Wal-Mart to Employees: Donate Food to Coworkers w/o Enough to Eat

MystikMushroom
An ironic thing is, how many of us complain about how evil Walmart is, yet still find ourselves shopping there anyway?

You didn't ask the question right.

Sincerely,

Rob Ford

superman2012
reply to post by JohnnyCanuck

 

Why don't other unions chip in and help?

It might help the unionization of Walmart!

Wal-mart actually has rapid deployment union busting teams as do some other large companies.

In 10 separate cases, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Wal-Mart repeatedly broke the law by interrogating workers, confiscating union literature, and firing union supporters. At the first sign of organizing in a store, Wal-Mart dispatches a team of union busters from its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, sometimes setting up surveillance cameras to monitor workers. "In my 35 years in labor relations, I've never seen a company that will go to the lengths that Wal-Mart goes to, to avoid a union," says Martin Levitt, a management consultant who helped the company develop its anti-union tactics before writing a book called Confessions of a Union Buster. "They have zero tolerance."

source

I have a family member who was in supply management for Home Depot and the management had had a lot of anti-union training, there was a hotline to call in case of suspected unionizing activities, etc.

People bitch about no or low paying jobs and then shop at Walmart... Idiots get what you deserve. Oh, and don't give me that load of poo about "only" being able to afford to shop there. I was broke as broke gets (living in a tent) and refused to buy one single item at that hell store.

I hate them so much I won't even go there to get People of Walmart photos. I do love browsing the website though. Walmart and family can suck the big one.

reply to post by Mamatus


Well don't hold back Mamatus, tell us how you really feel.



While there's a lot to be said about your POV, some people are too poverty stricken at this point to have much choice.

Krakatoa
If the Walmart execs were actually smart and truly empathetic, they would offer to match any donation made by their employees.

Or they would not be making huge profits off of their business and expect slaves, and thus any co-workers, would be treated to shares in profit and enough wealth to live well, as I'm sure they are.

I think the same of every corporation. You don't get slaves to work in your dream and get your wealth.

reply to post by Bassago


It is worthy to note that the 6 Walton heirs have more wealth than the bottom 40% of Americans....6 people. They have more wealth than can be spent in a lifetime and they can't pay their employees enough to survive without federal assistance, which is really just a subsidy funded by the American taxpayer. It is beyond disgusting in my opinion....and dangerous as well. A critical point will be reached when the hungry, hopeless masses have nothing left to loose....and then all the wealth in the world will not save them from the mobs wrath.

I guess I have to be the unpopular dissenter again. Wal-Mart pays minimum wage or more. MOST jobs there are entry level and should be paid at minimum wage. Any trained monkey can be a cashier or stock boy. It isn't that hard to scan stuff and put it in a bag.

I used to be a cashier while I worked my way through college. Back in the 80s this was a minimum wage job and we actually had to know the prices and type back then. Now you can check yourself out because of scanners.

The thing is, I went to college and got a real career. Cashier is NOT a career. My daughter is 16 and is a cashier. You can't support a family on an entry level job and you never could. Take up a trade skill or maybe work your way through college like I did. It isn't complicated.

Wal-Mart jobs are for the young, retired or stoned and not for people with responsibilities. If you have a family relying on you and are working entry level you are doing it wrong.

Look, I am against cutting food stamps and other Government assistance. As long as we can afford to drop 500 bombs at a million dollars each every day to kill people we should be able to afford social programs, but it isn't Wal-marts fault or responsibility to pay more than entry level pay for entry level jobs.

Also, look at Detroit for how great unions are at keeping jobs around. They aren't always a good thing. Sometimes they help and sometimes they bloat and destroy companies (see Hostess et al).

I also wanted to semi-retire and teach at the local high school along with my other businesses, but I can't without joining a union and paying them money to represent me which I don't want. It's BS to be forced to join something you don't want or believe in to get a job.

Okay flame me if you want, but there are two sides to most stories and I don't see both sides fairly represented in this thread by the OP (who I quite often agree with on other topics).

reply to post by Metallicus


I see this opinion allot, what most who share this opinion cannot
tell me is where all these high paying high skilled jobs are at.

Even if only say 50% of the min wage workers were to attempt what
you suggest it would destroy the market for those higher skilled jobs
anyway, higher supply of high skilled workers means less demand and
as we are already in a high supply of unemployed college graduates
with debt i really don't think adding more is a good idea.

Another thing that has been bugging me lately, how can any human
being be worth millions or even billions of dollars. Like how could
one human being ever do enough work to justify that cost. The
honest answer is they cannot. We really need to open our eyes
to the fact that we are expected to shoulder the burden of the work
and give the majority of credit to someone who helped but was
not the majority contributor to the success of the business.

I think that this is a fundamental flaw with the idea of corporations.

reply to post by Metallicus


I can't find fault with your points except that we no longer live in a world of the 80's which had the support of the 50-70's to boost most peoples lives in America. Especially hard hit today are the young people who don't have what we did back then.

Example, in the late 60's I worked minimum wage jobs most of which paid around $1.40 an hour. Most people I knew did the same. We had enough money for food, cars, motorcycles, gas, even apartments and lots of fun. All without even knowing what a credit card was. That's just not how it is today.

See no flames.

Its funny that just now, war-mart (excuse me, "Wal-Mart") has now decided to emprise to the low blow that dollar general has done to their corporate reign by seeking sympathy from hard working individuals to "give back" to the ones they have f****d over in the first place. I'm all for the helping of battling our sad state of affairs here!!!! But, I kind of feel like this is just something to tug at the heart strings of the American peoples to keep them coming back to buy, for the Christmas year. Eat.

bloodreviara
reply to post by Metallicus

 

I see this opinion allot, what most who share this opinion cannot
tell me is where all these high paying high skilled jobs are at.

Even if only say 50% of the min wage workers were to attempt what
you suggest it would destroy the market for those higher skilled jobs
anyway, higher supply of high skilled workers means less demand and
as we are already in a high supply of unemployed college graduates
with debt i really don't think adding more is a good idea.

Another thing that has been bugging me lately, how can any human
being be worth millions or even billions of dollars. Like how could
one human being ever do enough work to justify that cost. The
honest answer is they cannot. We really need to open our eyes
to the fact that we are expected to shoulder the burden of the work
and give the majority of credit to someone who helped but was
not the majority contributor to the success of the business.

I think that this is a fundamental flaw with the idea of corporations.

edit on 19-11-2013 by bloodreviara because: (no reason given)

If the minimum wage isn't high enough then raise it to the level you want, but don't blame Wal-Mart for paying entry level wages for an entry level position.

Most of those higher paying jobs went oversees, but again it is the fault of Government not penalizing companies for shipping jobs over-seas or alternately rewarding US based hiring and manufacturing. The problem is that someone will move those jobs over-seas even if it isn't Wal-Mart as long as it is financially advantageous which in turn starts a chain reaction. It should have been fixed or addressed years ago and could have been easily IF government actually cared about the American people.

The real question is why hasn't this been addressed by our leaders? Ultimately that question opens up a whole big can of worms that would be off-topic here, but must be addressed.

reply to post by Metallicus


It is not that i desire to pay higher minimum wage at all, i just
don't understand what people want the service sector workers to
do if actually going out and getting a higher paying job is not as
realistic as many make it out to be.

Honestly i know its frustrating for everyone involved, we are all
in a catch 22 with the way our economy has been set up. I do not
even know how to fix it. What i do know is that higher education
can only do so much.

I do think that more small business would give us a chance to bring
back realism to our economy, as truly difficult a change as that would
be.

You are correct, i think we are going a bit off topic and that question
would open a huge can of worms. It most certainly should be answered.
What happens in the meantime is what i feel cannot be fixed by
the suggestion of higher skilled, higher paying jobs.

On a side note i enjoy your opinion very much.

Calm down, everyone. This was done by one store (read the article before you have a rabid foamfest over anything Walmart). One store manager didn't think things through as to how this could be perceived by employees.

He has no control over how much Walmart pays anyone, and was simply asking everyone to be charitable during the holidays. Like every other business in the western hemisphere does. But, it's Walmart, so...

..."AAAAARGH! WALMART (expletive, expletive, etc.)!" Pavlov would have a field day with you guys.

it's nice to see something positive happening.

Metallicus
The thing is, I went to college and got a real career. Cashier is NOT a career. My daughter is 16 and is a cashier. You can't support a family on an entry level job and you never could. Take up a trade skill or maybe work your way through college like I did. It isn't complicated.

This is a myth, between 1950 and 1970 on a 40 hour/week minimum wage job you could pay for college out of pocket, a mortgage, eat very well, have great health insurance, and have money left over for entertainment. From 1970-1980 you could still do most of that. Prior to 1950 you could support a family on one person earning minimum wage (though you wouldn't have leftover money for college tuition). It has only been in the past couple decades where minimum wage isn't a living wage. For that matter, minimum wage today has less than half the buying power it did as recently as the year 2000.

And on that note, productivity has reached such a point that there's simply not enough skilled labor jobs out there for everyone to do one, regardless of their skills. That's why college graduates today are cashiers. This problem isn't going to get any better either.

reply to post by Bassago


That is simply Walmart´s business model. Somebody has to lose from the beginning, no other choice. The reason why people shop there is low prices. Low prices require low costs.

2012 profit was 15.7 billion, while revenue was 447 billion. Walmart has 2.1 million employees. If Walmart rose the salaries of every employee 7500 dollars a year, this would already mean losses, which can be only compensated by rising the prices, although this would lead to losing competitive advantage - low costs of products. Higher prices = more people going to other shops = less revenue = losses. If profit is not high, stock prices fall, less investors, again losses.

This is a never-ending cycle, which can only end in Walmart giving large part of its market share away or going bankrupt. Currently the only way of sustaining the company is sticking to its business model, where the employees are the ones, who lose. Customers and stock holders win.

I would like to donate my middle finger to the owner's of Wal-mart.

Im not envious of your vast wealth but pretty pissed off that you would rather have people starving, living from pay check to pay check instead of giving them a living wage.

You're pathetic and your existence on this earth is blight more than a blessing.

I never shop at Walmart. They pay their workers low wages and encourage them to apply for gov't aid. Meanwhile the Waltons are living it up on their billions of dollars while my tax dollars feed their workers. Someone I know told me that Walmart workers can't afford to shop at Walmart- they shop at the Dollar Store.

Sal

reply to post by superman2012


It's easier than you think to boycott Walmart. I've been doing it since I was in high school at this point. I graduated high school 10 years ago.

wingsfan
That's essentially mocking them at this point. I hope those pigs choke on their money.

that is the issue. they NEED to be choked! but won't. Money never does, it is an endless hunger of GREED.


the only way to change this is to ACKNOWLEDGE the CLASS WAR!..

the poor need to take the fight to the rich