http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-walmart23nov23,1,2729555.story?coll=la-home-bu siness

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-walmart24nov24.story

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-walmart25nov25.story

name id: amyes

password: rabble

[ 28 November 2003: Message edited by: josh ]

In the 19th century, he said, the standard-setting company was the Pennsylvania Railroad; in the mid-20th century, it was General Motors; and in the late 20th century, it was Microsoft. Today's prototypical company, he declared in opening the conference, is Wal-Mart, which, he said, rezones American cities, sets wage standards and even conducts diplomacy with other nations.

"In short, the company's management legislates for the rest of us key components of American social and industrial policy," Mr. Lichtenstein said.

Wal-Mart has created a very different model from General Motors, he added, noting that G.M. helped build the world's most affluent middle class by paying wages far above the average and by providing generous health and pension plans. Mr. Lichtenstein said G.M.'s wage pattern spurred other companies to raise compensation levels, while Wal-Mart's relatively low wages and benefits — its workers average less than $18,000 a year — were doing just the opposite.

The company's pay scale and hard-nosed labor practices, said Simon Head, a fellow at the Century Foundation and author of "The New Ruthless Economy: Work and Power in the Digital Age" (Oxford University Press, 2003) mean that "Wal-Mart is certainly a template of 21st-century capitalism, but a capitalism that increasingly resembles a capitalism of 100 years ago." He added, "It combines the extremely dynamic use of technology with a very authoritarian and ruthless managerial culture.""

"Nothing twists Mary Hendrick's innards quite like a Wal-Mart.

"Wal-Mart, uck, it just does something to you," says Hendrick, a northwest Denver resident.

She isn't the only one.

Dozens have picketed along with Hendrick at the home of a developer planning a Wal-Mart in northwest Denver. More than 500 Thornton residents showed up at a public hearing to protest a proposed Wal-Mart. Residents in Windsor put two candidates on the town board ballot specifically to fight a possible Wal-Mart.

And it's not just in Colorado, where Wal-Mart is the largest private employer. Residents in Inglewood, Calif., recently stopped Wal-Mart from moving into their city. Other communities across the country are pondering ways to keep Wal-Mart out."

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Originally posted by Michelle:

...where would be a good place to advise them to shop, where the retail clerks get benefits and good pay?

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Originally posted by N.Beltov:
I'm not aware that such a place exists. But a case can be made for shopping "Canadian". And sometimes a case can be made for not shopping at all.

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This is true. And I hardly ever shop these days. However, the charge against Walmart in this thread wasn't that they're not Canadian, but that the employees there are humiliated because they get minimum wage and no benefits.

Which pretty much describes every retail job I've ever had (even The Body Shop!), and I've never worked at Walmart.

So my question is, when I'm humiliating my fellow working-class-to-poor neighbours for shopping at Walmart, should I tell them that one of the dollar stores on Bloor is a better choice even though small store owners are notorious for labour violations?

Or should I tell them that their kids really don't need this year's pair of shoes even though they've outgrown last year's, and the best choice would be not to shop at all?

Would minimum wage and no benefits be okay as long as the store was owned and operated by Canadians?

[ 19 April 2004: Message edited by: Michelle ]

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Originally posted by Michelle:

...the charge against Walmart in this thread wasn't that they're not Canadian, but that the employees there are humiliated because they get minimum wage and no benefits.

Which pretty much describes every retail job I've ever had (even The Body Shop!), and I've never worked at Walmart.

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Yea that's why I noted that I don't know if such places exist. Retail employers rely upon the high turnover of staff and the ability to change location to sabotage unionization as well. The latter is the best long term remedy to lousy wages and working conditions, but it is such a difficult and uncertain struggle in many cases. However, even if you don't have a union, solidarity at the work place still applies. People that stick together can achieve things at their workplace even without a union. That's a secret that even some unions won't tell you.

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So my question is, when I'm humiliating my fellow working-class-to-poor neighbours for shopping at Walmart, should I tell them that one of the dollar stores on Bloor is a better choice even though small store owners are notorious for labour violations?

Or should I tell them that their kids really don't need this year's pair of shoes even though they've outgrown last year's, and the best choice would be not to shop at all?

Would minimum wage and no benefits be okay as long as the store was owned and operated by Canadians?

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There's nothing wrong with advocating to "shop Canadian". I'm not one of those shoppers who uses coupons, compares prices all the time, and has an encyclopediac knowledge of the market. Sometimes I pay a little more for a cleaner conscience. And sometimes I will even go to a store that I would rather not go to...if I feel that I need a product that I can't get anywhere else.

Not shopping at Wal-Mart is about more than just the wages and working conditions of the employees. Their predatory business practices are legendary. Supporting legit small businesses seems to be a compelling argument as well. But, regardless of these arguments, I'm not in favour of humiliating anyone ...people are rarely convinced of anything that way...better to suggest what it is that you yourself do in the same situation, and if that means sometimes
going to the dreaded Wal-Mart, then so be it. Sometimes these kinds of discussions are simply about taking that extra step, going a little further than usual, and so on....things that we are all capable of.

The problem with the economy these days is that there ARE NO JOBS making more than minimum wage. Stelco is in trouble, Slater Steel closed down, as well as Levis and various other factories. All that's left is customer service jobs.

I'm 24, and I know ONE person who makes a significant amount more than minimum wage at their job (my boyfriend) who is around my age (give or take 6 years). There is nothing else out there (trust me, I've looked). And, unfortunately, Walmart IS employing people who would likely otherwise not have a job (or would be in a smaller store that doesn't follow labour laws--and trust me, they don't--I've worked for several).

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In the April 12 issue, {of business week} reporters Stanley Holmes and Wendy Zellner penned a terrific piece called, "The Costco Way," with an even more provocative sub-title: "Higher wages mean higher profits. But try telling Wall Street."

The authors point out that Costco recently posted a 25 percent profit gain, as well as a 14 percent sales hike. Yet Wall Street punished Costco's stock, driving it down 4 percent. What gives? As the authors report: "One problem for Wall Street is that Costco pays its workers much better than archrival Wal-Mart Stores Inc. does, and analysts worry that Costco's operating expenses could get out of hand. 'At Costco, it's better to be an employee or a customer than a shareholder,' says Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Dreher."

{...}

But the great piece of reporting (and public service) that Holmes and Zellner perform is that they actually run the numbers and get beyond the rhetoric. They compare Costco to Wal-Mart's Sam's Club, the unit with which it directly competes. Costco, which has about a 20 percent unionization rate, pays workers 40 percent more than Sam's Club and gives them comparatively superior benefits (for example, health care and profit-sharing plans) to Sam's Club.

Costco, surprise, has a lower turnover rate and a far higher rate of productivity: it almost equaled Sam's Club's annual sales last year with one-third fewer employees. Only six percent of Costco's employees leave each year, compared to 21 percent at Sam's. And, by every financial measurement, the company does better. Its operating income was higher than Sam's Club, as was operating profit per hourly employees, sales per square foot and even its labor and overhead costs. Here's a quote to emblazon for corporate America: "Paying your employees well is not only the right thing to do but it makes for good business," says Costco CEO James D. Sinegal.

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the wal-mart myth

i worked at wal-mart (wayback) in high school, and i can say they do not treat employees well at all, i.e:
-management will fudge your timesheets to avoid paying overtime. it is easy for them to do as you 'punch' in and out by swiping your personal barcode, only management has access to the computerized timesheets.
-managers who allow 'associates' to earn overtime are docked by the amount of overtime paid out, that is if they aren't transferred somewhere inconvenient or fired.
-if you happen to stay with the company long enough for benefits to kick in, your hours are cut in rough proportion to the amount of bennies you claim, unless you are promoted to management level.
-if you refuse to buy wmt stock after working for the company for over a year, you are castigated in front of other employees for 'not caring about the company' and likely written up for 'a bad attitude'.
-if an employee is overheard mentioning the word union, she is written up - three write ups, you are fired. (if an employee brings union literature into the store, they are accused of theft, and fired on the spot. i've seen it happen.)
-you take an 18 minute coffee break instead of your allowed fifteen, you are docked an hour of pay, and will probably lose at least a full shift on the next week's sched.
-and of course, by publicly stating any of the above listed facts, (not to mention any number of other shady practices by the company i could spill) i could be sued, as per the confidentiality agreement one is forced to sign as a condition of employment with wal-mart.

[ 23 April 2004: Message edited by: 'topherscompy ]

It's not just their retail competitors that Walmart destroys. Small creative Canadian manufacturers (you know - the kind that used to provide those higher-than-minimum wage kinda jobs) are also affected.

Canadian companies like Playtoy and Canada Games are gone, specifically due to Walmart's onerous policies - particularly their open returns policy.

The power you've given Walmart in the Canadian market is the power to bankrupt Canadian companies across the board.

No decent jobs around?

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Originally posted by IrishMuse:
The problem with the economy these days is that there ARE NO JOBS making more than minimum wage. Stelco is in trouble, Slater Steel closed down, as well as Levis and various other factories. All that's left is customer service jobs.

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I work for a "corporation" McJob. I get minimum wage, and 20 hours per week. I went to college, and couldn't graduate because OSAP pulled the last semester of my tuition from me (plus interest) because I made too much money at my part time McJob. So, now I'm stuck in the cycle of McJobs, paying off OSAP, so I can't afford to finish school (and can't get OSAP, because after 2 "drop outs"--even though the second one wasn't voluntary--you can't apply for it until it's paid off).

I'll take a McJob to homelessness, thanks.

I'm not saying Walmart is a wonderful employer, but the small, Canadian-run, Canadian selling gift store chain I worked for paid me minimum wage, always "forgot" to pay me overtime, had numerous health and safety violations, and pushed me out of my job because I hurt myself (not at work, but I couldn't do two of my duties because of my injury, until I healed, and they couldn't wait for 3 months for that to happen). They filed my separation papers as "quit" rather than "quit due to injury", so I had to fight for EI and have since not been able to find full time work.

Yes, those "small Canadian companies" are wonderful.

The only jobs out there for people like me ARE McJobs. If someone is lucky enough to have a "real" job, that's great--unfortunately, I'll never be able to attain that (unless miracles really do happen). And if people stop shopping at the McPlaces, then I'm out of a job. Heck, our profits are so low these days, I can't get more than 20 hours a week--never mind full time or a second part time job.

I'd be interested in knowing what kind of jobs the people who are "anti-Walmart" and other corps like that work at. Just curiousity, to see where the biggest opposers to these places are.

I had a friend who was anti-Walmart, anti-McDonalds, etc. and yet he worked at Blockbuster. Ah yes.

WalMart is part of the problem, and shopping there more isn't likely to solve the problem of McJobs. In a period of skyrocketing profits, WalMart has cheated its employees out of wages and employed illegals so they could pay them substandard wages. Look up the cornucopia of class actions against WalMart. It won't go away anytime soon.

The real issue is bringing equity to McJobs. Unionization, fair pay and so forth. Everyone ought to earn a decent wage, and a McJob shouldn't have to remove the dignity of doing so. WalMart doesn't see it that way, and pushes an opposing profit driven agenda.

Yes, they are crappy employers. But they employ a lot of people who otherwise would likely not be employed (like the little old ladies who greet you at the door). *shrug*

The link abnormal provided on Aldi illustrates my point exactly.

[ 26 April 2004: Message edited by: cynic ]

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Yes, they are crappy employers. But they employ a lot of people who otherwise would likely not be employed (like the little old ladies who greet you at the door). *shrug*

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And yet, heresy to think it, there was massive employment before WalMart. You don't need to think in such binary terms: employed: substandard wage, disposability, OR unemployed: nothing.

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Originally posted by IrishMuse:
Yes, they are crappy employers. But they employ a lot of people who otherwise would likely not be employed (like the little old ladies who greet you at the door).

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"Wal-Mart is the world's largest manufacturing company. Period.

Don't look at Wal-Mart and think of it as the successor to Woolworth or K-Mart. It is the direct successor to General Motors, General Electric and the older corporations that made the goods, not just selling them, for the American public.

Officially, Wal-Mart "buys" its goods from other manufacturers, just like your classic retailer, but Wal-Mart is really just hiring contractors who make the goods to its specification. Wal-Mart's relation to its global factories is like how Nike relates to its shoe factories-- it doesn't have to own them since they do what it wants exactly how it tells them to operate.

And what Wal-Mart tells its captive subcontractors to do is lower prices and lower wages. But with the global factories, you aren't talking about the horrible $6.50 per hour jobs in the US being under pressure to be even worse. No, you are talking about workers in Indonesia making a dollar a day being told they are losing their job, so that wages can drop to fifty cents a day in China. You are talking about Mexican workers losing their jobs, so those Wal-Mart subcontractors can meet the company's demand for even lower-paid workers.

You are talking about a global race to the bottom, where workers paid to make the goods people buy in Wal-Mart could not even imagine shopping in those stores."

First morning of Wal-Mart, and they did the "cheer." (Gimmee a 'squiggle'!)

I'm proud to say that I routinely took 20 minute breaks, dressed in filthy rags, asked the assistant manager obscene questions over the intercom (before the store opened), and wore a pair of red panties (that had fallen out of their package) over my jeans when a bunch of us were working in the stockroom with the manager.

I also worked at Wal-Mart's warehouse & distribution arm, Supply Chain Management. Hideous people.

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Chief Executive Officer Lee Scott said Wal-Mart would establish new pay classes in hopes of helping the retailer compete for workers. He gave few details, but said no one would take a pay cut as a result of the new structure, and some employees would be paid more.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart, whose roughly 1.3 million U.S. employees make it the largest private-sector employer, has been called the most sued company in America and faces dozens of cases alleging wage-and-hour violations.

A lawsuit in California that could become the largest ever class-action suit charges Wal-Mart with sex discrimination and unequal pay. Other cases allege the retailer forces employees to work off-the-clock.

But with star power from singer Patti LaBelle and actress Halle Berry, any criticism of the retailer seemed a million miles away from the annual shareholders meeting -- typically more pep rally than business gathering.

More than 15,000 people packed the University of Arkansas' basketball arena by 7 a.m. to cheer and wave flags. Chief Financial Officer Tom Schoewe danced in the aisle, and former CEO David Glass -- flanked by Berry and actress Susan Lucci -- did the twist to the Wal-Mart cheer.

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I would suggest, however - as others on this thread have as well (I think Irish muise) - that the routine shabby treatment of workers is not endemic to large corporations.

My wife worked briefly for a hotel. While the name is connected to a chain, this particular one was operated by a local family. My wife was paid below minimum wage. Their excuse was that her job included serving alcohol. (It's true that alcohol servers have a lower minimum wage.) However, she never did serve alcohol - it was not actually part of her duties. The funny thing is that this place was unionized.

None of which negates the criticisms of Wal Mart.

However the difference with Walmart is that they are the world's leading retailer and are the driving force in eroding the living conditions of workers in the retail sector.

In the supermarket sector where there is some history of unionization, the fear of Walmart has been used to whipsaw unions into line with concessionary collective agreements.

As well, Walmart has been driving down the living conditions of third world workers through their system of contracting to the lowest possible bidder.

Of course there are their truly disgusting "dead peasant" life insurance policies.

Not to mention their predatory pricing policies and running roughshod over communities to get their "big box" stores built on the outskirts of town...in turn destroying many small town shopping districts.

Walmart is a truly evil corporate empire.

For all of these reasons, I think that Walmart deserves "special attention" when it comes to consumer boycotts, campaigns for unionization, battles around local zoning bylaws, campaigns for the rights of third world workers etc.

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However the difference with Walmart is that they are the world's leading retailer and are the driving force in eroding the living conditions of workers in the retail sector

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Yet somehow they make a list of the best employers in Canada. I have to confess that I'm not sure I understand why given that, among other things, the results are based on employee surveys.

On the question of dead peasant policies I tend to agree [note that the IRS has pretty much shut that down] since it was purely a tax ploy in any case. A company like WalMart would pay a premium of something like $400 million say for all of it's employees and receive total benefits of roughly $400 million. In other words, WalMart does not recover anymore from the insurance company than they paid in premium. There's a significant NPV difference in the level of income taxes payable as a result of the transaction that makes the transaction worthwhile.

[ 05 June 2004: Message edited by: abnormal ]

Who is Hewitt Associates? According to their website:

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Hewitt Associates is a global human resources outsourcing and consulting firm delivering a complete range of human capital management services.

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The Synopsis:
In the first week of May, nine of us- six students, two documentary filmmakers, and one writer/photographer - will leave Montreal in two vans equipped with video cameras, sound recorders, computers, and roughly 200 pounds of print material for a cross-Canada three week-long journey, ending in Vancouver, British Columbia on May 20th (we may add three stops on Vancouver Island to our roster as well). Our mission? To disseminate information on Wal-Mart’s unethical business practices.

We will leave from the town of Jonquiere in the Saguenay Region where 250 Wal-Mart employees just voted on unionizing. It would have been the first Wal-Mart to successfully unionize, but the no vote won by a slim margin. From Jonquiere, we will continue across Canada, stopping at at least one Wal-Mart store per day - focussing on Wal-Marts in smaller communities within 100 km of the TransCanada Highway.

Upon arrival at each Wal-Mart store, we will park our vehicles in each respective parking lot and set up our information table, stocked with pamphlets, booklets, and other materials. With literature in hand, we will work to engage customers, workers, and others through dialogue and debate.

Why Wal-Mart?
We will talk to people about the alleged human rights violations Wal-Mart has committed, concentrating on labour rights and subsequent violations (citing the International Labour Organization - or ILO - where possible) in particular. We intend to address Wal-Mart's substandard labour practices abroad in the forms of exploitive "slave labour" and "sweatshop labour" in countries like Lesotho and Indonesia and China, as well as addressing the issue of Wal-Mart's poor domestic labour standards. Our critique of Wal-Mart can be divided into the three pillars of Wal-Mart’s business practices:

Pillar 1: Exploitation of Labour and violation of International Labour Laws and Regulations abroad leading to Human Rights violations in over 25 countries.

Pillar 2: Discriminatory and Poor Labour Standards and Practices in North America.

Pillar 3: The Domination and Dismantling of the economic and socio-economic fabric of small communities in Canada by aggressive business practices like "Predatory Pricing" and anti-organized labour policies.

Based on our research, we have found that Wal-Mart specifically has violated articles 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 23, and 24 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR) including the rights of equality and non-discrimination, the right to liberty and security of person, and that no one shall be held in slavery or servitude. Most specifically though, we would like to draw attention to Article 23 which states that: (1) everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment; (2 ) everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work; (3) everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself [or herself] and his [or her] family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection, and (4) everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Our Methods
To inform and engage the general public throughout this tour we will neither rely on bullying and guilt tactics toward customers, nor defamy toward the Wal-Mart Corporation. We intend to engage customers and the local public with open hands and good will, delivering much needed information and dialogue about Wal-Mart, and the methods that the company has employed in order to become the largest retail corporation in the world. We hope to reach communities across Canada that are experiencing the big-box influx of American Transnationals, the champion of this phenomenon being Wal-Mart.

On this tour, we intend to meet with community leaders, politicians, business people, labour organizers and activists to develop a robust movement - national in scope and local in execution - to challenge and change Wal-Mart and it's exploitive practices. Ourselves, along with thousands of Canadians, will stand up and hold Wal-Mart accountable for it's harmful business practices, and demand - through economic and cultural pressure - that the company invest more into the communities it has set up shop in.

To make this tour/campaign more dynamic we will also be screening the new award-winning documentary, The Corporation; a film which looks at the nature of the corporation and highlights Wal-Mart and the company's involvement in child labour production of garments sold in stores across Canada and the US.

*Check the endnotes on the downloadable version of the synopsis for more details.

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The kids have posted:

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SUCCESS!! THE TOUR IS OVER BUT THE WAL-TOWN PROJECT HAS JUST BEGUN!

Thanks to all who were helpful, hospitable, and insightful - both this project and Canada are that much better because of you.

Keep checking in on this site to:

•Watch video clips from the trip
•Find out updates on the documentary - who will produce it (the NFB and the Documentary Film Channel are interested) and when it will be released
•Check up on new articles as we upload them
•Watch for our launch of WIN (the Wal-Mart Information Network)
•Read up on our Tour reflections,testimonies and missives as we post them...

Please contact us if you:

•Met us along the tour
•Work for Wal-Mart or have worked for Wal-Mart
•Would like to help on research for the documentary, this site, and WIN.
•Have suggestions or comments on the Wal-Town project.

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MUCH more at the site. Go to:

Anyhow, our landlord sent around a survey for the tenants to fill out. It looked like it was a tenant satisfaction type of thing, you know, rate the repairs, cleanliness of the building, etc. But then it got into all kinds of demographic information, and at the end of the survey, it said that as an incentive to hand it in, we'd be put in a draw for something like a $100 shopping trip at Walmart.

Most landlords don't care what you think about their services and none care about your demos once you're already a tenant and paying your rent.

I would imagine they'd have to have disclosure somewhere that the information will be shared with a third party.

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Hey, speaking of Walmart...there's a Walmart that is a 10 minute walk across the park from my high-rise building in the local mall (which I've visited about 3 times since moving here a year ago - visited the mall, not Walmart, that is).

Anyhow, our landlord sent around a survey for the tenants to fill out. It looked like it was a tenant satisfaction type of thing, you know, rate the repairs, cleanliness of the building, etc. But then it got into all kinds of demographic information, and at the end of the survey, it said that as an incentive to hand it in, we'd be put in a draw for something like a $100 shopping trip at Walmart.

So it made me wonder whether the local Walmart got together with the landlord (since there are three big highrises in a small courtyard area here, owned by the same landlords) to gather demographic information from our buildings and then offered the "prize", as a way of figuring out their local market.

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Collecting demographic information like this and if indeed they are sharing it with Walmart may violate the new federal "Privacy Act".

CBC story on Wal-Mart workers second vote on union

There is also a story from last August about the first attempt. Looks like a 20 minute documentary by Jo Lynne Sheane as well.

First vote at Thompson Wal-Mart

For those who do not know very much about the niceties of organizing a union...there's a lot to learn. One key thing of interest is what is called "the bargaining unit." This is the group of people, or should I say "group of jobs or positions" that get defined as being in the union and able to vote and be a member of the union. One of the key first tasks in both the practical side of organizing as well as in the administrative duties of the appropriate labour board is to determine who is in this bargaining unit and who is out of the unit.

In the case of the Thompson organizing drive at Wal-Mart, it seems that Wal-Mart has initially convinced the labour board that a bunch of managers belong in the union. Of course these managers will carry out their orders and will vote against the union. So it is a balance, as it were, between making the union as large as possible and not including positions that are really managerial. The initial strategy of the union is generally to make the unit as large as possible and try to organize everyone. That way, the management can't "low bar" the union and suddenly add all sorts of "employees" that have just been dropped in from Planet Scum Bag, or that have been missed or ignored by the union. Things can get complicated of course.

I once had the pleasure of an organizing drive in a small production facility in Manitoba. Of the 10 employees, I managed to get the labour board to agree to include 9 of them in the unit. The senior managers later came to me and started to whine like small children about the thrashing they took at the labour board. I don't think they understood the concept until it was too late. For a big company like Wal-Mart however, they have an army of staff whose main purpose is probably to prevent union drives. Tough shit. They're gonna lose anyway.

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Jane Sims always knew her husband was a valuable employee to Wal-Mart. She just didn't know how valuable.

Sims discovered recently that Wal-Mart, the company her husband, Douglas, worked for before he died, had taken out a life insurance policy in his name.

When Douglas Sims died in 1998 of a sudden heart attack, Wal-Mart received about $64,000. She got nothing from that policy.

"I never dreamed that they could profit from my husband's death"...

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My simple solution to this problem: I do not shop there. I have never been in a Walmart or a MacDonalds because I do not like their methods or goals.

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Ditto. Well I was in a WalMart once. It gave me an awful headache - I think it was the lighting.

And please add to the list

Evil Starbucks and.....
Evil Chapters or Indigo (whatever)

They are all in the business of running the little guy out of town.

[ 08 June 2004: Message edited by: charlessumner ]

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When Douglas Sims died in 1998 of a sudden heart attack, Wal-Mart received about $64,000. She got nothing from that policy.

"I never dreamed that they could profit from my husband's death"...

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Jane Sims always knew her husband was a valuable employee to Wal-Mart. She just didn't know how valuable.
Sims discovered recently that Wal-Mart, the company her husband, Douglas, worked for before he died, had taken out a life insurance policy in his name.

When Douglas Sims died in 1998 of a sudden heart attack, Wal-Mart received about $64,000. She got nothing from that policy.

"I never dreamed that they could profit from my husband's death"...

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I read that about a quarter of all jobs in the States are dangerous, low skilled jobs that don't pay well. This seems to coincide with the Yanks having the lowest rate of unionized work force among developed nations. Corporations reap profits when they force workers to pull over time and jerking them around with short change shift work with no double bubble or over time pay. No wonder they have such a high rate of deaths on the job and work related illness down there.

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Originally posted by Fidel:

I read that about a quarter of all jobs in the States are dangerous, low skilled jobs that don't pay well. This seems to coincide with the Yanks having the lowest rate of unionized work force among developed nations. Corporations reap profits when they force workers to pull over time and jerking them around with short change shift work with no double bubble or over time pay. No wonder they have such a high rate of deaths on the job and work related illness down there.

And the conservatives in Ontario did their best to pull unionized workers down here, too. We now have an average of two deaths on the job every week, somewhere in Ontario. Never mind the USA's largest gulag populations in the world and on death row, we've got our own conveyor belt of death right here in Ontario.

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All too true Fidel, all too true.

Oh how times have changed.

Mike Harris' Tories here in Ontario repealed the NDP's anti-scab legislation and required employers to post "how to decertify your union" posters all over unionized work-places while I, in my more leisurely moments, recalled media reports of
Brian Mulroney!!! refusing to cross a picket line as PM.

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Wal-Mart store employees in Terrace are seeking union representation in what would be a labour breakthrough at the world's largest retailer.

A majority of the employees recently signed membership cards and have applied to the Labour Relations Board of British Columbia for union representation with the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada, the union said in a release.

"We're delighted that Wal-Mart employees in Terrace have decided to join our union," said UFCW Canada Local 1518 president Brooke Sundin. "Given Wal-Mart's well-documented hostility towards unions, the Terrace employees have taken a very courageous step in their efforts to get better working conditions."

The union said it isn't yet known when the labour board will conduct a mandatory vote of Terrace Wal-Mart employees, as required by B.C. law.

Employees at a Wal-Mart in Thompson, Man., voted last week on whether to join the UFCW. The results of that vote have not yet been released pending labour board rulings. Wal-Mart employees in Weyburn and North Battleford, Sask., are also trying to join the UFCW, the union said.

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Will Labor Take the Wal-Mart Challenge?
by Liza Featherstone

Staying union free is a full-time commitment. Unless union prevention is a goal equal to other objectives within an organization, the goal will usually not be attained. The commitment to stay union free must exist at all levels of management--from the Chairperson of the "Board" down to the front-line manager. Therefore, no one in management is immune to carrying his or her "own weight" in the union prevention effort. The entire management staff should fully comprehend and appreciate exactly what is expected of their individual efforts to meet the union free objective.... Unless each member of management is willing to spend the necessary time, effort, energy, and money, it will not be accomplished. The time involved is...365 days per year....

This admonition comes from a handbook Wal-Mart distributes to managers, and gives an idea of the passion and vision behind Wal-Mart's unionbusting project. The $259 billion retail behemoth that has become a defining feature of the American landscape has also profoundly altered labor politics, deploying ever more creative and ruthless tactics to suppress the right to organize, while driving down wages and benefits in the retail industry and beyond.

The company is providing a business model widely imitated by other corporations, especially its competitors. To take one recent example, after striking for months, grocery workers in Southern California were forced to accept a vastly reduced health plan early this year, as supermarkets, anticipating competition from new Wal-Mart Supercenters throughout the state, refused to compromise with the union--probably the first time in history that a potential competitor who had not even entered the market yet was such a key player in a labor dispute. But the California grocers are not alone. Supermarkets all over the country have been lowering wages and decimating workers' health plans. Management claims these cutbacks are necessary to compete with Wal-Mart, but another explanation makes at least as much sense: "Greed," says Linda Gruen, a former Wal-Mart worker now organizing supermarket chains for the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). "Management sees what Wal-Mart gets away with," she says, and realizes that the way to increase profits is to do the same.

Wal-Mart, which topped the Fortune 500 this year, for the third year in a row, is not just an industry leader: It is an economy leader, the nation's largest private employer by far, with over 1.2 million employees. That number is growing all the time, as Wal-Mart opens new stores just about every week. The average wage is around $8 an hour--and the health plan so expensive and so stingy in its coverage that many workers go without, or depend on the government to pay their medical bills. Says Susan Phillips, vice president of the UFCW and head of its working women's department, for any private-sector union in the United States today, "anytime you go into negotiations...it's like there's this invisible 800-pound gorilla sitting in the room at the bargaining table." This is reflected particularly by employers' ebbing generosity on healthcare, but also on wages, pensions and other benefits. Journalist Bob Ortega observed in his 2000 book, In Sam We Trust, that Wal-Mart's "way of thinking," its relentless focus on giving the customer the lowest price, "has become the norm," not just in retail but in all businesses. This can't be done without crushing labor.

That's why a consensus among labor leaders is emerging that organizing Wal-Mart workers is an urgent priority--perhaps the most urgent facing a labor movement that is losing density and influence. Asked what it will take to organize Wal-Mart, Al Zack, outgoing assistant director of strategic programs for the UFCW, points to Wal-Mart's stated commitment to remaining "union free." Says Zack, "When the labor movement...matches that commitment, then it will be successful."

It would be difficult to exaggerate the magnitude of this challenge. Wal-Mart's rhetoric is supported by diligent practice. The company screens out potential union supporters through its hiring process: In addition to excluding those with union histories, the company also administers personality tests to weed out those likely to be sympathetic to unions, and offers managers tips on how to spot such people.

The same handbook, which was given to management in a Wal-Mart distribution center in Greencastle, Indiana, urged managers to be wary of certain union-friendly types, including "the Cause-Oriented Associate," who in high school "led demonstrations against everything from 'red dye' to 'ban the bomb.' He once took a trip to India to visit his personal 'guru.'" Managers are also encouraged to avoid the "Overly-Qualified Associate...a Ph.D operating a grinding machine or a former accountant sweeping the floor.... This type of associate includes the associate who has formerly made substantially more money with other employers."

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Read the Rest

[ 15 June 2004: Message edited by: robbie_dee ]

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Most people agree that any serious approach to forcing Wal-Mart to the bargaining table must eventually threaten the company's profits. Labor organizers used to think they could do this by asking the public not to shop at Wal-Mart, but now most concede that's impossible, given the retailer's low prices. Their own members shop at Wal-Mart, making at least 30 percent of union credit-card purchases at the retail giant. Even activists thinking seriously about how to oppose the retailer keep finding themselves in its parking lots. "I love that damn store," says Rathke, who recalls being a loyal customer when he lived in Arkansas and needed the discounts. "They had me. I wasn't making 2 cents to put together." Now he lives in New Orleans, and admits, "Damned if I don't go down to Sam's for a new tire! They do have something that works. You can't just convince people they're evil." Indeed, many rural and working-class women view Wal-Mart as an ally, an oasis of low prices in an unfriendly world. In her chart-topping paean to country pride, "Redneck Woman," Gretchen Wilson sums it up irresistibly: "Victoria's Secret, well their stuff's real nice/But I can buy the same damn thing on a Wal-Mart shelf half price/And still look sexy, just as sexy as those models on TV/No, I don't need no designer tag to make my man want me." The question of how to threaten profits, given such intense consumer loyalty, is one of many that the labor movement's current dialogue must engage.

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[ 15 June 2004: Message edited by: josh ]

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A US federal judge has given the go-ahead for a sex-discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart to be heard as a class action, the plaintiffs' lawyers say.

The judge's decision means the case now involves up to 1.6 million women who have worked for Wal-Mart since 1998.

It is the biggest civil rights case against a private employer in US legal history, the plaintiffs' lawyers say.

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The A.F.L.-C.I.O. and more than a half dozen unions are planning an unusual - and unusually expensive - campaign intended to pressure Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, to improve its wages and benefits.

The campaign will be highly unusual because it will not, at least at first, focus on unionizing Wal-Mart workers, but will instead focus on telling Americans that Wal-Mart - with wages averaging between $9 and $10 an hour - is pulling down wages and benefits at companies across the nation.

The unions are talking of spending $25 million a year on the effort, more than has ever been spent before in a union campaign against a single company.

"This isn't a campaign, this is a movement," said Greg Denier, spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. "There's no precedent for this. It's a movement to confront the reality of Wal-Mart-ization. No other company has ever had the global economic impact that Wal-Mart has."

Wal-Mart has 1.2 million workers in the United States, more than any other company, but no unionized workers. It has a history of fiercely resisting unionization efforts

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The unions plan to work with community groups fighting the construction of Wal-Mart stores and are contemplating lawsuits accusing the company of forcing employees to work unpaid hours off the clock. The unions are also planning a publicity campaign in which union members distribute fliers and hold protests at hundreds of the nation's 3,600 Wal-Mart stores.

The unions also plan an intense effort in several regions where they might set up committees of current and former Wal-Mart workers to publicize what they consider inferior wages and health benefits. These committees might also serve as the base for future unionization efforts.

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Though absolutely terrible, labor exploitation is not the only "Wal-Mart" effect. There are many others, including the use of new technologies to track people's purchases even after leaving the supermarket. Control seems to be the name of the game in the "Walmartization" of the world.

Feeding Big Brother.

Supermarkets are the segment of the food chain that moves the most capital. According to certain analysts their influence towers over and could devour every other previous link in the chain, such as food and beverage producers, distributors, and agricultural suppliers.and producers. Whether they end up getting involved in these parts of the chain will depend on the economics of the game, so that if it is cheaper to allow other companies to compete amongst themselves, they will not get involved. The effect, nevertheless, is the same: the concentration of control and power in fewer and fewer hands. This is not limited to Wal-Mart but also includes other giants such as Carrefour, Ahold, Costco or Tesco.

But Wal-Mart stands out particularly because, besides being the biggest company in the world, its income is four times that of its largest competitor, and larger than the next four combined. Because it is the biggest seller of food products on a global level it has tremendous influence over what and how food gets produced. It's already dabbling, for example, in agriculture by contract directly with the agricultural producers. It also is third in sales in medicines.

As if it was not enough to be such an economic power, largely due to its growing monopoly, Wal-Mart is beginning, as mentioned earlier, to utilize new technologies to obtain information over people's buying patterns. It is already testing, in three cities in the US, the substitution of bar codes for identification systems through radio frequency. This is a "labeling" system utilizing an electronic chip, no bigger than a grain of rice and potentially much smaller, containing information about the product, which is transmitted wirelessly to a computer. This chip is capable of storing much more information than the bar code. The problem is that its signal follows the purchaser outside of the supermarket doors. According to Wal-Mart, the consumer would have the choice of asking at the checkout that the chip be turned off, except it has no plans to advertise this possibility.

It has already experimented using products from Gillete and Procter & Gamble, and others such as Coca Cola, Kodak, Nestle and many others.

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With most of Wal-Mart's workers earning less than $19,000 a year, a number of community groups and lawmakers have recently teamed up with labor unions in mounting an intensive campaign aimed at prodding Wal-Mart into paying its 1.3 million employees higher wages.

A new group of Wal-Mart critics ran a full-page advertisement on April 20 contending that the company's low pay had forced tens of thousands of its workers to resort to food stamps and Medicaid, costing taxpayers billions of dollars. On April 26, as part of a campaign called "Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart," five members of Congress joined women's advocates and labor leaders to assail the company for not paying its female employees more.

And in a book to be published this fall, a group of scholars will argue that Wal-Mart Stores, having replaced General Motors as the nation's largest company, has an obligation to treat its employees better.

. . . .

"Wal-Mart should pay people at a minimum enough to go above the U.S. poverty line," said Andrew Grossman, executive director of Wal-Mart Watch, the coalition of community, environmental and labor groups running the series of ads criticizing Wal-Mart. "A company this big and this wealthy has the ability to pay higher wages."

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Wal-Mart says its full-time workers average $9.68 an hour, and with many of them working 35 hours a week, their annual pay comes to around $17,600. That is below the $19,157 poverty line for a family of four, but above the $15,219 line for a family of three.

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if Walmart was to disappear tomorrow would retail wages go up?

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Of course.

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Originally posted by fossilnut:
Do the retail outlests in your area that don't compete with Walmart pay higher wages? Dos a 7/11 in Halifax pay $25/ hour for those on the midnight shift plus benefits? Does the pizza parlor down the road pay it's drivers 40 thousand a year? Does the restaurant on your block pay their dishwashers $20/hour plus throw in a company car and a month's paid vacation?

I'm not defending Walmart but if Walmart was to disappear tomorrow would retail wages go up? One may hope they would but I'm not as confident as everyone else. I recall working at grunt retail jobs at Canadian Tire, in an ice cream parlour and mowing lawns, etc. and I didn't earn anymore in inflationary adjusted dollars than Walmart pays....and no one in Canada had even heard of Walmart at the time.

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How you can compare an economic giant like Wal-Mart with a pizza and ice cream parlour, or a restaurant, is beyond me.

And I don't know whether wages would go up, but they would stop going down if Wal-Mart were no longer engaged in a race to the bottom.

[ 04 May 2005: Message edited by: josh ]

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Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, may be violating international and Canadian laws by using covert strategies to undermine a unionising drive at its Canadian stores, say labour experts and union activists.

"The refusal to recognise and deal with representatives fairly chosen by employees, the whole notion of compelling unions to go through a whole certification procedure before having to deal with them, is actually contrary to international human rights law," Roy Adams, a labour studies professor at Hamilton's McMaster University, told Straight Goods.

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[ 04 May 2005: Message edited by: robbie_dee ]

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Originally posted by Boom Boom:
Fucking WALmart. Boycott the bastards out of existence.

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Originally posted by Gir Draxon:
This is the free market solution. Don't like it, don't shop there.

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That's rather what most Canadians have been doing with the Reformatory party,

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[ 04 May 2005: Message edited by: Jumble ]

I just wish they would start selling beer and wine like Safeway and Superstore. Safeway is no friend of working people...especially Joe Sixpack. The cheapest 6 pack at Safeway is 4.99 but only 3.99 at the O.K. Liquor Stores. Walmart might be able to reduce it a little more.

Same thing actually with Sears, the Bay and all the others.

Too late for me to worry much about this but younger folks might want to think about it.

I wouldnt shop at Walmart if the stuff was free. But then I recognise that my pension though not great allows me to do almost anything that I am still capable of doing. I worked 33 years for a great company and have been on pension for 24.

Do what ever you can to organize a union. There is strengh in solidarity even if the short term seems bleak. Stick with it . It is the only apparent answer.

Jake

[ 04 May 2005: Message edited by: Jake ]

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However, sometime when I'm humiliating my neighbour for shopping there, where would be a good place to advise them to shop, where the retail clerks get benefits and good pay?

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You're quite right that working conditions in the retail sector are not great...even in the unionized retail sector.

Part of this is the Walmart/"Big Box" effect which is driving down wages and working conditions throughout the entire sector.

So its a case of shopping in places where conditions are somewhat better and "targetting" the worst offender...in this case Walmart.

Most of the major supermarket chains are unionized. Conditions for part-time workers (a growing part of the workforce) are not so good but for those who are full-time generally conditions are pretty reasonable.

In some cases the retail stores aren't unionized, but the warehousing and distribution centres are. That's I believe the situation with the Bay/Zellers and maybe some of Canadian Tire?...but not sure.

I understand the Quebec-based Rona Hardware chain is largely unionized...and its growing and expanding across the country. Proving that you can have a unionized workforce and still be able to grow your business.

The "Pharma Plus" chain of pharmacies is unionized (at least in the Toronto area).

The other thing is where you can, shop in the "mom & pop" stores in your neigbhourhood. The money from what you buy goes directly into the pockets of the family who owns the business...who are probably working 15 hours a day to stay afloat.

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Originally posted by fossilnut:
Sure is! Inexpensive goods for the working people. Working people flock to our Walmart in droves.

Power to the common sense of the working class. They vote with their feet and wallets. Working people are intelligent and can make their own decisions. They are quite intelligent and can think for themselves without the derision they receive from the patronizing self-appointed anti-Walmart gurus.

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I'm sure most of the people who shop there do so because it's all they can afford since their employers pay them the same as Wal-Mart.

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What do you base this on? The Walmarts in Calgary are jammed full of folks from every walk of life. A Calgary Walmart parking lot looks like a Truck and SUV dealership. I'm always bumping into our friends and work collegues from the petroleum industry. We have an elderly widow up the street who works at Walmart and it is what she lives for...it's her social life.

My mother even shops there. She loves it. She's by no means short of cash but appreciates the value of a dollar. i just have to get her by the greeters 'cause she'll spend half the day yacking.

edited to add: I visited this store last week (June 2005) and it's been renovated and very clean, and a lot more stuff added that wasn't there before - like fish aquariums in the pet shop, and a huge grocery component, including aisles and aisles of frozen food products. It's easily the largest store in Sept-Iles now.

[ 18 June 2005: Message edited by: Boom Boom ]

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The pros and cons of the existence of Walmart is partly based on reality and partly as reading ideology into Walmart. My mother, contrary to the ideologues, is not 'ignorant' or unaware of the environment, working conditions, etc. Nor are most people who shop at Walmart or anywhere else. The left, at least some of the left, has a difficult time acknowledging that their ideology is often rejected by the people they claim to 'stick up for'.

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If you believe that we should have an "everyone for themselves" dog eat dog society then by all means go shop wherever you want.

But many folks don't believe that society should be organized that way.

Is it about ideology? Damned right it is! Walmart is extremely ideological. Their ideology is to make as much money as humanly possible and to hell with the consequences for anyone who doesn't happen to hold shares in Walmart.

The guy who made the film "The Corporation" talked about how we've give corporations most of the rights of citizenship...but without any of the responsibilities.

If an ordinary person behaved the way Walmart does we'd probably say they were psychotic.

I'm sure your mother is a very nice person. I'm sure that as you say she's very aware of the environment and worker rights issues. Its one thing to be aware of issues. Its another thing to make a conscious decision to actually do something about those issues.

So, this weekend I'll be giving up part of my Saturday to join the folks who'll be picketing Walmart across Canada. I don't like the kind of society we're becoming. So I plan to do something however small a gesture it may seem to try to change it.

Also, if you really want to find out about what Walmart is all about I'd suggest watching PBS "Frontline" documentary on Walmart entitled "Is Walmart Good for America?"

You can watch it in streaming video at:

PBS "Frontline" - Is Walmart Good for America?

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FRONTLINE explores the relationship between U.S. job losses and the American consumer's insatiable desire for bargains in "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" Through interviews with retail executives, product manufacturers, economists, and trade experts, correspondent Hedrick Smith examines the growing controversy over the Wal-Mart way of doing business and asks whether a single retail giant has changed the American economy.

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The programme is about an hour long. On the website its broken up into about 4 or 5 "segments" which you can watch with either Real Player or Windows Media Player.

There's also alot of background material on the site.

I challenge you to watch it and we'll see if you come back to this board with the same point of view.

[ 06 May 2005: Message edited by: radiorahim ]

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Campaign ads bankrolled by Wal-Mart and depicting a Nazi-era book burning are offensive and backhanded, say some Flagstaff citizens and veterans.
Backers contend they are a justified reminder of the need to protect freedoms.

The newspaper ads contend that Proposition 100's restrictions on big-box retailers are an infringement of constitutional freedoms. The message has been conveyed through a blurred photo of a Nazi book-burning taken from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum archives and a close-up of a person's mouth covered with tape.

Accompanying the ads is the statement: "Freedoms worth keeping," and references to the proposition as limiting choice.

The ad offended some local veterans, many of whom are requesting an apology from the campaign committee.

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Tom Farley, a consultant for Protect Flagstaff's Future, the campaign that sponsored the ads, said they will continue because they "make people think."

"If people are talking about the ads, they're doing a good job. People are giving up a freedom if they vote yes on Prop. 100. What will they be asked to give up next?"

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The Dow dropped 111 points today. Why?

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FORBES-- Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s warnings of lagging second-quarter profits reverberated across Wall Street Thursday, sending stocks mostly lower despite a sharp drop in oil prices and otherwise strong retail sales.

Investors' fears of an economic slowdown were heightened after Wal-Mart missed Wall Street's profit expectations for the quarter and, more importantly, said high gasoline prices have hurt customer spending and could hurt the company's second-quarter results.

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[ 12 May 2005: Message edited by: Tape_342 ]

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Workers who have had regular shifts at the store for years now have to commit to being available for any shift from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week. If they can’t make the commitment by the end of this week, they’ll be fired.

“It shouldn’t cause any problem, if they [store employees] are concerned about their customers,” Knuckles said.

Several single mothers working at the store have no choice now but to quit, said one employee, who would not give her name for fear of retribution.

“My day care closes at 6 and my baby sitter can’t work past 5,” said the employee, a mother of two who has been a cashier for more than three years. Neither of the services is available over the weekends, she added. “I have to be terminated; I don’t know what I’ll do.”

“Wal-Mart is supposed to be a family-oriented company, but kids don’t matter,” the worker said.

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“It shouldn’t cause any problem, if they [store employees] are concerned about their customers,” Knuckles said.

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How infuriating. Yeah, put the customers first over your kids and family for minimum wage.

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Wal-Mart headquarters overruled a policy decision by one of its store's that would have terminated any worker who failed to agree to be available to work any shift between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., seven days a week, according to the Charleston Gazette (West Virginia).

The Nitro, West Virginia, store announced its "open availability" policy to employees earlier this week, drawing criticism from employees and worker advocates.

A corporate spokesperson says the company reversed the store's decision because Wal-Mart has no policy that calls for the termination of employees who are unable to work certain shifts, the Gazette reports.

"It is unfortunate that our store manager incorrectly communicated a message that was not only inaccurate but also disruptive to our associates at the store," Dan Fogleman tells the Gazette. "We do not have any policy that mandates termination."

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Last night my wife and I watched one of the movies and drank a total of 4 of the beer. The movie cost 1/13th of 5.00 (we'll round it up to 40 cents worth). The 4 beer cost about 3.20 and we'll take off the 40cents return deposit. So that's 2.80 cents.

40 cents for a movie and 2.80 for the beer to drink to watch the movie. So the movie cost 1/7th the price of the beer.

It is plausible to brew, can, and market a 6 pack of beer in Canada for 5 bucks though. I wish I could get a six pack of Kokanee for that price.

[ 17 June 2005: Message edited by: CWW ]

[ 17 June 2005: Message edited by: CWW ]

I'm not sure i got the point of your last thread, even when you tried to spell it out for us.

I suppose WalMart purchasers could explain to you how they are able to sell watches for 97 cents and still make a profit.

It might have something to do with productive overcapacity worldwide, it might have something to do with super-exploitation of labour, it might have something to do with resource prices that fail to take into account environmental degradation and non-renewability of resources, it might have something to do with real efficiency.

I'm not sure if this throws "rules" of international trade out the window (and read George Monbiot's criticisms of the international trading system to see how textbook theory doesn't really account for the real world anyway).

BTW: Whenever anyone says that they "love" shopping anywhere, I have to shudder inwardly at the hollowness of their being. Shopping is just something that you do.

Wal-Mart provides its cheap prices through a number of structural efficiencies that I once knew about but which are too boring for me to have remembered, but, as many have been trying to point out here, by ripping off its workforce (even beyond the boundaries allowed by North American labour laws), and by seeking out dirt-poor labour costs in overseas suppliers, no matter how exploitative these suppliers' practices are.

The funniest thing is the new 'Three Stooges' beer that just came in. Hard to drink a beer with Larry, Moe and Curly staring at you. all the bottle caps are different.

http://www.mylifeisbeer.com/beer/bottles/bottledetail/664/

[ 17 June 2005: Message edited by: fossilnut ]

I'll second radiorahim's recommendation of the PBS Frontline documentary on Wal*Mart. It's riveting stuff.

If you do watch it, though, it's easy to miss what I think should be at the center of the debate. As much as it is easy to hammer away at Wal*Mart, the real problem here is with labor and trade laws. It's real easy to get mad at the bully, but the reality is that it is the regulatory climate that has allowed, nay encouraged, Wal*Mart to grow and operate as it has.

Take a look at the Frontline segment where they go to China. Target and other corporations have their Chinese offices directly beside Wal*Mart's. In many cases, the goods sold at Wal*Mart and its competitors are made in the exact same factory (similarly, all manner of companies from shoe to car parts manufacturers produce goods from multiple competitors at the same factory).

I certainly have respect for retail workers. A friend of ours owns a small garden center and can't get staff. She offers only 10.50 an hour but that's her limit to keep in business. My wife and I have gone in on a Saturday and Sunday morning to help out on the busiest weekend and we're wiped out after a half day's work. She gives us plants in lieu of pay because we'd be losing half of 10 bucks to deductions. How do retail workers do it every day!! I'd go bananas after a couple weeks.

Those Walmart workers? why do they do it? Beats me. I just don't know why a young guy would earn 10/hour at Walmart when he could earn triple that on a seismic crew or on a drilling rig and also pocket an extra 50/diem field cost.

Presidents' Choice beer ?....ugh!

Back on topic... one of the quietest Walmarts I have seen is in Nelson BC, and I think it has to do with the greater social concience that is a bizarre and beautiful phenomina in that little town. The Alberta mentality seems to be all about aquiring more stuff... a bigger house, and RV, a boat, a friggin' plasma screen tv and all the other junk that comes with burdening yourself with credit cards and loans to allow you to keep up with the people living in the pastel colored boxes surrounding your pastel colored box. That's why you'll be hard pressed to find a Walmart in any inner city.

Which is damning with faint praise, of course.

As a corporation, though, and as an economic force? Wal-mart is the next best thing to Satan.

The fact that a lot of working folk shop there because it's cheap does not make Wal-mart a positive influence. It's part of the overall erosion of the standard of living of working families. There's a demand for places like Wal-mart because an average working person's purchasing power has decreased over the past twenty-five years.

I think i can help you out.

All the unemployed, underemployed don't go running off to the oil fields because there aren't enough positions for them all. And they don't know the first thing about the oil industry. And they've got previous commitments, and etc.

So, that perpetual canard dispensed with.

Wal-Mart pay is comparable with other non-union retail workplaces. Nobody is saying that Wal-Mart workers are chained to their stations and beaten if they don't work fast enough, and paid with bread and water.

But as a big, super-profitable organization, Wal-Mart benefits from DOCUMENTED fudging of hours worked by employees, and DOCUMENTED union-busting, and it also forces its suppliers to keep their own wage and other costs down, through its massive purchasing power.

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All the unemployed, underemployed don't go running off to the oil fields because there aren't enough positions for them all.

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True. Not at any one time but certainly over the course of a year or two. There are droves of young fellows coming in from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia to take the jobs. Seismic work is tough but like most back country work has it has rewards not only in renumeration but also in commraderie. The guy who likes the great outdoors and the physical challenge is best suited. The drilling rigs usually require a bit more training but that's not hard to get. There's even drilling schools in Nova Scotia set up to train in roughneck work. Green crews get hired on directly from NS right out to the rigs in Alberta.

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Instead, I submit that all of this negative energy focused on Wal*Mart should be directed at politicians and other folks who influence laws. You're going to make little to no headway fighting Wal*Mart because, after all, they do a remarkable job of pushing the limits of the laws but not breaking them. Fact is, pretty much all companies in all industries are emulating Wal*Mart to one degree or another. On top of that, you could wipe out Wal*Mart completely tomorrow, and the regulatory environment still exists for another Wal*Mart to take its place. From my perspective, all of this invective at Wal*Mart is really missing for the forest for the trees.

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Well actually Walmart has been found guilty of breaking labour laws in both Canada and the U.S.
In Windsor, Ontario the OLRB heard just two or three of the dozen or so charges that the union brought against the company. They decided that they'd heard enough, found Walmart guilty of breaking the law and ordered an automatic certification.

What the Frontline documentary looks at is the Walmart "model" of "big box retail" capitalism. You're quite right that all other "big box" retailers are emulating Walmart's tactics to one degree or another.

It used to be that a manufacturer produced a product, set a price and sold it to the retailer. That's no longer the case. Now its "big box" that is telling manufacturers what the price of their product will be. They demand that their suppliers continue to cut costs and literally force manufacturers to close factories in relatively "high wage" countries and move them to "low wage" countries...in particular China.

Its a fundamental change in the nature of global capitalism.

The documentary shows how through the kind of "hardball bargaining" that Walmart does with its suppliers, they almost put Rubbermaid out of business.

The governments of the "rich" countries assumed that if trade was opened with China, there was this huge market that they could sell to. But it just so happens that the bulk of the Chinese population does not have the income to purchase expensive western products.

On the other hand, western consumers do generally have the money to buy tons of cheap Chinese manufactured consumer products.

I agree, we do need to look at the nature of trade policy. We need to put pressure on China on labour rights issues.

At home, we need to make it easier for workers to unionize if they want to without fear of reprisal from their employers.

But the reason for targetting Walmart is simply because they're the biggest, meanest, nastiest kid on the block. They're the folks that through their huge market share are driving this "race to the bottom" on labour standards.

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Originally posted by radiorahim:
In Windsor, Ontario the OLRB heard just two or three of the dozen or so charges that the union brought against the company. They decided that they'd heard enough, found Walmart guilty of breaking the law and ordered an automatic certification.

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Really?? I hadn't heard! Is this at the same Walmart where they lost the certification vote recently?

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Originally posted by Michelle:
That's good news!

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Originally posted by Michelle:
That's good news!

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It's no wonder working poor American's would sooner be working poor than volunteer for an immoral, illegitimate war in order to access socialized health care and education benefits in the military. Meanwhile, Republican senators and their families enjoy taxpayer funded health and education perks.

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Originally posted by Lard tunderin' jeesus:

The consumer empowers these corporate fascists. Want them to disappear? Boycott their asses. And humiliate your neighbours who shop there, as they humiliate the people forced to work part-time for minimum wages without benefits.

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Originally posted by radiorahim:
Well actually Walmart has been found guilty of breaking labour laws in both Canada and the U.S.
In Windsor, Ontario the OLRB heard just two or three of the dozen or so charges that the union brought against the company. They decided that they'd heard enough, found Walmart guilty of breaking the law and ordered an automatic certification.

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The bulk of the stuff that people complain about with Wal*Mart, however, is not the result of breaking laws, but rather pushing their operations to the very edge of the law without going over. In fact, you could argue that they're dipping their toes in the water with some of these law suits, trying to see just how far they can push before the government gets involved.

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It used to be that a manufacturer produced a product, set a price and sold it to the retailer. That's no longer the case. Now its "big box" that is telling manufacturers what the price of their product will be. They demand that their suppliers continue to cut costs and literally force manufacturers to close factories in relatively "high wage" countries and move them to "low wage" countries...in particular China.

Its a fundamental change in the nature of global capitalism.

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[ 18 June 2005: Message edited by: Dex ]

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Originally posted by TemporalHominid:

humiliate your neighbours? why? people can make their own decisions, as you have made yours. Let others decide their own consumer practices. If someone does not agree with me why do they need to be coerced, humiliated, assaulted?

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Its a fundamental change in the nature of global capitalism.

Emphasis mine. This just simply is not true. For time immemorial, all buyers have tried to play suppliers off against each other. In every industry, it has always been that the biggest players that get to make the rules.

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It's quite true that these trends have been going on for a long time. The "globalization" that folks talk about has been going on since people first learned to attach sails to boats and loaded them up with products to sell.

Since we're over 100 posts now, maybe we can take it up on another thread, such as this one:
The Wal-Mart Fraud.

[ 19 June 2005: Message edited by: robbie_dee ]