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Monday, October 08, 2012
Workers Are Rising Up Against Wal Mart
More than 250 Wal Mart workers and sympathizers from Southern California walked out on the job Thursday – and held a rally to draw attention to poor working conditions at the retail giant and unfair retaliation by Wal Mart management. Some workers participating in the action called it a one-day strike – the first ever strike against Wal Mart in the United States. The walkout was led by the Organization United for Respect at Wal Mart – or OUR Wal Mart – which is made up of several thousand Wal Mart workers from around the nation. Three weeks ago – employees at several different Wal Mart supply warehouses walked off the job to protest poor labor conditions. The Wal Mart-ization of America has wreaked havoc on our economy – eating communities by closing down small businesses and funneling workers into low-wage jobs. It looks like the backlash may be underway. Stay tuned.
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15 comments:
They are free to quit anytime they want. No one is holding a gun to their heads to work there.
We can only hope.
I would fire all of them , they deserted their job. You don't need a college education to work at WalMart. Complain , bitch about doing something. If it is unsafe or illegal then you have a complaint. Democracy stops at the work place , they pay you to perform , period. Walk out the door and stay. Sounds like a bunch of liberal teachers.
You two sound like a bunch of idiots.
The problem is that the taxpayers are subsidizing an overwhelming percentage of the Walmart employees. When you walk into a Walmart be aware that 8 of 10 of the employees that you see are on atleast one type of government assistance-low income housing, food stamps, school free lunch/breakfast programs, Medicaid (which Walmart offers guidance for employees to sign up for.)
I am a far right conservative and this is one of the areas where the far left and far right agree.
These big corps (where 99% of the money leaves the communities) with billions in profits are running out small business with the help of the government.
California alone spends 32 million a year for Medicaid for Walmart employees in that state.
The effects of Walmart's free loading policies is costing the tax payers billions a year.
It's called Crony Capitalism and Paul Ryan's always been an opponent of it.
About a year ago I saw a guy on TV who wanted to expand his restaurant but due to the local govenment wanting him to do some infrastructure changes (traffic light, ped walkway) he couldn't handle the couple of hundred thousands of dollars more of added costs.
He then went on to say the local Walmart when built, was waived of paying infrastructure costs.
He was wondering if it was a coincidence that like a few years before the Walmart even broke ground they were funneling 10's of thousands of dollars to local campaigns.
anonymous 8:53, well, let's see Chuck. WalMart hires how many people vs. a local restaurant?
When communities like ours are struggling and a WalMart is willing to bring in millions in local tax revenue, hide behind anonymous all day long but we ALL know what you would recommend to Jim Ireton on this issue. You'd give WalMart anything and everything they want.
I read last year that a WalMart in Michigan fired an employee who tested positive for marijuana after a fall at work. The man, a former employee of the month, was being treated for sinus cancer and had a legitimate prescription for the drug, which is legal in the state. Do you really want to spend your money at a business that treats employees this way? The only thing missing is a sign over the door that says "Arbeit Macht Frei."
anon 8:27
So I guess you would have WalMart close and all those people be laid off. Then they could be 100 percent on government assistance. Sometimes you should just think of the unintended consequences.
I'm not "Chuck", Joe. I'm a female and have no connection to Ireton-I'm in Wor Co. You may be correct about sales tax but all I need to know is that Walmart since 2007 has been lobbying for the food stamp expansion which was finally implemented by Obama. The question is does the 1/2 a billion they made in OK from SNAP purchases come anywhere near the sales tax they paid into the state or is it just more of a shuffling around money type of thing.
From Breitbart-
" Large retailers are also cashing in on SNAP benefits. Stocking the shelves with food stamp-approved foods, Wal-Mart made about half a billion dollars in SNAP purchases in two years just from the state of Oklahoma. That is a significant returns for Wal-Mart’s lobbying effort in the 2007 Farm Bill, where Wal-Mart lobbied for five provisions, all having to do with food stamps.
This is not an uncommon story; big business colludes with big government in the name of the public’s interests while they are making themselves rich with regulation, bailouts, corporate welfare, and government contracts. Americans don’t bother to get riled up about it because they expect it, because human nature reduces itself to whatever conditions the culture allows."
Walmart is exactly the business Obama was talking about when he said they would not be where they are without government. In their case it's in the form of corp welfare, crony capitalism, and paying employees low non living wages knowing full well government entitlements will supplement them and the good republican robots will say things like the employees don't have to work there and walmart brings jobs.
I'm not a republican robot but a staunch dyed in the wool conservative.
Anon 8:27
I'd like to see backup proof of your statement: "When you walk into a Walmart be aware that 8 of 10 of the employees that you see are on atleast one type of government assistance-low income housing, food stamps, school free lunch/breakfast programs, Medicaid (which Walmart offers guidance for employees to sign up for."
8 out of 10, really?
11:21-If his/her statement is true it's a real eye opener.Furthermore it would explain(at least to me)how retail workers are surviving with the money they are paid.Would cutting off these forms of entitlements be wise,since those involved just need a little help getting over the hump?44% of congress mambers are millionaires.That being said,are they even capable of making wise decisions involving those who are income challenged?
Regardless, a multi billion dollar corporation should be held accountable for how it treats its laborers. Any other business would have to face the Better Business Bureau, or Labor Board. For years, Walmart had a policy that when you arrive to work, you had a set lists of tasks to be performed, and if the tasks weren't completed, you were expected to stay off clock and complete your tasks. I don't know any other branch of work services, McDonalds, Quiki-Mart, Board of Ed., hospital employees, etc., where workers would put up with that treatment, nobody works for free. And for all those out there griping about unions, that was one service of protection that the union held for it's workers.
Part of the problem in this country is that any "job growth" within the US for years has been overwhelmingly these non living wage paying jobs (average $9-$12 hr), which we all do subsidize the employees whether anyone cares to admit it or not.
Mitt Romney is correct-We have our own natural resources and energy resources and we need to start using them. Not only will that in itself create better paying jobs but then you have the trickle effect such as the manufacturing of parts to create pipelines and nuclear power and coal.
I don't have a problem with government subsidies going directly to corps in order to create jobs, but I do have a problem when the jobs that are then created are such low paying ones, that then what happens is us in the middle class are hit at both ends.
Fox News' John Stossel did a Fox News special awhile back on all of this. It's called Freeloaders.
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