While Wal-Mart's lavishly overpaid executives can afford to spend the holidays at ease, the average Wal-Mart worker will scrape by on poverty-level wages. Each week between now and the new year, we'll highlight this inequity by featuring stories from the regular folks who work in the aisles of Wal-Mart.

Why must we change Wal-Mart? Just read on.

Week 3: Charmaine's Story

Charmaine Givens works at a Chicago Wal-Mart, staffing the front desk of its Tire & Lube Express. After 3 years of work, she makes only $9.45 an hour. Imagine, it would take Charmaine 1,000 years to match what Wal-Mart's CEO Lee Scott earned last year. So much for competitive wages.

With such low pay, Charmaine is unable to pay for a WMT health insurance plan: it is simply too expensive. So, aside from earning a miniscule wage, she is exposed to a potentially crippling financial burden should she ever become sick or injured.

This week, we asked Charmaine what Wal-Mart could do to become a better employer. She wanted to remind Wal-Mart that "All their profits are earned off the hard work of WMT associates." She also stressed that, this holiday season, "Wal-Mart must treat its employees like human beings. I want to feel like I matter to Wal-Mart."

There is only one thing more disheartening than Charmaine's story: the fact that the vast majority of Wal-Mart employees we speak to share stories alarmingly similar to the ones on this page.

Help us end the cycle. Take a stand against Wal-Mart's systematic mistreatment of its employees. Help us grow our holiday fund today. It's easy, it's fast, and it will make a real difference to real Wal-Mart workers.