Wal-Mart workers plan Black Friday walkout

[sadaist]

Christ, you are one ignorant racist cunt.

Elvis is speaking in extreme stereotypes. I'm sure there are people who fit squarely into what he described, just not a majority. I began a new job 6 weeks ago & my desk partner is a younger black woman with a 1 year old daughter. She is there 9 hours a day just like me for the same crap wage. I see her getting the same cup of noodles at lunch as me and refilling the same water bottle like I do. Does she get food stamps? I don't know. But I hope so. We make the same pay rate & I can't afford an apartment, let alone a 1 year old daughter and all that is associated with that. No way she could do it on the pay me & her receive.

So yeah, I hope she is getting some assistance. (and we make more than a Walmart employee, especially with all the benefits the company provides from day 1)


So back to Elvis and his sarcasm, $35/hour is nice, but a true living wage if you have even 1 child and trying to get by in California would be probably around $20-$25/hour. (obviously less in other states) And that's just to have a small apartment in a somewhat decent area where you won't get stabbed or dodge bullets, and have an older model Honda or Toyota car and maybe enough to hit Applebees or Chilis once a month as a family treat. No Hawaii vacations, but it is nice to be able to go see a movie at a real theater once a month as a getaway or escape without worrying if you are spending next weeks grocery money. People making $8/hour and trying to live on their own are seriously hurting.

Surviving & existing is expensive. Living is pretty much out of the question.

[Kristy]

Hmmmm no, never had an employer hand me an app for food stamps. When I moved out on my own in 76... I was making $2.75 an hour as a breakfast cook at Sambos. Had started a year and half earlier at minimum wage of $2.30 an hour. I rented a decent apartment, owned my own car and paid all my bills.

On 2.75/hr? Even if you account for inflation adjustment, cost of living and the economics of 1976 I'm calling shenanigans on that one, too.

There were economic down-turns back then too... In 78 I took "temp work" at a large semi-conductor manufacturer and assembled cables and aligned lasers for the initial release of bar-code readers for cash registers at $4.75 and hour... moved around a few other companies and just kept learning more and working hard and built a career. No one handed anything to me... I chased it down all by myself.

I'm sure there were numerous down turns but you defeated your own argument knowing you worked with the incentive for opportunity and advancement probably because those employers wanted to see you gain a better quality of life. I'm sure you can make the case that the times of 1978 were much different than today and that food stamps/welfare programs were not a supplementary pseudo benefit to being gainfully employed but no one is handing anything to Wal-Mart workers, either. Except of course, food stamp application forms. I'm all for your work ethic and stance that you took nothing from nobody to achieve success in life but this is 2012 where having such ideas is frowned upon by the likes of Wal-Fart. That is what I'm trying to tell you.

[Kristy]

Elvis is speaking in extreme stereotypes.

No, he's speaking as he always has: like a dumbass.

[Nickdfresh]

You should be ashamed...

The black girl working the register has four teenage children and a new baby to pay for...

And that Escalade note she got stuck with from the white man at the used car lot on the corner is tough to pay for...

Child welfare plus food stamps pus child support plus $10/hr at Walmart only goes so far...

She needs a real living wage, say $35/hr ??

Racist stereotypes and generalizations, much?

[sadaist]

On 2.75/hr? Even if you account for inflation adjustment, cost of living and the economics of 1976 I'm calling shenanigans on that one, too.

I made I think $3.35/hour back in 1986 ish. 1992 was making around $8-$9/hour. When I got my very 1st apartment in PACIFIC BEACH in 1992 (yes, blocks to the pacific ocean) it was HUGE 1 bedroom in great location for $450 a month. That same apartment today is about $1300 per month.


So figure at $9/hour I got a great apartment in 1992. For that same apartment today I'd need to make about $25/hour. People are still making $9 but there just aren't apartments for that any more. It fucking sucks.


I have some great memories of that apartment. The friends, the parties, the pay-per-view boxing matchups, my first self cooked Thanksgiving (fucking NAILED IT! YUM!!!). Fuck you guys. Now I'm bummed for the day. Thanks assholes



*I'm gonna go play in my pets thread to cheer me up.

[ZahZoo]

On 2.75/hr? Even if you account for inflation adjustment, cost of living and the economics of 1976 I'm calling shenanigans on that one, too.



I'm sure there were numerous down turns but you defeated your own argument knowing you worked with the incentive for opportunity and advancement probably because those employers wanted to see you gain a better quality of life. I'm sure you can make the case that the times of 1978 were much different than today and that food stamps/welfare programs were not a supplementary pseudo benefit to being gainfully employed but no one is handing anything to Wal-Mart workers, either. Except of course, food stamp application forms. I'm all for your work ethic and stance that you took nothing from nobody to achieve success in life but this is 2012 where having such ideas is frowned upon by the likes of Wal-Fart. That is what I'm trying to tell you.

Go look it up... minimum wage levels and economics are well documented. Yes, times were different. Older workers and management were all operating on 40's-60's work ethics where hard work was rewarded.

There were still folks only motivated to do their minimum job and didn't advance as there are today, although I will say that attitude or lack of drive is far more prevalent today. With the exception of a few great managers/mentors over the years... most weren't all that encouraging. Most were just playing the company line to meet objectives. It was me driving myself... boredom is my enemy to this day.

[FORD]

It's really so simple that even Chimpy Bush could understand it (though he would still choose to ignore the reality anyway).....

When people have money to spend, they will spend more of it, which means more stuff is sold, which means more stuff has to be made, which means more people need to make it.

Of course the flaw in that plan in recent years is that most of that stuff isn't made HERE. Which fucks up the entire cycle. And that's exactly why ALL of the tax/trade/economic policies since 1980 need to be shitcanned, and go back to what actually worked for this country.

[BigBadBrian]

It's really so simple that even Chimpy Bush could understand it (though he would still choose to ignore the reality anyway).....

When people have money to spend, they will spend more of it, which means more stuff is sold, which means more stuff has to be made, which means more people need to make it.

Of course the flaw in that plan in recent years is that most of that stuff isn't made HERE. Which fucks up the entire cycle. And that's exactly why ALL of the tax/trade/economic policies since 1980 need to be shitcanned, and go back to what actually worked for this country.

FORD, that all sounds nice...kind of like tax the rich less, they will then have more money for company expansion and more employees, more employees means more income and payroll taxes for the government in the form of revenue, and more revenue means less of a deficit! See how that works?

Getting back to the living wage argument...how much do you suppose a sales associate, cashier, and stock boy should be making per hour at Walmart? I realize it's going to differ based upon region...just give me a nice average figure.

[FORD]

FORD, that all sounds nice...kind of like tax the rich less, they will then have more money for company expansion and more employees, more employees means more income and payroll taxes for the government in the form of revenue, and more revenue means less of a deficit! See how that works?

No, because the last 32 years are evidence that it does NOT work. The Jude Wanniski "Two Santa Claus" /supply side economics myth is a dangerous fiction that has destroyed this country, and it's time to stop pretending otherwise.

Getting back to the living wage argument...how much do you suppose a sales associate, cashier, and stock boy should be making per hour at Walmart? I realize it's going to differ based upon region...just give me a nice average figure.

At the very least, they should be able to feed themselves from the store they work at, without the government picking up the tab via food stamps. The Walton inheritance brats could afford to buy each and every one of their employees steak & lobster dinners every night for the rest of their lives and they would still be rich.

[BigBadBrian]

No, because the last 32 years are evidence that it does NOT work. The Jude Wanniski "Two Santa Claus" /supply side economics myth is a dangerous fiction that has destroyed this country, and it's time to stop pretending otherwise.

Stop it, you know nothing of supply-side economics or any other economics other than what you read in the DU, DK, or HP.

At the very least, they should be able to feed themselves from the store they work at, without the government picking up the tab via food stamps. The Walton inheritance brats could afford to buy each and every one of their employees steak & lobster dinners every night for the rest of their lives and they would still be rich.

Nope,you're not getting off that easy. Give me a dollar figure for each position I named.

[Kristy]

Stop it, you know nothing of supply-side economics or any other economics other than what you read in the DU, DK, or HP.

Hey, go fuck yourself with one of these and get out of this thread:

[Kristy]

There were still folks only motivated to do their minimum job and didn't advance as there are today, although I will say that attitude or lack of drive is far more prevalent today.

That I will agree with you on. I am ashamed at the amount of people in my age bracket or younger (I won't say generation here) who want such material goods such as iPhones, iPads, top fashion labels even BMW's but won't lift a finger in a laborious task to achieve one. Even if they do rarely they appreciate having such a luxury. I myself drive a Mercedes but its old, a pile of shit and has its share of problems but I worked over two years to get it (and another 3 to pay it off). My age bracket would rather complain endlessly what it means to have a boss/supervisor telling them what to do rather than see how lucky they are to have a job in the first place.

[envy_me]

Can I be honest with you guys? WHERE do you find the energy to fight this much?? I want some of that energy. I come home from work, dead tired, the last thing I wanna do is argue with people. Maybe when I was 15, but not now.
What's your secret? Red bull?

[FORD]

Can I be honest with you guys? WHERE do you find the energy to fight this much?? I want some of that energy. I come home from work, dead tired, the last thing I wanna do is argue with people. Maybe when I was 15, but not now.
What's your secret? Red bull?

It's all that crap in the typical "American" diet..... high fructose corn poison, preservatives, bovine growth hormone, genetically modified "vegetables", etc.

Just like Dr. Frankenstein's original monster... rotting flesh, artificially powered by evil mad scientists.

[Dr. Love]

Can I be honest with you guys? WHERE do you find the energy to fight this much?? I want some of that energy. I come home from work, dead tired, the last thing I wanna do is argue with people. Maybe when I was 15, but not now.
What's your secret? Red bull?

You don't understand.

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