One Year, No Days Off

Wal-Mart may turn a blind eye to labor violations in their supplier factories, but what about violations in their supercenters?  The following article details workers at a Wal-Mart in Jinling, China who labor 365 days a year without a single day off.  The workers risk severe reprimand for taking days off or complaining about their arduous schedules.  Wal-Mart claims the workers aren’t Wal-Mart’s responsibility, but if even if that’s true, how could Wal-Mart just sit by and allow the exploitation of workers on their property? Perhaps such a situation is not too surprising, though, given Wal-Mart’s history of labor abuses and outright disrespect for labor laws.  What’s next, Wal-Mart?  Maybe locking employees in?

Wal-Mart Sales Promotion Employees Work Everyday, 365 Days! [Jinling Evening Paper via Nanjing News, 5/22/08]

The other day, a Wal-Mart food department factory representative from Wal-Mart’s Xin Street Supermarket complained to a Jinling Evening Paper reporter:  From the time she entered Wal-Mart until now, she has scarcely had any rest.  One year, 365 days, she has worked everyday.  Not only are there sales promotion employees like her in other departments working like she does, some who cannot stand these conditions have taken personal days off only to be severely reprimanded the next day.

“Our work time is from 7:30 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon; or from 3pm until 10:30 in the evening.  After work, we still have to attend a meeting until 11pm.  Many of us sales promotion employees live comparatively far away.  We arrive home very late at night,” this sales promotion employee informed reporters.

“Sales promotion employees are in fact factory staff and have work relations with the factory which simply dispatches the workers to Wal-Mart for work.  Factory personnel told us workers that sales promotion employees have one day off a week.  However, in the supermarket, supermarket manager, Zhang Mou, won’t permit workers to rest.  He said once you enter Wal-Mart, you must listen to Wal-Mart, if not, go home.  If the factory intercedes, Wal-Mart will remove their goods.  Before, many of us sales promotion employees worked at Carrefour, Jin Runfa (RT Mart), etc.  All these supermarkets give the regular time off unlike Wal-Mart where we are the lowest employees.  Where we eat, the hot food is all separate.  Wal-Mart’s staff has two days off every week.  We sale promotion employees don’t have a single day off.  We stand every day for eight hours.  Our legs are swollen.  We’ve made known our circumstances to the store’s sales promotion department.  The staff has recorded our state of affairs, but nothing has changed.” Sales promotion employees seem to have no options.

This reporter has passed through other channels to contact other sales promotion employees and has confirmed the above mentioned employees statements.  Another sales promotion employee told this reporter that “the work period is to work one day and have then have one day off.  However, the work day is from 7:30 in the morning to 10:30 at night, a 15 hour day.  Don’t say this is about women’s work – a big man’s body simply couldn’t stand this.  From day one at Wal-Mart, the work period has always been like this.  There is simply no day to rest.  Our average work day is seven and a half hours, but there is no day off.  We go to work everyday, 365 days a year.  This certainly violates labor law.  Many sales promotion employees dare not say anything, though, for they are afraid that management will hear and the workers will receive a scolding.  Even though wages are paid from the factory, when we are working at Wal-Mart, we are under Wal-Mart’s control.  The factory and Wal-Mart sales promotion department have both said this to us.”

This reporter phoned Wal-Mart’s public relations department and a staff member informed: “Supermarket sales promotion employees’ rest has two circumstances.  One is to work one day, all day long, and then rest one day.  The other is to work everyday for eight hours and have one day off a week.  Our company follows a strict accordance to labor law provisions for work periods.  Moreover, sales promotion employees work schedules are set by the factory and are unrelated to Wal-Mart.  As far as Wal-Mart managers not allowing workers rest periods, we are involving those in charge to seek confirmation.  They say that nothing of the sort has been spoken.”

Posted by Michael Mignano on Tuesday, May 27, 2008

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