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We are in a historic moment for the labor movement.
Union members are striking in record numbers and non-union worker organizing is expanding into new sectors of our economy. These efforts, led by established labor institutions and newer worker advocacy groups, have secured wage gains and enhanced protections for working people, while also reinvigorating public support for workers' rights and organizations.
Labor's resurgence couldn't have come soon enough. Despite recent gains, millions of working people in the United States still struggle with economic precarity, and the gap between the very rich and everyone else continues to widen. It is imperative that we harness the current momentum to hold the largest corporate perpetrators of worker exploitation and wealth inequality accountable. As the largest private employer in the world, Walmart should be at the top of that list.
For decades, Walmart's extractive and dangerous business model has negatively impacted its associates, customers, communities, and local economies.
Despite employing 1.6 million people in the U.S. and raking in more than $500 billion in annual revenue, Walmart continues to mistreat and underpay its associates. Moreover, its massive size puts it in a position to impact wage and benefit standards in the retail industry and across our economy.
The company's impact on the labor market is so massive that it drives down wages in the areas where it builds Supercenters. Walmart, effectively, determines our country's minimum wage.
The company wields so much power, money, and influence that it has weathered decades of public scrutiny, political advocacy, and labor organizing. But today's labor movement cannot truly realize the economic justice we seek without taking on the biggest offender of worker's rights.
Our team at United for Respect Education Fund (UFR) has been on the front lines, fighting to hold Walmart accountable and working to ensure its associates get the fair treatment they deserve. And one thing is clear to us: Walmart associates are more motivated than ever.
In recent years, Walmart workers have courageously spoken out, held mass protests, and called on executives and shareholders to enact change. In collaboration with our political and community allies, UFR successfully moved the company to raise base pay from $7.25 to $14.00 an hour and compelled America's largest retailer to increase full-time employment. UFR leaders and their supporters also helped win paid family leave for 500,000 associates working full-time and secure important changes to Walmart's pregnancy accommodation policy.
These gains are proof that change is possible, but there is so much at stake in the fight ahead. The cost of living has skyrocketed and Walmart's hourly wages are not keeping up with inflation. Too many Walmart associates are facing a safety crisis, as gun violence plagues stores across the country. The lack of paid sick leave forces associates to choose between coming into work sick or forgoing a much-needed paycheck. The death of Janikka Perry, an associate from North Little Rock, Arkansas, made abundantly clear that Walmart still has a long way to go in protecting the health and safety of its workforce.
Inequities at the company also persist. Despite the company being the largest private employer of Black people and women in the country, mobility is virtually nonexistent for these workers, as white men overwhelmingly hold management positions at Walmart.
These days, Walmart associates are getting creative about making their voices heard, including by turning to shareholders to achieve change. At Wednesday's Annual Shareholders' Meeting, a Walmart associate and longtime United For Respect leader reintroduced a proposal calling for an independent review of company health and safety policies and practices—and while it didn't pass, it received a larger share of votes than any other proposal. United for Respect also reintroduced a proposal calling on the company to conduct a racial equity audit—it got the second-largest share.
While these proposals can help usher in much-needed change, shareholder meetings aren't the only time investors and advocates should engage the company. An ongoing dialogue between workers and company stakeholders should happen year round, and must be a central strategy in all advocacy efforts going forward.
Winning change at Walmart can have major ripple effects across the retail industry and the entire economy. But to do that, we need to keep the pressure on. Walmart workers have not given up the fight. It's time for the labor movement to put the company back in the hot seat and reignite associates' demands for meaningful change.
Bianca Agustin is Co-Executive Director of United for Respect.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
