WAL-MART IS NOW THE WORLD’S BIGGEST CORPORATION, WITH MORE THAN ONE MILLION EMPLOYEES (THREE TIMES MORE THAN GENERAL MOTORS),THE AVERAGE WALMART EMPLOYEE MAKES ONLY $15,000 A YEAR FOR FULL TIME WORK. AND Most are held to part-time work. Then there’s China. wal mart moved its worldwide purchasing headquarters to China in 1998. Today, IT IS THE LARGEST IMPORTER OF CHINESE MADE PRODUCTS IN THE WORLD, BUYING $10 BILLION WORTH OF MERCHANDISE FROM CHINESE FACTORIES A YEAR. The bottom-feeding labor policy of this one corporation is actually lowering standards in China, Even though China’s minimum wage is 31 cents an hour--not even a living wage--these production workers are paid 13 cents an hour. They also must pay for their own medical treatment and are fired if they are too ill to work. The work is literally sickening, since there’s no health and safety enforcement and these factories employ mostly young women and teenage girls. With its dominance over its own 1.2 million workers and 65,000 suppliers this one company is the world’s most powerful private force for lowering labor standards for middle class workers everywhere. Using its sheer size, market clout, access to capital, and massive advertising budget, It hits a town or city neighborhood like a retailing neutron bomb, sucking out the economic vitality and all of the local character. By slashing its retail prices way below cost when it enters a community, Wal-Mart can crush our groceries, pharmacies, hardware stores, and other retailers, then raise its prices once it has monopoly control over the market. this giant eliminates three decent jobs for every two Wal-Mart jobs that it creates--and a store full of part-time, poorly paid employees hardly builds the family wealth necessary to sustain a community’s middle-class living standard. Instead of wal-mart’s profits staying in town to be reinvested locally, the money is either to be used as capital for conquering yet another town or simply to be stashed in the family vaults (by the way FIVE OF THE TEN RICHEST PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE WALTONS). Wal-Mart’s radical remaking of our labor standards and our local economies is occurring mostly without our knowledge or consent. WHY SHOULD WE ACCEPT THIS?

paraphrased by Kevin Stuart

original article B Y J I M H I G H T O W E R

ps. article written 2004