To: Bill who wrote (42346 ) 12/2/2005 12:39:12 PM From: fresc Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 90947 Right Bill! Keep closing your eyes! It's all about you! internal Wal-Mart audit found "extensive violations of child-labor laws and state regulations requiring time for breaks and meals.” (New York Times, 1/13/04) One week of time records from 25,000 employees in July 2000 found 1,371 instances of minors working too late, during school hours, or for too many hours in a day. There were 60,767 missed breaks and 15,705 lost meal times. (New York Times, 1/13/04) Wal-Mart agreed to pay $135,540 to settle child labor violation charges in January 2005 for allegedly breaking child labor laws in 24 incidents. (Wall Street Journal, 2/12/05) Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell announced that the state found 11 violations in three Wal-Mart stores in the state and that 337 minors worked at the company's 32 Connecticut stores from 2003 to 2005. The probe came after the Labor Department in February said the retailer had similar violations nationwide. (Bloomberg News, 6/22/05) Wal-Mart has also been fined $205,650 for 1,436 violations of child labor laws in Maine for the period 1995 to 1998. The settlement represents the largest number of citations as well as the largest fine ever issued by the Maine Department of Labor for child labor violations. (Bureau of Business Practice News) Back to top Lets not for get China! Wal-Mart's Chinese factory workers are treated poorly! Workers in China’s Guangdong Province who made toys for Wal-Mart toiled as much as 130 hours per week for wages averaging 16.5 ¢ per hour (below the minimum wage) and no health insurance. [National Labor Committee, “Toys of Misery 2004,” February 2004] Striking workers at a factory that supplies Wal-Mart in Shenzhen, China said they had to work 11 hour days, including mandatory 3 hours of overtime. Half of their small wages were deducted to pay for accommodation in company dormitories. [New York Times, 16 December, 2004]