Summary # 11 T. Burns

After reading the essay "Up Against Wal-Mart" by Karen Olsson, I know a lot more about Wal-Mart workers than I ever have. The essay describes how Wal-Mart is very much against having a union like business. They do not want to pay for their employees to have affordable health insurance. They barely want to pay their employees over the amount of what is required which is minimum wage. The founder of Wal-Mart, Sam Walton, who first started his business in 1945, was a very frugile man and his ways bled down into all of his stores that are apart of his franchise. Some of the employees from the Paris, Texas store were interviewed and they all seemed to be singing the same tune. One was quoted saying, "We'll never bring Wal-Mart to the table store by store. I can get all the cards signed I want, and they'll still crush us. They'll close the frigging store, I'm convinced." This was said by Bernie Hesse and the cards he's referring to our union cards that are collected and once there is enough they could make a change. The hard part is getting enough signed. The turnover rate affects this concept.