There Are Alternatives to Slavery

"There are alternatives to the Wal-Mart low-wage model. Costco, for example, has 449 warehouses internationally, $47 billion in revenue and 113,000 employees, and uses a high wage model. And, depressingly, it has been attacked by Wall Street for 'caring too much about its customers and it employees.'

As Nina Shapiro points out in Seattle Weekly, 'Wal-Mart's business model relies on relentless cost-cutting. Wal-Mart's 1.2 million U.S. employees earn an average of $9.99 an hour, less than two thirds of Costco's average.'

It has long been a goal of grassroots progressives to connect their issues with the populist roots of small businesses and rural inhabitants. But that objective has been elusive. Much to the consternation of progressives, working-class voters have given conservatives their votes and, in the minds of many, not voted their economic interests."

AlterNet: Turning Up the Heat on Wal-Mart