Walmart employee Thanksgiving donations at Canton store cause controversy

[qui_est_ce]

And of course…

It is government’s responsibility to enforce a living or “fair” wage. The actual amount completely depends on local and individual situations. $18 an hour sounds incredibly fair to me.

 

[Lochias]

You still haven’t told me how much is enough.

Enough to meet basic necessities: Food, shelter, clothing, transportation and medicine. I’m not saying that Walmart should shell out for steak dinners and Xbox 360s, but a living, just wage that will keep a working person healthy and able to continue working is required.

 

[Country_Gal]

I don’t shop at WalMart. I can’t stand the shopping experience. But I don’t think WalMart is evil.

They are trying to put a WalMart in an empty shopping strip near my house. This WalMart plan is attracting all sorts of smaller businesses and would finally provide much needed sales tax revenue to our little suburban city. The neighbors are going BERSERK!!! Why? They don’t want Wal*Mart shoppers in our neighborhood!

I agree about not liking the atmosphere at WalMart. Recently, though, I discovered the convenience of being able to park my camper there, and I did shop there for a few items.

LOL, there is a stereotype about WalMart shoppers, some funny website has pictures of some of the less elegant ones.

 

[qui_est_ce]

Enough to meet basic necessities: Food, shelter, clothing, transportation and medicine. I’m not saying that Walmart should shell out for steak dinners and Xbox 360s, but a living, just wage that will keep a working person healthy and able to continue working is required.

Too vague. How many pair of shoes? What size housing? Does a person who has a bigger family get paid more? What about if the person has another part-time job?

 

[Jon_Paul]

What do you find so amusing about what I said?

 

[qui_est_ce]

What do you find so amusing about what I said?

Try opening a small business paying $18.00/hour for unskilled part-time labor.

 

[Lochias]

Too vague. How many pair of shoes? What size housing? Does a person who has a bigger family get paid more? What about if the person has another part-time job?

A single mother, in order to meet basic requirements for living in Potter County, Texas (where I live), would have to make $17.54 an hour. See here.

livingwage.mit.edu/counties/48375

Kinda scary, isn’t it? Some people do not have the opportunities to get the paying jobs they need, regardless of what they do, and yet they’re expected to “just go out and try harder”.

I call that a load of bollocks.

 

[Corki]

Too vague. How many pair of shoes? What size housing? Does a person who has a bigger family get paid more? What about if the person has another part-time job?

Cable or satellite? A PC or a Mac? One car or two?

The fact is that what we consider “poverty” in the country is embarrassing. $18 and hour, with even just a little OT and some paid benefits is over $40,000. If that really the line under which a person is considered poor?

 

[Rence]

Of course, you can’t LEGALLY take the number of dependents into account. You cannot pay a man with six children and a wife at home a dime more than you can pay an equally qualified man with only himself to support. You would have EEOC all over you if you tried to do it.

And they should be all over. I won’t work for less than someone else if the only reason is they have kids and I don’t. That’s just nuts. I expect to be paid appropriately according to my experience, knowledge and skill. If my coworker (with the same hire date, the same job category, the same department, the same hours, the same job) gets a raise simply because they have a kid, then I expect the same raise in my salary to make up for it.

 

[Country_Gal]

A single mother, in order to meet basic requirements for living in Potter County, Texas (where I live), would have to make $17.54 an hour. See here.

livingwage.mit.edu/counties/48375

Kinda scary, isn’t it? Some people do not have the opportunities to get the paying jobs they need, regardless of what they do, and yet they’re expected to “just go out and try harder”.

I call that a load of bollocks.

That’s the problem with single parenthood. It makes for a weaker family economic unit. Unfortunately, it falls back on the middle class taxpayers to fill in the gaps, that are created by the moral break down we see all around us.

 

[Lochias]

Cable or satellite? A PC or a Mac? One car or two?

The fact is that what we consider “poverty” in the country is embarrassing. $18 and hour, with even just a little OT and some paid benefits is over $40,000. If that really the line under which a person is considered poor?

For several years I did my best to support myself and two other adults (who were/are both sick and couldn’t work) on less than $500 a month, while going to school for a degree which ultimately led to absolutely no monetary well-being whatsoever.

 

[Jon_Paul]

Try opening a small business paying $18.00/hour for unskilled part-time labor.

Pope Leo XIII:

Doubtless, before deciding whether wages axe fair, many things have to be considered;

Pope Pius XI:

In determining the amount of the wage, the condition of a business and of the one carrying it on must also be taken into account; for it would be unjust to demand excessive wages which a business cannot stand without its ruin and consequent calamity to the workers.

And I noted in my original post that a fair and just wage is entirely dependent on local and specific situations. I am not saying that $18 an hour be the national minimum standard.

 

[Lochias]

That’s the problem with single parenthood. It makes for a weaker family economic unit. Unfortunately, it falls back on the middle class taxpayers to fill in the gaps, that are created by the moral break down we see all around us.

Agreed, very much so.

 

[Rence]

What a surprise. unskilled workers rely more on medicaid and foodstamps than skilled workers?

Exactly…

 

[qui_est_ce]

A single mother, in order to meet basic requirements for living in Potter County, Texas (where I live), would have to make $17.54 an hour. See here.

livingwage.mit.edu/counties/48375

Interesting. That’s about what I make. Where is the dad? Is he paying child support?

Kinda scary, isn’t it? Some people do not have the opportunities to get the paying jobs they need, regardless of what they do, and yet they’re expected to “just go out and try harder”.

I call that a load of bollocks.

And I agreed and said that’s what safety nets are for.

 

[Lochias]

Exactly…

How wonderful that some are able to go to a building and pay huge amounts of money in order to get a piece of paper that proclaims that they are indeed “skilled” to the rest of society.

How wonderful that some are supported throughout the entirety of their college career with money and help from family, thus enabling them to see their college career through to graduation.

How wonderful that some didn’t have to abandon everything that they had in mind to take care of sick relatives, because of an ungrateful world that saw fit to shove those sick relatives into the gutters because “it’s not our responsibility”, regardless of how much those people contributed to society.

On and on and on. I am glad that some have the chances and opportunities that they do, but others DO NOT AND HAVE NEVER HAD THOSE OPPORTUNITIES, no matter how much you might say they did.

 

[Rence]

Read that

(“http://forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=11418478#post11418478”) I posted above. According to Catholic doctrine, a living wage includes dependents, so the federal poverty level for a family of 4 is an appropriate standard. For someone without dependents, that would mean a higher wage than simply a bare living wage…you can go higher, but as an employer you can’t morally go lower.

Where does it say that an employer must take a hit at the bottom line in order to pay an employee more than they can afford to do so without compromising their business? An employer/employee relationship is a two-way street. The prices are so affordable at Walmart, and other places that higher non-skilled labor, because their overhead is kept less than other places. That gives them an edge in the market. If their employees don’t like it, just like with any other imperfect work situation, they can work elsewhere. No one is forcing them to work at Walmart, or anywhere else. They can apply for a job anywhere they are qualified to work, in search of a higher wage.

 

[Lochias]

Interesting. That’s about what I make. Where is the dad? Is he paying child support?

Who knows? Likely not the Mom’s fault that Dad isn’t around, though.

And I agreed and said that’s what safety nets are for.

And my point is that “safety nets” aren’t “bootstraps.” They’re often barely even “safety nets.”

 

[qui_est_ce]

A single mother, in order to meet basic requirements for living in Potter County, Texas (where I live), would have to make $17.54 an hour. See here.

livingwage.mit.edu/counties/48375

What about my kids who needed after school jobs at the local grocery to help pay their tuitions? Should they get paid $17.40/hour?

 

[Rence]

Doesn’t matter. You can make it a family of 16 or 20 if you want. The wage should be enough to meet the needs of all.

No successful business can afford to pay their employees according to the numbers of people they support. Businesses pay according to skill level, education, job category, and experience. “Number of dependents” is not one of the criteria. That shouldn’t be a burden on the employer.