~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Especially this Holiday Season Let's Hold Wal-Mart Accountable to Respect Human & Worker Rights December 22, 2005 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please contact Wal-Mart about the following abuses: -- WAL-MART OWES THESE CHILDREN! -- Wal-Mart's China Abuses Keep Mounting! -- Model Letter to the Chairman of Wal-Mart

WAL-MART OWES THESE CHILDREN! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In Bangladesh, ten to 13-year-old children sewing Wal-Mart garments have been fired and thrown into the street, penniless. Wal-Mart owes these children. After a hidden camera investigation by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's "Zona Libre" program exposed that children just 10 to 13 years old were working under harsh sweatshop conditions in factories producing Wal-Mart garments, including corporate "I Love My Wal-Mart" shirts--Wal-Mart responded by pulling its work from the factories. Rather than staying to fix the problem, Wal-Mart chose to cut and run, turning its back on these children and the other workers--which was the worst thing they could have done. Now the children have been fired and thrown out into the street with nothing, penniless. After exploiting these 10 to 13-year-old boys and girls, Wal-Mart owes them more and should not be allowed to simply walk away. These children belong in school, not in sweatshops. As the largest, most powerful retailer in the world, with $10.5 billion in profits last year, Wal-Mart should provide these children with stipends to replace their lost wages while also covering their school fees. Further, Wal-Mart should keep its production in the factories--A.U. Fashion and Maruf Group located in Narayanganj, Bangladesh--and work with its contractors to clean up these plants, taking concrete steps to guarantee that the legal rights of the workers are finally respected. Read more and TAKE ACTION!

Wal-Mart's China Abuses Keep Mounting! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A series of recent factory reports release by the National Labor Committee and China Labor Watch have documented a pattern of systematic sweatshop abuses in Wal-Mart supplier factories in China--including 80-hour workweeks, child labor, payment of below the legal mininum wage (which is itself below subsistence level), denial of legal paid maternity leave, terminiation of injured workers, excessive mandatory overtime and cheating the workers on their overtime pay, primitive, crowded dorm rooms and awful food. The workers are exhausted, and kept in a state of terror, with no rights and knowing that they would be fired for daring to speak even one word of truth about the abusive factory conditions. Wal-Mart's so-called code of conduct and factory monitoring program has completely failed to protect these workers in China who make Wal-Mart goods, or to assure even the most minimum compliance with their legal rights. It is time for Wal-Mart to stop hiding these sweatshop factories. Ask Wal-Mart to release to the American people the names and addresses of the factories it uses to make the goods Wal-Mart wants us to purchase. This is a very simple and doable step, which Wal-Mart could accomplish with the push of a button to print out this factory list. Releasing the names of the factories would be a positive step and a sign of good faith that Wal-Mart is no longer trying to hide the exploitation of young women locked behind barbwire in hidden sweatshop factories. Ask Wal-Mart to open these factories to independent human, women's and labor rights organizations like China Labor Watch and the Hong Kong-based Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) to conduct popular education seminars to help train the workers on their legal rights and to help independently verify factory conditions. You can access the December 2005 report on Wal-Mart production in China here

Model Letter to the Chairman of Wal-Mart ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The following is a suggested letter to Lee Scott, the Chairman of Wal-Mart, asking him to stop the worker's rights abuses carried out by Wal-Mart in their factories. Please "cut and paste" it into your email program and send it to hlscott@walmart.com Lee Scott, CEO Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. 702 Southwest 8th Street Bentonville, AR 72716 Phone: (479) 273-4000 Fax: (479) 273-4329 Email: hlscott@walmart.com Dear Mr. Scott I am very concerned about the continuing violation of fundamental human, women's and worker rights at Wal-Mart suppliers' factories in China. I am referring to recent factory reports from China documenting 80-hour workweeks, child labor, denial of maternity leave, payment of below the minimum wage, excessive mandatory overtime without the legal overtime pay, health and safety violations, denial of statutory national holidays, primitive dorm conditions, food the workers describe as awful--and workers kept in a state of terror, stripped of their fundamental rights and knowing that they will be fired for saying one truthful word regarding the abusive factory conditions at the Lungcheong, Panyu and Huangwu factories making toys, holiday cards and notebooks for Wal-Mart. I urge Wal-Mart to release to the American people the names and addresses of the factories you use in China to make the goods you want us to buy. Taking this positive, but very simple and doable step would go a long way toward reassuring the American people that Wal-Mart is not trying to hide factories where the rights of young women workers are being routinely violated behind locked metal gates. In light of the failure of Wal-Mart's code of conduct and factory monitoring program to guarantee respect for even the most minimal legal rights of the workers in China, I urge Wal-Mart to open your suppliers' plants to respected independent local human, women's and worker rights organizations like China Labor Watch and others to conduct popular education seminars so the workers can finally learn their legal rights and so that factory conditions can be independently verified by the workers themselves and the human rights groups accompanying them. By taking these steps, Wal-Mart can demonstrate its commitment to being a good corporate citizen. I anxiously await your response, which I hope will not be another form letter, but rather a serious response to the urgent human, women's and labor rights issues raised here. Thank you. Sincerely, There are downloadable Word and PDF versions here

Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ email: nlc@nlcnet.org phone: 212-242-3002 web: http://www.nlcnet.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~