A friend recently suggested we watch this, and so we did last night.  The full-length film seeks to take
us on an extraordinary, eye-opening journey to make us think, feel and shop differently.  Robert Greenwald has become one of the most incisive activists filmmakers in America, and with little fanfare.

The movie mixes statistics, employee testimony and detailed business practices of WAL-MART that
should provoke outrage in viewers: coerced unpaid overtime, anti-union crushing tactics, foreign sweatshop labor, expensive health insurance packages and the bankrupting of mom-and-pop stores
all across America.

In an interview, Producer/Director Robert Greenwald shared this story: 

"Why? is usually the first question I am asked about the Wal-Mart film. With all the
subjects in the world crying out for documentary investigation, what made me choose
 this one?

A neighbor of mine, who had some health issues, was hired at Wal-Mart. As we were
talking about it, I expressed my relief that he would now have health insurance. He
replied that no, unfortunately the coverage offered at Wal-Mart was so expensive and
had so many requirements, he couldn't afford it and might not qualify even if he could
pay. He let me know that the really nice managers at the store had told him how to apply
 for state-subsidized health coverage available to low-income residents of California,
paid for by tax dollars.

Impossible, I thought. No way was a corporation the size of Wal-Mart using public
programs for its employees, and so I started to research, read and investigate.

The more I learned, the larger the scope of the Wal-Mart story became. And the bigger
and more complex the story became, the more clear it was that the only way to tell this
story was to go small, human and deeply personal. The more the film could get inside the hearts and souls of people affected by Wal-Mart policies and tactics, the stronger it would be."

The facts shared in the movie are staggering:

WAL-MART Drives Down Retail Wages $3 BILLION Every Year.
WAL-MART Costs Taxpayers $1,557,000,000.00 to Support its Employees.
$50 MILLION to settle an off-the-clock class action suit in Colorado.

• In 2000, "Wal-Mart paid $50 million to settle a class-action suit that asserted that 69,000 current and former Wal-Mart employees in Colorado had worked off the clock."
• "In a recently certified class-action suit in Texas on behalf of more than 200,000 current and former Wal-Mart workers, statisticians estimate that the company underpaid its Texas workers by $150 million over four years by not paying them for the many times they worked during their daily 15-minute breaks. That $150 million estimate does not include other types of unpaid work. The statisticians, who analyzed time records from 12 Wal-Mart stores, found that the Texas employees averaged at least one hour of unpaid work each week from working through breaks."

Wal-Mart currently faces lawsuits in thirty-one different States for wage and hour abuses potentially involving hundreds of thousand workers.

Wal-Mart is paying eleven million dollars to settle Federal allegations it used illegal immigrants to clean its stores.

2001: EPA orders WAL-MART to pay $1.0 MILLION fine for Clean Water Violations in: TEXAS, OKLAHOMA AND MASSACHUSETTS.

2004: WAL-MART fined $3.1 MILLION by EPA, the largest ever for a retailer, for Clean Water Act violations in TEXAS, COLORADO, CALIFORNIA, DELAWARE, MICHIGAN, SOUTH DAKOTA, NEW JERSEY, TENNESSEE and UTAH.

CEO Lee Scott earnings for 2005: $27,207,799.
Average WAL-MART Hourly Sales Employee Earnings: $13,861. 
The WALTON FAMILY Has Given LESS THAN 1% of Their Wealth to Charity
Bill Gates has given 58%. 

The WALTON FAMILY Made $3.2 MILLION in Political Contributions in 2004. 

A WAL-MART Worker may donate money from their paycheck to the CRITICAL NEED FUND,
a program to aid other employees in times of crisis, like a fire or tornado.
In 2004, WAL-MART Employees gave OVER $5 MILLION to help fellow workers,
The Walton Family gave $6,000. 

CLICK HERE for a complete listing of facts shared and their sources.  There were so many,
I could only list a sampling in this posting.  Released simultaneously in theaters and DVD in
November 2005, the film has been seen by millions worldwide. Families, churches, schools,
and small businesses owners have screened the film over 10,000 times and the world is taking
notice. See the film, share it, and become part of the movement forcing companies to act responsibly.

In summary, time and time again facts and lawsuits support that WAL-MART is anything but
socially responsible.  Matter of fact, they may prove to be the most socially irresponsible
corporation in history.  You can view the movie trailer below:

                        

CLICK HERE TO BUY THE DVD NEW FOR $12.95 From BRAVE NEW THEATERS and you can
view their other releases, or purchase through AMAZON from the link below.