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Wake-Up Wal-Mart Blog

• Bengali Poverty - How Those Jeans Cost Only $8
  

  Ever wonder how Walmart can sell jeans for $8 a pair? The National Labor Committee found out by going to the source: young women garment workers in Bangladesh.

  The Faded Glory - Women's Organic Cotton Relaxed-Fit Flared Jean is sewn in Anowara Apparels factory in Chittagong, which sells almost 100% of its production to Walmart. According to an action alert from NLC issued on July 28, 2010 and available at nlcnet.org.

  These workers make the equivalent of 11½¢ an hour. They are expected to make 10 pairs of Faded Glories an hour, working out to about 1.2¢ a pair. Compare that to workers who engaged in the Bread and Roses Strike here in the US. They were making about 15¢ per hour. In 1912.

  In June we encouraged Wake Up Walmart supporters to join the National Labor Committee and called on Walmart CEO Mike Duke to support a minimum wage for garment workers in Bangladesh. The letter to Duke is still available, and more than two thousand people have already signed on.

  Walmart isn't willing to pay a cent or two more per pair of jeans to lift these women and thousands like them out of abject poverty.

  "The wage the workers are paid, I will say, is not only insufficient, but also inhumane. It is simply impossible for [the garment workers] to even live from hand to mouth in the capital with the peanuts they get in wages." - Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

  Please join us and NLC in telling Wal-Mart to support the modest 35-cent-an-hour minimum wage demand of Bangladesh's garment workers, not one cent less.

  Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
  702 SW 8th Street
  Bentonville, AK 72716

  Phone: 479-273-4000
  Fax: 479-273-4329
  Email: Mr. Rajan Kamalanathan, Vice President of Ethical Sourcing - Rajan.Kamalanathan @wal-mart.com

  Let Walmart know that under no known branch of moral philosophy is this considered to be ethical:

  "A few years back, I told Wal-Mart, 'Give me one cents more a piece, one cents. I will use that money for these poor people.' He says, 'No, give us two cents less.'" - Bangladeshi Factory Owner

  
  
  
• Smaller Wal-Mart Still Not Ready To Build in Wellsville, NY.
  

  On September 28, 2007, Sprawl-Busters reported that the town of Wellsville, New York was up against a Wal-Mart.

  Almost three years later, all is not well in Wellsville for Wal-Mart. Even though Wal-Mart has reduced the store size by 24%---it's still not ready to go.

  Wellsville promotes itself as a lovely small town in the heart of the Allegany Hills. This town, and Wellsville Village is nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, with the Genesee River flowing through it.

  But the town is also looking for big malls, and says it has several properties in "Empire Zones," which allow it to give tax subsidies to developers. If a Wal-Mart ever happens in this town, it will be with public welfare subsidies.

  On March 3, 2008, Sprawl-Busters noted that Wal-Mart held one of its dog and pony shows in Wellsville, but for many local residents, there were no ponies. It is common practice now for Wal-Mart to hold such public relations "open houses," where people mill around a series of posterboard displays about the proposed Wal-Mart, get to ask the engineers some informal questions, and most importantly, from Wal-Mart's perspective, sign a sheet supporting the plan. The retailer then uses that list to drum up support for public hearings on the plan later.

  
  
  
• Understanding Walmart's Bugging of Underwear
  

  
  Walmart is starting to put RFID tags on items such as blue jeans and underwear. Walmart claims that these tags, which the company uses already to track shipments and pallets, will help with inventory control. But there are many privacy and security issues surrounding RFID which must be addressed.

  A little background: RFID stands for Radio-frequency Identification, and when used in this context refers specifically to RFID microchips. These chips send out a short, identifiable signal, similar to a computers IP address, when scanned by an RFID reader. This signal can be uniquely identified when scanned.

  RFID tags can be very, very small. They can be washable for textiles and clothing like, well, underwear and blue jeans. They already are in many things you may have on you at this moment. Got a US Passport issued after 2006? If you use public transit and have a smart card, use a credit card with a swipe option, or use a touch badge at your place of employment, you are already using some of these chips without even knowing it.

  If this freaks you out, check out how to disable RFID chips (not for those who are afraid of using blunt force).

  Walmart was one of the industry leaders in using RFID along its distribution network, and many companies have followed Walmart's practices. So Walmart putting RFID tags in merchandise is setting a practice that we can expect other retailers to follow.