Lawsuit targets Wal-Mart overseas working conditions
A lawsuit accuses Wal-Mart Stores of failing to monitor labour conditions at overseas factories that allegedly maintained sweatshop conditions.
The suit filed Tuesday seeks class-action status and claims Southern California grocery workers were harmed because Wal-Mart’s low prices – made possible by alleged substandard overseas factories – force competing grocery chains to cut wages and benefits.
Beth Keck, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said the company had not seen the lawsuit but had started to research the issues it raises.”It’s too early for us to talk in detail about this case,” Keck said. “It’s complex.”
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two classes of plaintiffs. The first includes factory workers in China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Swaziland and Nicaragua that made garments and toys for sale in Wal-Mart stores. It claims those plaintiffs, identified only as John or Jane Doe, could not bring similar court actions in their own countries because of fear of retribution and corrupt court systems.
The second group includes California grocery workers at stores such as Ralphs and Vons who saw their wages and benefits cut amid competition from Wal-Mart. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court under California’s Unfair Business Practices Act.
The court action was organised by the Washington, D.C.-based International Labour Rights Fund, which also helped organise a lawsuit in the 1990s against Unocal Corp alleging human rights violations during the construction of a pipeline in Southeast Asia.
Terry Collingsworth, general counsel for the group, said he and associates interviewed dozens of workers overseas to compile tales of forced overtime, denial of minimum wages and even violence against workers.
The acts violate Wal-Mart’s own code of conduct, which prohibits such acts by overseas suppliers, according to the lawsuit.
The suit seeks a jury trial and unspecified compensatory damages. It alleges breach of contract for denial of minimum and overtime wages, forced labor and denial of fundamental rights to freely associate.
Workers often were kept behind locked doors to prevent them from leaving early and were prevented from associating to form labor unions, the suit alleges. Wal-Mart’s public claims that it complies with foreign labour laws persuaded California consumers to patronize the chain to the detriment of workers at competing stores, the suit states.
