Walmart employee Thanksgiving donations at Canton store cause controversy

[Rence]

You should Negotiate for more money.

ATB

Why? So I can get laid off when the company can no longer afford it, and then whine about it later? No thanks, I’ll just work for my money and work up the tier like all of us do If a salary is too high to be too good to be true, it usually is, and it doesn’t last.

 

[Rence]

The living wage number I’ve most often seen has been $10.00/hr. It’s not a lot but it will make life a little easier for those at the bottom of the wage scale. If an employer cannot pay this and must go out of business. We understand, and wish him well in the future.

On the flipside, those employees who want more than what a company offers can just look elsewhere for employment

 

[Rence]

I disagree with that, why would the higher level people suddenly demand more money?

Because as skilled, educated and experienced employees, they know they should be getting more than the unskilled laborers, and they will demand it. And they will get it. Common sense says that the higher the level of skill/education, the higher the pay.

 

[Rence]

If an entry level employee makes minimum wage - $7.25 and a first level supervisor makes around $10/hour, what happens if minimum wage goes to $15? Would the supervisors be happy with making the same as the employees they supervise? No. The entire scale would shift up. Those formerly making $10 would be making $18, those formerly making $20 would be making $28, etc. Not only would employees demand it but management would need it. You don’t get employees to take on more work and more responsibility without paying more.

I honestly don’t understand what’s so hard to understand about the above.

 

[Rence]

Man.

May God help the poor, 'cause from what I see here, there’s not a lot of other people that are going to step up.

$.50 a year raise, for minimum wage. Good freaking grief. My heart may just break from the empathy.

We who are the dregs of society will, it seems, simply be forced to wither away as we stretch what little we’ve got to cover what others won’t. Ya’ll can cook your own meals, at that point.

Outta this thread. I’ve never been so freaking disgusted with people in all of my life.

How did we get from $15 or $18/hour to a $0.50 raise?

 

[Rence]

Then your country needs to change. Social justice is not subjective and Pope Pius XI says that it demands a just and fair wage. Your economy is broken. So is mine and most of the world’s.

So fix it. Change the laws, Change everything that is unjust and perpetuates that which contributes to the break-down of society.

There is nothing wrong with NOT giving a higher salary to someone simply because they have dependents – while giving a smaller salary to another person with the same qualifications, education, skill and experience, simply because that second person does not have dependents. If that’s what you want, you’ll never see it. People won’t put up with it. There are laws in place to prevent it in fact, and that’s the way it should be. Those laws won’t change.

 

[Rence]

So is the Church is asking us to do the impossible? Am I reading you correctly? I know several secular issues on which the proponents would be happy to use that argument - in addition to their arguments urging the Church to change its teachings to get in line with modern realities…

I still don’t see where the Church says that people should be paid according to the number of dependents they have. I haven’t seen that required by the Church at all.

 

[Rence]

Don’t have time right now to look up cases, but here are some very quick findings.

eeoc.gov/federal/otherprotections.cfm

eeoc.gov/facts/qanda.html

I did not say there was a requirement that “an employer pay two people doing the same job the same money”. What there is, however, is a prohibition against paying one person less than another BECAUSE of one of the prohibited bases. Marital and family status are among those bases. You’re not punished for paying one person MORE, you’re punished for paying the other person LESS.

Exactly. If I found out my coworker (with the same job, the same education, the same skill level, the same experience) was being paid more than me, for no other reason than their marital status or number of dependents they have, I’d file a complaint with administration to have my salary raised as well. I don’t know anyone outside this forum who wouldn’t do the same. You can’t pay someone less just because they don’t have dependents.

 

[qui_est_ce]

how you are going to do that? have them submit their tax returns along with their employee applications?I don’t think anybody here has said that. But you can’t prevent people from earning money if they want to.

Still waiting.

 

[Sarabande]

I know I’m jumping in on this late, although I have been following for a while. I have probably shopped in a Walmart about 10 times in my adult life. I purposely seek out mom-and-pop stores or discount stores for certain items. If I have to purchase something not made in the U.S., I don’t like paying full price for a product made in a country that pays their employees a pittance or have other practices against human rights. (ie. dying rooms for baby girls, forced abortions, etc.)

My husband and I will sometimes have to pay much more to have something made in the U.S., so we do without for much longer, sometimes for many years and have returned products, such as furniture, when we found out that they weren’t made in the U.S.A. after we were told that they were.

In regard to Walmart and other stores like that, I’m torn. We are a free market in the U.S. and if it’s legal, Walmart has the right to do what it wants. Yet, I don’t like mom-and -pop stores getting pushed out and I don’t like the way people speak from two sides of their mouth about it. In my area, you can’t live on the kind of wage that Walmart gives. It’s hard to find a modest home in a safe area for less than $250,000. I hear so many people around me complain in real life about products made in China or other countries, rather than giving the jobs to “our own”, yet they are often unwilling to pay higher prices in order for companies, such as Walmart, to pay a more livable wage to their employees in the stores, as well as to factory workers if these companies brought the factories back to the U.S.

They won’t go to the stories which may have higher prices and may actually pay a liveable wage or are mom-and-pop stores. In reality, as much as people shout that they want “just wages” and “better living conditions” for those less fortunate than them who have to work at these places, it’s human nature to take care of their own first. If that means screwing over others, then justifications will be made as to why they can’t live up to their ideals. I’m not saying that I’m free of this. I have done the same at times, especially when things look dismal and I feel pessimistic about the world and say, “What’s the use? It’s not going to change anyway.” We don’t make a lot of money and try to do what we can to save. A lot of people do it. I understand that, but it doesn’t make me feel any less ashamed of not always walking the walk when it comes to this.

We won’t get the low prices people here in the States have been spoiled with if we give people a liveable wage and bring back the factory work to this country. What I hear all of the time is that people want both - things as cheap as possible so that they can acquire as much as they can, yet still give those who are not as well-off as they a more liveable wage. More often than not, we can’t have both. One or the other will suffer. Our side of the “suffering” might mean not getting everything we want right away or waiting and saving a little longer to get that product made in the States or in a country with better human rights policies, etc.

Another option would be to lower the standard of living, but I don’t think that would happen any time soon unless the government manhandles it.

Anyway, those are my thoughts.

 

[Trader]

;

Our views of Sam Walton, your apparent admiration, and my contempt are at odds.

I would be really impressed if I learned that you had created more jobs, served more customers, reduced inflation, provided better for your family, and donated more to charities than Sam Walton.

 

[Ridgerunner]

In my area, you can’t live on the kind of wage that Walmart gives. It’s hard to find a modest home in a safe area for less than $250,000.

WOW! That would be a McMansion here! I think I would consider moving, unless your income matches such outrageous home pricing.

 

[qui_est_ce]

Here’s a quote from a manager at Walmart who makes above average wages. “I struggle to support my family on $14,000 a year,” said Sara Gilbert, a customer service manager at the company for three years. “My children are in state housing and we get subsidized housing and food stamps.”

She’s not a deadbeat employee who shows up whenever she wants and then stops coming to work at all. She’s a mom working full time and working as hard as anyone else. She’s just working for a company that does not value their employees.

So why doesn’t she go get a job where she gets paid more? Because she can’t. She works at Walmart because she can’t get a job anywhere else that will pay her more. That’s the real issue.

Why can’t this woman find a job that pays enough to support her family?

If we start going the route that companies (not just Walmart) should pay people according to their needs, who is going to administrate that? Laws and regulations. We will need a government to figure out what people need. We will need an agency that determines:

• How much people should get paid
• What is a “living wage”
• What a living wage should include
• What are bare necessities

Do you see where this is going? It was done in the former USSR. And it didn’t work. People lost their incentive to work because they weren’t seeing the fruits of their labor. This is basic human nature. Those in charge were corrupt. I don’t believe for a second their isn’t some corruption in any government.

My final question is, why single out Walmart? Their are lots of companies that pay minimum wage.

 

[qui_est_ce]

WOW! That would be a McMansion here!

Here in St. Louis too!!

I think I would consider moving, unless your income matches such outrageous home pricing.

Agreed. Since the beginning of mankind (Father Abraham) people have moved to find a better life. For some reason, today people think the better life should come to them where they are.

 

[qui_est_ce]

I would be really impressed if I learned that you had created more jobs, served more customers, reduced inflation, provided better for your family, and donated more to charities than Sam Walton.

Capitalist Pig!

 

[Ridgerunner]

So why doesn’t she go get a job where she gets paid more? Because she can’t. She works at Walmart because she can’t get a job anywhere else that will pay her more. That’s the real issue.

Why can’t this woman find a job that pays enough to support her family?

If we start going the route that companies (not just Walmart) should pay people according to their needs, who is going to administrate that? Laws and regulations. We will need a government to figure out what people need. We will need an agency that determines:

• How much people should get paid
• What is a “living wage”
• What a living wage should include
• What are bare necessities

Do you see where this is going? It was done in the former USSR. And it didn’t work. People lost their incentive to work because they weren’t seeing the fruits of their labor. This is basic human nature. Those in charge were corrupt. I don’t believe for a second their isn’t some corruption in any government.

My final question is, why single out Walmart? Their are lots of companies that pay minimum wage.

Where I live, jobs are plentiful, and at wages that are reasonable for the costs of the area. And yet, people still work at Walmart. Why?

Well, some of them are just entering the labor market, and it’s easier than working in fast food. Far more potential for advancement, too. Some of them are older, with other family resources, and they’re just working for some extra money. Some probably could get higher paying jobs, but like it at Walmart. I get tickled by the guys and gals who run that home and gardening segment of the store. They’re so into plants and landscaping it’s clear to me they love it.

Different people have different reasons for being there, and it’s certainly not always because they can’t find anything else.

 

[Sarabande]

WOW! That would be a McMansion here! I think I would consider moving, unless your income matches such outrageous home pricing.

Our income doesn’t. We bought a home a little more than that. It’s no where near a McMansion, but it’s comfortable and the area is safe. We don’t need a lot, although it would be nice to not be worrying about how to pay the mortgage and other bills each month. Moving is not an option. DH has a stable and decent position with the state. He’s a geo-chemist and the private sector jobs were very unstable. You made a lot more, but people were always getting laid off left and right. Being close to family and roots is also more important than living in more economic comfort - for us. My husband grew up away from his extended family and suffered for it. I grew up always surrounded by extended family and that kind of familial support made an impact on my life and my husband could see that as well. His immediate family is scattered to the winds partly due to the fact that there was no strong connection to familial ties and he doesn’t want our children growing up like that. He likes that we have such support and love from my parents, siblings and other extended family. Something he rarely experienced.

 

[Mickey_Finn]

Why? So I can get laid off when the company can no longer afford it, and then whine about it later? No thanks, I’ll just work for my money and work up the tier like all of us do If a salary is too high to be too good to be true, it usually is, and it doesn’t last.

Your attitude is confusing. I get the impression that you under pressure not to ask for the pay increase you seem to require. Try to remember it is not generally a matter of can’t pay, more they don’t want to.

ATB

 

[Mickey_Finn]

On the flipside, those employees who want more than what a company offers can just look elsewhere for employment

Again baffling.

 

[Corki]

Here’s a quote from a manager at Walmart who makes above average wages. “I struggle to support my family on $14,000 a year,” said Sara Gilbert, a customer service manager at the company for three years. “My children are in state housing and we get subsidized housing and food stamps.”

She’s not a deadbeat employee who shows up whenever she wants and then stops coming to work at all. She’s a mom working full time and working as hard as anyone else. She’s just working for a company that does not value their employees.

I call bologna on that quote. Even minimum wage is over $15K for a full time employee. The average checker salary at Walmart is over $9 and hour and it’s more for first level managers. I am sure there are some hard case stories out there but this one is more fiction than fact.