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WAL-MART WORKERS: An employee cleans a section of cups in India's first Wal-Mart store, which opened in 2009. Wal-Mart stores are found all over the world, but not in New York City. City Council worries that if Wal-Mart opens a store in the city, the created jobs will be of poor quality. (Narinder Nanu/Getty Images )
NEW YORK—With unemployment reaching double digits in some parts of New York City, the job opportunities offered by retail giant Wal-Mart appeal to many citizens. However, with the company's notoriously bad treatment of employees—including reports of discrimination, wage theft, and locking employees in the store to finish work off the clock—the City Council is not sure New York wants the kind of jobs Wal-Mart has to offer.
Wal-Mart says the company has changed. It paid out more than $600 million in 2008 to settle 63 cases across 43 states; class-action lawsuits are still pending.
“Many of these lawsuits were filed years ago and the allegations are not representative of the company we are today,” said Steve Restivo, spokesman for Wal-Mart.
The council met to discuss the “when Wal-Mart comes to town” scenario for the second time this month. After an extensive overview that lasted about five hours on Feb. 3, the council convened again on Thursday to focus on the issue of the company's labor practices. Wal-Mart declined to participate in both hearings.
Whatever speculation the council engages in, Restivo maintained, “We don't have a store or an announced project in New York City.”
A letter that Wal-Mart's community affairs representative Philip H. Serghini sent to the council further explained the company's absence. “While we are proud of our track record on this topic, we respectfully decline participation in the February 17 hearing. Our position remains that the council should first conduct a comprehensive review of existing businesses in the city before embarking on a theoretical exercise,” stated the letter.
While Wal-Mart points to other big-box stores already operating in the city, the council claims that Wal-Mart is in a league of its own in terms of both scale and labor practices.
“Our stores are, on average, the same size as some of the large retailers in the city today,” noted Restivo. He argued that “the business models and merchandise offerings are relatively the same, [except] our prices are traditionally better and our wages and benefits are better.”
Wal-Mart reports that its average wage for full-time employees is $13.09 per hour. Health benefits are available for $11 per pay period for single employees and for $33 per pay period for employees with dependents.
WAL-MART WORKERS: Yedira Hernandez restocks shelves in a Florida Wal-Mart store. Wal-Mart employs 1.4 million people nationwide, but the company has yet to establish a store in New York City. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Nevertheless, many council members have maintained a mistrust of the corporation that erred in the past.
According to Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, the Massachusetts government found that it spent $9 million a year on welfare and other aid for Wal-Mart employees. “That is corporate welfare,” declared Mark-Viverito, adding that the cash-strapped city cannot afford to subsidize Wal-Mart.
Annette Bernhardt, a researcher for the National Employment Law Project that advocates for employment rights of low-wage workers, testified at Thursday's hearing. She and her colleagues have gone through Wal-Mart's records and found that management had gone in and skimmed some hours off employees' time sheets. This practice is systemic, Bernhardt said, as Wal-Mart's head office outlines the number of overtime hours allowed per store, which then puts pressure on local managers to skimp what they can to meet those requirements.
Sandra Carpenter, who used to work for Wal-Mart, said the work load could not be completed without spilling over into overtime. She was forced to choose between leaving her work for others to do or working off the clock.
“Our policy is to pay associates for every hour worked and to provide rest and meal breaks,” said Restivo. “We have worked hard to have the right communication, processes, and systems in place to help us live up to this commitment.”
Not all council members denounced the company. Councilman Eric Ulrich voiced full support for Wal-Mart to come to town. In the interest of fairness, the council offered Ulrich, as the lone Wal-Mart proponent present at the hearing, extra time to question the panel.
OPEN ARMS: Councilman Eric Ulrich was alone among his colleagues in his support of Wal-Mart coming to New York City. (Gary Du/The Epoch Times)
“If you ask people if they want to work at McDonald's for $7.25 an hour selling people food they shouldn't eat, or [if they] want to work at Wal-Mart for $12 an hour, I think the person will take $12 an hour,” Ulrich remarked.
While recognizing the suffering of employees such as Carpenter, Ulrich maintained, “In this economy, in my opinion, there's no such thing as a bad job; you either have a job, or you don't have a job.”
Wal-Mart has agreed to use union carpenters and laborers to build stores in New York, according to Ulrich. He believes whatever practices Wal-Mart has engaged in at other places, New York's strict labor laws will keep the company in line.
Adam Klein, an attorney on the panel, said that he is skeptical about the ability to enforce the labor laws that are on the books.
While many council members decry the “high cost of low prices,” as they see it, Ulrich remarked that if Wal-Mart comes to town, “the line would be out the door with job applications in [people’s] hands, and around the corner with people who [would] want to shop there to save on their groceries.”
