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NO Wal-Mart!

Wal-Mart: Everyday low wages.

Forces U.S. manufacturers out of business…

The report, The Wal-Mart Effect, by the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute (EPI), shows Wal-Mart has played a major role in creating a record trade deficit with China that has eliminated some 1.8 million jobs, mainly in manufacturing.

Wal-Mart’s Reliance on Chinese Goods Costs U.S. Jobs (PDF)

Is Wal-Mart the Future of America?

In 1970, General Motors was the largest employer in the U.S.; unionized workers earned $17.50 an hour plus benefits.  Today, Wal-Mart is the largest employer; non-unionized workers earn $8.50/hour with no benefits - a third less than unionized grocery workers. Two-thirds of Wal-Mart workers can’t afford Wal-Mart health insurance, which costs $125 every 2 weeks. 700,000 Wal-Mart workers don’t have company health insurance - so who pays?

Wal-Mart costs YOU tax money!

According to The Wal-Mart Subsidy Watch website, which includes a summary of disclosures made by some two dozen states on the number of Wal-Mart workers (or their dependents) who have enrolled in taxpayer-funded health care programs such as Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. More than 60 percent of Wal-Mart employees—600,000 people—are forced to get health insurance coverage from the government or through spouses’ plans or live without any health insurance. (AFL_CIO)

The Wal-mart Tax: Shifting Health Care Costs to Taxpayers (364 KB, PDF)

Wal-Mart Kills Local Businesses

In the first decade after Wal-Mart arrived in Iowa, the state lost 555 grocery stores, 298 hardware stores, 293 building supply stores, 161 variety stores, 158 women's apparel stores, 153 shoe stores, 116 drugstores, and 111 men's and boys' apparel stores. (Source: Iowa State University Study).

Wal-mart and the Sweatshop Connection:

In Nicaragua, workers at one Wal-Mart supply factory work up to 69 hours per week for as little as 29 cents an hour.

Abuses in Wal-Mart's sweatshops:

• Forced overtime
• Locked bathrooms
• Starvation wages
• Forced birth control and pregnancy tests
• Denial of access to health care
• Workers fired and blacklisted if they try to defend their rights