In a huge victory for the more than one million women who filed a gender discrimination class action lawsuit against Wal-Mart in 2001, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday allowed the case-- the largest class action suit in history-- to move forward.

The lawsuit charges that Wal-Mart pays women less than men, and has a pattern of gender discrimination in promotions, training and job assignments.

Wal-Mart has denied any discriminatory policies. The company, which employs 1.4 million employees in the U.S. throughout 3,500 store locations, is arguing that the conventional rules of class action suits should not apply because each outlet operates as an independent business.

In other words, Wal-Mart is trying to pretend like it's a typical small business run locally--rather than a behemoth with policies that affect workers across the country ... And which, according to the lawsuit, discriminated against over 1 million workers by failing to pay and promote them at the same rate as their male counterparts. The corporate giant is also arguing that the lawsuit is simply 'too big to defend'.

Here's a big, huge problem with that obviously-faulty line of reasoning beyond just the obvious: Wal-Mart employs more workers than any other private enterprise in the world. This means that by default, they influence the business practices of just about every firm in America's huge service sector. So the fact that the retail giant subjects its workers to low wages, inadequate health care and anti-union intimidation is not just bad for Wal-Mart workers--it's bad for all workers, everywhere.

Saving money by exploiting workers may make Wal-Mart #1 on the Fortune 500 List--but even $14 billion in profits can't erase the super giant retailer's notorious history and unrelenting abuse of power with workers and consumers alike.

Add in Wal-Mart's complete and total lack of accountability as demonstrated by their reaction to this lawsuit, and what do you have? A corporation that is uniquely positioned to be a powerful force for change--that also happens to be one of the worst companies in America.