Summary 10

In the article “Up Against Wal-Mart”, by Karen Olsson it is suggested that Wal-Mart employee’s barley earn $18,000 a year working for the company. Even though in the year 2002 the company made $6.6 billion dollars in profits, Wal-Mart’s workers do not get paid enough to live off of. Olson argues that most of their employee’s decide not to get the medical coverage that is offered by the company because of how much it costs them. When you factor in the already low hourly wages and the deductions that would come out for medical coverage, the workers feel they can’t afford it. But despite the conflict between Wal-Mart and its workers regarding hourly wages, Wal-Mart has said to be “The future of working America” due in part by its size and its rapid growth.
However, its size and rapid growth has not stopped former employees that disagree with their wages from suing the company. Olsson describes cases consisting of 27 states that are suing Wal-Mart for violating wage and hour laws. In the one case, the company was found guilty of forcing employees to work overtime without pay. There are other cases brought on against Wal-Mart that Olsson discusses in her article, such as sex discrimination in which the company was being sued due to denying women promotions and equal pay. Because of what the workers feel is unfair wages and working conditions, many are trying to get a union at Wal-Mart. Even with the attempt to stop the organization to unionize