Quote Originally Posted by bobsticks
at the thought that Wal-Mart "totures people" I suddenly got a vision of some 90 year-old woman in a blue vest beating up a welfare mom and her six illegitimate kids ...absolutely hilarious...borderline libelous but absolutely hilarious!!!
Bob,

I know you don't want to get into this, which is fine, but I should clarify that this is well documented and it is certainly not libelous. Walmart has over 10,000 supliers abroad in countries like Myanmar, Bangladesh, Honduras (remember Kathie Lee Gifford's Walmart fiasco?), and China. In China alone, they own 3000 factories. There have been several well documented cases where allegations of rape, beatings, and union leaders being tortured and mutilated as examples, were made. When Red Cross workers, Doctors Withough Borders, and UN human rights workers were sent there, they were barred from visiting the factories, employees who were found out to have made the complaints were killed or disappeared, and thugs even threatened the aid workers themselves. I have a cousin who was stationed abroad who can tell you stories that will turn your stomach.

And for those who think this is unique to the apparel industry, let's not discount the abuses in the electronics industry. According to a scathing report by the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development in 2004, this industry suffers from the same abuses in addition to rampant polution and employee exposure problems. Several other organizations have published similar reports. Many of us rely on the promisses that an American manufacturer of hi-fi electronics (B&K, Martin Logan, Krell, etc.) with their high prices must therefore be guilt-free of this paradigm. The truth is that many of these manufacturers still buy their parts from countries were labor conditions are appaling. In all likelyhood, the mercury in that battery was put there by little fingers working 10-hour days.

Now, granted we may not see this in our local Walmart, but these workers in other countries are still employees of Walmart. Just because they don't wear blue vests and greet people at the door here in the US (something they would gladly trade residence for, I'm sure), they should still be treated fairly. And for those who think Walmart is treating it's American employees well, consider that it was company policy to clock low-level employees out w/o their knowledge or consent (this case was settled out of court). This is also the company that was found guilty of taking out life insurance policies on 350,000 of it's own employees w/o their knowledge in 2002. Even here in Inglewood, California "Walmart had tried to circumvent the city council, which demanded a public hearing and environmental study, and take its case directly to the voters," a move that fortunately failed with the community voting 60% against the new super-store construction. The list goes on. There are several well researched books on the abuses of Walmart both here & abroad, so I won't belabor the point.

But to laugh this off as "hilarious" is an insult to the people who are suffering these inequities.

I believe in fair markets and I would like to see that people who disagree with these policies take their money elsewhere. But if there are just a few very large chains who provide 90% of the products in our lives, this competition is no longer possible. Abuses such as the ones witnesed with Walmart are rampant because there is no where else to take one's dollars. Best Buy is becoming very similar to Walmart, that was my point.