| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 24, 2000 |
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WAL-MART GLOBALIZES POVERTY Scratch the surface of the China trade debate, you'll find a familiar face, Wal- Mart. The world's largest retailer is the big winner as it ships U.S. jobs to China and floods U.S. markets with Chinese goods. Wal-Mart is one of the biggest outlets for goods imported from Communist China, fifty-three percent of all Wal-Mart's imports are from China. A look behind the smiley face reveals Wal-Mart's global reach, extensive economic ties to dictatorial regimes and anti-worker practices. The giant retailer's indifference to worker and human rights violations in China has a practical impact on U.S. workers that goes beyond lost jobs and declining living standards. Wal-Mart has imported China labor practices to the U.S. Wal-Mart has assembled a union busting cadre that resembles a totalitarian indoctrination team to intimidate and coerce union supporters in the U.S. Following the first successful U.S. organizing program among meat department workers at a Texas Wal-Mart Supercenter, the company announced the national reorganization of all meat departments, and dispatched a "re-education" program to squash union support and bully its workers. The trade practices fostered by the new economic order have led to the resurgence of child labor, forced labor and the systematic degradation of human work as key components of the new economy. As the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart is distribution central. Wal-Mart was singled out in a recent report,"Made in China: The Role of U.S. Companies in Denying Human and Worker Rights" released by the National Labor Committee. Investigators revealed:
The UFCW is the largest organization of retail workers in North America, with 1.4 million members. Workers at retail food industry leaders such as Kroger and Safeway are members of the UFCW. - 30- |
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