Posted by Rilind Dauti.
$18 billion in goods alone in 2004. Every supplier wants to make deals with the inventory giant, Wal-Mart. To keep the deals going for the prices,Wal-Mart wants to negotiate, and these suppliers are forced to cut their costs (pay their workers less), in order to keep their contracts with Wal-Mart.
It doesn’t stop at the low wages. Wal-Mart’s healthcare plan has one of the lowest premiums, ranging from $9 to $27 dollars per pay period. What they don’t tell you is that there is a $5,000 annual out-of-pocket fee. If workers make an average of $20,000, the fee is approximately ¼ of an employee’s salary. Employees are forced to take advantage of government-funded programs like Medicaid. This insurance is covered by taxpayers, so taxpayers are forced to spend their money on Wal-Mart employees.
So what does this mean? Wal-Mart is where it is now because of their low wages, worker exploitation, and inadequate healthcare for its employees so that they can guarantee you their lowest prices. Their prices are low because of the unethical practices enforced by their CEO and higher officials in the corporation.
Rilind is a business student at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University.