Some famous women in Hollywood asked to distance themselves from Walmart
Posted February 25, 2018 8:34 am.
Last Updated February 25, 2018 9:09 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WASHINGTON, DC (NEWS 1130) – The union representing most workers at one of the world’s largest retailers has taken out a full page ad in Variety magazine suggesting Walmart has a track record of mistreating female employees.
Letters have also been sent to actress Melissa McCarthy, producer Nancy Meyers and director Dee Rees urging them to end their affiliations with the company.
All three women have produced television commercials set to air during the Academy Awards on Sunday March 4th.
Randy Parraz with The United Food and Commercial Workers heads up the Making Change at Walmart campaign.
“When we saw [was] Walmart trying to capitalize on #MeToo — the epitome of hypocrisy — because we are in the stores every day talking to workers and we just have story after story that Walmart’s not respecting workers — pregnant women who have doctors’ notes and need adjustments to their schedules and they’re being harassed and mistreated — tens of thousands of women workers.”
He insists the giant retailer has a history of poorly treating female employees across North America.
“We know for a fact when Walmart wants to treat women better, they can go in places like South Africa, the United Kingdom — paid maternity leave for women. When I was in Santiago, Chile this past year, women have free meals. It’s not as if Walmart doesn’t know how to do better. They’re choosing not to. They’re trying to promote a different image.”
Parraz says commercials set to air during the Oscars makes no mention of the company’s history of poorly treating female workers including a Louisiana woman who sought maternity leave.
“Who was pregnant — had difficulties. She’d bring doctors notes that were dismissed by her manager. Eventually ended up firing her during her pregnancy. She has the baby and then, they re-hire her later on after she has a new child to feed — a new mouth — at more than a $1 less per hour and we’ve seen this pattern happen time after time.”
Parraz says Rees, Meyers and McCarthy haven’t responded yet to the letters sent to them by the union.
“We’re going to be doing some more on the ground actions next week. We hope to get some reaction or some response from the directors and Walmart may be responding because we’re going to be taking some of these messages to their stores.”
NEWS 1130 has reached out for comment from executives at Walmart Canada, but they have yet to respond.
