Thousands of adolescents work as unpaid baggers in Wal-Mart’s Mexican stores

An additional 19,000 youngsters between the ages of 14 and 16 work after school in hundreds of Wal-Mart stores, mostly as grocery baggers, throughout Mexico—and none of them receives a red cent in wages or fringe benefits. The company doesn’t try to conceal this practice: its 62 Superama supermarkets display blue signs with white letters that tell shoppers: OUR VOLUNTEER PACKERS COLLECT NO SALARY, ONLY THE GRATUITY THAT YOU GIVE THEM. SUPERAMA THANKS YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING.
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Although Wal-Mart’s worldwide code of ethics expressly forbids any
“associate” from working without compensation, the company’s Mexican
subsidiary asserts that the grocery baggers “cannot be considered
workers.”