4-29-05, 9:22 am
From UNI News Desk Via LabourStart
Five distinguished members of the US Congress have added their support to the 'Love Mom, not Wal-Mart' campaign, which is linked to American Mother's Day and is the latest initiative by .
The five are Representatives Rosa DeLauro, George Miller, Linda Sanchez, Hilda Solis, and Jan Schakowsky.
Rep Rosa DeLauro has also called for a Congressional review of Wal-Mart's wage statistics and urged Wal-Mart Chief Executive Lee Scott to disclose the data.
Wal-Mart is the US's biggest employer and is currently the subject of the largest class action lawsuit in US history citing discrimination against its women workers.
The five joined with Linda Chavez-Thompson, Executive Vice-President of the AFL-CIO, a plaintiff in the Wal-Mart gender discrimination lawsuit and former Miss America Carolyn Sapp to pledge their support for the 'Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart' campaign.
The campaign has unveiled the 'Mother of all Mother's Day' card - an enormous 8 x 8 foot card as a symbol of how large Wal-Mart's discrimination problem is - that calls on Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott to stop ignoring the company's record of discrimination and start doing the right thing for all our Moms and all women.
The five Representatives signed the card, which reads: 'Dear Lee Scott, It's time for Wal-Mart to honor and respect all women. This Mother's Day, Wal-Mart should stop discriminating against women. Happy Mother's Day, WakeUpWalmart.com.'
The campaign highlights Wal-Mart's terrible record of discriminating against women workers. The company is currently involved in a gender discrimination lawsuit covering more than 1.5 million women.
The suit documents Wal-Mart's systematic discrimination against women for lower pay and unequal promotion. In fact, in a recent study, women made-up 72% of Wal-Mart's hourly workforce, but accounted for only 33% of managers and only 15% of store managers. In addition, women earned from 5% to 15% less than men for the exact same work. This equates to nearly 40 cents less per hour for female hourly workers or nearly $5,000 less per year for female managers.
'We are so pleased that these well-respected leaders have joined America's campaign to change Wal-Mart,' said Paul Blank, WakeUpWalmart.com Campaign Director. 'We can only hope that this Mother's Day, on behalf of all mothers and women across America, Wal-Mart will finally do the right thing and end its discrimination of its women workers.'
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro released a 'dear colleague' letter for other Congressional members to sign calling for a Congressional review of Wal-Mart's wage statistics. The letter reads: 'We would ask Wal-Mart to disclose its wage statistics for congressional review, including any documents submitted to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission'.
The 'Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart' campaign is kicking off a two-week effort, including blog ads and on-the-ground organizing, to ask all Americans to sign the 'Mother's Day Pledge' promising not to buy their Mother's Day gift at Wal-Mart this year until Wal-Mart finally ends its discrimination against women workers. Already, thousands of Americans have signed the pledge.
'How can America's richest company and largest employer of women discriminate against more than 1.5 million of its women workers, many of them Moms? It is time for Wal-Mart to wake up and stop treating its female employees and their families like second class citizens,' added Susan Phillips, Director of Women's Outreach for WakeUpWalMart.com.
The 'Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart' campaign is part of WakeUpWalmart.com, a growing grassroots campaign calling on Wal-Mart to change.
As part of the Mother's Day campaign, supporters can sign the Mother's Day pledge and send the pledge to their friends. Supporters will also be able to send Mother's day e-cards, purchase discounted flowers and download a volunteer action toolkit which contains a fact sheet and flyer detailing Wal-Mart's record of gender discrimination.
