Walmart walkout: workers mount black Friday job action

[Seeker1961]

Really behind the hand wringing and crocodile tears for the Wal mart worker bees is the lament that there is no such thing as a Holiday in America.

Some essential services are necessary on holidays, some process industries cannot shutdown anytime except for maintenance and inspections, example power plants and refineries. To work in these industries and services you accept the fact you will not be off on popular holidays and there are family things you will miss. Of course, holiday pay usually double time and a half to three times base rate is offered on such days. (Personally speaking it was the only day I thought I was getting paid what I was worth, but that is a different story.)

However, TV. Radio, entertainment, sports et cetera are not necessary but wait for the revolt if you take away the peoples bread and circus.

You are upset the marketers have figured out Americans don’t want or need downtime with family and loved ones as much as they need the trill of thinking they are getting something at a deep, deep discount on a limited holiday special that is available on a first come first serve door busting opportunity. This frenzy that is getting pushed ever so far back as to make the holiday unrecognizable from a hedonistic shopping lust bonanza. Thanksgiving is morphing into a shop till you drop orgy weekend. To bad for the country but that is what the people want let them have it. It is just like elections it will have consequences so what!

Ain’t that America something to see…

Maybe the bargain hunt feeds the “thrill of the hunt” gene we used to survive?

I don’t understand it myself, and even though I LOVE pretty much every sport ESPN shows on TV, I have no “need” to see games on holidays and wouldn’t miss them if they were gone. They’d play them another day, and I would watch then. Not the end of my world at all.

Why do you want to see them fired? What have they done to you?

I don’t understand this animosity towards people who are simply trying to get a holiday with their families or get a living wage for a full time job either.

Contrary to what some believe here-I have no animosity towards the CEO’s either-EXCEPT when their treatment of their workers is not what they would accept as treatment for themselves. Make BOATLOADS of money if you want, just don’t make it by paying poor wages and keeping people from having a decent family life.

 

[Ecoclimber]

**
Walmart supply workers complain of mistreatment by company’s contractors. Mexican workers in Louisiana say seafood supplier threatened their families and locked them inside a production plant.**

guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jun/22/walmart-supply-workers-mistreatment-contractors
**
Walmart supply chain: warehouse staff agencies accused of wage theft. ‘They prey on people living on the edge,’ claim workers, who are already among the most vulnerable and lowest-paid in America.**
**
He sleeps at a Catholic hostel in nearby Joliet and so has a solid roof over his head after a day of helping the endless flow of consumer goods supplying Walmart stores across America. Not all his colleagues can say that. One squatted in abandoned houses. Another lived rough in the woods in between work shifts. “He just set up a tent in there for a few weeks,” Bailey said.**

guardian.co.uk/business/2012/oct/18/walmart-supply-chain-agencies-accused-wage-theft

Wal-Mart Bribery Probe Expands Past Mexico To Brazil, China And India. An internal probe of Wal-Mart’s actions in developing markets has extended beyond the company’s Mexican subsidiary to Brazil, China and India. The expansion comes only a year after Wal-Mart revealed Justice Department and SEC investigations of whether it bribed officials to spur the growth of its Mexican subsidiary.
forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2012/11/15/probe-into-wal-mart-bribery-past-mexico-to-brazil-china-and-india/

**Those objections may not seem to make good business sense. But this isn’t a case of government being anti-business – this is an instance of some businesses being wary of another business. A major reason for Gig Harbor’s reluctance is clearly business-driven – that is, support for the continuing prosperity of its existing small-retail community. Wal-Mart opponents have argued that the community should protect those business people who already have made a commitment to Gig Harbor. **
bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/1996/08/26/editorial1.html?page=all

The ‘Foxconn’ of America that floods America with cheap goods manufactured by the communist people of China. It’s great to know that slave labor treatment in the manufacturing facilities in China are now being imported to America. Seems like the Soviet Gulag is alive and well in America! Can we say Supersize it **at the expense of local mom and pop retail stores! **

 

[DLG123]

Why do you want to see them fired? What have they done to you?

Well walking out on a job is not a very responsible thing to do… Are we at the point in this country that instead of working harder to get what we want, we throw a temper tamtrum and walk out of the room llike a 4 year old spoiled brat?

They can go find other jobs if they dont like what they are doing or dont like what they are being paid. But to walk out on your job is not the answer.

We need to seriously grow up in this country and quick. We have become fat, lazy and spoiled and hard work has turned into a four letter word in a lot of the segments of this country.

Just My opinion

 

[meltzerboy]

I don’t remember the Pope quotes resorting to gratutious appeals to emotion, or even referring to working on a secular holiday.

The spirit of Pope John Paul’s statement is quite clear, apart from the literal details he mentions. I would rather err on the side of charity toward workers any day.

 

[SamH]

**
Walmart supply workers complain of mistreatment by company’s contractors. Mexican workers in Louisiana say seafood supplier threatened their families and locked them inside a production plant.**

guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jun/22/walmart-supply-workers-mistreatment-contractors

**
Walmart supply chain: warehouse staff agencies accused of wage theft. ‘They prey on people living on the edge,’ claim workers, who are already among the most vulnerable and lowest-paid in America.**
**
He sleeps at a Catholic hostel in nearby Joliet and so has a solid roof over his head after a day of helping the endless flow of consumer goods supplying Walmart stores across America. Not all his colleagues can say that. One squatted in abandoned houses. Another lived rough in the woods in between work shifts. “He just set up a tent in there for a few weeks,” Bailey said.**

guardian.co.uk/business/2012/oct/18/walmart-supply-chain-agencies-accused-wage-theft

Wal-Mart Bribery Probe Expands Past Mexico To Brazil, China And India. An internal probe of Wal-Mart’s actions in developing markets has extended beyond the company’s Mexican subsidiary to Brazil, China and India. The expansion comes only a year after Wal-Mart revealed Justice Department and SEC investigations of whether it bribed officials to spur the growth of its Mexican subsidiary.
forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2012/11/15/probe-into-wal-mart-bribery-past-mexico-to-brazil-china-and-india/

The first two don’t even involve Wal-Mart, the third is how you do business in Mexico, Brazil, China and India.

 

[DLG123]

The first two don’t even involve Wal-Mart, the third is how you do business in Mexico, Brazil, China and India.

you are exactly correct

 

[Ecoclimber]

The first two don’t even involve Wal-Mart, the third is how you do business in Mexico, Brazil, China and India.

****Also, **@DLG123

Oh Really! **

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act**** (FCPA), enacted in 1977, makes it a federal crime for any company, officer, director, employee or agent of a company to pay or even offer anything of value “to any foreign official for purposes of influencing any act or decision of such foreign official in his official capacity, inducing such foreign official to do or omit to do any act in violation of the lawful duty of such official, or securing any improper advantage.”
**
Wal-Mart Inquiry Reflects Alarm on Corruption**
The disclosure, made in a regulatory filing, suggests Wal-Mart has uncovered evidence into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as the fallout continues from a bribery scheme involving the opening of stores in Mexico that was the subject of a New York Times investigation in April.
nytimes.com/2012/11/16/business/wal-mart-expands-foreign-bribery-investigation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

**So Violating Federal Law is OK with You? Unbelievable!

**

 

[ExCatholicGuy]

Well walking out on a job is not a very responsible thing to do… Are we at the point in this country that instead of working harder to get what we want, we throw a temper tamtrum and walk out of the room llike a 4 year old spoiled brat?

They can go find other jobs if they dont like what they are doing or dont like what they are being paid. But to walk out on your job is not the answer.

We need to seriously grow up in this country and quick. We have become fat, lazy and spoiled and hard work has turned into a four letter word in a lot of the segments of this country.

Just My opinion

They’re merely attempting to exercise their power, exactly as an employer does. It’s a morally neutral action - it’s just business, just a negotiation. They owe nothing to Wal-Mart and have every right to walk out, just as Wal-Mart has every right to fire them. The winner will be determined by who blinks first.

I don’t equate wanting a day off for a traditional holiday with laziness. In fact, given the low wages most retail workers receive, I’ll bet many of these people work two jobs, and I doubt they took the decision to strike lightly.

I’m not a fan of unions by any means, and I think in many cases they have promoted laziness and harmed our economy, but I’m really surprised that on a forum such as this, where most members favor traditional values, there isn’t more support for people taking a stand against the erosion of a holiday which, while officially secular, has religious origins and connotations.

It seems that some have let their (often well-justified) hostility to organized labor blind them to a case where the workers just might be on the right side.

 

[stevegravy]

****Also, ****@DLG123

**Oh Really! ****

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act** (FCPA), enacted in 1977, makes it a federal crime for any company, officer, director, employee or agent of a company to pay or even offer anything of value “to any foreign official for purposes of influencing any act or decision of such foreign official in his official capacity, inducing such foreign official to do or omit to do any act in violation of the lawful duty of such official, or securing any improper advantage.”

Wal-Mart Inquiry Reflects Alarm on Corruption
The disclosure, made in a regulatory filing, suggests Wal-Mart has uncovered evidence into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as the fallout continues from a bribery scheme involving the opening of stores in Mexico that was the subject of a New York Times investigation in April.
nytimes.com/2012/11/16/business/wal-mart-expands-foreign-bribery-investigation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

So Violating Federal Law is OK with You? Unbelievable!

I used to be bothered by federal law breakers, but since it seems OK to arm Mexican Drug cartels violating a half dozen federal laws and the AG still has a job, all I’ll say is at least Wal-Mart didn’t get anybody killed.

Back on topic: if Wal-Mart doesn’t open up on Thanksgiving someone else will. It is just a sign of the times.

 

[Seeker1961]

I used to be bothered by federal law breakers, but since it seems OK to arm Mexican Drug cartels violating a half dozen federal laws and the AG still has a job, all I’ll say is at least Wal-Mart didn’t get anybody killed.

Back on topic: if Wal-Mart doesn’t open up on Thanksgiving someone else will. It is just a sign of the times.

People admire CFA for closing on Sundays and allowing their workers family time and we all know how well they’re doing this year. Nordstrom took out a full page ad in the NY Times explaining their policy for closing for the entire day on Thanksgiving to allow their workers to enjoy the holiday-they’re not exactly hurting for profits either. More locally, Publix grocery stores close all day on Thanksgiving and Christmas and their company seems to do very well also.

It’s not “open on Thanksgiving day or go broke”. There can be balance, Walmart workers and others like them are trying to bring it back.

 

[Ecoclimber]

**“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.”

Economist Julianne Malveaux said, “[Walmart] employees earn around $8 an hour. This is not a living wage, this is not a working wage, and especially not a living wage when they’re not working 30 hours a week, which would allow them to get health insurance.”**

tv.msnbc.com/2012/11/19/leaked-document-reveals-walmarts-meager-compensation-structure/

Of course, then there is this issue with entitlements and according to the NeoCon, Tea Party and the GOP, such entitlements should be ended especially food stamps and subsidized housing for what has been labelled by the far right as hand outs for the moochers of society.

Try raising a family on that kind of salary with no dental, vision care for your children. One worker who was displaced because his job was outsourced to China could only find this type of work available to him. Every person should have a livable wage as it spurs economic growth. You treat your employees with respect and appreciation. The huge profits generated for the Walton family should shame this family into giving their workers an affordable wage. Their discrimination toward women is well documented in class action lawsuits as another side note.

I was watching a documentary on PBS of the Dust Bowl Era and how after years of trying to make a living on their farms, hard working people had to leave their lands and find work else where. They migrated to California where they were branded as ‘Okies’ and labeled as poor vagrants expecting a free hand out. They wanted a hand up not a hand out but the growers and contractors orchestrated together to lower migrant wages in the fields so that these people were basically working at slave wages without any health benefits for themselves or their children.
pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/

It never seems to end throughout human history, the attitudes of those well off toward the poor as being undesirables and lazy. The fact that these were once proud hard working farmers that owned their own land didn’t dispel this attitude. Farm work is the hardest work imaginable.

 

[Seamus_L]

Walmart kills small business’ there demise would be a blessing.

 

[stinkcat_14]

Walmart kills small business’ there demise would be a blessing.

Why is killing small business a bad thing? If people prefer to shop in big box stores then why would doing so be a bad thing?

 

[ringil]

Walmart kills small business’ there demise would be a blessing.

Absolutely. The America I love isn’t as homogenous as wonder bread.

I don’t want an America where one location looks no different than the next.

What a bland and uninteresting world that is devoid of local color.

So do the Wal-Mart apologists not care about such things.

 

[ringil]

Why is killing small business a bad thing? If people prefer to shop in big box stores then why would doing so be a bad thing?

Because the free market and $$ is not God.

Why do you hold the free market to no standards?

 

[stinkcat_14]

Because the free market and $$ is not God.

Why do you hold the free market to no standards?

And of course I never said that the market was God, nor did I say that profit maximization was the utmost ideal. However, there is nothing immoral about economies of scale or modern technology, otherwise the morally correct thing to do would be to live like the Amish. So if economies of scale is not immoral, there is no moral reason why we should necessarily prefer small businesses over big businesses.

As to standards, who is it that gets to decide what standards the market must adhere to? And what is the cost of those standards and who will be harmed by them?

 

[stinkcat_14]

So do the Wal-Mart apologists not care about such things.

Perhaps the Walmart apologists don’t believe that so called diversity should be forced upon us. Local color is good, but if people won’t vote with their dollars to keep the local guy in business then we really don’t value that diversity. Like I said, if this is the case then why should it be forced upon us?

 

[ringil]

Perhaps the Walmart apologists don’t believe that so called diversity should be forced upon us. Local color is good, but if people won’t vote with their dollars to keep the local guy in business then we really don’t value that diversity. Like I said, if this is the case then why should it be forced upon us?

Because many of us don’t care about job creation in China. We value the benefit of Americans first- and especially local Americans.

 

[stinkcat_14]

Because many of us don’t care about job creation in China. We value the benefit of Americans first- and especially local Americans.

And you are free to shop at a place that sources its products locally. But why would you want to take away my right to have a choice of where to shop? If I prefer cheap chinese made goods, why is that anyone’s business but my own?

 

[stevegravy]

People admire CFA for closing on Sundays and allowing their workers family time and we all know how well they’re doing this year. Nordstrom took out a full page ad in the NY Times explaining their policy for closing for the entire day on Thanksgiving to allow their workers to enjoy the holiday-they’re not exactly hurting for profits either. More locally, Publix grocery stores close all day on Thanksgiving and Christmas and their company seems to do very well also.

It’s not “open on Thanksgiving day or go broke”. There can be balance, Walmart workers and others like them are trying to bring it back.

In retail as in any business it is produce compete or parish. If people admire CFA, Nordstrom and Publix that’s OK too. If people detest Wal-Mart being open then they ought to avoid shopping there that is OK too. Let people vote with their pocketbook that is how it is done.

But somehow I don’t think Wal-Mart is going to lose money by opening on Turkey day. As a country we don’t do Thanksgiving anymore. Maybe in my family and yours but not as a country. Its football holiday and Turkey floats. Enjoy