Discounting Rights: Wal-Mart’s Violation of US Workers’ Right to Freedom of Association

Wal-Mart is the largest company in the world, based on the Fortune Global 500 list.  In the fiscal year that ended January 31, 2007, Wal-Mart had more than $351 billion in revenue, up over 11 percent from the year before, and roughly $11.3 billion in profits.  Wal-Mart is also the largest private employer in the United States, with roughly 1.3 million US workers and close to 4,000 stores nationwide.  None of those 1.3 million workers is represented by a union.  This is no accident. 

Wal-Mart is a case study in what is wrong with US labor laws.  It is not alone among US companies in its efforts to combat union formation, following the incentives set out in unbalanced US labor laws that tilt the playing field decidedly in favor of anti-union agitation.  It is also not alone in violating weak US labor laws and taking advantage of ineffective labor law enforcement.  But Wal-Mart stands out for the sheer magnitude and aggressiveness of its anti-union apparatus and actions.   

Wal-Mart employs a sophisticated and determined strategy to prevent union activity at its US stores and, when that strategy fails, quashes organizing wherever it starts.  Wal-Mart has devised a comprehensive battery of corporate institutions, practices, and tactics aimed at frustrating union organizing activity.  It pursues its anti-union agenda relentlessly, often from the day a new worker is hired, devoting considerable time and resources at all levels of the company to the anti-union drumbeat. 

• Click here to download "Discounting Rights: Wal-Mart's Violation of US Workers' Right to Freedom of Association"
• Click here to access an online version of the report (from Human Rights Watch)