Watch out Wal-Mart, Our campaign is underway
WalmartWatch.com launched with a big splash. After weeks of speculation, our public launch was on the pages of the New York Times , across the blogesphere and here on our new website. Download a copy of our full-page New York Times piece here.
We all need to be on-watch against Wal-Mart. Put simply, their sheer size, marketshare and irresponsible business practices threaten you and your family, regardless of where you live, how you vote, and where you shop.
Over the coming days and weeks, we’ll be fueling a national conversation about the affect the irresponsible corporate behemoth has on our economy. Our goal is to spread the truth about Wal-Mart’s countless abuses on their employees, suppliers, and the communities they do business in.
This week, we’re kicking off by shedding light on Wal-Mart’s voracious appetite for public subsidies. Last Friday, Americans everywhere filed their federal tax returns and paid their fair share.
But not Wal-Mart.
The world’s largest corporation – with over $286 billion in annual sales and 1.2 million employees here in the U.S. – cost American taxpayers over $1.5 billion in 2004. Our public funds are padding their corporate profit by taking on their responsibilities as an employer. We are paying for the healthcare, childcare and housing assistance for countless Wal-Mart employees.
(And this is just in federal subsidies; we’re still calculating the cost to state and local tax payers.)
They call them “associates” and treat them like interns.
In exchange for cheap goods, Americans (8 in 10 of whom will shop at Wal-Mart this year) are picking up the tab for healthcare, school lunches, and affordable public housing that Wal-Mart should provide.
Here are some mind-blowing facts:
- California spends an estimated $89 million annually providing public assistance to Wal-Mart’s employees.
- In Georgia, over 10,000 children of Wal-Mart employees are on state-funded healthcare.
- Wal-Mart spends $1,300 less per employees on healthcare than average retailers and $2,100 less than average U.S. companies (according to a recent Harvard Business School study)
Read the full research behind today’s New York Times feature.
This is a worthy fight that Americans’ everyone have a stake in. Winning will take much more than printing features in the newspapers.
This is where you come in. We need your involvement, your ideas and your support.
This week, we’re sending a letter to over 10,000 state and local elected officials urging them to join our cause and presenting them with the facts about Wal-Mart in their community.
Tell us about your existing efforts to oppose or reform Wal-Mart in your area.
