Walmart movie

Really enjoyed the Walmart documentary now out in video stores.
"Walmart: High cost of low prices" done by brave new films.
www.bravenewfilms.org If you are caught up in the political
duality you'd say oh this is a liberal wacko film full of lies. I'm
not political and I didn't feel it was embedded in toxic political
duality. The post-release spin is but the documentary itself speaks
for itself and everyone should watch it. Critics say "Will it really
keep millions of Americans from shopping at Walmart? No"
This is probably sadly true. But that doesn't mean that
I will. I didn't shop there to begin with but I certainly won't now.
If you are a Lightworker- watch it and tell others to watch it.
www.walmartmovie.com

Here are some of the facts from the movie. More on the efforts
to discredit the film in another post. Energy is packing a real
punch. Hang in there!

Wal-Mart currently faces lawsuits in thirty-one different States for wage and hour abuses potentially involving hundreds of thousand workers!!!

Wal-Mart is paying eleven million dollars to settle Federal allegations it used illegal immigrants to clean its stores.

Wal-Mart is facing a class-action lawsuit for discrimination against $1.6 million former and current female employees.

Currently in the U.S. there are 26,699,678 SQUARE FEET of empty WAL-MARTS

2004: WAL-MART fined $3.1 MILLION by EPA, the largest ever for a retailer, for Clean Water Act violations in TEXAS, COLORADO, CALIFORNIA, DELAWARE, MICHIGAN, SOUTH DAKOTA, NEW JERSEY, TENNESSEE and UTAH

Cost for WAL-MART Factory Worker to Assemble: $0.18=Retail cost at Wal-Mart: $14.96
Data provided by Charles Kernaghan, National Labor Committee

WAL-MART Imported $18 BILLION from CHINA in 2004

"The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, says its inventory of stock produced in China is expected to hit US $18 billion this year [2004], keeping the annual growth rate of over 20 per cent consistent over two years."
Source: Jiang Jingjing,

Lee Scott earnings for 2005: $27,207,799
Data computed from Wal-Mart Stores 2005 Proxy Statement; includes long-term incentives awarded in 2005 and contemporary value of stock options.

Average WAL-MART Hourly Sales Employee Earnings: $13,861

"On average, Wal-Mart sales clerks -- "associates" in company parlance -- pulled in $8.23 an hour, or $13,861 a year, in 2001, according to documents filed in a lawsuit pending against the company."

Source: Anthony Bianco and Wendy Zellner, "Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful?" Business Week,

October 6, 2003. Primary source information on 2001 wage data is from the testimony of Dr. Richard Drogin, in Dukes v. WM.

HELEN WALTON: $18.0 BILLION
ALICE WALTON: 18.0 BILLION
JOHN WALTON: 18.2 BILLION
ROB WALTON: $18.3 BILLION
JIM WALTON: $18.3 BILLION

A WAL-MART Worker may donate money from their paycheck to the CRITICAL NEED FUND, a program to aid other employees in times of crisis, like a fire or tornado.In 2004, WAL-MART Employees gave OVER $5 MILLION to help fellow workers
Source: Form 990, Wal-Mart Associates in Critical Need Fund, 2004

The Walton Family gave $6,000

Source: Walton Family Foundation

Source: David Armstrong and Peter Newcomb, ed., "The 400 Richest Americans,", Forbes, September 24, 2004.

Cost of WAL-MART Jet Fleet: $125,350,000

Data provided by Jeff Fiedler, Food and Allied Service Trades, AFL-CIO

The WALTON FAMILY Has Given LESS THAN 1% of Their Wealth to CharityBill Gates has given 58%

Source: Business Week, "The 50 Most Generous Philanthropists" [PDF file], November 29, 2004.

$7,000 ANTI-UNION CAMERA PACKAGE per store
$30,000 UNDERCOVER SPY VAN per store (but typically NO security cameras in parking lots for customer safety!

$100,000 24 hour ANTI-UNION HOTLINE
$7,000,000 Rapid response team with CORPORATE JET

Source: Data provided to the producers by Stan Fortune, former manager and 17-year employee of Wal-Mart