|
Public Employee Press
Media Beat
Book Review:
Fighting for womens rights at Wal-Mart
Betty Dukes is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit charging
Wal-Mart, the nations largest employer, with sex discrimination
in pay and promotions.
The giant retailer recognized the energy and dedication of the 52-year-old
African American clerk until she applied for promotion to management
and crashed into a glass ceiling. When she complained, she was demoted.
Over 100 women working at Wal-Mart joined Ms. Dukes in the suit, which
charges that an old boys network controls advancement. The
largest class-action suit in history, it covers 1.6 million women employees.
Liza Featherstone presents their story in Selling Women Short: The
Landmark Battle for Workers Rights at Wal-Mart. The 282-page $25
book available in the union library tells how they give
their all for Wal-Mart, only to see junior men who have contributed less
race up the management hierarchy.
Wal-Mart projects an image of a family-friendly company whose workers
are valued associates. Wal-Mart managers often justify paying
men more on the grounds that they provide for families and women less
because of their family responsibilities. Women make up more than two-thirds
of Wal-Marts workers, but only 1/3 of its managers. The firms
deep-rooted sexist culture includes meetings at Hooters restaurants and
persistent segregation of entire departments.
Featherstone points out that even if all the discrimination ended, most
Wal-Mart workers would still live in poverty, needing food stamps and
Medicaid to survive. Wal-Mart specializes in labor law violations such
as abusing undocumented workers, locking employees in at night, denying
overtime pay and gets goods from overseas sweatshops. As industry
leader, it depresses pay and benefits for most retail workers.
Unions have yet to succeed in organizing Wal-Mart workers, whose blind
loyalty may well result from intimidation. So Liza Featherstones
new book is not just a necessary primer on one companys excesses,
it is a must-read for anyone interested in the future of the labor movement.
Ken Nash
DC 37 Education Fund Library, Rm. 211
| |