Business Ethics

Many people shop everyday without really thinking about where the products they are buying came from, how they were made, and who made them. If they were to find out that many of the products at these stores were made by people working under harsh and unsafe conditions for only pennies per hour, would they still shop there? Wal-Mart is a prime example of this. This is why I believe it is wrong to shop at a place like Wal-Mart because they violate the ethical responsibilities they have to their workers just to make maximum profits for their company.

In almost every major city you go to, there is a Wal-Mart. This company employs more people than any other company in the United States and is constantly opening up new stores every month. Most people shop at Wal-Mart because it is known for their cheaper prices, which put many smaller companies out of business. But how can Wal-Mart afford to keep their prices lower? The answer is through cheap labor in other countries.

Wal-Mart treats their workers very poorly. According to the website wakeupwalmart.com, employees in China work about 130 hours per week at 16.5 cents per hour with no health insurance. Besides trying to find the cheapest labor available, Wal-Mart also searches for the cheapest possible materials to use and the cheapest methods to ship them. In the United States, workers with families are not given a fair pay. According to the website pbs.org, these employees take home about $250 per week which leaves them below the poverty line. Besides paying workers low wages, they are also often forced to work 16-18 hours of overtime without getting paid for it. The website laborrights.org states that Wal-Mart has had many other work code violates that include denying maternity leave and benefits, making employees get permission to have a timed bathroom break, paying their workers 30% below minimum wage, and not providing basic safety equipment for employees. This is why Wal-Mart is considered a high