Walmart Essay

Few companies create such controversy as Walmart has done with its approach to maintaining low costs for everyday items. People either love Walmart because of this approach to keeping prices down or hate it due to the effects it has on the economy. There are a lot of arguments surrounding the minimum wage and employee rights at Walmart. There seems to always be a news article about some employee protest about the wages or how they are treated. Walmart is viewed as an enormous firm that does not take care of its employees because of its minimum wage, treatment of its employees, and how it deals with lawsuits.
According to an article from the Economist, what makes Walmart look mean in the eyes of the public is the companies enormous size.

Many employees claim low wages, no benefits, irregular schedules, and unreliable hours as some of the horrible working conditions they have to endure. Walmart employees put together different unions all the time to try and protest or strike about the wages, treatment and anything else that seems to come along with being an employee of Walmart. Walmart does not take well to these unions. Women of Walmart seem to have it the hardest though. As recently as 2013, despite the fact that women account for as much as 57 percent of Walmart’s U.S. workforce, women were paid $1.16 less per hour (Osterndorf). In an article about Walmart and how it treats employees wanting to take sick days, a woman in fear of losing her job at a North Huntingdon Walmart, went back to work even though she had doctors' notes and hospitalization recorded, which were both rejected by her supervisors, to excuse her from work due to a miscarriage. She was worried the she would get fired due to absences so she went back (Abrams). Walmart also does not give out good health care to its employees. There are many claims of Walmart cutting health care for employees or finding the cheapest possible solution for an employee's health care. In 2014, the company cut insurance benefits to its part-time employees (Osterndorf). In a New York Times article about health care called, Walmart to End Health Coverage for 30,000 Part-Time Workers, it stated

Walmart seems to be all over the news due to one of these reasons yet it still remains one of the top corporations in America today.

Abrams, Rachel. “Walmart Is Accused of Punishing Workers for Sick Days.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 June 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/business/walmart-workers-sick-days.html?mcubz=0.
“High Expectations.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, 28 Jan. 2016, www.economist.com/news/united-states/21689607-what-big-pay-rise-walmart-means-minimum-wage-debate-high-expectations.
Isidore, Chris. “No Holiday Hiring for Walmart, Just More Hours for Its Workers.” CNNMoney, Cable News Network, 20 Sept. 2017, money.cnn.com/2017/09/20/news/companies/walmart-holiday-help/.
Tabuchi, Hiroko. “Walmart to End Health Coverage for 30,000 Part-Time Workers.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Oct. 2014,