Date of publication: February 6, 2006
Source: The Republican
By Natalia Munoz
HADLEY - Damaris Meza Guillen held a pair of Faded Glory jeans like the ones she sews together at a Nicaraguan factory that supplies Wal-Mart. She said she would have to work a week to buy the jeans - even at Wal-Mart's prices - because she is paid only 39 cents an hour.
Meza Guillen is one of three foreign women who assemble and sew products sold by the world's largest retailer and are touring the country to highlight what they say are Wal-Mart's practices of buying many of its products from sweatshops abroad and under-paying its employees here.
The three women spoke yesterday at a rally in front of the Wal-Mart off Route 9 in Hadley.
Nationwide, the retailer is facing protests and lawsuits over claims involving sex discrimination against female employees as well as other labor practices such as failing to pay overtime. Critics also say the company hurts local businesses by underselling them. Last week, three Massachusetts women filed a lawsuit against the retailer, saying it violates state law by refusing to stock emergency contraception pills in its pharmacies.
Ben Armstrong, manager of the Hadley store, emphasizes the jobs the retailer provides.
"We're not anti-union," he said. "We are pro-associate." "Associate" is the term Wal-Mart uses for its employees.
Others agreed with Armstrong. One customer who had just walked out of the store asked protesters where the retailer's workers would find jobs if Wal-Mart closed. Another customer made a point of walking through the protesters as if she were crossing a picket line.
State Rep. Ellen Story, D-Amherst, said Costco, Stop & Shop and Target pay employees better than Wal-Mart. The retailer contributes to a cycle of poverty here and abroad that benefits the shareholders, five of whom are in the Top 10 richest people in the United States, Story said.
Aron P. Goldman, who held a sign that read "Wal-Mart is bad for kids," said the store's $13,000 to $15,000 annual salaries were the origin of his sign.
"Wal-Mart goes where worker protections are weakest, and that's China," said Goldman, executive director of Amherst-based Policy Development, a nonprofit that connects direct-service providers and policy makers here and overseas.
Efforts to reach a Wal-Mart corporate spokesman were unsuccessful, but the store's Web site has this to say about its Massachusetts operations:
The state has 41 discount stores, four Sam's Clubs and three so-called "Supercenters" - one is being planned for Hadley.
Wal-Mart employs about 11,000 people in Massachusetts.
The average pay for its Massachusetts employees is $11.26 per hour.
In 2004, Wal-Mart spent $2.7 billion for merchandise and services with 822 suppliers in Massachusetts, helping to support 55,295 supplier jobs.