If You Aren't Sure Walmart Needs to Pay Higher Wages, This Photo May Erase All Doubt:

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Daily Kos: If You Aren't Sure Walmart Needs to Pay Higher Wages, This Photo May Erase All Doubt
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  • Wow.

    Just... wow.
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    • Propaganda put out by unions trying to organize WM workers - saw it on MSNBC two days ago - only a matter of time before we see it elsewhere.

      Where I work part-time - we've ALWAYS had donation requests before holidays. IN addition - we have a couple fundraisers a year that provide an emergency fund for employees who have financial problems.

      Why is it a shock that people would help out co-workers? Where is the "bad" in that? There are WM workers who are trying to support a full family - either because they are single with several children or because other adults in the household aren't working.

      It angers me to see a donation box used as "proof" of a "bad business". Just so you know - there are many businesses that will not allow any donation or fund raising among employees on the property.

      Every large business has employees that work at minimum wage level - it may be the cleaning crew or the stocking crew. Even in a business where front line employees earn $25-35 an hour- there are minimum wage workers cleaning the casinos - the hotel room, serving at the buffet line.

      So - 2 parents each working 25 hrs a week at a minimum wage job meets the 19,530 standard. Now - if those parents work 40 hrs a week - whether getting a full time job or a second part time job at minimum wage....they earn $30k. THAT is what most people have done over the years.

      Shouldn't we also count the thousands of dollars per year many of these low end workers are getting in food stamps, ADC, Medicaid and housing subsidies?

      WM is not a great employer that is benevolent to employees - but it's an employer with stable jobs that provides a LOT of jobs to people who can't get hired in other businesses. If people are so unhappy with the pay at WM - why aren't they looking for other work? Because they can't find anyone who will pay them more....is that WM's fault? In many cases, they can't find anyone who will hired them at all due to lack of experience or education.

      WM is a target because it's a huge company and many people are willing to turn against a business with rich owners.
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  • Not anything new about that. I've boycotted walmart for years because of their employee treatment.
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  • One of the few times I disagree with you Kay.
    But that's all I'm going to say.
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    • Kim -

      My stance is not meant to say "WM is a great place to work" - because it isn't. Truth is - not everyone gets to be what they want when they grow up. There are people - probably the majority - who do what has to be done for survival most of their adult lives. That's reality.

      The WM workers I personally know in my location - are happy because they have a stable job. The store I go to has people who like their management because they feel management does the best they can to arrange their schedules and work with employees.

      The management of the closest SuperWalmart resisted the self-checkouts until the company forced the addition of self checkout stations 6 months ago. The reason for resistance was that it eliminates some cashier jobs.

      However, as a customer I LOVE the self checkout where I don't have to wait in line. There were no layoffs when they added the new registers here - as over time the manager had reduced cashiers by attrition to get ready to the change he knew was coming.

      That is responsible management - yet because the store is a WalMart they get tarred with the same brush as a WM in NYC.
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  • It's only propaganda because you don't like the message.

    Wage slavery is more insidious than chattel slavery...people have the illusion of freedom, and are easily able to pretend their chains do not exist.

    Our masters tell us to blame immigrants, to blame the poor, to blame other races.

    It is the 1% that are to blame. Do not lose sight of that. Unions make us able to stand up for ourselves, and demand fairer treatment of labor by capital.

    Of course there are well-funded anti-union propaganda campaigns and organizations. It is sound business practice for those motivated by greed rather than solidarity with their fellow man.

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  • "Wage slavery" is nothing more than a personal prison people entrap themselves in due to poor choices. Nobody forces anyone to work at WalMart. You reap what you sow.

    The term "wage slavery" is a slap in the face of any person who has ever been enslaved.
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  • Hardly "the" place. Like many other sources of "news" on tv and online,
    they are just copying the successful model perfected by Fox.


    Agreed 100%... The disorganized efforts of so many different
    groups that don't communicate with one another... Few things
    are as annoying as impotent activism.
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    • ...who copied the models of the big 3...

      The wheels go round and round, don't they?

      :rolleyes:
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  • Wage Slavery. Wage systems do suck - but I've not seen a viable alternative. The problem is that we are letting giant corporations take over everything in our country - probably the globe. Walmart gets the brunt of the ire because they are forefront in the public eye. However - this is what goes on in this country:

    Amazon warehouses, for example, put people in the hospital, kill them, and steal whatever time they can from their employees to get free work. This is not just employee grumbling. In some locations they actually rent ambulances to sit in the parking lot during Christmas because they push people so hard they drop. In Pennsylvania it was summer when they were killing their employees - one of the doctors at the local hospital noticed that the influx of dead and very sick were all from the same warehouse and they got called on that one. In Phoenix employees were suing for wage theft.

    What is going on now is part time jobs or temporary jobs only so employers don't need to pay benefits. One of the problems with part time jobs is the idiots in the personnel offices seem to have no understanding or concern for the fact that part-time employees may need to supplement with other jobs and often refuse to work with them on hours, so if someone likes their job and wants to advance in the company - they have no option to supplement with another job. The managers just don't give a rat. We're developing very distinct social class levels and if you are on the bottom - take an umbrella, you're going to get peed on.

    Temp jobs are supposed to be just that - seasonal industries or seasonal business slams, that type of thing. What these jobs end up being is just a way for businesses to have employees without having to pay them any benefits. Some companies you can't walk in the door other than as a temp, then you have to compete for permanent - if companies ever hire perm. There are places where workers work temp jobs beside permanent workers for years and aren't put on perm. In some places it's illegal to do that. The company is only allowed to keep someone temp for so long before they have to close the job or hire perm. I worked at the phone company almost 2 years as a temp and was never hired. They liked my work and wanted me there - but were unwilling to pay - so they slid around the law to keep me there. They would fire me every six months, rename my position and add a responsibility, then hire me back. I'd done a contract researching business cases for them and when I was done wanted in the company (loved that contract) and could only get in as a temp - they were on a hiring freeze for several years but would hire temps - lots and lots of temps. The worse thing about temporary work? The companies are allowed to lie their faces off about their intentions to hire people permanently.

    Now we have "right to work" laws that mean squat for the worker other than they can have a temporary or non-union job, but it also makes it easier for employers to completely trample the workers. There are no more paid sick days, no vacations, no benefits......and you can be fired for no reason so there is also no security that used to come from doing a good job. Employers are allowed to lie, cheat, steal. Managers with vials of cocaine in their desks are allowed to order drug tests for the peons. Some companies now make employees sign not only an okay for random drug tests but also that it's okay for a company to do a "body search" at will with absolutely no probable cause issues. I ripped up one such contract and told them in no uncertain terms where they could shove that one.

    No matter how much self reliant, intelligent people want to banter on here about "anyone can do it" - it's not true. There are people who just are not intellectually, physically, or emotionally all there to be able to succeed in a world that is becoming progressively more oppressive and abusive. Remember what our school systems are. A very small percentage make it out of our high schools able to function normally.

    There's always going to be low wage earners. Saying "they should do better" isn't always an answer for these people - it's pretty self-aggrandizing actually to assume that anyone who is not happy where they are is in a position to do better financially. We need to get rid of large corporations that will tear the snot out of their "human resources" to put an extra dime to the black line and start supporting small local companies that understand that the health and welfare of its workers means the sustainability for the whole community and will take a little better care of their employees - even if they are not in positions to earn much more than minimum wage.

    The way I look at it is that if you go to dinner you know you'll have service personnel to tip so you put in in your budget. If you have a business you know you have to pay employees, so put it in the company budge. It's all part of having some dignity and class and allowing others to have the same. Why Walmart is always in the public eye is that the "corporation" is so foaming at the mouth stinking greedy for expansion that they would run over their own mothers to get that next store up and damned who they hurt on the way to it. If other companies were so hot on continual expansion, they'd be more noticeable too. They are there, and they are nasty - they just hide from view better.
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    • Yep. Thanks to Wikileaks we now know that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is designed to remove the sovereign status of nations (including the US), in favour of multinational corps.

      The outcome of this is that corps can sue a nation because it interferes with their "right" to make money. For example, if a corp involved in fracking has their activities curtailed due to pollution, damage to the water systems, etc., that corp can sue the government for "loss of earnings".

      Don't say that that can't happen, because exactly the scenario I described in the previous paragraph is happening to Canada right now.

      I am very angry that the new Australian government wants to sign up to this abomination by the end of this year, despite the two previous governments (1996-2007 Right, and 2007-2013 Left) rejecting them in total.

      If that wasn't bad enough, these arrangements are Top Secret, so corps can, and no doubt will, sue the Government du jour, and the taxpayers (ie the source of the funds) will never know about it.

      Further reading: Why Australians should be worried about the TPP.
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  • WalMart represents the worst of corporate state-sponsored capitalism. The reason it survives is that most of the people who shop there can't afford to go anywhere else. They sell goods made by virtual slaves in China and only treat their own workers slightly better.

    While I am all in favor of true free markets, you can't really use that argument to defend companies like WalMart, McDonald's and others that sell low quality items and pay minimum wage. For one thing, many of the employees are on public assistance, which means that the taxpayers are subsidizing these companies.

    These chains are also an aesthetic blight on the landscape and help to perpetuate suburban sprawl. I'm sure there's something good about them, but I can't think of anything offhand.
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    • In a free market, corporations that kill everything else in their paths wouldn't exist. Look at the farming industry. It's gov subsidies that have allowed the 6 major food producers to conquer the whole market. Without those subsidies, we'd have more local farmers, organic produce, and less Monsanto, Syngenta, etc.

      On the other hand - people need to understand that WE have the power to kill any company we don't like. All we have to do is refuse to work for or buy from it. Now that large corporations have tentacles into every market, it's much harder to achieve, but it still can be done.

      People here are poorly educated and right now, are very scared. They don't understand that if you kill the major corps, yes prices might be higher elsewhere, but in the end it would be more affordable for everyone to live well.

      It's really not capitalism that kills us - it's the incorporation of everything, including the gov, that is crushing us. It's called fascism and it never has done any society a benefit - and because it's so lethal, it never lasts too long before the society that adopts it crashes.

      When large sectors of a society are trying to work for a living but are being reduced to poverty, illness, are tired and miserable - they are going to be not real happy with the system. Why it's taken out on Walmart - I already covered. The company will trample whole towns to put up a new store. It's become virus-like. It's not really the store itself - it's that it's starting to represent our whole social mindsets - both those of the rich and the poor. Just a poster child for a collapsing social structure.
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  • Fact: US companies pay the lowest percentage of total revenue for labor than at any other time since this statistic has been recorded, which I believe was 1929.
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    • The fact alone doesn't mean anything. More data is needed. This could simply be due to labor efficiencies and/or replacement of the labor force by technology.
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    • How much of that can be attributed to increases in automation and other efficiency related changes in industry?
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  • Even if WalMart paid their employees double what they currently do, couldn't they still have part time employees with financial troubles?

    I don't understand the WalMart hate. Don't they pay the same for unskilled labor as lots of other employers who pay minimum wage? What would unskilled WalMart employees be earning if they weren't working at WalMart for minimum wage? If WalMart is so bad for paying them minimum wage for a job that isn't particularly demanding, then why don't those employees go work for somebody else and get paid a lot more if they consider themselves worth it?
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    • No, not watching a different CNN, but they do at least try
      to pretend they are giving both sides of the stories they "report".
      Fox, MSNBC, Daily Kos... They have never even tried to pretend
      they are in any other business other than the political spin game.

      Agreed 100% that print is preferred, and even that is getting
      difficult to find without the slant. Am I the only one who has
      started reading articles directly from the AP? lol





      Most of the hate is rooted in the fact that Wal-Mart kills
      local businesses that most people believe would be better for
      them and their community.

      But, it's been brought up before and it's an excellent point:
      Unskilled workers who get hired with little or no experience
      and go to work for a company with plenty of growth opportunity
      shouldn't be complaining, they should be busy separating themselves
      from the herd, pulling ahead and putting themselves into
      a better position.

      Then again, I suppose that many of them are easily distracted
      by the fact that they only place they can afford to spend
      their food stamps is the store where they work, and they
      can't afford to take a day off to care for their sick children?
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  • I'm kidding about the child labor, Kurt.
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    • I just noticed your location: Потёмкинские деревни or actually it's derivative of such.

      Or are you not referring to the works of Gregory Potemkin?

      Not part of this topic but it interested me.

      Patrick
  • Banned
    This OT forum is getting horrible about OPs taking things out of context. All you had to do is read Walmarts reply on the subject instead of linking to a POS site that's no authority.

    You might as well have linked to The Onion.
  • "The average Walmart sale associate makes $8.81 per hour."

    That's a LOT more than I made when I worked for minimum wage. Funny, I seem to recall it being tied to child labor back then.

    And do you realize that 8.81/hour in the *****OLD***** standard was $18324.8(52 weeks a year)? That is a FORTUNE! I mean in 1930 that much would make you like a MILLIONAIRE NOW! "OH YEAH", you say, "THAT was over EIGHTY years ago!"! SO? INFLATION! WATCH, in 30 years, you will be complaining that people only get like 40-50 dollars an hour for minimum wage. BTW the NEW standard is $13285.48, at 8.81! SAME WAGE! But you can't blame your opponents or walmart, or even the minimum wage for THAT!

    And how much are the union dues on 8.81 anyway?

    But YEAH, you're right! ENRON should be FORCED to pay for all the retirement funds they emptied, etc.... Also, the federal government should do it for social security, etc... And HEY, how about all the taxes on savings for retirement? They should get rid of THAT also! Funny how some seem to be so impervious to having THEIR greed pointed out! I was speaking with a coworker just a few hours ago about how I won't be paid for 8 hours last week because some idiot in another state INSISTED that I have a 2 minute test THERE! 12 hour car ride!

    Steve
  • Banned
    It doesn't make any since to expect Walmart to increase wages, do people really think new hires started working for Walmart not knowing they would ever be earning a living above poverty level?

    Walmart has it's place, it does exactly what it needs to do, supply low end jobs/wages.

    What's sad is Walmart pays out more than most mom & pop stores that went out of business on Main Street USA. Now you know why the mom & pop shops went belly up on Main Street, their wages sucked worse than Walmart wages. Anyone that was around before Walmart existed in their home town already knows this.
  • I think I am with Henry David Thoreau on how to approach this and many other issues. One can wait until the cows come home for society and one's real or perceived oppressors to adjust to ones needs, or one can create a more agreeable alternative for oneself without needing help from such entities, even if it means living in the forest.
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  • It ain't just WM folks.

    It's business in general.
    A buddy of mine works at Lowes.
    They send him home an hour early 1 day a week so he only gets 39 hrs.
    1 hr. short of full time.
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  • Kay brought up good points in not having a knee jerk, emotional reaction without thinking about the situation and seeing what other factors, factors other than just a pay rate, might have to do with it.

    I am not defending Wal-Mart - I am not a fan of International Corporations as they are Centralized Power, damn near as effective in their power as governments. Nor am I a fan of money and am not motivated by accumulating as much as I can and making sure I get maximum profit in zero-sum exchanges, where every penny I make means someone else is one penny poorer. But we all gotta make it and making it beats the hell out of trying to build my own house, grow my food, make my clothes, administer my own health care, etc.

    One other important factor, aside from the disparity in Wal-Mart Corporate profits relative to paying a low wage is that we are in Stagflation. I'm 41, so was a kid when it was in full swing in the 70's, but I remember it and what an issue it was. Disproved a major Keynesian economic theory, as well.

    High Inflation and low growth. Inflation is much worse than has been talked about the last few years. The government doesn't really add much weight to the price of food and fuel when calculating the inflation rate and then releasing that info to us. Although they excuse it by saying that these prices fluctuate too much to get an accurate projection of core inflation rates, but that is as much POLITICS as it is economics.

    All ya'll been watching food prices over the last 2-3 years, right? Yowsers. That and fuel. Were the government to include those numbers, as they should, the published and repeated in the news inflation rate would be higher.

    Maybe it ain't just that Wal-Mart is paying low, but that our economy is in a state of stagflation, again and still, and food is more expensive because of that inflation. In other words, it ain't just Wal-Mart's fault. It is more difficult for many people who don't work there to buy food today, too. When it comes to stagflation, the vast majority of lower and middle class are all in the same boat, no matter their employer, and some are struggling to put expensive and extra meals on their tables.
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    • WELL SAID!!!!!!!!

      Steve
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  • The bottom line is that WalMart is corporate welfare.

    New Study Finds Wal-Mart’s Miserly Wages Cost Taxpayers | Institute for Local Self-Reliance

    Top 5 Worst Paying Corporations & Wal-Mart's Wage War | Brainwash Update - YouTube
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    • Larry; You're a smart guy, but "The Institute For Local Self Reliance"?

      Now, who would think that they would have a gripe about Wal-Mart?

      I attended a town meeting of local merchants (of which I was/am one)..
      It was about Wal-Mart moving into the area, buying farm land north of town.

      After I heard several speakers (a few were good friends of mine) talking about how we had to stop Wal-Mart. I finally raised my hand and said (Rather stupidly, considering the audience).

      "I think you guys are right. Wal-Mart has no business here (cheers...so far)!
      just because the local consumers will have a far better selection, and far lower prices...what about us? We make up at least 1% of the town. Just because it will provide a great shopping experience for 99% of the town...screw them! I'm with you guys! Who cares about consumers?! It forces us to be competitive. And I won't stand for that!"

      A few seconds of silence. One woman started crying (I never found out why).
      A good friend of mine (the local sign painter) wouldn't look at me, and never spoke to me again. The local printer walked up to me and said "You lost friends here.". I said "I know. And it pains me."

      I knew my point would be unpopular. I expected someone to yell at me. But they didn't. I think they were hurt. Like one of their family just turned on them. There were maybe 35 people in the room. And you could feel the looks of betrayal. But I was younger then. And not as diplomatic.

      The local high end grocer (or at least a relative) said "I didn't know you were "Pro Wal-Mart". I said "I'm not. I'm Anti-Stupidity".

      I left (my then-girlfriend tugging on my arm to leave). I don't know what happened there afterwards.

      This was maybe 25 years ago. Of course, Wal-Mart came. Some small businesses went away, because they had taken advantage of the fact that the locals had no choice, but to buy from them. And now, with real competiton, they couldn't survive.

      But you know what? Wal-Mart employees still buy from local businesses. It's a great source of customers. And if it wasn't Wal-Mart..it would have been a Mall...or Amazon.com...or E-Bay...Something would have made us wake up to the 21st century.

      Mobs have no mind.
      The opposite of Courage, is Conformity.
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  • Banned
    T here is only one solution to this problem

    National Anthem of USSR - YouTube
  • Banned
  • I don't have a dog in this fight, but one thing that keeps coming up has me curious.

    Slave labor has been mentioned a few times. If Walmart didn't buy from those countries that are being decried for slave labor, what would the plight of those people be without them? Would they even have jobs? Would they have an income at all? Is it possible they're better off working at so-called slave wages, than they would be otherwise?

    Again, I'm not taking sides, I'm just curious if anyone has an answer to that.
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    • According to UNICEF's The State of the World's Children, sweat shops might not be all that bad compared to the alternatives...

      So if you take away a child's sweatshop job, you might be forcing them into prostitution.
  • What some people may not also realize about Walmart is that they are probably the largest supplier of food to local food pantries nation wide. The local pantry I work at receives 2 truck loads of groceries per week from the near-by Walmart.

    I myself cringe when I see a Walmart use their leverage to force prices down on a local economy. But then again, I have a very nice large flat-screen TV hanging in my living room that wouldn't have been possible without the margin squeezing tactics Walmart has used on it's vendors over the years. There are many things that you can love or hate about Walmart - but the thing I love the most is that we are all free to shop or not shop there as we please.
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    • I remember, even ten years ago....Most people wouldn't shop at Wal-Mart.

      When I shopped, I noticed that the people just looked ...bad. I mean the shoppers. They were mostly the poorest, and weren't the people who took care of themselves. Sort of like at some Buffet style restaurants.

      Only the very poor, and price shoppers went there.

      Now? Most people don't give it another thought. My wife won't buy some groceries there.....But Wal-Mart and Target sure make shopping easier and cheaper.

      I should mention that personally, I would pay more than minimum wage. $9 or $10 sounds about right. I pay my employees much more than that.

      But force a company to pay their employees what we think they should be paid? I'm not for that at all.

      Larry; When I said Conformity, I meant us...jumping on a bandwagon without thinking. Getting angry as a group without rational thought.

      It's the rule, not the exception. Believe me, I've met us.
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  • Being a person of responsibility that I am, I wouldn't say that Wal-Mart needs to pay higher wages --- I'd say that people need to find better employment which starts with first becoming more skilled. It's been known for some time now that Wal-Mart doesn't pay great yet people still seek employment with them and whine about the conditions. Sorry but I'm not sympathetic towards Wal-Mart employees.
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  • Walmart is operating within the law. It would be down right stupid of them not to use every advantage within the bounds of the law to gain profit. If we have a problem with the way Walmart operates, we have only 2 options that I can see. You either stop shopping there, or you try and change the laws that dictate their operating procedures.
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  • Walmart buys time. Some people are willing to sell it for less than $9 per hour apparently. If a person values their time at less than $9 per hour it would seem foolish for anyone to pay them more for it.

    The reality is that Walmart buys low quality time from low quality workers. That is one of the reasons so many people refuse to spend their money at Walmart.

    The photo in the OP does not make me think Walmart needs to pay more for time, it makes me think that some people need help finding a way to increase their value of their time and sell it at a higher price.
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  • I too would like to see how Sam would run Wal-Mart.
    Ditto for the founders of IBM and HP... Maybe it's
    impossible these days to run a large corporation the way
    these guys started - with good pay, benefits, attempts at
    long term employment...

    Nearest to where I live, Home Depot and Wal-Mart both
    only hire part time, work whenever we say, pay about $8
    or $8.50, and consider you temporary...

    On a somewhat related note, I just noticed that Duluth Trading,
    Dickies, 1791 Jean's (Glenn Beck's company), offer American made jeans.
    The least expensive pair is about $80. 1791 Jeans start at $129.00 per pair.
    Tarriffs and EPA regs, etc.make it very difficult and costly to make clothing here.

    Obviously, market forces change things and companies have to react.
    I do think there is a factor of MBA types becoming executives and focusing
    strictly on maximum profits as they area trained to do.

    As far as the tax loopholes go, most of us take advantage of whatever
    our tax advisors find. There's unintended consequences to a lot of legislation
    and it's up to the citizens and government to put a stop to harmful consequences.

    Dan
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    • Duluth jeans kick a@@ and can be had for around $50. $40 if you wait for their typical 20% coupon.
  • Why do these "WalMart is Evil" discussions focus solely on WalMart? Don't stores like Target, Meijer, and KMart pay their employees just as little and sell the same sweatshop-made products? Why can't people give those stores some hate too?

    Spread the hate?
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    • Because WM is the poster child for bad corporate citizenship.


      BTW, I hear federal lawsuits may be coming soon regarding WM labor practices.


      They've already tangled back in May...

      http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2013/May/13-enrd-611.html

    • They are the most successful. We have a weird obsession in the U.S. of taking joy in conquering the most successful among us.
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    • True, the same basic model is followed by all those stores. WalMart is just the obvious one to focus on because it's the biggest. And to me, it just feels worse in a WalMart somehow. I occasionally buy something in Target, but I've only stepped foot in WalMart a few times and never plan to again. I admit to having a bias against malls and box stores in general. That's aesthetics, but the economic issues are more objective and measurable.
    • I have heard hate stories on Target and Kmart before.

      For Target: Boycott Target as they refuse to help Veterans and Toys For Tots (which is sponsored by the Marine Corps)

      For Kmart: I think the nickname "Came Apart" says it all.

      I don't believe I have ever heard any hate for Meijer though, hmmm...


      Terra
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  • Dan,
    The USA made version is I think fairly new and a bit more. Ditto for Dickies: Men's Ballroom 5-Pocket Jeans Made in USA - Duluth Trading
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    • I stand corrected. Although, their knee-pad jeans are $59.99 and made in the USA. I'll leave the potential jokes alone.
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  • TMI, Riffle, TMI. lol
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  • Colbert weighs in...


    Wal-Mart's Employee Food Drive - The Colbert Report - 2013-19-11 - Video Clip | Comedy Central
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    • By "society" don't you mean "government?" Because "society" would mean a business has a right to offer a job at the wage the job is worth to them, and citizens would have the right to accept or not accept the job.


      Me too, but with the mass exodus of manufacturing jobs to cheap labor countries it's going to take some major changes to turn things around. This country shouldn't have ever let the manufacturing base erode to the point is has, IMO.
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  • I shop at WalMart and I guess I don't see anybody being treated like crap. The employees don't have any visible scars or bruises and it seems that they are free to leave on their own will. Maybe things are different in the back of a WalMart in the stockroom. That must be where the bad things go down.
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    • Truthfully, other than links to questionable stories, no one really knows how "bad" employees are treated at WM. My guess is really no worse than in ANY typical company (and retail is usually worse than other industries). Some are better than others, but in every company I have ever worked AT or FOR there are ALWAYS people who complain about low wages, how they're treated, the crappy benefits, etc. This is why the WM stories don't really elicit sympathy from me (well, no more so than any other company stories).

      From where I sit, this is nothing new. WM is just louder than most - I guess because the number of employees...
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  • GOOD NEWS:
    The early European settlers in the Americas (invading other peoples' land, but I'm not going there) and, for the most part, manufactured everything at home. Maybe, some Amish communities still do. Then manufacturing was outsourced to newly established factories in the nation. Then factories were set up abroad while the ones at home closed down.

    Now manufacturing at home is coming back to the Americas (and Europe, Australia yadda yadda yadda). How? Answer:
    3D Printers
  • As far as how the employees are treated, it has admittedly been
    years since I have step foot inside a Wal-Mart. But I did witness
    verbal abuse from managers toward employees in multiple instances.

    Not firm corrections, not feedback or simply lighting a fire under
    their ass-- Actual verbal abuse, by any standard.

    I've never once seen that kind of behavior from any kind of
    authority figure in any other business other than Wal-Mart
    and Burger King.

    ...Of course, it still goes back to the problem of so many
    people with no marketable skills. If they had a skill of any value,
    they wouldn't be stuck looking for jobs at the bottom of the barrel.
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    • The WM by us I never heard the workers complain (except when it's very busy) and I never witnessed verbal abuse. But the one here was poorly run and dirty, which is why I stopped going there. And the other reason I stopped going were the shoppers - which were ten times ruder than any employee I dealt with there. I could tell you stories

      WM is like any other business - it has managers that can be very good or very bad. Sounds like the one at the WM you mentioned was a bad one. That manager needs to be fired. I'd say retrained, but dressing down and verbally abusing a worker in public is a very BASIC management no-no and should not be tolerated.

      I suppose you can blame the corporate culture - if that is indeed the corporate culture. It could simply be THAT LOCATIONs culture (bad management).

      There's room for improvement, but I think people go overboard on the other band wagon. (not referring to you there...)
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  • I have no pity for Walmart employees. If they don't like working there for such little wages as many of them claim, then they can work somewhere else.

    If all unsatisfied Walmart employees quit and there were no other people interested in the open positions due to poor pay, then Walmart would have no other choice but to pay higher wages. It's a simple concept.

    Walmart is a corporation, not a charity case.
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  • ... and the beat goes on.

    "UFCW union financial analyst John Marshall is sure Walmart is more concerned than they let on about impending Black Friday protests, describing the National Labor Relations Board’s decision as “one of the biggest in years.”

    “It’s not credible to claim the company doesn’t have these vulnerabilities,” he said. “But it’s not surprising that they seek to downplay the significance of worker protest.”

    He described the retailer’s recent Real Walmart campaign highlighting happy associates and decent wages as further evidence of concern over labor issues. “They’re spending money not on advertising low prices, but that it’s a good place to work,” Marshall said. “They want to project this image of compliance.”

    For his part, Lundberg insists it’ll be business as usual on Black Friday — and on Thanksgiving itself, when workers putting in holiday hours will receive what amounts to an extra day of pay. In addition, they’ll be rewarded with a 25% discount on a basket of Walmart food and products."

    Walmart Will Win Black Friday Despite Worker Strikes, Labor Violations And Food Bank Woes - Forbes
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  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • Wow!!

    I'm tempted!


    Wal-Mart Touts $98 TV in Weakest Holiday Season Since


    Decent story about big retailers and their holiday plans.
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