Last night Hannah and I watched a documentary on how Wal Mart comes in and slashes small towns. It was quite interesting, sometimes shocking. The people that work there full time really have their hands full dealing with the monster that WM has become. I did have some confusion, however. Not that I am a big fan of labor unions, because it seems as if they don't have as much power as they did in the 70's, but the pure fear the workers have of the union. What is WM doing to these people? It makes me feel sad to think that people are so scared to lose their $7/hr. poverty level job that they won't even entertain the thought of joining the union and forcing WM to pay a fair wage, pay overtime, and treat them like people should be treated.
There were quite a few testimonials in the film that were really concerning. The things that the managers were forced to do, the way the people were treated, the way that the other businesses in the town were raped. Maybe WM won't be my first stop anymore.
9 comments:
I doubt Target is any better...
I love WM-no matter what anyone says. Why would I go to Target to pay more for the same product? Just for the sake of organization? Don't care. Feel right at home on there. :o)
Don't fall for the union line Kristi. Unions in this country are losing more ground every day. That's why they attack wal-mart so hard. Yes, wal-mart is a monster, and they do have some business practices I don't condone. But if they go union, I'll never shop there again.
Well, I got set straight by Brandy today too, Billiam. She said in a business as huge as WM, you are going to have a whole bunch of people who want to complain. Whew! (I really like to go there)
And as for the OT, it's not a union issue, it's the law. All employers are required to pay time and a half for every hour over 40 worked per week, period. If the documentary said that Wal Mart is not doing that then they're going to have to pay. And I just saw on the news tonight that they ARE paying for missed overtime. My husband owns a business and we've had to go back and pay when an employee was short paid. I caught the error of our office worker, not the employee. We have 20 employees, imagine the possibility of errors with many thousands! Just because there's a problem doesn't necessarily mean it's intentional.
There IS an exception. Salaried workers can work OT and not get paid extra IF the total hours (regular plus OT for the week) and the pay do not work out to less than minimum wage.
While I am always on the lookout for the ulterior motive in a "boo walmart" show- I applaud your soft heart. You just want the best for people who are working hard. That is good.
Bah...I had this whole rant about both of them (Target and Walmart)...but I want to respect that everyone has their opinion...and the truth is, it's not the companies. They are just doing what companies do...it's US and our insatiable appetite to load up on tons of junk we just don't need on the cheap.
I'll just say...I love where your heart is at on this...and I wish more people would be concerned about being citizens, than consumers. We don't need to look out for big companies (they do fine on their own)...we do need to look out for, and support our $7/hr no benefits included neighbor who can't feed his/her kids.
While you keep getting more for less, they just get less and less and less...do you see where this goes? Eventually somebody is going to get a lot more of YOU (or your children) for a lot less.
I'm not all about unions, never been in one, rarely experienced them, and I don't have much to say about them.
I will say...As good citizens, we need to DEMAND employers have a fair social contract. Fair pay and benefits for fair work.
How bout paying a Fair Price for a GREAT product, so a company can pay a fair wage? Yes...you get less stuff...oh well. But it's much better than the alternative.
To those that still need things on the cheap...can I recommend "Costco". Same prices, yet employees make twice as much and have benefits. They do this by not wasting money on Advertising.
Our wallets speak louder than our words.
There's another question. Why do companies like Wal Mart and Target and the like have to advertise? Will we stop going there if we don't see their commercials on tv? I understand that they probably need the write-off, but come on! This also comes to mind for things like Cheerios and stuff that has been around for decades. We know all about it! You don't need to keep spending millions to tell us!
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