Wal Mart has done more for working families then any government program has ever accomplished
How? by keeping poor people poor?
In 2001, sales associates, the most common job in Wal-Mart, earned on average $8.23 an hour for annual wages of
$13,861.
The 2001 poverty line for a family of three was $14,630
A 2003 wage analysis reported that cashiers, the second most common job, earn approximately $7.92 per hour and work 29 hours a week. This brings in annual wages of only
$11,948.
The average two-person family (one parent and one child)
needed $27,948 to meet basic needs in 2005, well above what Wal-Mart reports that its average full-time associate earns.
Wal-Mart claimed that its average associate earned $9.68 an hour in 2005. That would make the average associate's annual wages
$17,114.
Wal-Mart has known for years of a massive companywide problem of fair labor standards violations but did not take sufficient steps to address the problem.
An internal Wal-Mart audit of one week of time records in 2000 from 25,000 employees had alerted Wal-Mart officials to potential violations.
The audit found 60,767 missed breaks and 15,705 lost meal times. It also alerted Wal-Mart executives to 1,371 instances of minors working too late, during school hours, or for too many hours in a day
Despite this knowledge, Wal-Mart had to settle in January 2005 for violations that took place from 1998 to 2002, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $135,540 to settle U.S. Dept. of Labor charges that the company had violated provisions against minors operating hazardous machinery.
In March 2005, Wal-Mart agreed to pay
$11 million to settle allegations that it had failed to pay overtime to janitors, many of whom worked seven nights a week
Wal-Mart reported in January 2006 that its health insurance only covers 43% of their employees.
Wal-Mart has approximately 1.39 million US employees.
Part-timers—anybody below 34 hours a week – must wait 1 year before they can enroll. Moreover, spouses of part-time employees are ineligible for family health care coverage for 2006.
Full-time hourly employees must wait 180 days (approximately 6 months) before being able to enroll in Wal-Mart’s health insurance plan. Managers have no waiting period.
Nationally, the average wait time for new employees to become eligible is 1.7 months. For the retail industry it is 3.0 months.
Since the average full-time Wal-Mart employee earned $17,114 in 2005, he or she would have to spend between 7 and 25 percent of his or her income just to cover the premiums and medical deductibles, if electing for single coverage.
The average full-time employee electing for family coverage would have to spend between 22 and 40 percent of his or her income just to cover the premiums and medical deductibles. These costs do not include other health-related expenses such as medical co-pays, prescription coverage, emergency room deductibles, and ambulance deductibles.
One 200-employee Wal-Mart store may cost federal taxpayers $420,750 per year.
This cost comes from the following, on average:
$36,000 a year for free and reduced lunches for just 50 qualifying Wal-Mart families.
$42,000 a year for low-income housing assistance.
$125,000 a year for federal tax credits and deductions for low-income families.
$100,000 a year for the additional expenses for programs for students.
$108,000 a year for the additional federal health care costs of moving into state children's health insurance programs (S-CHIP)
$9,750 a year for the additional costs for low income energy assistance.
The first ever national report on Wal-Mart subsidies documented at least $1 billion in subsidies from state and local governments.
A Wal-Mart official stated that “it is common” for the company to request subsidies “in about one-third of all [retail] projects.”
This would suggest that over a thousand Wal-Mart stores have been subsidized.
http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/facts/
