US-based NGO Human Rights Watch has accused retail giant Wal-Mart of “relentlessly exploiting” US labour laws.
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In a report published today (1 May), Human Rights Watch said the US retailer thwarts union formation and violates the rights of its US workers.
“Wal-Mart workers have virtually no chance to organise because they’re up against unfair US labour laws and a giant company that will do just about anything to keep unions out,” said Carol Pier, senior researcher on labour rights and trade for Human Rights Watch. “That one-two punch devastates workers’ right to form and join unions.”
The organisation said that Wal-Mart is the largest private US employer, with over 1.3m US workers. Not one of these workers is represented by a union, Human Rights Watch said.
“Wal-Mart should change its anti-union behaviour,” Pier said. “When companies like Wal-Mart can regularly violate US workers’ right to organise, they threaten a fundamental right and one that the government is duty-bound to uphold.”
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By GlobalDataHuman Rights Watch claimed that if workers try to organise into a union, store managers are obliged to report to Wal-Mart headquarters. “Wal-Mart’s relentless anti-union drumbeat creates a climate of fear at its US stores,” the organisation said.
