Walmart Inc.

Quick Take

Walmart is hard to place on a simple left-to-right line, because the things people point to pull in different directions. Its decades-long resistance to unions is the single most documented part of its labor record and is what many shoppers think of first. At the same time, its corporate PAC and the founding Walton family spread political money across both parties, and the company has at times taken positions, on firearms and on diversity programs, that drew praise and criticism from opposite ends of the spectrum. The result is a company whose reputation depends heavily on which part of its record you weigh most.

The Labor Record

The most thoroughly documented thread in Walmart's history is its response to union organizing. The anchor episode came in February 2000, when meat-cutters at a supercenter in Jacksonville, Texas voted 7 to 3 to join Local 540 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, the first successful union vote at a US Walmart.[3] Within weeks, Walmart announced it was switching to prepackaged, case-ready meat and phasing out in-store meat-cutting across many of its stores. The company said the change to prepackaged meat had been planned for months and was unrelated to the vote; the union and labor officials argued it was a direct response.[3][4]

The dispute moved through the legal system for years. A National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge ruled against Walmart on its refusal to bargain, the NLRB largely affirmed that finding in 2006, and the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit upheld the decision in 2008.[4][5] The court held that because the meat-cutting department had been eliminated, the workers no longer formed a bargaining unit, but that Walmart still had to bargain with the union over the effects of closing the department. The two sides did not sit down at the bargaining table until March 2009, nine years after the original vote.[3]

Walmart has not maintained a broad or sustained unionized workforce among its US store associates, though isolated unionized units have existed internationally. In Quebec, workers at a Walmart in Jonquiere certified a union in 2004, becoming the first unionized Walmart in North America; Walmart closed the store in 2005, saying it was unprofitable, and in 2014 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the closure violated Quebec labour law.[9] The company's stated position is that it respects the right of associates to make their own decisions about union membership but believes it can serve associates better through a direct relationship without a union as intermediary. Critics, including labor unions and the human-rights organization Human Rights Watch, have documented what they describe as aggressive responses to organizing efforts; Walmart disputes that characterization.[5] Readers weighing this record should note that the strongest language on both sides comes from advocates: unions describe a deliberate avoidance strategy, while the company frames its approach as a preference for direct engagement.

Following the Money

Walmart operates one of the larger corporate PACs in American retail, funded by voluntary contributions from eligible associates. The PAC contributes to federal candidates and committees of both parties, but in recent cycles its giving has tilted Republican. In the 2024 cycle, the PAC's contributions to party committees and other PACs split about 58 percent Republican to 42 percent Democratic, and it gave roughly $1.16 million to federal candidates, per OpenSecrets data drawn from FEC filings.[12] The company's broad regulatory and legislative interests span tax, trade, labor, and supply-chain policy, and the PAC gives to incumbents and committee leaders of both parties, so part of its distribution tracks which party holds power.

The founding Walton family, which retains a controlling ownership stake, is a separate and larger political force. Family members and family-linked organizations have donated to candidates and causes over the years, and the Walton Family Foundation is a major funder of education-reform efforts, an area with support and opposition in both parties. One analysis by the labor-aligned advocacy group United for Respect, drawing on FEC data, reported that Walmart and the Walton family together directed more than $32 million into the 2024 political cycle, with the combined spending favoring Republicans by a wide margin once family donations and issue-focused PACs are counted alongside the corporate PAC.[13] Because that figure combines corporate and personal family money, it is a broader measure than the corporate PAC alone.

Diversity and Firearms Policies

Two areas of company policy have drawn explicit political attention. On firearms, Walmart raised the minimum age to purchase firearms and ammunition to 21 in 2018, and in 2019 it stopped selling certain types of ammunition and handguns and asked customers not to openly carry firearms in its stores. Those moves were welcomed by gun-control advocates and criticized by some gun-rights supporters.[6]

On diversity, Walmart announced in 2024 that it would adjust a number of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and policies, including changes to how it evaluates supplier programs and how it participates in certain external diversity surveys. The company framed the changes as part of an ongoing review; the announcement drew attention as part of a broader wave of large companies revisiting similar programs. Walmart described its continuing goal as fostering a sense of belonging for associates and customers.[7]

Recent Corporate Actions

Several of Walmart's actions since 2020 sit closer to the present and cut in different directions. In June 2020, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation announced a five-year, $100 million philanthropic commitment funding work across the financial, health, education, and criminal-justice systems; the five-year commitment reached the end of its original term in 2025 and Walmart did not renew it.[10] In January 2021, after the attack on the US Capitol, Walmart's PAC said it would suspend contributions to members of Congress who had voted against certifying the Electoral College results; like many large corporate PACs, it resumed political giving within months, with the company drawing a distinction between giving to individual lawmakers and giving to party committees.[11] These actions, alongside the 2018 and 2019 firearms changes and the 2024 diversity-program revisions, show a company that has taken visible positions on contested issues at different moments rather than holding to one fixed posture.

Leadership and Finances

Doug McMillon has served as president and chief executive officer, a role he has held since 2014 after a career that began with the company as an hourly associate. For fiscal 2025, Walmart's proxy statement reported his base salary at $1.5 million, with roughly 82 percent of his target total direct compensation tied to performance goals based on operating income, sales, and return on investment.[8] For fiscal 2025 the company reported total revenues of $681.0 billion, net sales of $674.5 billion, and net income attributable to Walmart of $19.4 billion, an increase of about 25 percent over the prior year.[1][2]

What Walmart Sells

Walmart sells groceries, general merchandise, apparel, electronics, home goods, pharmacy and health services, and more, through its supercenters, discount stores, neighborhood markets, and Sam's Club warehouse clubs, along with its e-commerce platforms and marketplace. Groceries make up a large share of US sales, and the company has expanded into advertising, financial services, and health care offerings in recent years.[1]

Where to Find Them

Walmart operates more than 10,000 stores and clubs across 19 countries, with the largest concentration in the United States, and sells online through walmart.com and the Walmart and Sam's Club apps.[1] Products are available in-store and through delivery and pickup.

Footnotes

[1] Walmart Inc., SEC Form 10-K for Fiscal Year 2025, filed March 14, 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000104169/000010416925000021/wmt-20250131.htm

[2] Walmart Inc., "Walmart Reports Q4 and Fiscal Year 2025 Results," earnings release filed as an exhibit to Form 8-K, February 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/104169/000010416925000010/earningsreleasefy25q4.htm

[3] KETK / Yahoo News, "East Texas' Biggest Labor Disputes: Walmart's first ever successful union vote," August 2024 (recounting court-documented events of the Jacksonville meat-cutter case). https://www.yahoo.com/news/east-texas-biggest-labor-disputes-223656640.html

[4] Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, "Judge Rules Against Wal-Mart on Refusal to Talk to Workers," June 18, 2003 (as catalogued by Cornell University ILR). https://catherwood.library.cornell.edu/wit/judge-rules-against-wal-mart-on-refusal-to-talk-to-workers

[5] Human Rights Watch, "Discounting Rights: Wal-Mart's Violation of US Workers' Right to Freedom of Association," 2007. https://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/us0507/10.htm

[6] CNBC, "Read the full memo from Walmart's CEO about pulling back on ammunition sales," September 3, 2019 (full text of CEO Doug McMillon's memo announcing ammunition and handgun changes and the open-carry request); 2018 age-limit change reported contemporaneously by AP and Reuters. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/03/the-full-memo-from-walmarts-ceo-about-pulling-back-on-gun-sales.html

[7] Daniel Wiessner and Siddharth Cavale, Reuters, "Walmart to roll back some diversity policies amid pressure from conservatives," November 26, 2024 (includes Walmart confirmation of the changes). https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/walmart-roll-back-some-diversity-policies-amid-pressure-conservatives-2024-11-26/

[8] Walmart Inc., SEC Form DEF 14A Proxy Statement, filed April 24, 2025 (Summary Compensation Table, p. 84). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000104169/000010416925000055/wmt-20250424.htm

[9] CBC News, "Quebec unionized Wal-Mart workers win Supreme Court victory," June 27, 2014, and Supreme Court of Canada, United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 503 v. Wal-Mart Canada Corp., 2014 SCC 45. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-unionized-wal-mart-workers-win-supreme-court-victory-1.2689646

[10] Walmart Inc., corporate newsroom announcement of a five-year, $100 million philanthropic commitment, June 2020, and the related Walmart.org program page documenting grant distributions. https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2021/02/01/the-walmart-org-center-for-racial-equity-awards-over-14-million-in-first-round-of-grants

[11] Axios, "Large corporations cut off political donations after Capitol siege," January 14, 2021 (Walmart PAC statement); PBS NewsHour / Associated Press, "6 months after Capitol assault, corporate pledges fall flat," July 4, 2021 (documenting resumption). https://www.axios.com/business-donations-capitol-riot-0b4e26df-ee16-4d5c-9604-e9a3c1e3f284.html

[12] OpenSecrets.org, "Walmart Inc PAC: Contributions to Federal Candidates" and "PAC to PAC/Party," 2024 cycle, based on FEC data. https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/walmart-inc/C00093054/summary/2024

[13] United for Respect, "Walmart's 2024 Political Spending," October 2024 (advocacy analysis compiled from FEC contributor data). https://united4respect.org/reports/walmart-political-spending-2024/