healthy communities," said Adrianne Shropshire, Executive Director of New York Jobs with Justice.
Urban leaders encouraged Wal-Mart to change its approach, warning that the company may ultimately lose the battle to establish a permanent presence in urban America unless dramatic steps are taken.
"Many communities across the country now see Wal-Mart as a symbol of corporate disregard for the American values of fairness, responsibility and respect," said Rev. Eric Lee, Executive Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Los Angeles. "As we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King's birth, we call on Wal-Mart and its CEO Lee Scott to lead the way in eradicating poverty rather than perpetuating it."
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