Change to Win unions are standing up to Wal-Mart in our Wal-Mart Campaign.

• Wal-Mart is the second largest corporation in the world behind Exxon/Mobil. 
• It had more than $315 billion in sales in 2005.¹
• The company made $11.3 billion in net profit in 2004. It more than doubled its sales and profit between 2000 and 2005.²
• Wal-Mart is the largest private sector employer in the U.S. with more than 1.3 million employees at nearly 3,700 stores.³

• Wal-Mart sales associates earned on average $8.23 per hour and worked only 32 hours a week in 2003, adding up to annual wages of $13,861.⁴
• Cashiers earned approximately $7.92 per hour and worked 29 hours a week in 2003. This brings in annual wages of only $11,948.⁵

• According to Wal-Mart, the average hourly wage for regular full-time associates is $10.11.⁶
• This wage is 34% lower than the national housing wage of $15.37, the amount of money one needs to earn to afford to rent a two-bedroom apartment. 7This wage is barely more than the income needed to keep a family of four above the federal poverty line: $20,000, or an average of $9.62 an hour.⁸

• Four of the world’s top 20 billionaires are Walton family members, each with a net worth of about $15.8 billion.⁹
• Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott made $17.5 million in total compensation in 2004. 10 His compensation amounted to $48,000 a day. So in one day of work Scott makes three times the amount that a typical Wal-Mart employee makes in a year.

• Wal-Mart’s health insurance only covers 43% of its employees.¹¹
• On average, large firms (200 or more workers) cover approximately 68% of their employees.¹²
• Wal-Mart’s most affordable individual plan charges premiums of $22 a month ($11 in some areas); but it carries with it a $1,000 deductible for individuals, a $3,000 deductible for family members with a separate $1,000 per person hospital deductible, and a $300 per person prescription drug deductible.¹³
• At these deductible levels, a person earning Wal-Mart’s average hourly wage for a full-time worker would have to spend between 7% and 25% of his total annual income just to cover his premiums and medical deductibles.¹⁴
• The cost of premiums for Wal-Mart family health insurance has risen 117% since 2000. 15 In comparison, average premiums for family coverage in the United States have increased by 59% since 2000.¹⁶
• Wal-Mart admits that public health care assistance is a “better value” for its employees than its own plans. President and CEO Lee Scott said, “In some of our states, the public (health insurance) program may actually be a better value - with relatively high income limits to qualify, and low premiums."¹⁷
• Wal-Mart employees must wait longer than the average worker to gain access to plans:
  • Part-time employees must wait two years before they are allowed to enroll and are not eligible to purchase family health care coverage.¹⁸
• Full-time hourly employees must wait 6 months before enrolling in Wal-Mart’s health insurance plan.¹⁹
• By comparison, the average national wait time for new employees to become eligible for enrollment in company provided health care plans is 1.6 months.²⁰

• Neither of Wal-Mart’s two retirement plans guarantees workers a fixed monthly pension benefit.
• In an Enron-like move Wal-Mart has shifted risks to employees by concentrating the plan’s investment in its own stock. In 2003, 67% of the plan’s combined assets were invested in Wal-Mart stock. Meanwhile, from January 2000 to January 2005, the average adjusted share price of Wal-Mart’s stock lost more than a fifth of its value.²¹
• By being concentrated in one security, employees’ retirement plans are subject to the whims of one stock rather than having the safety of a diversified portfolio.

• Since 1995, the U.S. government has issued at least 60 complaints against Wal-Mart for violations of the National Labor Relations Act.²²
• Wal-Mart’s labor law violations range from illegally firing workers who attempt to organize a union to unlawful surveillance, threats, and intimidation of employees who dare to speak out.²³

1. Wal-Mart 2005 10K.
2. Wal-Mart Annual Reports, 1999-2005.
3. Wal-Mart Annual Report 2005.
4. Anthony Bianco and Wendy Zellner, “Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful?” Business Week, Oct. 10, 2003.
5. Dr. Richard Drogin, “Statistical Analysis of Gender Patterns in Wal-Mart’s Workforce,” 2003.
6. Wal-Martfacts.com; accessed April 21, 2006.
7. National Low Income Housing Coalition, “Out of Reach 2005.”
8. “2006 Federal Poverty Guidelines,” Federal Register, Vol. 71, No. 15, Jan. 24, 2006, pp. 3848-3849.
9. Forbes, “Billionaires: The Richest People in the World,” Mar. 27, 2006.
10. Wal-Mart proxy statement, April 15, 2005.
11. www.walmartfacts.com/docs/1625_jan2006healthcarebackgrounders_576890240; accessed Feb. 2006.
12. Kaiser Family Foundation & Health Research and Educational Trust, “Employer Health Benefits: 2004 Annual Survey,” 2004.
13. Wal-Mart 2006 Associate Guide.
14. Wal-Mart 2006 Associate Guide and United Food and Commercial Workers analysis.
15. United Food and Commercial Workers analysis of annual Wal-Mart Associate Guides.
16. Kaiser Family Foundation & Health Research and Educational Trust, “Employer Health Benefits: 2004 Annual Survey,” 2004.
17. Susan Bucher, “Wal-Mart: the $288 billion welfare queen,” Tallahassee Democrat, April 19, 2005.
18. Wal-Mart 2005 Associate Guide.
19. Wal-Mart 2005 Associate Guide.
20. Kaiser Family Foundation & Health Research and Educational Trust, “Employer Health Benefits: 2004 Annual Survey,” 2004.
21. http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/facts/; accessed on April 21, 2006.
22. International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), “Internationally Recognised Core Labour Standards in the United States: Report for the WTO General Council Review of the Trade Policies of the United States,” Jan. 14-16, 2004.
23. “Everyday Low Wages: The Hidden Price We All Pay for Wal-Mart,” A Report by the Democratic Staff of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, Feb. 16, 2004.