Walmart is one of the worst exploiters of labor in existence. It goes past the scale of anything witnessed in historical cases of slavery. Walmart has expanded its influence to parts of the developing world where labor is in abundance and squeezes the life out of its workers for maximum profits. Walmart has to face over 5000 lawsuits a year for human rights violations.WalMart's excessive exploitation of child labor forced even China to take action. China proudly reported that it had broken up a child labor ring in Guangdong province that used over 100 children ages 13 to 15 and paid an average wage of 42 cents an hour with no overtime. The minimum wage in China is 64 cents an hour and the minimum working age is 16.
In addition to overuse of child labor and exploitation of the impoverished, WalMart finds that it's cheaper to wash employees' blood out of manufactured clothing before selling it than to provide
gloves and safe machines to their seamstresses. Muhammad Saidur Rehman, A Wal-Mart factory owner in Bangladesh said "We still suffer from the legacy of the colonial days ... We consider the workers to be our slaves, and this belief is made all the easier by a supply of labor that is endlessly abundant."
Many people have tried to fight Walmart and those who seek fair trade products are now being heard more loudly than in previous years. However, Walmart even thought of that and in 2005, was caught passing off imported sweatshop-produced products as "being made in the USA".
Walmart is a role-model for all people abusing sweatshop and slave labor. It has gained immense wealth and influence at the cost of countless lives. I am waiting for the day when "the bigger they are, the harder they fall" sings its sweet song into Walmart's coffers. Hopefully in the future no corporation will ever be able to out-do Walmart.
