Community AFRICANS SUE WAL-MART FOR EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION Posted Roland Bankole Marke, Feb. 11, 2010
Ten hardworking employees, immigrants from West Africa, are embroiled in a labor dispute with their former employer, Wal-Mart. The men filed a group lawsuit for discrimination claiming that they were dismissed because their supervisors prefer to give their jobs to local people working at a store in Avon, Colorado. Wal-Mart is the largest US Company with chain stores located around these United States. “It has a duty to treat all its employees and suppliers with respect. However this claim is not always executed with integrity and honesty.”
The dismissed men said, a new manager at the Avon store summoned a floor meeting of workers, all of them West Africans, said: “I don’t like some of the faces I see here. There are people in Eagle County who need jobs.”
The men have worked at the store for a few years with no previous reprimand from previous management, until the arrival of a new supervisor. But the giant chain store disputes the allegations. A spokesman for the management said most of those filing the complaints are part of a larger group of 90 employees drawn from different backgrounds. They were fired when management change took place last year he added.
“These allegations just don’t accurately reflect the working environment at these stores,” Mr. Rossiter said. “We have a diverse group of associates, including many from West Africa, who are finding good career opportunities.”But Wal-Mart has a history of discrimination and labor disputes, although it has increased efforts and made some progress promoting diversity in its workplace and increase the opportunities for minorities still saddled in low paying jobs, and sometimes without benefits.
“Last year, the company agreed to pay $17.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused it of discriminating against African-Americans applying for jobs as truck drivers. Presently, it is facing the largest employment-discrimination class-action suit in American history, a sex-discrimination case brought on behalf of more than 1.5 million women who are current or former employees.”
Numerous other cases involve discrimination against workers with disabilities. In 2001 it paid $6 million to settle 13 lawsuits for widespread discrimination and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
One of the victims Mamadou filing his complaint said, “Directing himself towards the West Africans present, he said, ‘Wow, there are a lot of Africans, and I don’t like some of the faces I see here.’ We felt as if he was threatening us.”
“They were trying to get most of the Africans out,” said Ms. Hinojosa, who quit in April because, she said, her job had become too stressful. “A lot of them had been there for a long time. They weren’t being treated right.”
Another victim, a 61-year-old said that he was dismissed in September because his boss threatened him that he had to increase the number of boxes he was stocking. But he was physically unable to do so. “I worked here for more than three years and never had any complaints about my job,” he said. “Now, we have all been getting fired. We felt it was racism.”
The 10 complainants vehemently stated that West African workers, who are Muslim, were refused short prayer breaks. And White and Hispanic workers, they said, were permitted unscheduled cigarette breaks. The former employees are fighting for back pay. But an Equal Employment Commission spokesman, David Grinberg, said that federal law prohibited the commission from commenting and the matter could take months to investigate a complaint. The job market is so volatile that it’s possible that a similar situation could happen in other employments.
Roland Bankole Marke is the author of Teardrops Keep Falling, Silver Rain and Blizzard and Harvest of Hate; Stories and Essays. His website is www.rolandmarke.com
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