By 2005, the average annual salary at Walmart, a McKinsey client, was roughly $17,500, while the median household income in the United States was almost $50,000. Nearly half the children of Walmart employees, called associates, were on Medicaid or uninsured. Without a union to represent them—the company is rabidly anti-union—the only leverage employees had for better treatment was public exposure, and the pressure that might bring to bear on management.
