Walmart Will Give Half- Million Employees Raises

originally posted by: AshOnMyTomatoes

originally posted by: Edumakated

originally posted by: AshOnMyTomatoes

originally posted by: Edumakated
At no point have minimum wage jobs been seen as a career. What is different is today people expect to be able to raise a kid, buy a car, cell phone, cable, and get hair done every week on a minimum wage job.

Well that's an issue then, considering the majority of jobs on the market pay this low.

Think about this carefully: how can an entire population of people move through a minimum wage, "non-career" job and into a "real career" job, if there are not enough "real career" jobs to go around, and there never will be? It doesn't matter if everyone in the world went out and got themselves the exact same college degree; someone would still need to flip burgers, be a janitor, muck out horse stalls, etc.

Majority of jobs pay way more than minimum wage. Secondly, it is up to the individual to manage their own career and move themselves up the ladder if they want more than minimum wage. Again, these jobs are designed to be transitory in nature. Yes, we will always need burger flippers, etc. However, the last time I checked there was a steady supply of teenagers looking for these TEMPORARY jobs to earn a little spending money. The fact someone screwed up their lives having kids they can't afford and stuck in a dead end job by their own actions does not mean we now need to raise the minimum wage.

Again, show me a source that says there are enough jobs for everyone over the age of, say, 20 to have a career that pays a living wage?

Given that only about 2% of workers earn minimum wage or less your entire premise makes no sense. So obviously 98% of workers have figured out how to not make minimum wage. In addition, when you actually break down who earns minimum wage, you will find that by in large, it isn't head of house holds. In other words, just because someone is working at Wal-Mart making minimum wage it does not mean that is their only source of income. For example, my mother in law used to work relative low wage jobs just to get some spending money and get out of the house (cashier at Nordstroms). However, my father in law was a successful wall street banker so her earning "minimum wage" would not be entirely accurate in the context of the actual household income.

I know math is hard, but here is the BLS charts of who earns minimum wage.

www.bls.gov...

originally posted by: onequestion
I appreciate the effort though.

I think the real issue here is the total disconnect between wages and real cost of living.

Maybe upper management is just really that disconnected?

And here is where I will jump in and add my source and more.....

www.alternet.org...

The same 'press release' article however the comment section is a treasure trove......



from:

politicsthatwork.com...

How the Value Workers Create is Split up Between Employee and Employer

Discussion: The average American worker generates $65.79, after non-labor expenses are paid, for every hour that they work. While that number- the average worker productivity- has been steadily rising ever since they started tracking it, the share that goes to wages has been steadily falling.

...and leads to....



And I've just starting reading the comments.

This one was particularly poignant:

And when I look at just how much the price of EVERYTHING necessary to merely sustain life has increased during my sixty years, I am further sickened by the fact that wages for the average American have been essentially stagnant for decades.

That the Walton dynasty is making such a show of compassion for their workers does little to convince me that it is being done out of the goodness of their hearts, to in any way empower workers, or because they care one iota about improving the lives of their employees.

a reply to: FyreByrd


More from the comments section of:

www.alternet.org...

The destruction of small town America is, perhaps, the most egregious effect of predatory corporate capitalism.

As far as what might have inspired this recent goodhearted gesture...if a little bad press and slight drop in sales can get them to offer an across the board pay raise (however inadequate, still) for their wage slaves, imagine what a major boycott or rejection of such businesses could do.

a reply to: FyreByrd

I love that you posted that thanks.

is actually keeping far, far, more than the average for itself. Walmart made $129b in profits in 2014 and has 1.4 million employees. That is $92k in profit per employee. Many of those employees are part time, so lets just guesstimate that they average 30 hours/week * 52 weeks/year. That would leave Walmart with $59 in profit for every hour each of its employees works. In the case of an employee making $7.25/hour, that means Walmart is keeping 89% of the productivity for itself ($59 / $59 + $7.25). At $9, it is still keeping 86% for itself. Still almost twice the already alarming slice of the pie that the average American employer is keeping.

a reply to: FyreByrd

Wow dude those comments are the most accurate thing I've ever read on the Internet where the hell did you find this site?

a reply to: onequestion

www.Alternet.com

Mostly the comments are very thoughtful about the issues of the day and are often the best part of any article.

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: Daedal

Managers only make $13 an hour?

What happened to working your way up?

Now managers are at a poverty level.

Don't work there....

Why complain about what an employer pays? How much is a job worth that takes you 2 days to learn it and a 8th grade education? It is all about supply and demand, if I was going to blame anyone it would be the administration that has failed for 6 years and created the need for people to try and raise a family on a no skill job, because that is the only job they can get.

Think of a country where Wal-Mart advertises a job for 8 bucks an hour and no one comes, or those that do you REALLY do not want to hire them. Something magical happens...that job becomes a 10 dollar an hour and repeat the process, then it becomes 12 buck an hour...etc. See how it works

originally posted by: FyreByrd
a reply to: FyreByrd


More from the comments section of:

www.alternet.org...

The destruction of small town America is, perhaps, the most egregious effect of predatory corporate capitalism.

As far as what might have inspired this recent goodhearted gesture...if a little bad press and slight drop in sales can get them to offer an across the board pay raise (however inadequate, still) for their wage slaves, imagine what a major boycott or rejection of such businesses could do.

For many consumers, they rather have low prices than support the small town store. This isn't capitalisms fault. It is consumers who can't think beyond saving a few pennies. It is like when I hear people complain about flying on airlines. Yet these same people almost always choose the airline on price alone as they view it as a commodity. So how else do they think airlines are going to respond if the consumer doesn't actually value good service? They are going to cut everything to the bone so they can still maintain a profit and squeeze you in like sardines.

For those that complain about Wal-Mart and other businesses that are supposedly predatory, please stop talking shizz and put up your own money and start a company. This is the beauty of America. No one is stopping you from starting Commie-Mart and paying your cashiers $20/hr or whatever you believe they really deserve. You can also then take all your profits and redistribute them back to the government.

I'll be waiting on your business plan.

Just a wild guess on my part, but now that the employer mandate is on effect for Obamacare, Walmart may have realized that the minimum coverage policy ($6450 deductible before you qualify for a bandaid) costs 10% of the employee's income. And as such, their employees could only afford to shop at Dollar General instead of Walmart.

When your sales drop because your employees can't shop there, then it is time for a raise.

Ooo ooo...i have a chart! WalMart does get subsidies. Not as much as some, but enough...about $150M a year. (See earlier link about subsidies).

originally posted by: olaru12
a reply to: Daedal

I guess the bad press of Walmart's employees having to get food stamps and welfare changed the policy.

To little to late as far as I'm concerned; I'll never shop in Walmart or Sams ever again. Chinese junk!!

Buy American!

Yep, Way to Late. I have not stepped into a Walmart in the last 15 years and don't intend to in the future.
They can rot.

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71
a reply to: olaru12


Unfortunately people didn't take that to heart years ago when walmart sold American products.
they didn't buy the radio flyer wagon, they bought the Beijing flyer for less.

The people also didn't have Corporate Lobbyists, lobbying for "Free Trade" and other anti American Trade Pacts.
The Majority were against NAFTA and many other Trade Pacts and if the average citizen had a say in policy, there would be no Beijing Flyer, now would there?

originally posted by: Urantia1111
Could we please get more whining from people demanding more money for a job that requires absolutely no education, skill, or ability? "I've made absolutely nothing of myself and I demand a raise!". Please.

Stop being such a job-snob. Their work requires physical effort, a quality which most desk-dossers are incapable of.

At least your taxes won't be used to top-up their earnings, in fact they'll be paying taxes - how's that for a novel idea?

originally posted by: Edumakated
I suspect they will be letting go of the dead weight employees whiles expecting more productivity out of the remaining employees.

There is nothing altruistic about this move. I'm sure Wal-Mart got tired of the negative press. However, I suspect the raises still won't be enough to quell the complaints of the commie living wage crowd.

That is rich coming from a Corporation that utilizes labor in Communist Country where workers have no rights to make its profits.

And in before you say China is turning their markets over to capitalists...

China State Owned Enterprises (SOE) account for the majority of the Chinese Markets and it is these entities that pretty much determine the markets there. What we have in this country is Corporations owning our government.

In China, the Government own the Corporations. If the US Government owned 80% of the corporations in this country, you can be dammed sure it would have an impact on all other enterprise in the markets.

originally posted by: abe froman
Why does Wal-Mart get so much grief for doing the same thing that McDonald's, Target,Burger King,Taco Bell,Best Buy,Kroger,Ralph's,Olive Garden,Red Lobster,Golden Corral, et al ad nauseum, do?

We have to start somewhere don't we?
There are two camps in America.
No, Not Democrat and Republican.

They are Pro American and Anti American. Which side are you on?
The Big Corporations want to utilize cheap foreign labor, sell those widgets in elevated prices to Americans and in turn, helps those countries while #ting on ours.
The Unions, of what is left want to support the American Worker. It is pretty clear who is Anti American in this picture.

The Unions are not the problem. See the power of Labor in the political process way at the bottom?

Lobbying - Sectors
www.opensecrets.org...

Misc Business $6,501,507,333
Health $6,381,242,984
Finance/Insur/RealEst $6,359,552,451
Communic/Electronics $5,203,800,371
Energy/Nat Resource $4,705,254,338
Other $3,348,646,508
Transportation $3,219,050,597
Ideology/Single-Issue $2,072,572,556
Agribusiness $1,910,768,997
Defense $1,819,234,550
Construction $693,917,637
Labor $628,956,951
Lawyers & Lobbyists $429,144,905

It is a lie that the American Worker or Unions pushed companies overseas.
If you can make a million in profits in the USA and 10 million in China, then why not? When is enough enough?

Take the Iphone for example:


time.com...

Apple’s $649 iPhone 6 Reportedly Costs $200 to Make

That means more profits and more profits means more investment money to invest in.......NOT here, but in other countries.

What needs to happen is, if you have a company in China, then you need to sell your widgets to the Chinese that make a dollar an hour.

originally posted by: Edumakated


At no point have minimum wage jobs been seen as a career. What is different is today people expect to be able to raise a kid, buy a car, cell phone, cable, and get hair done every week on a minimum wage job.

What is different today is that we are now a "Service Economy" intentionally done by lobbyists to extract more wealth from people here and abroad.

The Citigroup Memo from 2005, which I like to refer back to explains the path we are on in full detail.

politicalgates.blogspot.com...

So what are we talking about? In 2005 and 2006, several analysts at Citigroup took a very, very close look at the economic inequalities within the USA and other countries and wrote two memos which were addressed to their very wealthy customers. If there is one group of people who need to know the truth about what is really going on within the society and the economy, minus the propaganda, then it's businesspeople who have a lot of money to invest, and who want to invest wisely.

Disruptive technology-driven productivity gains, creative financial innovation, capitalist- friendly cooperative governments, an international dimension of immigrants and overseas conquests invigorating wealth creation, the rule of law, and patenting inventions. Often these wealth waves involve great complexity, exploited best by the rich and educated of the time.

People are nothing more than commodities to exploit in order to enrich souless immoral parasites that exist among us today. The influx of illegal Immigration into this country and outsourcing of jobs can be laid squarely at the feet of these people.

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
a reply to: dawnstar

Yep. And chances are excellent that your tax dollars are paying for this "raise" anyway.

www.walmartsubsidywatch.org...

Exactly. Or they will raise prices or cut hours. This move means nothing unless they take the money directly from the Shareholders or Walton Family where the money is not being invested in this country anyways but in emerging markets.

Wow, 9 & 10$/hr. No thank you! I mean, perspective is needed here. Compared to most other nations, $9,10 at our purchasing power provides standards of living beyond most other middle class, but still... I have higher standards than that! My work is worth $25/hr at a bare minimum. It's unfortunate that so many seem incapable of learning the necessary skills to advance, but there's really not much to be done about that.

The solution has been: education, education, education! Yet there's more people enrolling in college than ever, and those same positions exist. It makes the truly qualified have to put in that much more work to stand out, and cheapens the quality of education as well. It doesn't make any damned sense. You can't educate people out of their lack of capacity for real growth.

a reply to: pl3bscheese

We both know there isnt enough room for the bottom half of the economy in the top half.

These jobs are essential to society as a whole they are worth more then what they are getting paid period.

Stop blaming poor people because they dont make enough money that is a joke.

Its as simple as this. The greedy family at the top of this company care more about their accounts then they care about anything else.