Wal-Mart: Merchant of Shame

Take Action:

Sign the women-friendly workplace consumer's pledge Host a screening of the Wal-Mart movie, "The High Cost of Low Price"

The National Organization for Women, its Board of Directors, and its members have received numerous complaints regarding workplace environment and employment practices at Wal-Mart stores, distribution centers, regional and corporate offices. We have considered the extensive public record on cases filed against Wal-Mart and found the allegations disturbing. They are sex discrimination in pay, promotion, and compensation, wage abuse, exclusion of contraceptive coverage in insurance plans, violations of child labor laws and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Cases have also been filed regarding firing pro-union workers, eliminating jobs once workers joined unions, and discouraging workers from unionizing.

Consistent with the goals of NOW's Women Friendly Workplace Campaign, NOW names Wal-Mart a Merchant of Shame. Wal-Mart's dismal record contradicts the worker-friendly image it projects to the public. Join NOW in its campaign to demand changes in Wal-Mart's unfair practices.

Activists demonstrate outside a Wal-Mart store in western Massachusetts in November, 2005.

Demand emergency contraception at Wal-Mart as part of the International Day of Action Against Big Box Retailers on Nov. 17. Learn more and download materials that you can use any day of the week at any pharmacy to help promote access to EC.

Organzing a Wal-Mart demonstration?
Download and print Wal-Mart action materials: brochure, palm cards and flyers (PDFs, Updated 11/05). Or, use this order form.

You may also purchase items promoting this issue, and supporting NOW's work, through our catalog.

Latest News:

• Wal-Mart Protests Staged (08/07)
• NOW and Others Issue Mother's Day Challenge to Wal-Mart (05/07)
• Wal-Mart Class Action Gets Green Light from Appeals Court (02/07)
• Wal-Mart Enacts Unfair Wage and Work Policy (01/07)
• Decision by Wal-Mart to Stock Emergency Contraception "Long Overdue" (03/06)
• NOW and Allies Support Lawsuit Calling for Emergency Contraception Access at Wal-Mart (01/06)
• Maryland Legislature Stands Up to Wal-Mart, Sets Example for U.S. (1/06)
• Chapters Take Action on Wal-Mart This Holiday Season (11/05)
• NOW Kicks Off Wal-Mart Holiday Shopping Campaign (11/05)
• Spotlight on Wal-Mart's Shameful Practices (09/05)
• Upcoming Movie to Expose Wal-Mart's Anti-Women, Anti-Worker Practices (June 2005)
• Wal-Mart Tries to Respond to Critics with Newspaper Ads (January 2005)
• Wal-Mart: Always Low Prices? or Always Discriminates? (Fall 2004)
• Activists Gather at Las Vegas Wal-Mart to Protest Workplace Abuses (7/04)
• Working Women Won't Have to Settle for Less: Wal-Mart to Face Country's Largest Civil Rights Class Action Suit (6/04)
• Wal-Mart Announces New Diversity Initiatives at Annual Board Meeting; NOW Skeptically Awaits Implementation of New Worker-Friendly Policies (6/04)
• Good News! Case Against Wal-Mart Gets a Green Light (4/04)
• Grocery Store Workers Caught Up in Wal-Mart's Race to the Bottom (11/03)
• Gender-Pay Activists Step Up the Pressure on Wal-Mart (6/03)
• NOW Brings "Merchant of Shame" Campaign Into Wal-Mart Stores Nationwide (6/03)
• Wal-Mart Execs' Testimony Could Help Sex Bias Suit (5/03)
• Angry Workers Up The Ante At Wal-Mart (4/03)
• NOW Protests Wal-Mart Workplace Abuses Statement of NOW President Kim Gandy (9/02)
• Wal-Mart: The Facts
• Always In Court; Always Wal-Mart: Legal Developments
• Feminists Celebrate Judge's Ruling to Grant Class-Action Status to Wal-Mart Discrimination Suit (9/02)
• NOW Declares Wal-Mart A Merchant of Shame (Fall 2002)
• News Release: NOW Blasts Wal-Mart Workplace Abuses, Names the Company a Merchant of Shame (6/02)
• Women-Friendly Workplace and Campus Campaign Summary