Lock-ins concern Wal-Mart workers

From the New York Times via the Houston Chronicle:

It was 3 a.m., Rodriguez recalled, and some heavy machinery had just crushed his ankle.

But the Sam's Club, a Wal-Mart subsidiary, had locked its overnight workers in, as it always did, to keep robbers out and, as some managers say, to prevent employee theft. As usual, there was no manager with a key to let Rodriguez out. The fire exit, he said, was hardly an option -- management had drummed into the overnight workers that if they ever used that exit for anything but a fire, they would lose their jobs.

"My ankle was crushed," Rodriguez said, speaking of the accident in which an employee driving an electronic cart that moved bulky merchandise crashed into his right leg. "Another worker made some phone calls to reach a manager, and it took an hour for someone to get there and unlock the door."

Locked-in Wal-Mart workers brings to mind visions of 19th century textile workers burned to death inside their locked mills. And, hey, just what the hell would these guys at Sam's Club do if there if there was a fire? Indeed, Wal-Mart is at the forefront of corporations pushing the envelope on violating worker rights--after all, they make more money when they spend less on worker safety and wages. Truly, Wal-Mart sucks.

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