De Lauro was part of an assembly of pro-labor Democrats, union representatives and one former Miss America — Carolyn Sapp, 1992 — who gathered on Capitol Hill to continue a public-relations assault against America’s biggest company.
Later Tuesday, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokesman Dan Fogleman emphatically denied that the company discriminates against women. "It is a great place for women to work," he said.
The company is facing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 1.5 million current and former female employees who allege discrimination in the firm’s employment practices. Fogleman described the charges as "isolated complaints coming from more than 3,000 stores."
Unions made clear in late 2004 that they planned to wage a massive campaign to highlight the company’s employment and business practices across the board. "Until Wal-Mart changes, we are going to be aggressive and relentless in getting the truth out to the American people," said Paul Blank, an organizer with United Food and Commercial Workers.
Blank and other critics unveiled an 8-by-8-foot Mother’s Day card to send to Lee Scott, chief executive officer of the company.
The card tells Scott: "It’s time for Wal-Mart to honor and respect all women. This Mother’s Day, Wal-Mart should stop discriminating against women. Happy Mother’s Day."
It is part of a two-week "Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart" campaign that calls for Americans to shun Wal-Mart for Mother’s Day and to sign a petition at www.wakeupwalmart.com. Union officials said the names would be presented to Scott.
De Lauro, active on gender-equity issues of all sorts, recently sent her own letter to Scott asking him to turn his company’s wage statistics over to Congress.
The Connecticut representative was among several speakers who touted the conclusions of a Wal-Mart study by Richard Drogin, professor emeritus at the University of California. Among them: Women hourly workers earn, on average, 40 cents less per hour than male counterparts. Female managers earn $5,000 less per year than managers who are men. Women employees number close to 700,000 — 72 percent of the work force — but account for only a third of the firm’s managers.
Fogleman, the Wal-Mart spokesman, said the figures were incorrect: Only 60 percent of Wal-Mart employees are women, and more than 40 percent of the company’s managers are female.
As for the allegations of unequal pay, Fogleman said, "Wal-Mart does not tolerate discrimination of any kind."
Fogleman further said, "There are hundreds of thousands of women who have great stories to tell about what Wal-Mart has meant for them in their careers."
But the company’s critics said they would continue to press their case.
Rep. George Miller of California, a fervent Wal-Mart critic, said, "None of us here wants to see Wal-Mart fail as a company. On the contrary, what we want to see is Wal-Mart succeed responsibly — with employees who are fairly compensated, without accelerating the flow of U.S. jobs overseas, and with a respect for the law and workers."
Added beauty-queen Sapp, "They have intelligent, passionate women who want to succeed ... but what they’re saying is [that the women] are not good enough, smart enough or worthy to demand that wage."
