Walmart, a Boomerang: 2nd Draft

Walmart, a Boomerang:

The Neo-Industrial Revolution: 2^nd Draft

Walmart represents great controversy all over the world, and we can easily feel the heat when we type in “Walmart” in Google or Youtube. Some people nearly worship Walmart as their saviour for industry and positive impact to many communities, while many others are infuriated by the brutality of the company. In some Youtube videos, Walmart employees express their anger by fierce demonstrations and creating provocative videos criticizing Walmart. The truth is, both sides are right; Walmart serves a function like a boomerang, as it seems to benefit citizens, but also creates a viscious cycle.

At first, after watching a Youtube video “When Walmart Comes to Town: A Success Story”, I was persuaded for a moment to believe that Walmart actually improves the lives of people. The video showed complaints by citizens of Chicago who complain about a lack of places to buy fresh vegetables and other materials. People were shouting, "We want Walmart so that we can have something more than some dollar stores…", and they were actually demonstrating to demand the establishment of Walmart in their town. In 2006, Chicago finally got what it wanted, and Walmart successfully fulfilled the needs of people right away. First of all, Walmart boosted the employment rate in Chicago. According to the video, statistics showed that 726 jobs were created, 298 were lost, for a total result gaining 428 jobs after bringing in Walmart. Not only that, but also, since Walmart came in, it brought in 22 new businesses to the area, including the Bank of America, Chase Bank, CVS, and Menards. As more and more businesses were coming in, Chicago kept on moving towards more economic development, also creating new streets and leading to more population to Chicago. All of these make it seem plausible to support Walmart chains, as these things actually happened.

         Now here’s the reality; after such seemingly-positive effects on a society, Walmart in turn exacerbates people’s lives and infuriates the employees through horrible treatment. According to a news article from REUTERS, called “Wal-Mart trims some U.S. health coverage”, Wal-Mart Stores Incorporation decided to no longer offer health insurance to new part-time U.S. employees who work fewer than 24 hours a week and charge workers who use tobacco more for coverage as healthcare costs rise (Wal-Mart). Most American businesses provide healthcare systems for their employees, especially huge retailers with a global chain system. Plus, the system is vital for most people, particularly those who work in Walmart, with such poor income and having nowhere else to go to earn money. Walmart simply reduces funds that are put into health care system only to produce more yields, but in the employees’ perspective, just a small reduction of funds will greatly deteriorate people’s lives.

Walmart’s atrocious acts are not only about health care systems; in fact, there exist other companies that do the same things. In an article Wal-Mart: Merchant of Shame, National Organization for Women (NOW) received complaints regarding workplace environment and employment practices, which include the following: “sex discrimination in pay, promotion and compensation, wage abuse, exclusion of contraceptive coverage in insurance plans, violations of child labor laws and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.” (Merchant). Reacting to Walmart’s discrimination against women, Dukes filed a lawsuit on behalf of 1.5 million women employees, basing on extensive public records filed against Wal-Mart. However, the Judge of the case took Walmart’s side.

Justice Antonin Scalia wrote, "Even if every single one of these accounts is true, that would not demonstrate that the entire company 'operate[s] under a general policy of discrimination … Respondents have identified no 'specific employment practice'--much less one that ties all their 1.5 million claims together. Merely showing that Wal-Mart's policy of discretion has produced an overall sex-based disparity does not suffice." (Merchant).

Now we know that Wal-Mart is actually a bad company that disguises itself as a “revolutionary retailer,” and also came to know that Wal-Mart power is already so prevalent all over the world that even the government compromises to Wal-Mart. This situation is similar to what’s happening in Korea, with the Samsung group ruling over the Korean government.

           To sum up, Walmart seems to bring in a lot of things and give positive impact to many communities, but viewing Walmart in the long term, the situation goes back to the original state, if not worse. In this way, I would describe Wal-Mart as industrialization, since industrialization also seemed to greatly improve the lives of people with no negative impact at all, but then people understood later that there are even more disadvantages than benefits. Also, as my title indicates: A BOOMERANG, as it comes back to its original place after a long trip.

Citations

Walmart NYC. “When Walmart Comes to Town: A Success Story.” Youtube (2 Feb. 2011): n. pag.  Mon. 5 March. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdtcBiaflUQ&feature=player_embedded>

Jessica Wohl. “Wal-Mart trims some U.S. health coverage.” REUTERS (2 Feb. 2011): n. pag. Mon. 5 March. 2012. <http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/21/us-walmart-idUSTRE79K43Z20111021>

The National Organization for Women (NOW) Website. “Wal-Mart: Merchant of Shame.” 2 Feb. 2011. Mon. 5 Mar 2012. <http://www.now.org/issues/wfw/wal-mart.html>