Is Wal-Mart Evil (cont.)?

Gallagher also pointed out the www.walmartfacts.com Web site, which spells out the retailer's numerous arguments with the Greenwald film. She noted that the average Wal-Mart employee hourly wage is $9.83, "nearly double the minimum wage," and that the company offers up to 52 types of benefits, including health care for full and part-time workers, sick pay, and 401k plans that the company pays into even if the employee doesn't.

She attributes much of the campaigns against Wal-Mart to funding and other support by labor unions seeking to undercut the company for being a non-union chain that is angering the UFCW by expanding into the sales of groceries -- in fact, Wal-Mart has rapidly become America's number-one source of grocery sales..

But more impressively, she detailed her own rise through the ranks at the company during 14 years there -- a firsthand example that she noted contradicts many opponents' claims that Wal-Mart discriminates against women and minorities.

"I started out as an hourly associate and as a part time cashier, I never expected Wal-Mart to be a career. Over 70% of our managers started out as associates, and that fact alone is evidence that our managers know what it's like to be hourly and how to be treated and treat them with respect," said Gallagher. "My managers saw that I was a hard worker and interested in moving up in the company, and groomed me for management positions even when I was hourly because I expressed interest in staying with them even after college.

"My husband and I met working for the company and moved here together. Now we're going to Canada," she continued. "It's just amazing the endless opportunities worldwide that this company can offer you."

So, how does one sort it all out? A couple of things did stand out as possibly off-base in Greenwald's filmmaking approach. He never appeared to give the Wal-Mart officials a chance to respond to his charges, other than showing some video clips of Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott giving an unrelated speech about the company -- and acknowledging some of its missteps. The film has a brief quote from a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, but considering the volume of charges raised by Greenwald, it does give the distinct impression that the company wasn't approached.

For his part, Greenwald claims that he did give company executives numerous chances to talk, but was ignored or rebuffed. He says that his website, www.walmartmovie.com, spells out these attempts in its "Fear and Smear "section, but a look through that portion doesn't appear to spell out anything other than the general attack he's undergoing.

Near the end of the film, as the towns that have allegedly won victories against Wal-Mart scroll by, it creates the impression that if Wal-Mart is so beatable, why worry about it? And what are these towns actually accomplishing? All that appears with the town names are overlaying graphics saying things like "Victory" -- a move that gives an otherwise intriguing work the false uplift of a WWII troop propaganda film.

"What it really comes down to is classism, because the people who are protesting Wal-Mart are not the people who need to shop there, the people who are saving $50 billion a year there in groceries alone," said Ron Galloway, a Georgia-based documentary maker who recently completed the film Why Wal-Mart Works (Pick this up!). "The Washington Post noted that no other company saves the poor so much money each year, as an average family saves $2000 a year there. That's over $150 a month, which means they're able to make a car payment with what they save."

Galloway describes himself as a "bleeding-heart free marketer," and says "Hell no!" when asked if he's a Bush supporter -- so he doesn't fit the stereotypes normally easy to peg on big-business supporters.  Beyond touting the economic benefits about Wal-Mart, he also noted that the company is one of very few to openly hire mentally challenged people and senior citizens, thereby improving the quality of life of some of society's most enfeebled populations.

"There are pockets of poverty in this country that you won't believe. Ask a single mom where she shops, and I guarantee you every one shops Wal-Mart because [single moms] are the most efficient people on the planet. Wal-Mart sells what people need to live," Galloway concluded. "There's not a thing a family needs at Best Buy, not one damn thing, but you do need baby formula, school clothes and food. And you can find that most affordably at Wal-Mart."

Carl Kozlowski is a regular Arriviste contributor and the co-author of the satirical self-help guide Life: The Final Frontier. (Pick this up!) He has also performed standup coast to coast and written for the Chicago Tribune, New City Weekly in Chicago, Chicago Reader and Pasadena Weekly.
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