history of walmart, Why is this such a big dal, Sweatshops and Wal-Mart, Unethical practices, UNFAIR Treatment OF EMPLOYEES, UNFAIR Treatment OF EMPLOYEES, low wages, health issues at workplace, overtime, Immigration law, conclusion

1. PRESENTED
BY
MARYUM
MALIK
UNETHICAL PRACTICE
BUSINESS OF WALMART

2. is an American
multinational retailing
corporation that operates
as a chain of hypermarkets,
discount department
stores, and grocery stores
Wal-Mart

3. 
Wal-Mart began in 1950, when its creator, Sam Walton,
bought and opened a small store called "Walton's 5-10" in
Bentonville, Arkansas.
 He opened a second store in Rogers, Arkansas later that same
year.
 By 1967, the chain had 24 stores across the state of
Arkansas. 1968 marked the first stores to be placed outside
of Arkansas, one in Sikeston, Missouri and Claremore,
Oklahoma.
 Over the next 10 years, Wal-Mart began rapidly building new
stores and supercenters. They also began buying out other
companies and venturing into new territories, becoming the
Wal-Mart we know today.
HISTORY OF WAL-MART

4.  First, the alleged bribery in Walmart's fastest-growing market
violates the company's public commitment to maintaining the
highest ethical and moral standards.
 Second, many of the people allegedly involved in the bribery
scheme or cover-up are still with the company: Eduardo
Castro-Wright, Walmex CEO from 2002 to 2005, and
reportedly the driving force behind the rampant bribery, is
now Walmart vice chairman; then–CEO H. Lee Scott Jr. is still
on Walmart's board; and current CEO Michael Duke was in
charge of all foreign subsidiaries in 2005.
WHY IS THIS SUCH A BIG
DEAL?

5. Third, although its own investigator informed
top Walmart officials that "there is reasonable
suspicion to believe that Mexican and USA laws
have been violated," the company didn't inform
U.S. law enforcement until The Times started
poking around, five years later.

6. SWEATSHOPS AND WAL-MART

7.  Wal-Mart products
 Produced in 48 different countries
 Products mainly from Asian and Central American factories
 Produced using sweatshop labor
SWEATSHOPS AND WAL-MART

8. Wal-Mart as an importer
10% of all Chinese imports are imported by Wal-Mart
Own global procurement division
The Wal-Mart Squeeze
Endless quest to squeeze countries for lower wages
and cheaper goods
Lowering working standards where ever they go
SWEATSHOPS AND
WAL-MART

9.  Textiles and Wal-Mart
 Produced by young women 17 to 25 years old
 Forced to work seven days a week
 12 to 28 cents an hour
 No benefits
 Housed in crowded and dirty dormitories
 24-hour-a-day surveillance
SWEATSHOPS AND
WAL-MART

10. “Toys of Misery” and Wal-Mart
Seventy-one percent of the toys sold in the U.S. come
from China
13- to 16-hour days molding, assembling, and spray-
painting toys
20-hour shifts in peak season (Christmas)
Seven days a week
Paid as low as 13 cents an hour
Live in Shacks or Dorms
No medical care or safety equipment
Poor Conditions
SWEATSHOPS AND
WAL-MART

11. SWEATSHOPS AND
WAL-MART
Not just China
Bangladesh
El Salvador

12.  Some of the common abuses in the sweatshops
Forced overtime
Locked bathrooms
Starvation wages
Pregnancy tests
Denial of access to health care
Workers fired and blacklisted
Occasional beatings
Withheld wages
SWEATSHOPS AND
WAL-MART

13.  Not just over seas
 US labor law violations
 Violating child labor laws
 Employees forced to work off the clock
 Locking employees into stores overnight
 Undocumented workers
SWEATSHOPS AND
WAL-MART

14.  The immoral and unethical acts of Wal-Mart relate to many
Managerial Ethics class themes. First and foremost is the
obvious Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, which forbids
bribing a policymaking official, consequences resulting in
being criminally liable. This relates to Wal-Mart in that they
have a long-standing record of bribery charges, in which they
have had to pay fines.
UNETHICAL
PRACTICE

15.  Wal-Mart has been accused of discriminating against women.
Women had been denied training and promotion opportunities
that are offered to men. In addition women are underpaid. That
is, men are paid more than women. According to Hoovers
handbook of American business, in June 2001 a group of six
current and former female Wal-Mart employees filed a sex
discrimination lawsuit (seeking to represent up to 500,000
current and former Wal-Mart workers) against the
company.(Hoovers Handbook, pg.907) The suit was filed because
Wal- Mart failed to provide equal employment for women. In fact,
there are over 70 percent of women working at Wal-Mart, but
only a small amount of those women are managers. So, men are
holding more management positions than women. In addition,
Wal-Mart is the nation’s largest employer of women, but
unfortunately they are being treated without dignity and
respect.”
UNFAIR TREATMENT
OF EMPLOYEES

16.  Another issue that Wal-Mart is facing right now is the fact
that employees wages are very low. An average worker makes
between $12,000 and 17,000 a year which is not much. As a
result employees have to apply for public assistance and this
public assistance comes from our tax dollars. Basically, one of
the reasons for Wal-Mart low wages is because they want to
cut operating costs and they want to continue offering low
prices. So, Wal-Mart’s ultimate defense is that it offers lower
prices and somehow that justifies all sins.
LOW WAGES

17.  Besides low wages, Wal-Marts health insurance is so
expensive that some of the employees can not even afford to
pay for it. So, those employees who couldnt afford the health
plan will probably have to get their health care benefits
through their spouses or the state from our tax dollars. Wal-
Mart responded to this problem by offering discounts on
health care coverage. Members can save as much as 50% on
services not normally covered by medical
insurance.(www.ufcw324.org) Discounts is not enough. Wal-
Mart still has a moral responsibility to provide affordable
health care to its employees not shift the cost onto the
American taxpayers. Wal-Mart can also raise employees
wages so they can afford to pay for their health plan.
HEALTH PLAN

18.  While wages are low at Wal-Mart, too often employees didnt get
paid at all for overtime. In fact, according to Wal-Marts policy,
they are supposed to pay employees for every minute they work.
But, since Wal-Mart is such a big company, there will be cases in
which managers might do unethical things. For instance,
employees were forced to work unpaid overtime. As a result, they
filed a suit against Wal-Mart for not getting paid for overtime. So
in February 2004, a federal judge ruled that Wal-Mart should pay
workers for overtime hours (Hoovers Handbook).But, the case is
still pending. In fact Wal-Mart claimed their policy is against
such work. So Wal-Marts managers who required overtime were
disciplined and fired. In fact, it is Wal-Marts responsibility to
make sure that people get paid. They should settle the suit by
paying their employees for unpaid overtime. It seems that Wal-
Mart needs to periodically examine its pay practices to make
sure that all employees are getting paid for all the hours worked.
OVERTIME

19.  Finally, Wal-Mart was under investigation for the use of illegal
immigrants as workers. In fact, in October 2003 federal agents
uncovered hundreds of illegal immigrants employed by outside
contractors cleaning its stores.(Hoovers Handbook, pg907) As a result,
the company became the target of a class action suit. So, Wal -Mart was
accused of breaking immigration laws. In addition, according to
Hoovers Handbook, Wal-Mart cheated immigrant janitors out of wages
and the government out of workers compensation, social security
payments, and federal payroll taxes.(Hoovers handbook, pg.907) But,
Wal-Mart claimed they hired those particular jobs out to contractors
and it was the contractors that were at fault for the use of the illegal
immigrants. Even if the situation is as they describe it, they hired a
contractor who failed to follow United States laws without questioning
or researching them first. Thus, Wal-Mart failed to do a thorough
background check of any potential employee. A background check
would have helped determine the integrity of an employee for it
includes job experiences, references, legal documents, etc
IMMIGRATION LAW

20.  Thus, no company is immune to problems. The companies that
survive are the ones that can spot ethical issues and correct
them before they become problems. In this case Wal-Mart
failed to acknowledge those potential problems and they are
probably going to pay for it. Thus, Wal-Marts unethical
business practices have hurt its companys reputation. If Wal-
Mart wants to survive they will have to try hard to improve
their image. That is, they need to show that they care about
ethics by treating employees fairly. As a result, it will attract
good employees and people will have no reason to complain
about the company. In addition Wal-Mart needs to be socially
responsible in order to avoid economic harm and in order to
maintain the legitimacy granted by society.
CONCLUSION