Registered: Dec 2004
Location: Masssachusetts, USA
Posts: 37

so, this was the topic of discussion on a Boston talk-radio station in the afternoon drive.

the question was do you find Wal-Mart's labor practices to be unfair and whether or not they've had a negative impact on smaller business?

do you think Wal-Mart is a bad model for corporate North America?

Business - AP


Wal-Mart's CEO on Offensive Against Critics

Thu Jan 13,11:56 AM ET Business - AP


By CHUCK BARTELS, Associated Press Writer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, and its chief executive, Lee Scott, went on the offensive Thursday against critics of its employment policies and the impact its stores have on communities where they are located.


The company took out more than 100 full-page newspaper ads across the country, outlining the wages and benefits it pays its employees and the good the Bentonville-based company says it brings to communities.


Scott said he wants Wal-Mart overcome its reputation as a company that does not pay well and has minimal full-time workers.


"We want to get those myths off the table, set the record straight," Scott said in a phone interview from New York City where he was making a round of media interviews Thursday.


Wal-Mart has been the target of lawsuits accusing the company of bias against women and not paying employees for all the hours they worked. Wal-Mart has vigorously fought the court actions.


The ad says the company's average pay is nearly twice the minimum wage, that 74 percent of its hourly workers are full time and that Wal-Mart offers health and life insurance, company stock and a 401-k retirement plan. Wal-Mart has more than 1 million domestic employees.


"We're taking this time to say, 'Hold on a minute, we have good jobs,'" Scott said.


Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams would not say how much the company spent on the advertising. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal were among the papers in which Wal-Mart paid for the full-page ads.


The company has also been criticized by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which continues to try to organize Wal-Mart workers. Greg Denier, a union spokesman, accused Wal-Mart of being deceptive with the new campaign.


"Obviously, it is a defensive reaction to growing community, consumer and worker concern about the impact of Wal-Mart," Denier said. "The advertising campaign is designed to cover the reality of their operations, and they are doing it in a typically Wal-Mart deceptive way."


Denier said the company's health insurance is too expensive considering what its employees are paid, and said the insurance does not provide adequate coverage for non-catastrophic illness.


Wal-Mart failed in an attempt to put a store in Inglewood, Calif., where the retailer lost a referendum last year, painted the company as an unwanted source of traffic and low-paying jobs.


"I thought it was ridiculous," Scott said of the attention drawn by the Inglewood failure. "We had a record number of stores open this past year ... (and) this year we will open a record number of stores."


Scott said no one source of criticism prompted the new offensive. "I liken it to being nibbled to death by guppies," Scott said.


Denier said Wal-Mart does not create jobs in a community, but shifts them from other employers to Wal-Mart. The UFCW says Wal-Mart often does not provide the pay and benefits of competitors it puts out of business.


Scott noted that new Wal-Mart stores attract other storefronts, saying many businesses want to be near the high-traffic retailer.


The company's Thanksgiving weekend sales failed to meet expectations, and Scott said that prompted Wal-Mart to become more aggressive in merchandising and the way it gets its message across.





But Scott said he does not dismiss concerns that people express when Wal-Mart wants to open a new store.

"I think there's lots of questions when Wal-Mart comes to a town that need to be answered. Not all of those questions are frivolous," he said.

Scott said he planned meetings with a variety of groups not associated with government to help explain Wal-Mart's employment practices, environment-related policies and how it deals with its suppliers. He would not name the organizations, saying did not want the groups to feel they were being used to garner media attention.

"We touch so many lives ... there is almost not a (non-government organization) that does not have an interest in what we as a company are doing," Scott said.

Wal-Mart shares were down 17 cents at $53.91in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites). They traded as low as $51.08 last summer.

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Registered: Aug 2000
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Walmart's buisness model is to take their suppliers and staff and anyone they happen to deal with and fuck them up the ass. China's contractors, who offer no pretty haven for workers, have problems meeting walmart's demands. I company I once worked for sold them a product plus support. The company canceled the contract because the folks at walmart are beligerant pricks.

They are a near distribution monopoly. That's why people deal with them, they can't afford not to.

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Registered: Mar 2004
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What utter and complete shit, Thimbles. People deal with them because a lot of people but stuff from Walmart. It is called free enterprise. Look it up.

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People deal with them because a lot of people but stuff from Walmart.

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Nice to see that you have at least one thimble worth of epithets. Walmart holds no "monopoly" on distribution beyond their own distribution vein, which I agree is huge. And why is it huge? Because they provide products that people want and buy. That's how it works in business. So, those who want access to this channel of distribution must compete for that channel of distribution. Ergo, Walmart's success and the disdain of those who think competition is bad.

Free enterprise 101 and I won't even charge you.

PS> Kudos on your brevity. Hold that thought.

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quote:

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Nice to see that you have at least one thimble worth of epithets. Walmart holds no "monopoly" on distribution beyond their own distribution vein, which I agree is huge. And why is it huge?

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I'm sorry if Walmart laid you off, Thimbles, but you are wrong about this on so many levels that it makes my teeth hurt.

Last edited by Trenchant_Troll on 01-14-2005 at 03:26 AM

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Don't make me get the articles to reinforce my point.

Weapons of Mass Distribution!

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We have labor regulation. It's called minimum wage. Don't like making minimum wage? Educate yourself and move up in the world. Or get rid of the minimum wage.

Wal-Mart's average wage is over 10 bucks per hour. Not bad money for a glorified mall / grocery store. Speaking of.... what do you think the average mall employee makes? I'd bet it's in line or underneath the wages of Wal-Mart employees. There are low paying jobs at Wal-Mart. Just like any other entry level position. To be a cashier at Wal-Mart (or any other big retailer) you barely need a pulse. It's a great place to start. Yes, start. Nobody is ever going to get rich being a checker at Wal-Mart. The goal would be for you to start out in these entry level positions and work your way up through the ranks.

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Originally posted by Thimbles worth of opinion
Don't make me get the articles to reinforce my point.

Weapons of Mass Distribution!

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Zion
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So here is the catch-22. Everybody wants the lowest prices possible while working for the highest wages possible. There has to be some give or take in there somewhere. If a retailer is going to offer the lowest prices around, they have to get that from somewhere, don't they? People say that WM and other big boxes strong arm their suppliers. Well, yes they do. Jsut like you want the lowest prices on that loaf of bread, so does WM. They shop around and find the supplier willing to sell it to them at the lowest price. Nobody forces anybody to sell anything to WM. Suppliers are lined up to sell to the big boxes because they can increase their bottom line while WM increases theirs. Until the majority of the public is willing to go to individual, specialty stores and pay significantly higher prices for their goods, you will have Wal Mart and the rest of the big boxes.

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If Walmart is so damn good for it's employees, why do many of its workers have to get health insurance from the states?

Yes, Walmart does offer in-house insurance, but a large segment of their workforce can't afford it, because they're paid peanuts.

So the average wage is about $10. That means.....

A lot are paid minimum wage.

A median slice earn that $10 p/h.

The top tier makes more than $10.

Who makes less than $10? The cashiers, stockers, door greeters, department workers. Otherwise, most everybody you see when you are in the store.

Who makes $10? Department managers and supervisors, lower to middle office managers, employees who have achieved some kind of raises and senority by virtue of working there for many years.

Over $10? Higher-up supervisors and district managers, local, state, and national executives. Not exactly your average Joe looking for a job.

I should know. My mother worked for Walmart about 10 years. She ran the garden department, sewing department, and was a worker in other departments, and did door greeting/security when she finally got too old to do the heavy lifting any more. She barely made $10 at the end, and she only worked there so she could afford to get health insurance and small pocket change. I've heard all the Walhorror stories - from her. Despite what their CEO claims, working at Walmart is not even close to being the paradise he claims.

Walmart is evil. Walmart must be stopped. Walmart is an oppressor of employees.

Walmart is where I go to buy a lot of stuff because the prices are so damn cheap. But at least I hate their asses when I do it.

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Why not change your name then, from "Thimbles of Opinion" to "Articles of Opinion"? It would seem that your "opinion" ends where the article does.

Think. Moreover, take a fucking look around.

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Anyways me and Troll aren't argueing about how Walmart got successful.

He's right, it's free enterprise.
Free enterprise is ruthlessly efficient. I don't believe in ruthless efficiency. I believe that economic processes have other dimensions needing considering such as societal impact, employee well being, environmental impact, fair trade, etc...

The bi-dimensional concerns of mass transaction / max profit are just too few priorites for my tastes.

Eventually they will have to face tougher regulation because what they are doing consistutes abuse, in my opinion.

And now time for an article:
http://www.dsausa.org/lowwage/walma...rt%20study.html

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We estimate that Wal-Mart workers in California earn on average 31 percent less than workers employed in large retail as a whole, receiving an average wage of $9.70 per hour compared to the $14.01 average hourly earnings for employees in large retail (firms with 1,000 or more employees). In addition, 23 percent fewer Wal-Mart workers are covered by employer-sponsored health insurance than large retail workers as a whole. The differences are even greater when Wal-Mart workers are compared to unionized grocery workers. In the San Francisco Bay Area, non-managerial Wal-Mart employees earn on average $9.40 an hour, compared to $15.31 for unionized grocery workers—39 percent less—and are half as likely to have health benefits.

At these low-wages, many Wal-Mart workers rely on public safety net programs— such as food stamps, Medicare, and subsidized housing—to make ends meet. The presence of Wal-Mart stores in California thus creates a hidden cost to the state’s taxpayers....

* Reliance by Wal-Mart workers on public assistance programs in California comes at a cost to the taxpayers of an estimated $86 million annually; this is comprised of $32 million in health related expenses and $54 million in other assistance.

* The families of Wal-Mart employees in California utilize an estimated 40 percent more in taxpayer-funded health care than the average for families of all large retail employees.

* The families of Wal-Mart employees use an estimated 38 percent more in other (non-health care) public assistance programs (such as food stamps, Earned Income Tax Credit, subsidized school lunches, and subsidized housing) than the average for families of all large retail employees.

* If other large California retailers adopted Wal-Mart’s wage and benefits standards, it would cost taxpayers an additional $410 million a year in public assistance to employees.

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Lower wages and benefits than they'd like; higher wages and benefits than the alternative, which in most cases seems to be unemployment.

The eternal struggle. I guess I can't fault people for doing all they can to exert pressure to get a pay raise; that's part of the market process.

It's madness like that Inglewood business that chaps my hide. I'm still waiting for the follow-up article charting the booming prosperity of all those small Inglewood grocery stores that were saved.

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Meanwhile, Wegman's supermarket was described as the best place to work (by Forbes, or something like that). The WAL-MART nearest me (soulcrushing shithole staffed by people who appear to be zombies) is just across from Wegmans, actually. Huge difference in the general attitude of staff in each one, but they're both making pots of cash. I imagine that WALMART can only get the staff that a place like Wegmans don't want. In fact, of all the stores in that vicinity, I imagine that WALMART have to get their own staff from the pool of people that the other stores don't want (apart from Sam's, maybe, but that is WALMART too). So, as CHiPsJr says, without WALMART, those people would be out of work altogether. However, this is a situation where there is a lot of competition in retail along Route 1; you can imagine a situation where a WALMART crushes all the competition and thus makes the 'WALMART or unemployment' choice that way, across the board (regardless of employee talent). I don't object to that, but I also don't criticise the folks in Inglewood for deciding not to have a WALMART. Local democracy with regards to the siting of businesses seems fair enough to me, and I can hardly feel sorry for WALMART who, after all, are big enough to look after themselves.

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Originally posted by CHiPsJr
Lower wages and benefits than they'd like; higher wages and benefits than the alternative, which in most cases seems to be unemployment.

The eternal struggle. I guess I can't fault people for doing all they can to exert pressure to get a pay raise; that's part of the market process.

It's madness like that Inglewood business that chaps my hide. I'm still waiting for the follow-up article charting the booming prosperity of all those small Inglewood grocery stores that were saved.

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Maybe WALMART should advertise with 'no one else will hire these people, but we will' line. Or they could just pretend that their staff are happy, smart people.

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Why not? It seems to work at universities.

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It's true at universities. Apart from the non-scientists.

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Originally posted by Smug Git
Apart from the non-scientists.

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