Sign our open letter to Wal-Mart employees (and their new CEO, Mike Duke)
Today, Wal-Mart has a new CEO. Mike Duke has the historic opportunity to turn the page, and finally start doing things the right way at Wal-Mart. Sign our open letter of support to Wal-Mart workers, outlining what their new boss can do – starting today – to let them live better, too. We’ll be posting the letter on our website, and sending it to every employee that we talk with -- and we'll make sure to send Mike Duke a signed copy as well.
Dear Wal-Mart workers, Today your company has a new CEO, Mike Duke. I want you to know that I stand with you and your co-workers as you work with your new boss to improve your company and your jobs. There are many ways that Wal-Mart can be a better company, but the first order of business is to start finally giving you, its employees, the respect and quality of life you deserve by raising your wages. If Mike Duke boosts his workers' wages, it will not only be the right thing to do – but it will stimulate the struggling American economy by putting dollars into the hands of workers who need it. Wal-Mart and the Walton Family are making billions in profit from the stores that you run, yet even at full-time hours, Wal-Mart wages are not enough to support a family in America today. Wal-Mart tells the world that its average wage is $10.86 an hour. Even at that wage, a full time employee may be living below the poverty line. But that is not the real story. The “average” wage is skewed by geographical differences and by the few employees who are making far more than the average. If Mike Duke releases Wal-Mart's median wage data, then the public will know what life is really like for Wal-Mart workers like you. During Lee Scott's nine year tenure as CEO, he refused to change the basic Wal-Mart business practices that made life so hard for employees. In an ideal world, Mike Duke will start today to build a better Wal-Mart and help his workers. But since this is not an ideal world, and because Wal-Mart has refused to change for so long, I support the Employee Free Choice Act - which will give Wal-Mart workers like you the simple option to join together to form a union, and finally win a seat at the table with Wal-Mart to determine your pay, benefits and working conditions. Wal-Mart has always referred to you as "associates" rather than employees - because it wants to make you feel like you're truly a part of the family. Now it’s time to make that a reality. |
I pledge that I will continue to support Wal-Mart workers like you, and continue to pressure Mike Duke to make Wal-Mart a better company. Sincerely, |
