Published 30 Mar, 2011
In front of the white marble steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, hundreds of union members along with women and civil rights advocates joined the Rally to Stand with the Women of Wal-Mart on Tuesday, March 29 to support justice and equality at the corporate giant Wal-Mart.
The crowd gathered outside for two hours chanting “No to Charity, Yes to Parity” and “Fair Pay Now,” while inside the justices heard oral arguments in the Dukes v Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. case on whether the sex discrimination lawsuit could continue as a class action. The lawsuit was filed by a group of women, led by Betty Dukes, who worked at Wal-Mart and alleged that the company systematically paid women less and promoted fewer women, even when they performed better than their male counterparts.
This historic case has grown to represent hundreds of thousands of former and current Wal-Mart workers and would be the largest civil rights class action filed against a company in U.S. history. At stake is the ability of women to collectively demand compensation for discrimination and to stop management practices that unfairly treat and devalue women.
A ruling in favor of the plaintiffs will send a strong message to big business that unequal pay and discrimination of all kinds will not be tolerated in the United States. This case could set an important precedent for class action lawsuits, which have been an important tool in enforcing anti-discrimination laws and holding companies accountable by allowing individuals to ban together to take on large corporations.
“Recently, we have been confronted with the problem of corporations that believe they are ‘too big to fail,” said Joseph M. Sellers, Co-Lead counsel for the plaintiffs.
“What we seek is standard be which every corporation is held accountable for their actions, regardless of their size.”
The women have been struggling for ten years in a long legal battle with Wal-Mart, but during a press conference declared they are committed to keeping up the fight and staying strong.