Today, I have a simple question for you: Is
Walmart a good company or a bad company?
Let’s look at the facts.
Like many retailers, Walmart maximizes its
profits by paying very little in wages and
benefits, only, they take it to the next level.
Paying barely above minimum wage—but often
below the poverty line—Walmart has been
caught paying its employees in pre-paid debit
cards and even Walmart-vouchers, providing
benefits so low that it even encourages employees
to sign up for food stamps and state-run insurance,
and in a particularly low move, once ran a
Thanksgiving food drive, asking its employees
to donate canned goods… for its OWN employees.
But at least they got paid something, right?
Not exactly.
In the states of Missouri, Oregon, Colorado,
Pennsylvania, and Minnesota, Walmart has faced
class-action lawsuits for forcing employees
to work off the clock, denying overtime pay,
and working through lunch breaks.
Speaking of lawsuits, Walmart has also been
sued for discriminatory treatment against
women, predatory pricing, and poor working
conditions.
The company has been accused of breaking child
labor laws in the United States, as well as
being connected with sweatshops and prison
labor overseas.
In the most tragic case, 112 workers at a
clothing factory in Bangladesh were killed
in a fire where products were being made for
Walmart.
The fire extinguishers did not work, the exit
door was locked, and workers were told to
continue sowing even after the fire alarm
went off.
Walmart claims it wasn’t their fault, but
they were aware of the factory, and are responsible
for squeezing its contractors to the point
that they NEED to resort to subhuman conditions.
This… is not good.
And really, the list could go on and on.
A simple google search will provide hundreds
upon hundreds of anecdotes, studies, reports,
and financial statements showing how a company
worth 328 billion dollars gets so rich: by
cutting corners and offloading its costs onto
its employees, governments, and the environment.
As the 2005 documentary aptly pointed out,
there is a High Cost of having Low Prices.
Many see it as an evil institution, and that
the world would be better off without it.
For those seeking to build a moral economy,
one that alleviates poverty and promotes the
common good, this seems obvious.
And yet proponents of the company tell a different
story.
They argue that despite all of the negative
press against the company, Walmart is not
a PLAGUE to society… it is actually its
greatest force for alleviating poverty.
If you care about human rights, they say,
you should actually spend MORE money in the store.
How can they say this?
Well, despite its low wages, Walmart is the
largest employer in the country BY FAR, providing
jobs to 1.5 million people domestically and
another 700,000 worldwide, not to mention
the millions of jobs it indirectly supports
in manufacturing, textiles, and shipping.
That is a big boost to the economy that infuses
money into poor communities.
In fact, the very existence of a Walmart in
one’s community is said to save the average
person a few thousand dollars a year, no matter
where they shop.
Their prices are so low that it forces other
companies to be competitive, making it easier
for those in poverty to survive.
Cheap food, cheap clothes, cheap everything
means a higher standard of living for the
poorest people living anywhere near a Walmart.
And as far as those lawsuits go?
Sure, they’ve had to settle a few, but what
major company hasn’t?
Being the biggest, they are naturally going
to be the target of opportunists, and some
of the suits I mentioned before were settled
in Walmart’s favor.
Walmart may be a company only concerned with
its bottom line and wiling to cut as many
corners as possible to make a buck—in other
words, led by greed—but that doesn’t mean
that others don’t benefit.
It may not be a perfect company, but proponents
will argue that the world is better off WITH
Walmart than without it.
And so I ask you again: Is Walmart a good
company or a bad company?
Turns out, it’s not exactly a simple question,
is it?
The reason I bring this up actually has nothing
to do with Walmart.
I have no immediate stake in the company or
its competitors, but use it as an example
to talk about the complex process of engaging
in moral dilemmas in the economy, situations
in which we find ourselves stuck chooses between
two less than ideal options.
To support Walmart or Amazon or really, any
major company, means financially rewarding
a company with human rights violations and
business practices that perpetuate gross wealth
inequality.
Since these companies are free to do with
our money what they choose, it might also
mean us indirectly supporting things that
are against our values—abortion, weapons
production, pollution.
On the other hand, to outright boycott these
companies, to work to put them out of business,
would remove millions of jobs, billions of
dollars funneling through international communities
with no other source of income, and force
the most economically disadvantaged to pay
more for essential goods.
To take something away that is providing a
good without replacing it has to be morally
reprehensible as well.
Hence, a dilemma.
A choice between two unsatisfying options.
At least, that’s what appears to be the
case on the surface.
The reality, is that we have a third option—we
need not choose between being complicit in
evil and taking away jobs.
We can be a voice for reform.
On their own, companies will not have a conscience.
Their goal is to maximize profits, and as
long as they are doing so, they’re not going
to change.
We cannot expect them to do the right thing.
But we can demand that they do.
We can make our voices known that certain
moral imperatives do exist, that no low price
is worth dehumanizing another human being.
As amoral as companies are, we have seen countless
times in the past that they do listen when
their bank accounts are threatened.
McDonald’s may be the most obvious example
of this with their “You asked, we listened”
campaign, a result of the company realizing
that good business meant more than just low
prices.
In recent years, they have spent more providing
antibiotic free meet, healthier menus, and
even less plastic.
Look at a company like Nike.
In the 1990s it was the poster child of slave
labor, something they vehemently denied.
But people didn’t back down and eventually
social pressure forced the company to change
the way it does business, making it today
a corporate sustainability leader.
Agree with it or not, it was relentless pressure
put on the Washington Football team for decades,
indignant at the fact that it’s team name
was a racial slur, that ultimately got it
to change.
Even Walmart has raised it employee wages
in recent years and done at least minimal
work to clean up its supply chains.
It’s not much, but it’s also not nothing.
As Christians, and more particularly as Catholics,
we have an important role to play in building
the society around us.
Committed to the mission of Christ, being
a people who uphold the human dignity of all
and have a preferential option for the poor,
how we spend our money matters.
Who we do business with matters.
Working conditions, labor rights, equitable
pay, environmental sustainability—all of
this matters.
Just because a company benefits us doesn’t
mean we should remain complicit to the evil
it does… and just because it may cause evil
doesn’t mean we try to burn it down.
We can advocate for justice.
We can support the right to form unions.
We can make it known that our moral conscience
can’t be won over by low prices, but that
it matters how our companies provide for the
common good.
Call me cynical, but I don’t think that
many companies will come to these conclusions
themselves.
Few businesses are going to spend more money
doing what is right when they can get away
with doing what is wrong.
And so let’s make sure that they don’t
away with it.
Whether it’s Walmart or Amazon or any other
major company, we have the opportunity, maybe
even the responsibility, to ensure that a
moral voice makes it into their board meetings.
We may not have the ability to change everything
we want, but what choice do we have than to
try?
When human beings are being mistreated, when
justice isn’t being served, our call to
be prophets must be exercised.
Get to know the companies that we use, refuse
to be complicit in evil, and let the voice
of God be heard.
