LOS ANGELES, California-- Women employees of Wal-Mart have alleged they were part of the largest prostitution organization in the world, operated by the world’s largest retailer.
A group of women suing the company for gender discrimination have filed 110 declarations in federal court. The declarations were submitted as part of a petition by the women to gain class-action status, and represent all women who say they have worked in Wal-Mart’s secretive brothel department.
According to the declaration, a low-cost sex-ring called “Ho’-Mart” has been operated by the parent company since 1998. It contains details on employees being paid less than industry-standard rates for services, denial of promotions to top performers, and said that the store managers are “nothing more than pimps in blue vests”.
“All the girls are referred to as ‘little Janie Q’s’ despite the fact that they all comply with company policy by wearing nametags,” said one female executive who wished only to identified as ‘Madame Sam’. “They’re all given the same story; ‘the company loves you, the company is here for you, you are the best in the company’, and so on. These girls are underpaid for the tremendous amount of work they do. Ho’-Mart keeps them under forty hours a week, so they don’t even qualify for company benefits. They’re even forced to buy their ‘uniforms’ at Wal-Mart. They’re treated like second-class citizens.
If the request for class-action status is granted by a judge, the lawsuit would become the largest employment discrimination case ever brought. To win it they must prove that discrimination at Ho’-Mart is company-wide.
“This is so contrary to Wal-Mart culture,” company spokesman Jay Allen said Monday of the Ho’-Mart allegations. “You can’t run a prostitution ring in a Wal-Mart. The electronics section is already confusing enough – people never know whether to pay at the register there, or take the items up front. Where would you cash out a hooker? “
“That’s not to say that some knucklehead out there in one of the stores hasn’t done something like this, but it is not in any way, shape or form condoned by Wal-Mart.”
Wal-Mart insiders disagree. One former employee, now working in Las Vegas, told Garlic News that there is a widespread “Ho’-Mart underworld” in Wal-Marts from Alaska to Florida.
“The Wal-Mart greeter is the liaison for Ho’-Mart shoppers,” said the former employee. “Every greeting he gives is a daily coded message to Ho’-Mart Club Members. A greeter might say ‘Hey, lookin’ for anything special today, Mister?’, and that days’ response might be ‘airplane wax’. The greeter then sends the club member over to the courtesy counter, where their membership card is scanned. Then they are let in through the door marked ‘Employees Only’. There’s a whole section of the warehouse that’s behind a fake wall, and that’s where the club members do their shopping.”
Independent studies have verified that small, individual brothels within an average fifty-mile radius of Wal-Mart stores have “been impacted greatly through reduced revenues. Up to 90% have seen business tail off completely, forcing permanent closure.” Wal-Mart executives dispute those statistics, saying that any correlation between brothel bankruptcy and Wal-Mart store locations is purely coincidental.
“We’re not out to put anyone out of business,” said one Wal-Mart vice-president. “We operate our business just they Sam Walton wanted us to. As Sam said, ‘We’re all working together, that’s the secret’. We will continue to lower the cost of living for everyone with our Always Low Prices.”
