Wal-Mart workers plan Black Friday walkout

[BigBadBrian]

We can blame the ignorant unwashed masses, the same ones that vote for Republican candidates against their own interests...

I occasionally go to Wal-Mart for automotive stuff, but even that's wearing thin. Give me Target any day over the drooling mob of douche-stains crowding the isles at Wal-Mart. And I have one of the largest, most state-of-the-art new Wal-Marts near me and it's still horrible and filled with mostly crap...

One of the Wal-mart's near me is really nice...clean, spacious, and the groceries are the lowest price in town. The other one near me....yuck!

[Nickdfresh]

Wal-Mart had a store near the local mall that was horrid and way too gross (and small) to put food stuffs in. So they closed that one down and built a new one both massive and state of the art. But each one seems to have the isles stuffed with shit and subtle psychological ques that turns even the nicest person into a complete asshole. Their market is okay, but I'll pay a little more to go to a Wegmans, which seem to be the best supermarkets on earth. They're well run, have a union, and are routinely voted one of the best places to work even by part time/short term menial laborers and everything is upscale. I'll pay a couple bucks more for that! For cheapie groceries, or to get national brands like Nathan's Hotdogs not available in local supermarkets I'll hit the Target...

They have Wegmans in some parts of Virginia BTW, once you go Wegmans you'll never go back...

[ELVIS]

Ingles in Nortn Carolina is a really good Supermarket chain...

[Sensible Shoes]

Go Wegmans! One in Boston now. They make me homesick.

[Kristy]

I live in a world where non-educated, unskilled workers stock shelves in Wal-Marts and make about around $8-10 an hour. Then if you move into skilled positions such as IT, logisitcs, procurement, transportation and facilities jobs... Wal-Mart pays competitively within US corporate ranges with benefits.

What's life like on your planet?

A world where EVERY person who happens to have the misfortune of working at Wal-Mart is NOT an "uneducated, unskilled so-and-so..." I'm sure you'll probably find a person or two there with a Master's in something or in grad school selling you all sorts of Chinese made junk for your humble abode.

By the way, there are no blankets that cover everything on my planet.

[Nitro Express]

Go Wegmans! One in Boston now. They make me homesick.

I used to buy my groceries there when I lived in upstate New York. They seemed like well managed stores.

[ZahZoo]

A world where EVERY person who happens to have the misfortune of working at Wal-Mart is NOT an "uneducated, unskilled so-and-so..." I'm sure you'll probably find a person or two there with a Master's in something or in grad school selling you all sorts of Chinese made junk for your humble abode.

By the way, there are no blankets that cover everything on my planet.

You make it sound like the people who willingly walked into their local Wal-Mart, applied for a job and were hired... were somehow forced or duped into some sort of abuse induced employment nightmare.

I'm sure there are well educated, skilled people who chose to seek and accept employment at Wal-Mart for whatever reason or necessity. But that doesn't change the fact that the actual job is on the lower end of the salary and required skill scale in comparison to the over-all job market in the US.

What products and where they are manufactured that Wal-Mart chooses to sell has no stake in this discussion. People take a job there for a paycheck. If they don't know that they have accepted employment at the world's largest retailer focused on low cost and large market share... then who's fault is that. They aren't going to work at google or facebook with big salaries and top tier benefits... they are going to work at the equivalent of any grocery, convenience and/or retail store in business. Hours, salaries and working conditions are all in the same range...

As I stated previously... I don't get what the issues are other than labor unions wanting a huge piece of the Wal-Mart pie. That won't help the employees nor the consumers who shop there.

[Nickdfresh]

You make it sound like the people who willingly walked into their local Wal-Mart, applied for a job and were hired... were somehow forced or duped into some sort of abuse induced employment nightmare.

I'm sure there are well educated, skilled people who chose to seek and accept employment at Wal-Mart for whatever reason or necessity. But that doesn't change the fact that the actual job is on the lower end of the salary and required skill scale in comparison to the over-all job market in the US.

What products and where they are manufactured that Wal-Mart chooses to sell has no stake in this discussion. People take a job there for a paycheck. If they don't know that they have accepted employment at the world's largest retailer focused on low cost and large market share... then who's fault is that. They aren't going to work at google or facebook with big salaries and top tier benefits... they are going to work at the equivalent of any grocery, convenience and/or retail store in business. Hours, salaries and working conditions are all in the same range...

As I stated previously... I don't get what the issues are other than labor unions wanting a huge piece of the Wal-Mart pie. That won't help the employees nor the consumers who shop there.

There's a lot of college kids that work there. They usually don't last though...

[Kristy]

You make it sound like the people who willingly walked into their local Wal-Mart, applied for a job and were hired... were somehow forced or duped into some sort of abuse induced employment nightmare.

I'm going to go all BigBadTurd here and copy and paste a short segment:

"One way the company is said to target workers is with wage caps. According a new company policy, workers reaching their position's maximum wage will not receive annual wage increases - and thus have their real earnings eaten by inflation - unless they are promoted to new positions. Although executives maintain that this policy is designed to encourage workers to take on more responsibilities, many workers assert that it's simply designed to irk long-term employees and encourage them to quit. Given that workers can remain toiling in the same low wage positions if better positions do not open up, it would seem the latter is closer to the truth.


Another new Wal-Mart policy, which many employees also believe is designed to harass full-time and experienced workers, allows managers to demand increased employee availability. Under the new policy, employees must accept the possibility of working any and all shifts or, according to some Wal-Mart workers, face drastic cuts in their work hours. Sally Wright, once a greeter in an Oklahoma store, saw her hours cut from 32 to eight per week when she refused to change her availability. Her story has been repeated almost exactly by employees from Washington, West Virginia and countless other parts of the country."

Link here:

http://www.dailycampus.com/2.7438/employee-abuse-at-wal-mart-intolerable-1.1059560#.UKuodWfhe7w

I'm sure there are well educated, skilled people who chose to seek and accept employment at Wal-Mart for whatever reason or necessity. But that doesn't change the fact that the actual job is on the lower end of the salary and required skill scale in comparison to the over-all job market in the US.

You make it sound as if EVERY position at Wal-Mart is nothing more than a low-end, low-wage one. I knew a girl in college who ended up getting a business degree doing accounting/payroll work for them at their headquarters in Benton. They treated her like absolute shit, too. Crazy hours, not much in way of health care benefits or advancement. And again, you're blanketing the job market itself. Workers at Target, Kohl's etc all are not treated this way simply based upon job skill(s).

What products and where they are manufactured that Wal-Mart chooses to sell has no stake in this discussion. People take a job there for a paycheck. If they don't know that they have accepted employment at the world's largest retailer focused on low cost and large market share... then who's fault is that. They aren't going to work at google or facebook with big salaries and top tier benefits... they are going to work at the equivalent of any grocery, convenience and/or retail store in business. Hours, salaries and working conditions are all in the same range...

Yes it does. And people don't take the job simply for a paycheck but to survive. We all have to eat, right? Many of the people Wal-Fart hires are not the uneducated or the poor but senior citizens on a fix ed income who tolerate the abuse Wal-Mart dishes out for their rent and heat. And you're wrong about the equality in pay. They are not in the same range. Speaking of Google, look up what a worker makes at a Korger grocery store after two years of work (including benefits) and what Wal-Mart delivers - I think all Wal-Mart gives is no charge on the uniform.

As I stated previously... I don't get what the issues are other than labor unions wanting a huge piece of the Wal-Mart pie. That won't help the employees nor the consumers who shop there.

So whats wrong with that? The consumers who are that stupid and gullible to shop at Wal-Mart don't care about labor unionizing. Isn't free enterprise what American was once all about?

[FORD]

Don't go to WalFart.... don't go anywhere at all on Friday. Just stay home and eat a leftover turkey sandwich...

[BigBadBrian]

"One way the company is said to target workers is with wage caps. According a new company policy, workers reaching their position's maximum wage will not receive annual wage increases - and thus have their real earnings eaten by inflation - unless they are promoted to new positions.

Sounds reasonable. How much can you pay a stock-boy anyway?

Another new Wal-Mart policy, which many employees also believe is designed to harass full-time and experienced workers, allows managers to demand increased employee availability. Under the new policy, employees must accept the possibility of working any and all shifts or, according to some Wal-Mart workers, face drastic cuts in their work hours. Sally Wright, once a greeter in an Oklahoma store, saw her hours cut from 32 to eight per week when she refused to change her availability.

Sounds reasonable. Requesting hours when there is low demand for employees or when they are not needed as much has consequences. If you don't want to work on Saturday or Sunday, someone else will.

[Nickdfresh]

...

Sounds reasonable. Requesting hours when there is low demand for employees or when they are not needed as much has consequences. If you don't want to work on Saturday or Sunday, someone else will.

Have you ever shopped at a Wal-Mart where they have like two out of twenty-five registers open and there are long lines? It's pretty fucking frustrating. They most certainly aim for the low side of staffing...

[Kristy]

Sounds reasonable. How much can you pay a stock-boy anyway?

Apparently not enough, you asshole. Did you know that about 80% of all Wal-Mart employees are on food stamps! On no, right! Until you realize it's Wal-Mart's upper management who provided them the forms to fill out in order to receive them.

[ZahZoo]

I don't know where you base your opinion, Kristy... clearly it's not business related as you don't seem to understand the simple dynamics of Wal-Mart's labor force and the competitive retail industry in general.

I'm sure there are many instances of crappy management activities that go on in Wal-Marts across the country. It may seem huge but you have to contrast that with their relative size compared with other employers. Of course... you don't hear of any of the good things that go on because they don't make dramatic headlines and feed bullshit gossip circles.

There's also multiple facets of Wal-Mart... such as local stores that serve small towns and rural areas where it's the only major big box store in a 40 miles radius. Like where I live... many of the people that work there are my neighbors or people I've known. If there were rampant labor abuses you'd clearly hear about them in small close-knit communities. But just the opposite is what's really going on.

I've also managed people on temporary IT assignments in Bentonville... So I've heard directly how business is carried out and dealt directly with Wal-Mart's corporate management. the culture is no better nor no worse than any other large corporate business. The focus is on cost, competitiveness and market share. Contrary to what is published in the media... their corporate culture is employee focused as much as it can be but in the end it's share-holder value that drives management... as is the case in all large corporations.

It's not my intention to defend anything Wal-Mart does... but I do understand the challenges in managing a large workforce that does include a lot of lower paying positions. It's generally high turn-over. Employees want more money at every level. Few people want schedule changes but it's a dynamic business that requires constant adjustment to meet the market demands.

Frankly I've seen a continuing down-turn in productivity and willingness to work hard for advancement emerging the last decade. It seems employees expect rapid salary growth and advancement as if it's owed them and few are willing to work hard to achieve it. It's this damn entitled mindset that is permeating our culture that more at the core of this.

[VAiN]

I don't know where you base your opinion, Kristy... clearly it's not business related as you don't seem to understand the simple dynamics of Wal-Mart's labor force and the competitive retail industry in general.

I'm sure there are many instances of crappy management activities that go on in Wal-Marts across the country. It may seem huge but you have to contrast that with their relative size compared with other employers. Of course... you don't hear of any of the good things that go on because they don't make dramatic headlines and feed bullshit gossip circles.

There's also multiple facets of Wal-Mart... such as local stores that serve small towns and rural areas where it's the only major big box store in a 40 miles radius. Like where I live... many of the people that work there are my neighbors or people I've known. If there were rampant labor abuses you'd clearly hear about them in small close-knit communities. But just the opposite is what's really going on.

I've also managed people on temporary IT assignments in Bentonville... So I've heard directly how business is carried out and dealt directly with Wal-Mart's corporate management. the culture is no better nor no worse than any other large corporate business. The focus is on cost, competitiveness and market share. Contrary to what is published in the media... their corporate culture is employee focused as much as it can be but in the end it's share-holder value that drives management... as is the case in all large corporations.

It's not my intention to defend anything Wal-Mart does... but I do understand the challenges in managing a large workforce that does include a lot of lower paying positions. It's generally high turn-over. Employees want more money at every level. Few people want schedule changes but it's a dynamic business that requires constant adjustment to meet the market demands.

Frankly I've seen a continuing down-turn in productivity and willingness to work hard for advancement emerging the last decade. It seems employees expect rapid salary growth and advancement as if it's owed them and few are willing to work hard to achieve it. It's this damn entitled mindset that is permeating our culture that more at the core of this.

Excellent post, Zah. I'm sure it will be rebutted with the usual 'anyone who works harder and achieves more than me is evil' bullshit. Clearly you don't know what you're talking about.