An Alumni Response to the Alumni Magazine
Below is a reprint of three letters between an Alumni of Wheaton College and the Editor of the Alumni Magazine. They are in response to an article titled, “Defining Success,” published in the most recent issue of the Alumni Magazine. Dr. Prins saw another article published in response the alumni article written by Ariah Fine in Relevant Magazine titled, “What would it Take?”
Please comment on your thoughts regarding this dialogue:
January 11, 2005
Ms. Georgia I. Douglass
Editor
Wheaton [Magazine]
Dear Editor:
The article “Defining Success” (Winter 2005) failed to recognize that many well-meaning Christians work in companies which systematically violate the law and Christian principles, namely, social justice and defense of the poor. Wal-Mart was an ironic choice for an article on Christians’ success in business, given the company’s track record of breaking labor laws and paying poverty wages while receiving over $1 billion in public subsidies.
Wal-Mart executives may believe that their company helps the less fortunate, but the evidence shows that Wal-Mart harms the working poor. The average Wal-Mart employee earns just over $8 per hour (below the poverty level for a family of four), and only 38 percent of the employees receive company health care. Consequently, many workers have to rely on public assistance to provide for their familiesat taxpayers’ expense. Furthermore, Wal-Mart’s substandard pay and health care benefits force nearby stores to cut their employees’ pay and benefits, leading to depressed wages and fewer jobs.
Class-action lawsuits representing thousands of workers charge that Wal-Mart regularly forced employees to work unpaid, off-the-clock overtime; deleted hours from time sheets; locked nighttime employees in the store; and discriminated against women. Wal-Mart’s Christian executives and managers must reconcile these practices with Malachi’s warning that God will “testify…against those who defraud laborers of their wages.”
These unethical practices are the consequence of a business philosophy and economic policies which sacrifice the public good for corporate profits. They also helped the Waltons become wealthiest family on earth. This is not the kind of “success” to which Christians should aspire.
I urge Wheaton [magazine] to publish an article on alumni who “speak up…for the rights of all who are destitute” (Proverbs 31:8), for example, by urging companies to pay workers a living wage, by preserving locally-owned businesses, and by seeking to curb corporations’ ability to amass wealth at the expense of ordinary citizens.
Sincerely,
Dr. Esther P., ‘94
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