Consumerism https://www.morningsidecenter.org/ en Are Sweatshops and Child Labor Abroad Used to Make the Clothes We Wear? https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/are-sweatshops-and-child-labor-abroad-used-make-clothes-we-wear <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Are Sweatshops and Child Labor Abroad Used to Make the Clothes We Wear?</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><p><strong>To the Teacher</strong></p> <p>Over the last several decades, with the increasing integration of the global economy, more and more of our clothing has come from factories abroad. At the same time, social movements have expressed concern that some of these clothes are being made in sweatshops with exploitative labor conditions. In some cases, our clothing may be produced with the use of child labor. In recent years, several popular clothing brands have embraced the practice of “fast fashion,” a style of production where new clothes are produced in rapid response to the latest trends then sold at low prices. The business model, however, can place high demands on workers while pushing factories to find cheaper and cheaper forms of labor, leading to abusive conditions.</p> <p>This lesson includes two readings on the issue of sweatshops and child labor abroad, each with questions for class discussion. The first reading discusses the persistence of child labor in the garment industry supply chain. It also covers some charges against “fast fashion” brands accused of exploiting workers. The second reading documents the efforts of students in the 1990s to oppose their colleges’ sale of sweatshops clothing, and it draws lessons for young people today. Questions for discussion follow each reading.</p> <p><img alt="Clothing rack" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="9a4ae36c-3491-4c8f-a9ef-7b5ad0f714cd" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/artem-beliaikin-Ta3f1ZcCgWg-unsplash.jpg" width="6000" height="4000" loading="lazy"></p> <h5><em>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@belart84?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Artem Beliaikin</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Ta3f1ZcCgWg?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></em></h5> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h2>Reading One: “Fast Fashion,” Sweatshops, and Child Labor Abroad</h2> <p>Take a moment to look at the tags on your clothing. What country were your clothes made in? What do you know about the labor conditions there?</p> <p>Over the last several decades, with the increasing integration of the global economy, more and more of our clothing has come from factories abroad. At the same time, social movements have expressed concern that some of these clothes are being made in sweatshops with exploitative labor conditions. In some cases, our clothing may be produced with the use of child labor.</p> <p>In recent years, several popular clothing brands have embraced the practice of “fast fashion,” a style of production where new clothes are produced in rapid response to the latest trends then sold at low prices. The business model, however, can place high demands on workers while pushing factories to find cheaper and cheaper forms of labor, leading to abusive conditions.</p> <p>Workers’ rights advocates point out that child labor and sweatshops are not merely foreign problems; they <a href="https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/child-labor-shadow-workforce-us">exist</a> in the United States as well. At the same time, countries with weaker labor laws and workers’ protections create opportunities for abuse. In a January 2015 <a href="https://labs.theguardian.com/unicef-child-labour/">article</a> for The Guardian, written in collaboration with the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), investigative journalist Josephine Moulds discussed the prevalence of child labor in the garment industry supply chain globally, as well as the labor pressures generated by “fast fashion.” Moulds wrote:<br> &nbsp;</p> <blockquote> <p>Child labour is forbidden by law in most countries but continues to be rife in some of the poorest parts of the world.</p> <p>The situation is improving. ILO estimates suggest child labour declined by 30% between 2000 and 2012, but still 11% of the world’s children are in situations that deprive them of their right to go to school without interference from work.</p> <p>Many of these child labourers work within the fashion supply chain, making the textiles and garments to satisfy the demand of consumers in Europe, the US, and beyond.</p> <p>Fast fashion has engendered a race to the bottom, pushing companies to find ever-cheaper sources of labour. That cheap labour is freely available in many of the countries where textile and garment production takes place.</p> <p>Sofie Ovaa, global campaign coordinator of Stop Child Labour, says: “There are many girls in countries like India and Bangladesh, who are willing to work for very low prices and are easily brought into these industries under false promises of earning decent wages.”</p> <p><a href="http://www.indianet.nl/pdf/FlawedFabrics.pdf">A recent report</a> by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) revealed that recruiters in southern India convince parents in impoverished rural areas to send their daughters to spinning mills with promises of a well-paid job, comfortable accommodation, three nutritious meals a day and opportunities for training and schooling, as well as a lump sum payment at the end of three years. Their field research shows that “in reality, they are working under appalling conditions that amount to modern day slavery and the worst forms of child labour…”</p> <p>Child labour is a particular issue for fashion because much of the supply chain requires low-skilled labour and some tasks are even better suited to children than adults. In cotton picking, employers prefer to hire children for their small fingers, which do not damage the crop.<br> &nbsp;</p> <p>[<a href="https://labs.theguardian.com/unicef-child-labour/">https://labs.theguardian.com/unicef-child-labour/</a>]</p> </blockquote> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>According to Moulds, roughly 170 million children around the world were engaged in child labor, which the United Nations defines as “work for which the child is either too young – work done below the required minimum age – or work which, because of its detrimental nature or conditions, is altogether considered unacceptable for children and is prohibited.” Unlike the UN’s definition on child labor, there is no single agreed-upon definition for sweatshops. However, the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), a labor rights monitoring organization, <a href="https://www.workersrights.org/affiliates/model-code/">includes</a> in its essential employment standards for all workplaces the mandate that they prevent child labor, maintain a maximum work week of 48 hours, provide a day off every week, and offer a livable wage.</p> <p>While not necessarily accused specifically of using child labor, a variety of fast fashion brands have been charged with having their clothing produced under exploitative conditions. In a 2022 article for Business Insider, business reporter Sarah Jackson <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shein-factory-workers-18-hour-shifts-paid-low-wages-report-2022-10?eType=EmailBlastContent&amp;eId=559da6e7-a3a2-43a7-8779-dc041b94364a">summarized</a> the results of an undercover investigation on the working conditions in the supply chain of the fast fashion brand Shein. Jackson wrote:<br> &nbsp;</p> <blockquote> <p>Fast-fashion company <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shein-china-billion-dollar-company-fast-fashion-brand-2021-8">Shein</a> sells clothes at dirt-cheap prices, and a new undercover investigation shows the human cost of maintaining that business model.</p> <p>Workers at factories in China that supply clothes to Shein frequently work up to 18 hours a day with no weekends and just one day off per month, according to an <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/consumer/shein-fast-fashion-workers-paid-3p-18-hour-days-undercover-filming-china-1909073">undercover investigation</a> from Channel 4 and The i newspaper in the UK.</p> <p>The news organizations say a woman using a fake name got a job inside two factories and secretly filmed what she saw as she worked there….</p> <p>"There's no such thing as Sundays here," said one worker shown in the footage, who said they work seven days a week.</p> <p>At one of the factories, workers get a base salary of 4,000 yuan per month — the equivalent of roughly $556 — to make at least 500 pieces of clothing per day, but their first month's pay is withheld from them, per the investigation. Many of these workers toil long hours to earn a commission of 0.14 yuan, or just two cents, per item.</p> <p>[<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shein-factory-workers-18-hour-shifts-paid-low-wages-report-2022-10?eType=EmailBlastContent&amp;eId=559da6e7-a3a2-43a7-8779-dc041b94364a">https://www.businessinsider.com/shein-factory-workers-18-hour-shifts-paid-low-wages-report-2022-10?eType=EmailBlastContent&amp;eId=559da6e7-a3a2-43a7-8779-dc041b94364a</a>]</p> </blockquote> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Shein is not the only company accused of exploiting working people abroad to produce their garments. A January 2023 study published by Aberdeen University and the advocacy group Transform Trade <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/11/fashion-brands-paid-less-than-production-cost-to-bangladesh-firms">found</a> that “Major international fashion brands, including Zara, H&amp;M and GAP, are exploiting Bangladesh garment industry workers, with some of them involved in unfair practices and paying the suppliers below the cost of production.”</p> <p>Between children working in the fashion supply chain and other exploitative conditions documented at garment factories, there is reason to be concerned about whether the clothing we wear has been fairly made. Such concerns have given rise to activist campaigns to support garment workers globally.<br> &nbsp;</p> <p><strong>For Discussion:</strong></p> <ol> <li>How much of the material in this reading was new to you, and how much was already familiar? Do you have any questions about what you read?</li> <li>According to the reading, how many children are estimated to be engaged in child labor around the world? What makes child labor a particular issue for the fashion industry?</li> <li>What would be your response if you learned that clothing you owned was made in sweatshop conditions?</li> <li>What responsibility do you think fashion companies have for ensuring that their clothes are not made under such exploitative conditions?</li> <li>What do you think are some things we can do to help improve conditions for workers laboring in garment factories or cotton farming abroad?</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h2>Reading Two: The Anti-Sweatshop Movement, From the 1990s to Today</h2> <p>While the rise of “globalization” in recent decades has raised concerns about modern-day sweatshops, it has also given rise to international efforts to support workers in the garment industry. In the 1990s, one group drawing attention to this issue was made up of college students pushing their universities to institute fair labor standards for the clothes that these institutions sold on their campuses.</p> <p>In a 2001 article for The American Prospect, urban and environmental policy professor Peter Dreier <a href="https://prospect.org/education/campus-anti-sweatshop-movement/">detailed</a> the rise of the anti-sweatshop movement on college campuses across the country, in particular highlighting the first campaign to arise at Duke University. Dreier wrote:<br> &nbsp;</p> <blockquote> <p>The campus movement began in the fall of 1997 at Duke when a group called Students Against Sweatshops persuaded the university to require manufacturers of items with the Duke label to sign a pledge that they would not use sweatshop labor. Duke has 700 licensees (including Nike and other major labels) that make apparel at hundreds of plants in the U.S. and in more than 10 other countries, generating almost $25 million annually in sales. Following months of negotiations, in March 1998 Duke President Nannerl Keohane and the student activists jointly announced a detailed "code of conduct" that bars Duke licensees from using child labor, requires them to maintain safe workplaces, to pay the minimum wage, to recognize the right of workers to unionize, to disclose the locations of all factories making products with Duke's name, and to allow visits by independent monitors to inspect the factories.</p> <p>​​The Duke victory quickly inspired students on other campuses. The level of activity on campuses accelerated, with students finding creative ways to dramatize the issue. At Yale, student activists staged a "knit-in" to draw attention to sweatshop abuses. At Holy Cross and the University of California at Santa Barbara, students sponsored mock fashion shows where they discussed the working conditions under which the garments were manufactured. Duke students published a coloring book explaining how (and where) the campus mascot, the Blue Devil, is stitched onto clothing by workers in sweatshops. Activists at the University of Wisconsin infiltrated a homecoming parade and, dressed like sweatshop workers in Indonesia, carried a giant Reebok shoe. They also held a press conference in front of the chancellor's office and presented him with an oversized check for 16 cents-the hourly wage paid to workers in China making Nike athletic shoes. At Georgetown, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, and Duke, students occupied administration buildings to pressure their institutions to adopt (or, in Duke's case, strengthen) anti-sweatshop codes.<br> &nbsp;</p> <p>[<a href="https://prospect.org/education/campus-anti-sweatshop-movement/">https://prospect.org/education/campus-anti-sweatshop-movement/</a>]</p> </blockquote> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Many of these campus groups came together to form the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) in the summer of 1998. Since its founding, USAS and the broader anti-sweatshop movement have raised awareness around sweatshops, <a href="https://www.reimaginerpe.org/node/866">negotiated</a> policy changes within universities and corporations, and helped establish the Workers’ Rights Consortium to monitor labor conditions in factories around the world. The organization remains active on college campuses today.<br> &nbsp;</p> <blockquote> <p>USAS recently launched a campaign <a href="https://www.nikesteals.com/">accusing</a> Nike of refusing to pay wages to a factory of workers in Thailand during the pandemic and calling on universities to end their contracts with the company. On February 24th, 2023, student journalist Phoebe Cykosky of The Daily Collegian newspaper at Penn State University <a href="https://www.psucollegian.com/news/campus/drop-nike-penn-state-chapter-of-united-students-against-sweatshops-calls-on-university-to-suspend/article_c5800354-b496-11ed-b72c-577b61e133f9.html">covered</a> a protest of USAS students on campus that called on the university leadership to “hold Nike accountable” and cut ties with the company. Cykosky wrote:</p> <p>[M]embers of the Penn State Chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops gathered [in front of the Allen Street Gates on Friday afternoon during a protest] to call on the university to suspend its Nike contract until worker’s rights violations at the Hong Seng Knitting Factory in Bangkok, Thailand are remediated.</p> <p>[Penn State graduate student Keegan] Conrad said the purpose of the protest was to continue “pushing for their rights to have their wages owed to them.”</p> <p>When the factory in Thailand temporarily closed during the coronavirus pandemic, “it was required by law to pay workers part of their wages,” according to the campaign’s website.</p> <p>“Instead, the factory forced workers to accept unpaid leave, robbing them of $600,000,” the website said.<br> &nbsp;</p> <p>[<a href="https://www.psucollegian.com/news/campus/drop-nike-penn-state-chapter-of-united-students-against-sweatshops-calls-on-university-to-suspend/article_c5800354-b496-11ed-b72c-577b61e133f9.html">https://www.psucollegian.com/news/campus/drop-nike-penn-state-chapter-of-united-students-against-sweatshops-calls-on-university-to-suspend/article_c5800354-b496-11ed-b72c-577b61e133f9.html</a>]</p> </blockquote> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>While anti-sweatshop activists can claim significant victories, a great deal of work remains to be done to eliminate abuses in the global economy. For this reason, the student movement that emerged in the 1990s offers valuable lessons for today.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>For Discussion:</strong></p> <ol> <li>How much of the material in this reading was new to you, and how much was already familiar? Do you have any questions about what you read?</li> <li>What policy changes were the student-activists in USAS demanding of their universities?</li> <li>What were some of the tactics used by student activists in the 1990s? Which of these do you think could make the biggest impact? Why?</li> <li>According to the reading, what were some of the accomplishments of USAS and the anti-sweatshop movement?</li> <li>What are some things that students today might do to tackle this issue?</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <p><em>— Research assistance provided by Sean Welch</em></p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>Sara Carrero</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2023-08-15T09:07:28-04:00" title="Tuesday, August 15, 2023 - 09:07">August 15, 2023</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Tue, 15 Aug 2023 13:07:28 +0000 Sara Carrero 1772 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org Bah Humbug? A Quick Lesson on Holiday Consumption https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/bah-humbug-quick-lesson-holiday-consumption <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Bah Humbug? A Quick Lesson on Holiday Consumption</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Around this time of year many Americans are enveloped in a world of giving and receiving presents. Here are some facts about the (mostly Christmas) present-giving and other festivities to brighten your holidays:<br> &nbsp;</p> <h4>1.&nbsp; Holiday spending</h4> <p><br> According to the Gallup Poll, the average American will spend $830 on gifts this holiday season. Retail companies depend on this holiday gift-buying to boost their bottom line. All this consumption also brings jobs, though many are temporary: According to the National Retail Federation, stores will hire over 700,000 seasonal workers to handle the holiday crush this year.</p> <p>But a survey by SunTrust Banks showed that 46% of Americans felt pressure to buy more presents than they can afford. A separate poll by T. Rowe Price asked parents if they agree with the statement, "I spend more for my kids over the holidays than I should have." 62% agreed with that statement. 16% said that they dipped into retirement or emergency funds to buy presents.</p> <p><strong>Discussion questions:</strong></p> <ul> <li>If your family tradition is to buy gifts this time of year, do you feel pressured to buy more than you should?</li> <li>How do you balance the joy of children receiving gifts against the financial (and psychological) stress that this gift-giving brings?</li> <li>Are there ways to bring joy without the stresses?</li> </ul> <p>Bonus statistics question: How useful is a national average? &nbsp;</p> <p>Take a closer look at the Gallup poll which found that the average American will spend $830 on gifts this year. What questions would you like answered about this statistic? Possible responses:</p> <ul> <li style="margin-left: 0.25in;">Were people who buy no presents included in the average?</li> <li style="margin-left: 0.25in;">Are two parents of children counted separately?</li> <li style="margin-left: 0.25in;">Since an average is given, not a median, is there a significant difference between the spending of wealthy people and those who are poor?</li> <li style="margin-left: 0.25in;">Were children included in the poll?</li> </ul> <p style="margin-left:.25in;">&nbsp;</p> <h4>2.&nbsp; Waste</h4> <p><br> Americans are no slouches in the garbage department.&nbsp; According to the EPA, we each generate an average of 4.38 pounds of it per day - nearly 1600 pounds per year. That makes us world leaders in waste.</p> <p>Americans generate more than 25 million <em>extra</em> tons of waste during the holiday season.</p> <p><strong>Discussion questions:</strong></p> <ul> <li>What accounts for the extra waste?</li> <li>What are some ways we could reduce the waste?&nbsp;Possible responses:</li> <li style="margin-left: 0.25in;">Reuse wrapping paper, ribbons, etc.</li> <li style="margin-left: 0.25in;">Give a gift that involves your time rather than a bought item.</li> <li style="margin-left: 0.25in;">Reduce food waste over the holidays.</li> <li style="margin-left: 0.25in;">Avoid disposable dishware, shopping bags, etc.</li> <li style="margin-left: 0.25in;">Use energy-efficient lighting and reduce number of hours of lighting.</li> <li style="margin-left: 0.25in;">Buy more durable presents--those that will still be useful one, two or ten years from now</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>3.&nbsp; Lights</h4> <p><br> Celebrating light (from yule logs to candles to Christmas lights) is an ancient tradition during the winter solstice season, the darkest point in the year.</p> <p>Modern holiday lights consume a lot of energy. A survey in Britain asking about Christmas lights usage, concluded that having lights on for six hours a day for the holiday season consumes as much electricity as 23 days of total electricity usage for the household.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Discussion question:</strong></p> <ul> <li>What are some ways we could reduce that number, while still celebrating light over the holiday, if we want to?</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>4.&nbsp; The Need for Stuff</h4> <p><br> Ultimately, stopping global climate change depends on our producing less and consuming less.</p> <p>Read the following passage from a column by Rosemary Randall in the Guardian:</p> <p class="rteindent1">Business people tell me they only produce what the public demand. Parents tell me they only buy what their children need to fit in. In-depth interviews reveal the extent to which people's sense of identity, their desire to belong, and their need for comfort, security, self-esteem, and the respect of others, are caught up in the marketplace and in patterns of consumption. There is nothing innate or unchanging in the desires for stuff however.</p> <p><strong>Discussion questions:&nbsp;</strong></p> <ul> <li>Do you agree that people’s needs for comfort, security, self-esteem and belonging are caught up in consuming? &nbsp;</li> <li>Do you feel that this is true about yourself?</li> <li>What do you think Rosemary Randall means by that last sentence?</li> <li>Do you agree with her?&nbsp; How possible is it for us to do without "stuff"? What will it take for that to happen?</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Some organizations focus specifically on reducing holiday spending. They include:</p> <ul> <li>Center for a New American Dream&nbsp; <a href="https://www.newdream.org/programs/beyond-consumerism/simplify-holidays">https://www.newdream.org/programs/beyond-consumerism/simplify-holidays</a></li> <li>Buy Nothing Christmas&nbsp; <a href="http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/index.html">http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/index.html</a></li> </ul> <p style="margin-left:1.0in;">&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><br> Sources</h4> <p><a href="http://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/holiday-spending-statistics-too-many-americans-are-overspending.html/?a=viewall">http://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/holiday-spending-statistics-too-many-americans-are-overspending.html/?a=viewall</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/186620/americans-plan-spending-lot-christmas.aspx?g_source=WWWV7HP&amp;g_medium=topic&amp;g_campaign=tiles">http://www.gallup.com/poll/186620/americans-plan-spending-lot-christmas.aspx?g_source=WWWV7HP&amp;g_medium=topic&amp;g_campaign=tiles</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/christmas-lighting-equal-to-228-days-electricity-2132113.html">http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/christmas-lighting-equal-to-228-days-electricity-2132113.html</a></p> <p><a href="https://nrf.com/resources/holiday-headquarters">https://nrf.com/resources/holiday-headquarters</a></p> <p><a href="http://www3.epa.gov/region9/waste/recycling/index.html">http://www3.epa.gov/region9/waste/recycling/index.html</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/consumption-patterns-behaviour-change">http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/consumption-patterns-behaviour-change</a></p> <p><a href="http://www3.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/2012_msw_fs.pdf">http://www3.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/2012_msw_fs.pdf</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2015-12-17T10:45:21-05:00" title="Thursday, December 17, 2015 - 10:45">December 17, 2015</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Thu, 17 Dec 2015 15:45:21 +0000 fionta 419 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org Walmart and Its Critics https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/walmart-and-its-critics <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Walmart and Its Critics</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><p class="byline"><strong>By Alan Shapiro</strong></p> <p style="text-align: left">&nbsp;</p> <p><b>To the Teacher:</b></p> <p>Wal-Mart, a powerhouse of American and global capitalism, has introduced and refined techniques for successful merchandising that have made it <em>Fortune</em> magazine's "most admired company in America" for the past two years. The materials that follow detail how Wal-Mart has achieved that status—and why, at the same time, it has come under increasing critical attack.</p> <p>A case study of Wal-Mart's operations is appropriate for classes studying such subjects as economic globalization, the outsourcing of American jobs and businesses, the union and feminist movements, information technology, health care issues, and the history of American business.</p> <p>Suggestions for student activities precede these materials; discussion questions follow each of the readings; further suggestions for the classroom conclude the materials.</p> <p><b>Suggested opening activities</b></p> <p><b>1.</b> If a Wal-Mart store is in the vicinity, probably most students have been there. What are their reactions to the store? What do they like most about it and why? What, if anything, do they dislike and why? What do they know about why <em>Fortune</em> magazine has named Wal-Mart the "most admired company in America" in each of the past two years? Are they aware of any criticisms of Wal-Mart?</p> <p>Questions students have about Wal-Mart might be the starting point for an inquiry-oriented approach to the subject. How might such questions be answered? See "<a href="https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/teaching-critical-thinking-believing-game-doubting-game">Teaching Critical Thinking</a>," available on this website, for detailed suggestions about this approach.<br> <b>2.</b> Speak with the store manager of your local Wal-Mart about arranging<br> a class field trip to the store and a question-and-answer session with him or her. Prepare students for the visit. What questions do they want to have answered, either by their observations or in a session with the manager?</p> <hr> <h3><b>Reading:</b></h3> <h2>The Wal-Mart Success Story</h2> <ul> <li>"Wal-Mart is working for everyone... The truth is Wal-Mart provides great value for customers, opportunities for our workforce, economic support for communities,"declared Lee Scott, President and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.,in an ad appearing in the <em>New York Times</em> and other newspapers (1/13/05).</li> <li>Wal-Mart makes "corporate crime an integral part of its business strategy," Liza Featherstone wrote in <em>The Nation</em> (1/3/05)</li> <li>Wal-Mart is the "most admired company in America" for 2003 and 2004, <em>Fortune</em> magazine announced.</li> <li>"I don't think Wal-Mart is good for America," said Jon Lehman, who worked for Wal-Mart for 17 years and managed six of its stores.</li> </ul> <p>Obviously there are differences of opinion about Wal-Mart. But there are no differences of opinion about the following facts:</p> <ul> <li>100 million people shop every week at Wal-Mart's more than 3,600 U.S. stores.</li> <li>Inglewood and Bakersfield, California are among the growing list of places whose citizens have prevented Wal-Mart from coming to town.</li> <li>Wal-Mart had $256 billion in sales in 2003, eight times more than Microsoft.</li> <li>A lawsuit covering 1.6 million current and former employees accuses Wal-Mart of systematically paying women less than men and offering women fewer opportunities for promotions.</li> <li>Wal-Mart estimates it imports $15 billion worth of Chinese products yearly; others give higher estimates.</li> <li>"I have always felt strongly that we don't need unions in Wal-Mart," its founder Sam Walton wrote in his autobiography. Official company policy to this day is to prevent the formation of unions among its employees.</li> </ul> <p>So even to report facts about Wal-Mart is to present a conflicting picture of America's most successful business. On one hand, the millions who shop at Wal-Mart's "big box" stores across America and other countries clearly enjoy the low prices, the huge variety of goods on sale, and the efficient service. But on the other hand, Wal-Mart now faces a regular drumfire of attacks charging it hurts local businesses when it opens new stores, mistreats workers, and exports American jobs and businesses to impoverished countries where labor is much cheaper and from which it earns much higher profits.</p> <p>So is Wal-Mart "working for everyone"? An answer might begin with its founder, Sam Walton (thus the name, Wal-Mart) who opened the first Wal-Mart in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962. Picking Rogers was no accident. A Wal-Mart website (walmartfacts.com) says, "Sam Walton built Wal-Mart on the revolutionary philosophies of excellence in the workplace, customer service, and always having the lowest prices." Walton was convinced that such philosophies—especially the one about low prices—were sure-fire winners for small-town, rural America.</p> <p>Walton was right. By 1970 he had stores in 38 locations. By 1979, he had 276 stores and $1 billion in sales. In 1987 he opened his first "hypermarket," a hybrid of grocery and general merchandise, in 1991 he opened his first store abroad, in Mexico City. At the time of his death in 1992, Sam Walton was the second richest man in the world.</p> <p>Today, Wal-Mart's 1.4 million employees worldwide make up a larger workforce than General Motors, Ford, General Electric, and IBM combined. (Samuel Head, "Inside the Leviathan," <em>New York Review,</em> 12/16/04) And it continues its extraordinary growth and development with a laser-like focus on reducing costs. This keeps prices low, sales growing, and profits high. How does Wal-Mart keep its costs so low?</p> <p>1) expert use of information technology</p> <p>2) pressure on manufacturers either to cut their prices or lose Wal-Mart's business</p> <p>3) importing goods from low-wage countries, especially China</p> <p>4) keeping wages and benefits low for its US workforce (For more on this last item, please see Reading 2.)</p> <p style="font-weight: bold">1) Expert use of information technology</p> <p><b>The bar code:</b> Let's say you've got a can of chicken-flavored cat food in your supermarket basket. The clerk swishes the can past an electronic scanner and you hear a "beep" to indicate that the bar code's black marking on the can has been "read" and its price recorded on your sales slip. "The cat food," says a former Wal-Mart store manager, Jon Lehman, " is recorded by the computer... and then an order is generated... that order goes to the distribution facilities throughout the company and that distribution facility, the warehouse, fills the order, and it's sitting back on the shelf the next night or the following night..."</p> <p>The bar code and wireless hand-held units operated by clerks and managers tell Wal-Mart exactly what item has been sold and at what price and then, through a computer network, the information is delivered to a company warehouse to replace it. Simple enough, but there's more. "You can track sales on specific items, specific weeks, specific days, specific hours of the day. You can find out what size of toothpaste is your best seller, what times of year you sell the toothpaste. You can track sales spikes during the year, during certain seasonal periods—clothes, sizes, colors, flavors—all of these things. It's really incredible." (Frontline)</p> <p>A Wal-Mart store generates a huge amount of information, enabling it to foresee what will probably sell well just before the Fourth of July or at Thanksgiving time. It can fine-tune its store inventory for young and old, rural and urban, warm and cool weather. It knows what type of back pack sells well when school begins and what kinds of jeans sell best when the school year ends. The upshot is that Wal-Mart avoids paying to acquire and store items that are not in demand—thus saving the company billions.</p> <p><b>The satellite system:</b> Wal-Mart has the largest commercial satellite system in the world. It collects information and beams it to its suppliers. Edna Bonacichi, a University of California sociology professor, explains: "So the idea is to master the process of production, movement of the goods, warehousing the goods, making sure that it arrives at the right place at the right time. That's what Wal-Mart is so good at. And they're very good at squeezing the price out of that. So they insist it be done cheaply, it be done accurately, it be done quickly." (Frontline)</p> <p><b>Credit or debit cards:</b> Other sources of information for Wal-Mart include credit or debit cards. "They can find out your mortgage amounts, your court dates, your driving record, your credit-worthiness," reports Katherine Albright, the founder and director of a consumer advocacy group. ( <em>New York Times,</em> 11/14/04). As the saying goes, information is power. So as it amasses more and more data about its customers, Wal-Mart is able not only to anticipate their buying habits, but also to pressure its suppliers</p> <p style="font-weight: bold">2) Pressure on manufacturers</p> <p>Wal-Mart knows not only its own business but also that of its suppliers of manufactured goods. Consider this fictional but realistic example: John Smith, a Wal-Mart executive, knows what Fred Jones, his supplier of hammers, spends on raw materials, production, and shipping costs. In line with Wal-Mart's policy of forcing its costs down, Smith tells Jones to deliver his hammers to Wal-Mart next year at a 3 percent discount. Jones protests. He tells Smith that his company is operating on a very small profit margin. That profit will be eliminated if he sells at that discount.</p> <p>Smith may have some sympathy for Jones' plight, but he has his marching orders from Wal-Mart. Jones must discount or forget Wal-Mart's business, which makes up a sizable portion of his yearly sales. Jones decides to shut his plant down. One hundred twenty-five union workers making good wages lose their jobs. Jones goes out of business or moves his plant to a cheaper labor area like Mexico or, better yet, China. In time, Wal-Mart will buy his hammers at the 3 percent discount, and Jones will still make money because of his sharply lower costs.</p> <p>Such a scenario is commonplace in Wal-Mart history for everything from socks to TV sets, from bikes to furniture. It helps to explain why Wal-Mart is able to undersell its competitors by an average of as much as 14 percent. ( <em>New York Times,</em> 10/19/03) It helps to explain why a retail analyst says, "Wal-Mart lives in a world of supply and command, instead of a world of supply and demand." ( <em>New York Times,</em> 11/14/04) In the automobile industry, General Motors and Ford continue to rule over their retailers, most of them relatively small car dealerships. But big box outfits like Wal-Mart have led the way to a new world in which the retailer rules over the manufacturer.</p> <p style="font-weight: bold">3) Importing goods</p> <p>Years ago, Sam Walton recognized the likely benefits of crossing the Pacific for lower-priced goods. At the same time in the 1980s that he was trumpeting his "Buy American" campaign, he had begun buying in quantity from China and other Asian countries. Walton may have been sincere in wanting to "Buy American," but he was a hard-nosed businessman."We're not interested in charity here," he wrote in his autobiography. "We don't believe in subsidizing substandard work or inefficiency." In fact, Wal-Mart was a latecomer to Asia. Sears, Kmart, Target, and JCPenney were already there.</p> <p>Wal-Mart's business with China became a touchy subject in 1989, after the Chinese government murdered student protestors in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Other Asian countries where Wal-Mart goods were produced were also coming under fire for their human rights abuses. Walton found a way to avoid criticism about this: He set up friends to act as middlemen through a new company called Pacific Resources Export, Ltd (PREL). PREL would do the buying for Wal-Mart, creating a layer of insulation between Wal-Mart and the labor practices of its suppliers.</p> <p>Just across the border from Hong Kong, Chinese leaders were turning Shenzhen, a fishing village, into a city of seven million with a huge industrial zone of factories and electronic centers. Working through PREL, Wal-Mart established Shenzhen as its global sourcing headquarters, ordering low-price goods and establishing its own in-house brands reflecting the tastes of its customers (as collected and analyzed by its sophisticated electronic tracking systems). Wal-Mart estimates that it imports $15 billion of Chinese goods yearly. Other analysts estimate the number could be as high as $30 billion.</p> <p>"Wal-Mart and China are a joint venture," says Gary Gereffi, a Duke University professor who studies global supply chains. "And both are determined to dominate the US economy as much as they can in a wide range of industries... Wal-Mart gives Chinese suppliers the specifications for Wal-Mart products. And they teach those suppliers to meet those specifications. They have to do with price. They have to do with quality. They have to do with delivery schedule. So, in a sense, Chinese suppliers learn how to export to the US market through large retailers like Wal-Mart." (Frontline)<br> Wal-Mart has some 6,000 global suppliers, as many as 4,800 of which are in China. It imports more than half of its non-food products. Since Chinese workers typically earn 50 cents an hour, the value of Wal-Mart's Chinese connection is not hard to calculate.</p> <p>In response to criticisms about the loss of businesses and jobs to Asian countries, Wal-Mart responds that it buys merchandise and services from more than 68,000 US suppliers—who in turn employ some 3.5 million Americans. (walmartfacts.com)</p> <p>Certainly Wal-Mart is not the only U.S.-based company that has exported most of its jobs to Asia. Home Depot, Nike, Toys 'R Us, and Hewlett Packard—to name just a few—have also been moving operations overseas. Wal-Mart Vice President Ray Bracey, commenting on cost pressures and the resulting off-shoring of American jobs and businesses, speaks of a "sad truth" and "a sad...situation," but clearly, in his view, an inevitable one. (Frontline)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-weight: bold">For discussion</p> <p><b>1.</b> What questions do students have? How might they be answered?<br> <b>2.</b> Why do you think Wal-Mart has been <em>Fortune</em> magazine's "most admired company in America"? What does the reading tell you about why Wal-Mart has been so successful?<br> <b>3.</b> Why would <em>The Nation</em> assert that "corporate crime" is an essential ingredient in Wal-Mart's business strategy?<br> <b>4.</b> What information is Wal-Mart able to gather about its customers? How? Why is this information so valuable to Wal-Mart?<br> <b>5.</b> Explain: "Wal-Mart lives in a world of supply and command instead of a world of supply and demand."<br> <b>6.</b> What are the advantages to Wal-Mart of its huge business with China? What are the advantages to China?<br> <b>7.</b> How does Wal-Mart answer criticisms about its outsourcing jobs and business to China?</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h3><span style="font-weight: bold; ">Reading:</span></h3> <h2>Wal-Mart, its associates, and the "keep out" sign</h2> <p><br> <br> <b>Part One:</b></p> <h4><b>Wal-Mart and its associates</b></h4> <p>"I don't think Wal-Mart's good for America," Jon Lehman, a former manager for six Wal-Mart stores, has concluded. "I think the average person that you run into in a Wal-Mart store may say: 'Yeah, I love this place because look at the stuff I can get. Look at the cheap prices.' But there's a cost for these low prices, and many people don't realize that."</p> <p>All the buying may temporarily be good for the economy, says Lehman, but we need to "look behind that yellow smiley face and see what's really happening to workers....that poor guy making $15, $16 an hour, now he's [going to be] making a fraction of that, $7, $8 an hour, working 32 hours a week; a meager health care plan that he's got to pay for now, token health care plan; no pension; no future. There's a revolving door at Wal-Mart—workers coming in, seeing the reality of it. They've been duped by the yellow smiley face many times." (Frontline)</p> <p>A company that makes billions in profits yearly would generally be considered a great success. But Wal-Mart has plenty of critics. Critics like Lehman who challenge Wal-Mart's treatment of its workers (the company calls them "associates"). Critics who argue that "corporate crime is "an integral part of its business strategy." Critics who don't want Wal-Mart in their neighborhood.</p> <p>Some facts:</p> <ul> <li>A Wal-Mart sales clerk's average pay was $8.50 an hour in the spring of 2004. That's about $14,000 a year and $1,000 below the federal government's definition of the poverty level for a family of three.</li> <li>Fewer than half of Wal-Mart's workers can afford even the least expensive health care benefits offered by the company. Part-time workers have to wait two years to apply for those benefits, which do not cover spouses.</li> <li>To cut costs, Wal-Mart chronically understaffs its stores. Jed Stone, a store manager from 1983 to 1991, says he had to break company rules by having employees work 50 hours a week or the store couldn't keep its shelves stacked or serve customers properly. Some workers say store managers pressure them to clock out and keep working without overtime pay.</li> <li>About 50 percent of Wal-Mart's workers in 2003 had left the store by the end of the year. At Costco that same year the figure was 24 percent.</li> <li>Every Wal-Mart store manager has a copy of the company's "Manager's Toolbox to Remaining Union Free," which states, "Staying union free is a full-time commitment." The "toolbox" includes information about a hotline for getting in touch with company headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, the minute a manager thinks there's danger of union activity. A corporate jet with a team of union-busters is shortly on the way to run compulsory anti-union employee meetings. When, somehow, workers in a Texas Wal-Mart meat-cutting department formed a union, the company's response was to shut down the department and fire its members. When the National Labor Relations Board ruled Wal-Mart's actions illegal, the company appealed the decision. (All of the above examples in the <em>New York Review,</em> 12/16/04)</li> <li>According to the AFL-CIO, there are currently well over 100 charges against Wal-Mart for unfair labor practices. <a href="http://www.aflcio.org/corporateamerica/walmart/">http://www.aflcio.org/corporateamerica/walmart/</a></li> <li>Wal-Mart agreed, 1/6/05, to pay $135,540 to settle U.S. Labor Department charges that it violated child labor laws in 24 locations, most of them in Connecticut. The violations involved the operation of such dangerous machinery as chain saws and cardboard balers by workers under age 18. In 2000 Maine fined Wal-Mart $205,650 for child labor law violations in all 20 of its stores in the state.</li> </ul> <p>Among Wal-Mart's answers to such charges:</p> <ul> <li>It plans to create 100,000 new jobs in the US this year. One result will be additional opportunities for promotion from within.</li> <li>The average wage for full-time hourly store associates is almost twice the minimum wage.</li> <li>Wal-Mart benefits, including health insurance, are available to full- and part-time associates.</li> <li>Wal-Mart also offers employees a profit-sharing 401(k) plan, merchandise discounts, company-paid life insurance, vacation pay, and pay differential for those in military service (full-page ad in the <em>New York Times</em> and other newspapers, 1/13/05)</li> <li>As for its antiunion policy, Wal-Mart's view is that the company treats its workers fairly and that a union would only create unnecessary conflict. (For further perspective from Wal-Mart, see <a href="http://www.walmartfacts.com">walmartfacts.com</a>.)</li> </ul> <p style="font-weight: bold">Wal-Mart and corporate crime</p> <p>The federal National Labor Relations Board found that Wal-Mart repeatedly violated workers' right to organize unions and engaged in illegal surveillance and intimidation of employees who supported a union. Wal-Mart employees have filed class-action lawsuits against the company in most states, charging they were forced to do unpaid overtime work. In most cases even when Wal-Mart was found to be guilty of the charges, it has had to pay only a few thousand dollars in penalties. In 2001, though, a Colorado court required Wal-Mart to deliver $50 million in unpaid wages to 69,000 employees for overtime work.</p> <p>Systematic discrimination against women in pay and promotions is the issue in Dukes v. Wal-Mart, the largest class-action lawsuit in history. It is named for Betty Dukes, one of six women who filed the suit in 2001 on behalf of 1.6 million female company workers, past and present. The lawsuit states that while 65 percent of Wal-Mart's hourly employees are women, only 33 percent of its managers are.</p> <p>Specific complaints:</p> <ul> <li>Betty Dukes is a store greeter near San Francisco who has worked for 10 years at Wal-Mart. She charges that she has repeatedly asked about opportunities for promotion. But "opportunities seemed to come and go, positions were filled," for jobs that were not posted. "No one would talk with you," said Dukes. ( <em>New York Times</em> , 6/23/04)</li> <li>Claudia Renati, a marketing specialist at a California Wal-Mart, was told by her boss that she couldn't enter a management training course unless she could repeatedly lift 50-pound bags of dog food.</li> <li>Stephanie Oldie, an assistant store manager in California, said she discovered that a male assistant manager was making $23,000 a year more than she was. "When I went to the district manager, he first goes, 'Stephanie, that assistant manager has a family and two children to support.' I told him, 'I'm a single mother and I have a 6-month-old child to support.'" ( <em>New York Times,</em> 6/23/04)</li> </ul> <p>Wal-Mart vice president Bob McAdam told PBS's Frontline, "Last year we promoted 9,000 of our hourly assistants to management positions," but he didn't say what proportion of them were women. Wal-Mart insists that it always operates legally and does not discriminate against women, though it concedes that there may be cases in which individual stores violate company rules.</p> <p>On October 23, 2003, federal agents raided 61 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states. They discovered 250 undocumented immigrants working as janitors. In its defense, the company said the workers had been hired by an agency it contracts with to provide legal workers. However, federal investigators had wiretapped conversations revealing that Wal-Mart executives knew who the workers were. In 1998 and 2001, federal raids at company stores resulted in the arrests of 102 undocumented immigrants.</p> <p>On March 18, 2005, federal prosecutors and immigration officials announced that Wal-Mart had agreed to pay $11 million for hiring undocumented immigrants.Officials said they were not bringing criminal charges because Wal-Mart was cooperating with the government. Michael Garcia, an assistant secretary with the Department of Homeland Security, said the case "breaks new ground not only because this is a record dollar amount for a civil immigration settlement, but because this settlement requires Wal-Mart to create an internal program to ensure future compliance with immigration laws...." That program includes training store managers not to hire undocumented immigrants. ( <em>New York Times,</em> 3/19/05)</p> <p>Some people feel Wal-Mart plays such a destructive role in the world that they can't in good conscience shop there. But these boycotters are vastly outnumbered by people like Carolyn Goree, who wrote to a Minnesota newspaper that when she shops at most stores, $200 fills only a bag or two, but at Wal-Mart, "I come out with a cart full top and bottom. How great that feels." Goree, a single mom, was angry that the newspaper had complained about Wal-Mart workers' low annual salaries: "Come on. Is $15,000 really that bad of a yearly income? I'm a single mom and when working out of my home, I made $12,000 tops and that was with child support." (Liz Featherstone, "Down and Out in Discount America," <em>The Nation,</em> 1/3/05) Not surprisingly, there are many people like Goree—including many Wal-Mart workers themselves—who love Wal-Mart because they can't afford more than its low prices.</p> <p>A Wal-Mart critic, Liz Featherstone, thinks that "to effectively battle corporate criminals like Wal-Mart, the public must be engaged as citizens, not merely as shoppers." She argues that citizens should pressure politicians to speak out against Wal-Mart's abuses and get them to push for policies that challenge corporate greed. She praises labor and community groups in Chicago that "prevented Wal-Mart from opening a store on the city's South Side, in part by pushing through an ordinance that would have forced the retailer to pay Chicago workers a living wage."</p> <p><br> <br> <b>Part Two:</b></p> <h4><b>Wal-Mart and the "keep out" sign</b></h4> <p>"'Big box' stores will eliminate more jobs than they create, according to a report of the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois, October 2004. This is one of the arguments used to fight Wal-Mart's efforts to open new stores. Residents of Inglewood, California, approved a referendum keeping Wal-Mart out of their community. Wal-Mart opponents argued that the store would drive out businesses with good union jobs and replace them with low-wage, non-union jobs.</p> <p>"An associate would come in and say, 'I can't afford to take my child to the doctor... ,'" said Jon Lehman, the one-time Wal-Mart store manager. "Many times I would take the worker down to the United Way in my truck... I thought I was doing a good thing at the time. Now when I look back, I think, 'Wow...the company doesn't care enough about its workers to pay them a living wage and to help them with their medical costs... " Lehman is now working to unionize Wal-Mart workers. (Frontline)</p> <p>Increasingly, state governments are discovering that they are subsidizing Wal-Mart with taxpayers' money. A Georgia study has found that 10,000 children of Wal-Mart employees are in the state's health care program at a cost to taxpayers of $10 million.</p> <p>The same study describes a North Carolina hospital where nearly one-third of 1,900 patients were Wal-Mart employees on Medicaid, a state-supported program, and an additional 16 percent were company employees with no insurance at all.</p> <p>Health care expenses of Wal-Mart employees, according to an August 2004 University of California (Berkeley) study, are costing California $32 million a year of taxpayer money.</p> <p>Wal-Mart spokesperson Sarah Clark said that 29 percent of company employees are ineligible for coverage because of strict eligibility requirements and a 44 percent worker turnover. She also said that two-thirds of Wal-Mart associates are senior citizens, college students, or second-income providers, which means that many get health care coverage from Medicare, parents, or a spouse.</p> <p>In 2003, Wal-Mart announced it was planning 40 California supercenters where customers could buy everything from tires to tomatoes. Safeway and other supermarket chain stores in California said they could not compete with Wal-Mart unless they made large cuts in their workers' pay and benefits. Without cuts, a Wal-Mart sales clerk would earn $8.50 an hour while a Safeway clerk doing the same job would make $13 an hour—and receive health care benefits. In October 2003, 70,000 unionized supermarket workers went on strike in an effort to resist these cutbacks. But after five months, the workers' union called off the strike and agreed to a settlement: New workers would receive much lower wages and benefits than current employees, establishing a temporary "two-tier" system of wages. As current workers leave or retire, the old upper tier will be eliminated, eventually leaving all workers with lower wages and benefits.</p> <p>The disappearance of good jobs and the profitable businesses that made them possible, the growing size of the taxpayer subsidy for Wal-Mart's low-paid workers, and Wal-Mart's role in driving down pay and benefits explain why major cities like Oakland and Chicago have opted to keep Wal-Mart out.</p> <p>Wal-Mart says that because of its constant need for goods of all kinds it creates many jobs, including those it creates when it opens a new store. As for its role in driving companies out of business, Wal-Mart maintains that is the price of progress and has always been an inevitable part of the story of American business.</p> <p style="font-weight: bold"><br> For discussion</p> <p><b>1.</b> What questions do students have? How might they be answered?</p> <p><b>2.</b> Why do you suppose Wal-Mart calls its employees "associates"?</p> <p><b>3.</b> Is Wal-Mart good for America? Why or why not?</p> <p><b>4.</b> What do you think of:</p> <ul> <li>Jon Lehman's views?</li> <li>Sarah Clark's explanation of Wal-Mart's health care policies?</li> <li>Liz Featherstone's argument that citizens should pressure politicians about "Wal-Mart's abuses"?</li> </ul> <p><b>5.</b> Featherstone also argues that we are citizens, not just shoppers, or consumers, and we "must be engaged as citizens." How would you define a "consumer"? A "citizen"? What differences are there between consumers and citizens?</p> <p><b>6.</b> Do "citizens" have an obligation to protest Wal-Mart's labor policies? If so, what might they do? If not, why not?</p> <p><b>7.</b> Should workers be free to organize and join unions? Why or why not?</p> <p><b>8.</b> How do you suppose Wal-Mart would respond to the women's specific charges of discrimination?</p> <p><b>9.</b> How do you evaluate charges that states are subsidizing Wal-Mart?</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>Additional Suggested Classroom Activities</h4> <p><b>Interviews</b></p> <p>If students have friends or relatives who work or have worked for Wal-Mart, perhaps these people would be open to an interview about their experience. Students should prepare questions for an interview, know how to take notes, and make a report to the class either in a written or oral report.</p> <p><b>A "Fish Bowl" on Wal-Mart</b></p> <p>The issue for a group of students to consider is as follows: You have just learned that Wal-Mart is planning to build a supercenter selling goods and groceries in your home town or neighborhood . What would be your attitude? Why? What, if anything, would you do to support or oppose the new Wal-Mart? (New York City students might want to learn what they can in advance about Wal-Mart's plans in Queens.)</p> <p>In a "fish bowl," five to seven students sit in a circle in the middle of the room to begin the conversation. It is important to ensure that the group reflects different points of view. Everyone else makes a circle of chairs around the fish bowl. But only students in the fish bowl can speak. Each has a couple of minutes to present a point of view on the question. The teacher then asks for clarifying questions and further comments. After 15 minutes or so students from the larger circle can be invited to replace students in the fish bowl by tapping one of the latter on the shoulder and moving into that student's seat.</p> <p><b>For writing</b></p> <p>Write a well-organized essay, using one of the following two sentences for your opening:</p> <p>"I don't think Wal-Mart's good for America."<br> <em>— Jon Lehman, former Wal-Mart store manager</em></p> <p>"I think Wal-Mart is good for America."<br> <em>— economist Brink Lindsey of the Cato Institute</em></p> <p><b>For further inquiry</b></p> <ul> <li>Dukes v. Wal-Mart</li> <li>The Inglewood, California referendum; other rejections of Wal-Mart in Oakland, Bakersfield, and Chicago</li> <li>The October 2003 strike by Safeway and other supermarket workers in California</li> <li>Federal laws regarding workers' rights to organize and join unions; the National Labor Relations Board</li> <li>The bar code</li> <li>China's connection with Wal-Mart; Chinese workers' conditions, pay and benefits</li> </ul> <p><b>Sources</b></p> <p>A major source for these materials is "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" a program televised by Frontline on PBS in November 2004. Access to the program, the interviews on it, and many associated links is available at <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/secrets/">www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/secrets/</a>.</p> <p>For Wal-Mart's official view of its activities, see <a href="http://www.walmartfacts.com">walmartfacts.com</a> and other Wal-Mart sites.</p> <p>For union criticisms of Wal-Mart, see <a href="http://www.aflcio.org/corporateamerica/walmart/index.cfm">afl/cio.org/corporateamerica/walmart/index.cfm</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em>This lesson was written for TeachableMoment.Org, a project of Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility. We</em> <em>welcome your comments. Please email them to: lmcclure@morningsidecenter.org</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2011-07-23T20:38:37-04:00" title="Saturday, July 23, 2011 - 20:38">July 23, 2011</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:38:37 +0000 fionta 676 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org