Walmart Black Friday Nationwide Walkout

Originally posted by Osiris1953
reply to post by AdamOver

 

Ah, but what they forget is that without the rest of us their money has no value.

Our economy is integral to the world's economy. If our American economic system collapses, the consequences will reverberate through this world, and I dare not think of the full gravity of the effects.

We do consume more than any other country, and a company like Walmart makes it even easier to consume more.

I think in time, Walmart will have to compromise.

We are witnessing the homogenization of the low-income-American.

According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) figures for poverty in 2012 a single person making $1100 a month is below the "poverty line".

As I have already pointed out -- Walmart is the single largest corporate beneficiary to government welfare (your tax dollars)!

Google "Arvest Bank" sometime. The rabbit hole just goes deeper.

Originally posted by bg_socalif

Originally posted by MystikMushroom
OT side note:

The store was completely sold out of Twinkie's today.

I couldn't justify spending $4.50 on a box of "zingers". We all know about the Twinkie shelf life; but what about those guys?

And yes -- that is approximately how much a box of Hostess products cost here!

They are collectors items now

They'll stay "fresh" for decades to come.

That may be, however, that did not stop a "run" on the local Hostess bakery today. Local media published photos of people filling up their trunks with Wonder Bread:



I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

Originally posted by SonicInfinity

Originally posted by litterbaux
People don't walk off the job without another job.

There aren't enough jobs available to take all the walmart employee's.

I know for a fact that if every single Walmart employee walked out on Black Friday and got fired, they would fill every single position by the following Monday. That is just how bad unemployment is in the US right now.

I get a sickening feeling that you are right. We have been demoralized to the point that we no longer take a stand for our rights. Personally I will not shop at Walmart again and will encourage everyone I know to do the same.

reply to post by MystikMushroom

Google "Arvest Bank" sometime. The rabbit hole just goes deeper.

I just did. Damn thanks for the info.

reply to post by FreebirdGirl


No problem on the Arvest connection.

The actual problem is, Walmart perpetuates and supports a poverty-consumer society, and at the same time convincing people it's "middle class".

Walmart wages are being sold to the masses as the new "middle class".

Do you want to live in Walmart's vison?

Originally posted by Jeremiah65
I heard a little about this on the news radio coming out of DC earlier today. Kudos to the people for trying to say "enough is enough".

Look...I am not against Capitalism at all...I participate in it to the best of my limited abilities...but here is the rub.

"I" remember when things pretty much closed down "for family time" and the sidewalks were rolled up. I remember that "Black Friday" was intended to be a fun time as most every average worker had the day off and those that actually worked the stores, got big fat bonuses cause the sales were going to justify it.

Now...that isn't good enough...."Let's invade Thanksgiving day".

The sad part is, there are some bi-polar, manic depressive consumerists that are going to lose their mind if they are not the first inline.

Take a step back from the crack pipe and try using your mind....

Christmas is not about "what" you give...it is all about the act of giving. Here is a real throw back thought for you...my hobby is woodcarving...I like to carve "utilitarian" things...(in other words, useful things). I hand carve bowls (not turned on a lathe) and spoons and cooking utensils (called treenware). I give a lot of these things away for Christmas presents. Is it because I am cheap? No...it's because the things I make will be around for your grandkids to use. My stuff is made from the best local hardwoods and a spend a lot of time making them as close to perfect as I can get. There is no way I could ever put a price on the things I make because I am somewhat anal and I spend a huge amount of time making them just right.

People need to stop feeding this monster...the consumerist mindset. That is not our purpose here folks...though the TV and the media will sure make you feel like that. You are not a mouth on legs...your soul purpose is not to "consume".

I fully intend to boycott Wal Mart and others this holiday season. Does it matter? No...there are too many empty skulls that will still go buy their cheap imported junk to give away and feel like they did a good thing. If and when I buy a gift, it will be from a mom and pop shop somewhere. Not only because it supports them, but chances are they are selling far more unique items than a mega store like Wally world, Target, Sears, Penny's...etc. Supporting the local mom and pop shops...chances are you are also supporting another local vendor.

Screw Walmart....I have nothing but ill wishes for that corporation and the family behind it.

I would shop at mom & pop stores but I simply can't afford it. I was just in one yesterday because they had such neat, unique gifts but I was shocked to see the prices in there. $59 for a small jar candle?! This isn't just a single example. There are alot of these stores that are very expensive. If you can afford it then go for it. But I can't. Now, this doesn't mean I will go to Walmart, no way!! I find Target to have nicer things, it's more organized and some items are even less expensive than Walmart.

Originally posted by camaro68ss
Let them walkout, fire them, then hire people who have been iching to get work for the last two years. You really want union wage increase at walmart? guess what happens when wages increass? prices increase too.

So they will hire people who don't need to earn as much as your average American who probably has family to feed, car to run and a mortgage /rent to pay. The people who will take these low paid jobs 'gladly' will be those that may live 12 to a room, send their wages abroad [where it is worth x10] and in general are able for one reason or another to 'live' on wages like that.

The problem is that we [the UK as well] are slowly sliding back to Victorian values, where people are expected to work 16 hours a day for less and less. And don't you dare trying to make things more fair, then you obviously 'don't need' the job. Ridiculous. I am all for the strike, for people asking for decent pay that reflects their needs to live in an expensive country and for some sort of safety net that stops greedy corporations turning people who need to work into slaves.

what would be better would be if people shopped locally at small shops for a day to protest

I want my ps3 for 199.99 with four games. LoL

Originally posted by litterbaux
People don't walk off the job without another job.

There aren't enough jobs available to take all the walmart employee's.

This will not happen.

I will give you credit for a well thought out post. The evidence you posted is valid but trust me, it won't happen.

Um...IT IS HAPPENING. Whether you choose to believe it...OR NOT.

shop smart, shop s mart

Originally posted by darkhorserider
reply to post by MystikMushroom

 

I HATE workers that don't want to honor the agreement they were thrilled to get the day they were hired. They applied for a job, interviewed for a job, and accepted the job when it was offered, for the pay that was offered, and the requirements that were outlined, but then at some point down the road they think they deserve more?

If you don't like working at Walmart, then stop working there! Sure, the pay is low, the hours are crappy, you are on your feet the whole shift, but that is exactly what you agreed upon when accepting the position.

Try being a CNA for a day or two. Same crappy hours, same crappy pay, but instead of standing behind a cash register, you are cleaning up adult diapers and getting spit on and cursed at, and you have to spend money out of your own pocket for the training and licensing for the privilege of taking the menial, abusive job! Why don't CNA's and LPN's walk out of their crappy jobs and leave all the old folks without care?

Are conditions at Walmart worse than Diamond mines in Africa? Coal mines? 19th century sewing factories? Do these lazy-ass people even know what bad working conditions are? Have they ever seen bad working conditions? I HIGHLY doubt it!

Get up at 5 a.m. on a brisk -10 degree morning to go pressure wash cars at a car lot for $7 per hour, while chipping the ice off your face mask and gloves and going home with blisters in your boots, and wind burn around your eyes, and lips that are cracked and bleeding from the cold dry air. And even that isn't bad working conditions, it is exactly what the job was expected to be, for the pay that I agreed to, and I was happy to have!

Screw these people, I hope they get fired on the spot.

edit on 16-11-2012 by darkhorserider because: (no reason given)

This is a gross misconception....I know I worked for Wal Mart they sign a contract for you to work FULL TIME and at a certain pay, BUT THE CLINCHER IS WHERE THEY DISHONOR THAT CONTRACT AND DROP YOUR HOURS TO TEN A WEEK (happened to me), don't you dare try to get a labor attorney to go after them either, if they catch wind they'll fire your butt. They don't honer what they contract between their employees to be, I am not the only one who has had this problem either...But I am the only one I know who told them to shove it cause they dishonored my contract and I quit no two week notice, because I didn't get no notice or input when they wanted to start decimating my work hours!!! You people for real, you haven't got a damn clue. Seriously.

Originally posted by Bramble Iceshimmer
Really, I would rather go shopping than spend Thanksgiving with the family. They will sit around bitching about this and that, bad mouthing anyone not there and the Neanderthals will watch football. Thanksgiving doesn't mean what it used to. There are no more Norman Rockwell Thanksgivings over the river and through the woods to Grandfather's house.

You just have a dysfunctional family, Don't hate on the rest of the world whom doesn't have dysfunctional families. Sure I will get some criticism from my mother at these kind of events it's to be expected because she only wants what's best for her daughter (and some like me, deserve hearing it sometimes)...Well I guess that is a normal family, yours don't sound to be normal to me. That's why IN YOUR OPINION it isn't what it used to be. Mine is, and I for one, would not work on Thanksgiving at a Wal Mart, howver I have worked on thanksgiving taking care of mentally challenged women, but that is because most of their families are too dysfunctional to care for their family that doesn't fit in with what's normal. Sad, the fact that the rich would be so embarrassed by a family member they'd put them into a state funded mental retardation residence instead of caring for them themselves. But I digress, the point I am making dr's and health providers have a good reason to open their doors for a holiday, not WAL MART!

Originally posted by badgerprints
I love it when somebody takes a job and then demands more than they agreed to work for.
If its not worth doing then don't take that job.
Wal mart gets away with paying low wages because people agree to work for them.


I usually only buy toilet paper from Walmart because that's what most of their products are good for but I'd consider spending more on Black Friday just to push a full cart through a picket line.
I've got no respect for the gang mentality.

so what would be your personal breaking point, minimum wage?...if wal-mart was able to push through a law allowing them to pay only 5 dollars an hour?

Originally posted by jimmyx

Originally posted by badgerprints
I love it when somebody takes a job and then demands more than they agreed to work for.
If its not worth doing then don't take that job.
Wal mart gets away with paying low wages because people agree to work for them.


I usually only buy toilet paper from Walmart because that's what most of their products are good for but I'd consider spending more on Black Friday just to push a full cart through a picket line.
I've got no respect for the gang mentality.

so what would be your personal breaking point, minimum wage?...if wal-mart was able to push through a law allowing them to pay only 5 dollars an hour?

Sadly, that day is coming, they will dishonor the minimum wage and repeal the laws to make us more competitive globally this is why they're letting the fiscal cliff and plunge happen it was well orchestrated....they want us to work for chickenscratch and live like the illegals forty people or more to a house (Which is very bad for things like MRSA and Meningitis, etc that spreads through living quarter that are overfilled such as college dorms, etc).

reply to post by nidstav


Lol, hold deg i norge du.

Back on topic.

Wal-Mart is a money hungry organization that doesn't give two you know what's about their employees or follow laws. Granted, if people don't like the wages they shouldn't get a job there. But on the flip side a lot of the crap Wal-Mart does isn't listed in the employment contract. Wal-Mart makes A LOT of money. Why can't they give decent health coverage for their employees? Give them a couple extra bucks a month? I mean, even the absolute crappy health care they have sometimes won't even help because Wal-Mart finds a loophole and ends up saving a few extra dollars while the hurt employee is super screwed.

Then let's not even talk about the major EPA regulations it constantly breaks! Wal-Mart says it's "green" but is akin to Mr. Smithers from The Simpsons and him dumping his waste into the Springfield water supply.

We need to stand with the people, not the corporation. Wal-Mart is a bad place that causes more harm then good and eventually costs YOU more.

Click here for more information.

Originally posted by ldyserenity

Originally posted by jimmyx

Originally posted by badgerprints
I love it when somebody takes a job and then demands more than they agreed to work for.
If its not worth doing then don't take that job.
Wal mart gets away with paying low wages because people agree to work for them.


I usually only buy toilet paper from Walmart because that's what most of their products are good for but I'd consider spending more on Black Friday just to push a full cart through a picket line.
I've got no respect for the gang mentality.

so what would be your personal breaking point, minimum wage?...if wal-mart was able to push through a law allowing them to pay only 5 dollars an hour?

Sadly, that day is coming, they will dishonor the minimum wage and repeal the laws to make us more competitive globally this is why they're letting the fiscal cliff and plunge happen it was well orchestrated....they want us to work for chickenscratch and live like the illegals forty people or more to a house (Which is very bad for things like MRSA and Meningitis, etc that spreads through living quarter that are overfilled such as college dorms, etc).

you're right, IDY....i always like how the business and investor class comes out and says america must be able to "compete" globally...meaning 1 dollar an hour wages like in 3rd world countries. this has been their mantra for decades, and we americans are like that "frog put into a pot of cold water, and slowly heated to boiling"....we won't know until it's too late

Stories like this make me sick. These people should be happy they have a job and do everything in thier power to keep it. Not every job is M-F 9-5 holidays off.

Im a paramedic, do you think we get holidays off? I have missed my daughters first words, steps, birthdays, holidays and countless other family events. Do you ever hear of any talk of paramedics, fire, or police forming a walkout for holidays off? No you sure as hell dont.

Some people just need to shut their mouths and do their jobs.

Originally posted by VaterOrlaag
reply to post by badgerprints

 

For a bit of perspective, I suggest you get a job at Wal-Mart and then perhaps you'll see what these folks are talking about.

That is, if you haven't bought the corporate propaganda hook, line and sinker.

Buddy you haven’t got a clue about me.

I was mowing lawns at ten and made more money than my mom did at her part time job. I bagged groceries at 12 and by 15 had done stocking, produce and janitorial work. I was a cashier at 16. By 17 I was working two part time jobs (one of them at a Wal-Mart) as well as going to school and still mowing lawns.

I have worked some of the worst jobs you can think of. In the military I was fortunate enough to wash dishes, clean anything and everything imaginable and paint anything we couldn't pick up or break off at ground level.
When I wasn't actually fighting in the two wars I was in, I got to do things like dig a hole to live in, fill it back up, march all day and do it again. Patrol warring countries and act as a peacekeeper and observer. Rappel out of helicopters, sky dive, scuba, mountaineering, desert, jungle and arctic survival, military leadership, use of explosives, nuclear/biological/chemical warfare and so on....

Sometimes we got to do fun things like lay in ambush for five and six hours a night on frozen ground in sub zero temperatures or fill sandbags all day in 130+ heat.

Oh, remember the scene in platoon where they are pouring diesel into drums of human excrement and burning it?
It's not a joke. We were still doing that during the first gulf war and during MFO peacekeeping. It's just as disgusting as you might imagine.

Let's not forget my civilian jobs.
Landscaping, fence post setter, gravel pit shaker cleaner, stocker at a liquor store....all part time at the SAME time as I was going to school 25 hours a week at night for 15 months to finish my degree and take care of a wife and newborn.

After that?

Back to the Middle East for another war.

Then,

Electrician, construction, contractor, small business owner, electrical manager, construction manager, oilfield electrician, power systems electrician and international field service tech.

Right now I'm in a "vacation job"
I work as a design technician making and testing custom controls for equipment.
It's not as much as an international tech might make but I'm home every night and get to read as much as I want.

My next job will be better money and still from home. I got an unsolicited offer last week.
As a matter of fact I get a lot of unsolicited job offers for good money because I've spent my life intentionally improving my skill set and experience.

The point?

I was doing Wal-Mart work as a kid. It's for entry level people who are trying to get some experience and pull together enough of a resume to get a real job.

Anyone expecting to live off of that is kidding themselves.
People need to get a clue and start doing something besides the bare minimum then demanding that the rest of the world give them more.

Perspective?
Yeah,
I'd say I've got a bit of perspective.