Statement by Paul Blank, campaign director for WakeUpWalMart.com on Wal-Mart’s recent statement regarding its wage and job data.
“Wal-Mart is a company speaking out of both sides of its mouth. Recently, Wal-Mart pledged to Wall Street it would reduce labor costs and an internal memo, authored by senior management, confirmed their intention to shift to more part-time employees. Now, Wal-Mart’s spin machine thinks we will just believe their average hourly wage has increased. Wal-Mart’s figures are questionable at best and are more likely attributable to a reduction in the number or redefinition of full-time associates than a desire to do the right thing. Wal-Mart should release its full wage and benefits data for public review so that it can be thoroughly analyzed and verified. Real working families in America understand Wal-Mart’s business practices drive down wages, lower benefits, and ship U.S. jobs overseas.”
In response, WakeUpWalMart.com released the “Top 10 Questions” Wal-Mart needs to answer to uncover the truth behind these figures.
1) If you actually created 125,000 jobs, why has the total number of employees in the general merchandise industry actually fallen by 1,000 employees from 2001 to 2004, from 2,628,000 to 2,627,000? [Bureau of Labor Statistics]
2) If Wal-Mart seeks to create jobs in the U.S., why does it force its suppliers, or directly contract, to ship American jobs overseas? [FAST Company, January 2006, Frontline, 11/16/2004, Los Angeles Times, 11/24/2003, A.1, The Associated Press, 8/3/2004 and AFX International Focus, 6/30/2005]
3) If Wal-Mart supposedly cares about working families in America, why won’t Wal-Mart adopt a ‘Buy American’ program that would help protect our jobs? Why does Wal-Mart promote policies that destroy good-paying middle class manufacturing jobs and replace them with low-paying Wal-Mart jobs? [ NAM Council of Manufacturing Associations "Securing America's Future: The Case for A Strong Manufacturing Base." 6/2003; Bureau of Economic Analysis. http://www.nam.org/s_nam/sec.asp?CID=201720&DID=230272]
4) How does Wal-Mart explain a 5% decline in the average real wage for retail workers - a decline of $15,883 to $15,140 from 1982-2002? Does management still stand by its statement that Wal-Mart jobs are not intended to support a family? [Bureau of Labor Statistics]
5) Does Wal-Mart’s figure of $10.11 for average hourly wages include store management, executive management, directors or CEO Lee Scott’s $23 million in compensation? What is the average hourly wage for management or ‘non-store associates’ for comparison? [Wal-Mart Press Release, 1/10/06, Wal-Mart SEC Filing Schedule 14A, 2005]
6) What is the average hourly wage for part-time workers and average number of hours? Isn’t most of the rise in the average hourly wage for full-time associates attributable to your desire, as documented in your internal memo, to increase the number of part-time associates? [Executive Vice President Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart Internal Memo, 2005]
7) How much does Wal-Mart spend on wages total in the U.S and what is the total number of hours broken out by average number of hours worked per worker?
8) Did the percentage of full-time associates actually decline at Wal-Mart during 2005? Will Wal-Mart release the percentage of full-time workers (and definition of full-time), as you did for 2004, so that we can accurately compare whether the average hourly wage actually increased or the percentage of full-time associates just decreased? [www.walmartfacts.com]
9) How does Wal-Mart reconcile contradictory statements by its investor relations team to Wall Street stating it is utilizing new software to reduce labor costs (which have led to problems in the stores with workers being forced to quit) with statements by its public relations team stating it is supposedly increasing the average wage? [South Florida Herald Tribune, 8/9/05, Wal-Mart Twelfth Annual Analysts' Meeting Day 1 - Final FD (Fair Disclosure) Wire October 25, 2005 Tuesday ]
10) How does Wal-Mart explain why the only available information detailing Wal-Mart’s wage data by job function and classification, made available through discovery in a lawsuit, shows hourly wages far below these figures? [“Statistical Analysis of Gender Patterns in Wal-Mart’s Workforce”, Dr. Richard Drogin 2003]
