Hackers Leak Walmart's Guide On How To Silence Workers

[Pelosi Donor]

Though Wal-Mart employs more Americans than any other
organization in the U.S. besides the federal government, it
continues to have arguably one of the worst reputations in terms
of how it treats its employees.

Known for its low wages, which it says it pays employees in
order to continue offering its customers low prices, Wal-Mart
has made headlines in recent years for the various ways that
executives have mistreated the company’s employees.

As Wal-Mart employees have started to push back and form a union-
like group to fight for better working conditions, it’s become
increasingly clear just how staunchly anti-union the company is
and how far they are willing to go to prevent a third-party
intervention.

The multinational retailer’s official statement on unions is:
“At Wal-Mart, we respect the individual rights of our associates
and encourage them to express their ideas, comments and
concerns. Because we believe in maintaining an environment of
open communications, we do not believe there is a need for third-
party representation.”

Though the company is opposed to unions, its employees seem to
favor unionization, especially when Wal-Mart’s wages are so low
that workers struggle to escape poverty. Any time its employees
get too close to forming a union, however, the company
intervenes, likely because unionized workers earn about 25
percent more than their Wal-Mart counterparts.

Wal-Mart employees are currently fighting to earn at least
$25,000 per year.

Dubbed “a case study of what is wrong with American labor law”
by Human Rights Watch, Wal-Mart employees say they want to
unionize because the company engages in a slew of wrongful
activities such as denying bathroom breaks, denying promotions
to female employees and paying women less than men.

Since Wal-Mart has made it perfectly clear how it feels about
unions, anyone who decides to try to unionize is punished.

For example, after 51 percent of the associates at one Wal-Mart
store in Jonquiere, Quebec, voted to unionize, the first-ever
unionized Wal-Mart closed in April 2005, shortly after the
associates signed their union cards.

And when members of a Texas Wal-Mart’s meat-cutting department
formed a union in 2000, the company announced that meat-cutting
departments would be phased out of its stores nationwide.

While it may sound like a coincidence to some, in January,
Occupy Wall Street published internal training materials from
the retail giant, detailing how the company squashes its
associates’ attempts to unionize. Occupy Wall Street likely
obtained the documents via the online hacktivist group Anonymous.

Though it was known that “new employees are shown videotapes
explaining that instead of unionizing, they benefit from the
open door policy, allowing them to take their complaints beyond
the supervisors to higher management,” the leaked PowerPoint
slides detail just how fiercely Wal-Mart works to keep unions
out of its business.

For instance, one slide claims that groups such as OUR Walmart
are only looking to take the associates’ money from employees —
$5 a month — that Wal-Mart “takes care” of. But as Occupy Wall
Street pointed out, “Walmart actually costs tax-payers $900,000
a store in subsidies because they care so poorly for their
associates. Recently, a store Walmart held a food drive, for its
own workers who can’t afford to eat.”

As for the company’s “open door policy,” it only applies to one
worker at a time, meaning that Wal-Mart only deals with its
employees’ concerns and complaints on an individual basis and
doesn’t allow groups to lodge a complaint. When an employee does
have a conversation with a supervisor or higher-up official, if
the employee hints at wanting to unionize or asks about unions,
the supervisor is required to report that “activity” to the
company’s Labor Relations hotline immediately.

Supervisors were also told to look for “Early Warning Signs” of
unionization and for employees who are “[s]peaking negatively
about wages and benefits” or “ceasing conversations when
leadership approaches.”

“Walmart’s aggressive anti-worker campaign is real, it is ugly
and unnecessary,” said Dominic Ware of Leandro, Calif., an OUR
Walmart member and former associate. “Instead of spending money
on these misleading and false campaigns to intimidate workers
and their rights, Walmart should be focused on publicly
committing to improving jobs, raising wages and making sure that
workers are able to raise their concerns without fear of illegal
retaliation.”

http://www.mintpressnews.com/hackers-leak-walmarts-guide-silence-
workers/186159/