Research Center: Labor Relations

TITLE DATE
Breaking from Tradition: The Unionization of Wal-Mart China A Wal-Mart Watch fact sheet on the unionized workers of Wal-Mart’s China stores. 04/08/08
The Wal-Mart Debate: A False Choice Between Prices and Wages A study from the Economic Policy Institute examining Wal-Mart’s low prices, and whether the company could afford to pay its workers better. 03/31/08
Co-op America’s Guide to Ending Sweatshops Co-op America report on how to end sweatshops and building a sweatshop-free lifestyle. 03/27/08
International Worker Rights Class Action Against Wal-Mart In the most comprehensive legal campaign yet, a suit was filed in September 2005 on behalf of workers from four continents for massive, systematic wage and hour violations. 01/23/08
What Do We Know About Wal-Mart? An Overview of Facts and Studies This report from the Brennan Center “is intended to help New Yorkers make informed policy decisions about economic development in their communities.” 01/14/08
Wal-Mart and Health Care: Condition Critical A report from the Center for a Changing Workforce on Wal-Mart’s insufficient health care policies. 01/14/08
A Handshake with Sam An agreement of shared principles offered in good faith to the executives and board members of Wal-Mart.  01/04/08
Out with the Old: Wal-Mart’s Year-Long Pursuit of a Younger, Cheaper Workforce In October, 2005, an internal memo to the Wal-Mart Board of Directors explained the corporation’s plans to scale back employee benefits and reduce health care coverage for its employees.Out With the Old examines how Wal-Mart has changed its health care system since then, and where it is headed. 01/04/08
Results of Wal-Mart Watch/Westhill 2007 Public Opinion Survey A summary of the findings of Wal-Mart Watch’s April 2007 poll of consumer perceptions of Wal-Mart.  01/03/08
Wal-Mart’s Worker Compensation Program How Wal-Mart’s Workers’ Compensation Practices Are Costing Its Workers, the States and Taxpayers 01/03/08
Wal-Mart’s Stalled GLBT Policies Information on Wal-Mart’s health benefits, discrimination policy and corporate behavior towards gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered employees. 01/03/08
Wal-Mart’s Global Labor Violations Over the past few years, the retailer has accumulated a bevy of sweatshops to produce cheap goods at the cost of exploited labor.  01/03/08
Wal-Mart’s Wage and Hour Violations Wal-Mart is currently facing more than 80 lawsuits at various stages of the legal process. The potential financial impact of these cases and those still to come are massive, even for a behemoth such as Wal-Mart.  01/03/08
Discounting Rights: Wal-Mart’s Violation of US Workers’ Right to Freedom of Association Human Rights Watch’s first report on US-based labor violations, this report examines Wal-Mart’s systematic anti-union practices. 12/20/07
The Impact of Substantial Labor Cost Increases on Apparel Retail Prices Workers’ Rights Consortium report on labor cost increases and how such increases would impact product prices in Wal-Mart stores. 12/20/07
Asda Wal-Mart: The Alternative Report This report from War on Want reviews Wal-Mart’s record over and against its rhetoric on corporate social responsibility and recommends action, both to send a message to Wal-Mart and to redress some of the damage inflicted by the company’s operations. 12/20/07
Frontline: Is Wal-Mart Good for America? This television special from PBS’s “Fronline” examines the impact Wal-Mart has on several aspects of American life. 12/19/07
Wal-Mart Exports from China, Exports Ohio Jobs More than half of the jobs lost from Ohio’s manufacturing sector were shipped overseas. Not surprisingly, as Ohio lost significant numbers of manufacturing jobs, imports from China surged. 12/19/07
Wrestling with Wal-Mart: Tradeoffs Between Profits, Prices and Wages A working paper from the Economic Policy Institute examining the costs and benefits of Wal-Mart stores.  12/19/07
Statistical Analysis of Gender Patterns in Wal-Mart Workforce This report by CSU professor (and counsel for Dukes v. Wal-Mart) Richard Drogin examines gender-based patterns in Wal-Mart’s hiring and promotion practices. 12/19/07
Neither Global Nor Standard: Corporate Strategies in the New Era Of Labor Standards This report from Cornell University examines the implications of regulating labor standards through corporations, rather than national law. 12/19/07
Wal-Mart: An Example of Why Workers Remain Uninsured and Underinsured (AFL-CIO) This report from the AFL-CIO examines why fewer than half of Wal-Mart’s employees are insured under the company plan. 12/19/07
A Downward Push: The Impact of Wal-Mart Stores on Retail Wages and Benefits This study from U.C. Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education examines Wal-Mart stores’ effect on local wages and employee benefits. 12/06/07
University of Pennsylvania: Wal-Mart and County-Wide Poverty Wal-Mart unequivocally raised family poverty rates in US counties during the 1990s relative to places that had no such stores. 12/05/07
UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research: Living Wage Policies and Wal-Mart Wal-Mart could increase its minimum wage to $10 per hour and greatly boost the well-being of its low-income workers with little financial impact on most shoppers. 12/05/07
Labor Rights are Human Rights A review of Canadian labor rights from a human rights perspective. 11/26/07
Campaign to Organize Wal-Mart in Canada A look into UFCW’s attempts to organize Wal-Mart Canada. 11/26/07
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. 2007 Sustainability Report "We have found that there is no conflict between our business model of everyday low costs and everyday low prices and being a more sustainable business.” 11/19/07
Foreign Ventures Come to Terms with China’s Labor Unions An article from The New Republic on Wal-Mart’s co-operation with labor unions at its Chinese stores.  12/15/06
Lee’s Garage Examples of internal correspondence between Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott and his managers. 11/03/06
Issue Background Documents Background information on various issues related to Wal-Mart 11/01/06
Out with the Old—Wal-Mart’s Year-Long Pursuit of a Younger, Cheaper Workforce Wal-Mart Watch explores the changes made by Wal-Mart a year after the release of the controversial Chambers Memo. 10/30/06
Wal-Mart Training Manuals Wal-Mart Cashier Training Manuals 10/16/06
Handshake With Sam Research Documents Backup research documents for Wal-Mart Watch’s Handshake with Sam 10/13/06
Wal-Mart’s Sweetheart Deal with the Department of Labor These documents examine Wal-Mart’s preferential treatment at the Department of Labor. 10/13/06
Savaglio v. Wal-Mart - Order Denying Wal-Mart’s Motion to Compel Plantiffs to Elect Remedies Order pertaining to a wage-and-hour case involving about 116,000 former and current Wal-Mart Stores Inc. workers. 07/23/06
The Hidden Cost of Wal-Mart Jobs A report from the UC Berkeley Labor Center on the toll Wal-Mart takes on local tax infrastructures. 02/06/06
Wal-Mart 2005 Annual Report Our fiscal year ending January 31, 2005 was another record year for Wal-Mart. We topped $10 billion in net income for the first time in our history and added almost $29 billion in sales. 02/05/06
Susan Chambers Memo On October 26, 2005 the New York Times reported a “secret” memo written by Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart Executive Vice President for Benefits, for the Wal-Mart Board of Directors. 10/26/05
Global Labor Complaint Against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Filing for a class action lawsuit against Wal-Mart for its continued use of unfair labor overseas. 09/13/05
Wal-Mart’s 2005 Diversity Report Wal-Mart’s 2005 report on employee diversity rates. 07/01/05
New York City Comptroller Compliance Letter Shareholders request the New York Comptrollers Office investigate labor violations and corruption at Wal-Mart. 06/23/05
Low Prices at What Cost? Wal-Mart Watch’s 2005 Annual Report Our look at some of the most important issues surrounding Wal-Mart’s business practices. 05/23/05
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. 2005 Ethical Sourcing Report Wal-Mart’s 2005 report on the state of its ethical sourcing intiative. 05/01/05
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Global Statement of Ethics Wal-Mart’s code of ethics for supplier factories. 01/15/05
Inside the Leviathan (New York Review of Books) The New York Review of Books takes a look at Wal-Mart who has “grown into a business whose dominance of the corporate world rivals GM’s in its heyday.” 12/01/04

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