Wal-Mart Corp. Warns Its Employees About The Perils Of Democrats In Office
By Nicole Belle Thursday Jul 31, 2008 6:00pm
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they'll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies -- including Wal-Mart.
In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside for workers if stores were to be unionized.
According to about a dozen Wal-Mart employees who attended such meetings in seven states, Wal-Mart executives claim that employees at unionized stores would have to pay hefty union dues while getting nothing in return, and may have to go on strike without compensation. Also, unionization could mean fewer jobs as labor costs rise.[..]
The Wal-Mart human-resources managers who run the meetings don't specifically tell attendees how to vote in November's election, but make it clear that voting for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama would be tantamount to inviting unions in, according to Wal-Mart employees who attended gatherings in Maryland, Missouri and other states.
"The meeting leader said, 'I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won't have a vote on whether you want a union,'" said a Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri. "I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote," she said.
This would be a great opportunity to recommend that you rent Robert Greenwald's documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices to see just how anti-union Wal-Mart truly is and what you compromise to get those super low prices.
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Wal-Mart, Our prices are cheap, they only thing it costs is your freedom.
If I was unfortunate enough to be employed by Wal-mart I would be praying everyday for unionization. This may backfire. It may get Wal-mart thinking about the advantages of a union. Wal-mart can close down a store here and there if a union trys to infiltrate, but they certainly can't close every store across the nation. Remember, United We Stand.
That's it - I'm boycotting those fascists! Oh, nevermind; I'm already boycotting them...
Mick@3, I boycotted Wal-Mart when they tried to get out of paying that poor disabled woman who was injured ON THE JOB. And the fact she had recently lost her son in Iraq. That was cold and heartless. I wonder if Kieth Oberman will have this on tonight.
I have been boycotting that shithole for years now. Won't walk into one.
Fuck 'em.
P.D. @ 1:
The problem is, their prices aren't necessarily cheaper.
With the worker's union representing them in contract negotiations, what actually could happen would be workers improved wages and conditions. The workers would then pay a small fee, possibly three per cent or so, out of their larger pay checks so their union can do the job representing them. If your union doesn't a substantial net gain over that small fee the worker pays, you change your union, or your union leadership. It is democratic.
The people who would lose some money and even more importantly, to them, some of the complete control they exercise over their workers without a union, would be the fat cats.
Those poor, poor fat cats, one feels so sorry for them…, NOT!
Unfortunately most poor fools that have to work at Wal-Mart can't afford to stand on principle. Wal-Mart has 'em by the balls and they know it.
Just like always.
Only when things get so bad like in the 30's will folks just say fuck it and burn the fucking places down.
Their cheap prices cost the nation its soul.
The sad thing is some people can't shop elsewhere. In my area we started with one Wal-Mart ten years ago, now we have five. These bastards are springing up everywhere. Maybe they will go the way of StarBucks. Hell, the way the econmy is going, were all going to end up in soup lines.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjSlEDOyNc8
"Walmart...may your stores melt in the hot sun."
Does China own them yet? Just wondering.
WalMart is anti-union. Did you expect anything less than they did? Is anyone surprised?
bryan@12, The way things are going, China will own US. Already people in other countries are buying big chunks of the USA. Hell, Budweiser is now owned by a European company. BUDWEISER! Depressing.
Well shit. Maybe they'll start making some decent fucking beer for a change.
Wal-Mart is our friend. We need Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is our friend. We need Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is out friend. We need Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is our friend. We need Wal-Mart.
angryspittle@15, I will never understand why so many people don't realize how determental it is to vote Republican. I really believe these people have low IQs or are so brain-washed by Limpballs and Billo.
angryspittle @ 15:
I love imported beer, particulary from Ireland, but I gotta say, Bud Select is my goto, everyday stuff.
What about this?
Wal-Mart to Allow Unions in China
My grandfather was a union organizer for IBEW in the Deep South in the 40s-50s.
Wal-Mart may have underestimated its workforce (for once.) Celtic ancestry may rear its stubborn head.
Yep, it is what a friend calls lawnmower beer. Still can't stand the shit though.
My fav is Alaskan amber.
Since when has Wal-Mart ever cared about its employees? Wal-Mart costs every state in this country billions of dollars in state assistance to its overworked and underpaid employees.
Wal-Mart is nothing more than a criminal organization. I cannot wait for all those huge supercenters to be vacant.
Just another US corporation that hates humans outside their board of directors.
So run out this weekend and rack up your credit cards purchasing more toxic crap made in China that you don't need at Wally World. China, home of the great firewall.
I guess if globalization is "inevitable":>), then world wide unions need to be considered as well. Not just for blue collar folk, but middle managers too. If Doctors and Lawyers see a need to basically unionize in this country, why not the vast majority of the rest of us?
Floridiot@19, That's just friggin great! They can organize in a communist country, but not here? Is that what the Repugs want? A class of citizens of lowly serfs? Oh yeah, that's exactly what they want.
I am afraid it won't be long until you get your wish. Empty box stores from one end of this country to the other. Maybe we can get back to local/regional economies then.
Liars.
All unions are formed by employee votes.
This is downright evil. Wallmart treats the American worker, not just their own, like yesterday's garbage and they are scared shitless that their past sins will lead to a union vote with workers protected from retaliation by law.
God forbid,workers at Wallmart actually organize and protect themselves from Wallmart's vicious exploitation.
But it doesen't end with their employees.
I once worked as a Product Manager for a manufacturing company and used to supply goods to them. I was forced to manufacture in China. The buyer threatened that if I didn't match the price they wanted, which was only possible by using China, they would cease to do business with me. Given the consumer's desire to shop there, I had little choice but to use them as a retailer in many parts of the country.
Furthermore, my company had to eat the cost of substandard quality and late shipments from China. Bottom line: Doing business with Walmart hurt my company and robbed us of the profit, salary increases, or bonuses we deserved for our hard work.
Not to mention the pollution, environmental damage, and crappy treatment of the Chinese workers we ended up supporting. You should see the factory zones I visited there. They're like something out of the apocalypse.
I also wonder how many American workers, who could have made my goods, lost their jobs because of Walmart.
Fuck Walmart. They're bad for everyone.
angryspittle@25, You're right. This economy is giong to bottom out soon. Stock up on soup.
Big business is pushing hard for McSame. You can bet your bottom dollar (if you have one left) that they are luvin' 'em some GWB tax breaks. They dont want to start paying their fair share, either.
Floridiot @ 19:
So does that mean that they can bargain for 31 cents an hour over the 30 cents they get now?
The Fascist assholes instantly spread the fear and doom.
Unions.
If the workers are unionized that means that:
You're taking money out of the pockets of the Walton clan.
You know, each one worth BILLIONS!!!
Greedy Republiscum.
kablooie @ 20:
Shah Voursha! forgive spelling.
This seems very hypocritical of WalMart- considering the number of democrats on their board, including Gore and the Clintons.
i don't go to china-mart.....wrong demographic. to me it seems to be sophisticated slavery. fans of china-mart
claim prices will be too high if they didn't exist.....i don't
buy that. prices get too high people just won't purchase.
to me this is as close as they can get to replicating commerce in china....cheap products,cheap labor and telling people how to vote/live their lives. i'm against it
building infrastructure/subsidizing the location/establishing those stores.....social program.
Carlin's Ghost @ 30:
Where is Tyler Durden when you need him?
yakfitguy@26, Wow, you seem to know all aboout the adverse effect of Wal-Mart. It's a shame the average American either doesn't care or notice and our media will never report it.
That's right, the bastid shot me in the head last night, but a new day is coming...
It's at times like this that I sympathize with Soviet ideals, if not the methods the old USSR used.
P.D. @ 14:
moose piss.
Wal-Mart actually pays better it's employees better than most dept stores. Their merchandise is cheaper because they buy from sweat shops from in Saipan. Hell, even Nike is made in sweat shops.
What Wal-Mart employees don't have is good health benefits. They would sacrifice a higher salary for that if unionized.
But telling your employees that a Democratic president will force unionized labor on a company is complete bullshit. Employees unionize companies, not governments. "This bill will pass." What fucking bill?
bryan @ 18:
I like Irish beer too, but man, Bud's not even beer. American corporate-made beer is so bad, that the International Beer Festival has a separate class for it: American Lager. A.K.A. watered down crap.
Beer is judged separately: Ales, Lambis, Lager, etc.
Thank God for American micro-brews.
Will the GOP working-class once again vote against their own self interest. Will they vote republican and shoot themselves in the foot?
Or will they see through this bullshit and see that the Walmart Management wants to keep them poor and unprotected.
The Democrats are going to stand up for unions? The same way they stood up for the majority who want the war ended, the president impeached and who don't want the Constitution violated? The same Dems who also get contributions from Wall Street and allow the telcos and insurance companies to write legislation?
Yeah.
Just another story I'll believe when it happens...
Ron @ 29:
they're going to need the power of bargaining with the growth of the middle class and it's buying power. approximately 300 million strong....there are signs some people of china are aware their wages will not keep pace.
I'm of the opinion the only good thing about Wal-Mart would be if every single one of 'em
spontaneously burst into flames.
they typify everything that is wrong for America, and wrong about America.
their low prices come at a very high cost to EVERYBODY although most people cannot
see this.
well - once they have us ALL by the balls, the squeeze will begin.
MarinatedInSmog @ 39:
some of these folks get their health insurance at the emergency room and public services.....good deal for china-mart......somewhat like china nationalized healthcare and low wages
Agree with Angryspittle 25 and P.D. 27 It is going to get worse because the Repuke fools have been giving all the tax breaks and opportunities to the rich as usual. Trouble is, it is not the rich who make the economy work. The rich can only buy so many TV's, DVD's cars etc. It takes the millions of consumers to keep the wheels of the economic bus turning and the f&^^$ idiots in power have been taking away the very purchasing power of those millions to give to the few. And now the s*^t is going to hit the fan. But these mofo's will be counting there money and sustaining their life style while many will be out of work or just barely making ends meet.
The justice in all of this is that many of those who will suffer the most are the ones who put the Repukes in power in the first place.
Obama spoke of those who were bitter out there...........that would be me.
When King of the Hill debuted on Fox, Hank Hill was lamenting the new Meglo-Mart. That was over 12 years ago, and we didn't have any Wal-Marts here. Now we have five. It's like Dunkin-Donuts, they are cropping up everywhere. Ahh, capitalism!
Jo @ 38:
I dig me some Canadian Moose piss as well. Does China own any Canadian brewerys? I'm just sayin', now ex-pat 'merican beer works for me in many situations, though I enjoy traveling almost everywhere else.
I will never set foot in a Walmart. I shop local small mom and pop places. There is a supercenter near where I live that even sells groceries. Walmart tries to put every business out of business. Fuckers.
angryspittle @ 5:
I would like to avoid the store more that I do, but unfortunately, it has driven just about every other small business out of my community. I only buy there when I can't get a product anywhere else, and avoid buying any of the foreign made junk. I try to look for American brands, but even then they are made in sweatshops in Mexico and elsewhere.
The really sad part is that Hilary Clinton was once on the Wal-Mart board of directors. Don't know if she still is, but after this disgraceful crap of instructing their employees to vote against the Demeocratic Party, she should totally disavow her past relationship.
The repukes always, ALWAYS, kill the fucking goose out of short term greed.
They want it all, NOW.
They never fucking learn that money is like manure. You've got to spread it around for it to do any goddamned good whatsoever.
They always pile it in one corner (theirs) of the garden and it ends up poisoning the whole fucking place.
History proves this over and over again.
Damn, they never seem to learn.
P.D. @ 35:
Being the richest coporation in America, I'm not surprised. Many American companies are now slaves to them. So is the consumer, they just don't know it yet.
I actually witnessed long time raw-material suppliers of ours in the US wither away as we took more and more of their business so we could match Walmart's price.
It made me sick. I felt as though I was helping to fuel the world's problems. I eventually left and want no part of manufacturing consumer goods anymore.
Jo @ 49:
In my small town there aren't many small places left to shop. We get as much as we can elsewhere, but for us many times its either Wal-Mart or a 20 mile drive.
They have us by the balls in this area. That parking lot still has 50 cars in it at 2 am and this town only has 13,000 people. I wonder how many other towns are in the same boat.
angryspittle @ 21:
I gigged at a cajun/irish bar last week and had a Louisiana draft beer called Turbo Dog. Dark, medium body and delicious! I'm headed for another gig there in a few minutes. Mmmm.
The only thing we learn from history is that we don't.
Radically Moderate @ 31:
Say what, sister/brother?
Wal-Mart started out selling American goods and was proud of it. The company sold out long ago, has contributed to the destruction of the manufacturing jobs base in this country more than any other company out there, and is now nothing more than a front for transferring American wealth to the Chinese.
Unionizing Wal-Mart will not do nearly as much good as a nationwide boycott to kill the beast once and for all.
Boycott 'till it drops. Let Mom and Pop start small businesses on Main Street again. There will be more and better jobs when Wal-Mart goes out of business.
just when you thought there was no way to reduce the intelligence pool amongst wal-mart workers
if you had half a brain, you wouldn't wofk there
they'll make it easier for you guys to form a union, and that would be bad ...
yakfitguy @ 52:
what they have done is knocked out much of the competition with these large box stores especially china-mart....look at the lack of wage growth last 6-7 yrs. some people have no choice but to shop their....in addition to that they've made into to an obvious culture/demographic thing. i don't look down at people who shop their but i won't as long as i can. the few elites and shareholders are dictating our lives....the big guys have made it very difficult to have/operate a small business....darwinian capitalism.....
telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win....'
Tell me that got that on camera.
Gretchen @ 53:
I hear ya, Gretchen. We are lucky to have 3 grocery stores near here and dozens of small businesses. Also, co-ops. And we live in a very liberal area in Maine with lots of choices. If you have to shop Walmart, wear Obama tshirts or something that will piss them off.
freepatriot @ 58:
piss off, we're talking about beer here. Where do you work, by the way?
bryan, cut out. I just spit beer on my monitor.
So, the same Walmart managers who have been spying on their employees for years, firing people left and right for trying to unionize and intimidating everyone else? And now they're telling ALL their employees that if they go into a voting booth, and cast a secret ballot that no Walmart manager will ever find out about, then they'll get to have a union? Okay, then, either Walmart employees are really, really idiotic and the management knows this, or, Walmart's management is really, really idiotic.
I try, inasmuch as possible, to boycott all of the big box stores. It is not easy but not impossible in Phoenix. We've just stopped buying a lot of unnecessary crap anymore. But the money we might have saved goes to relatives who are either poor or on the brink. Oh well.
Jerry Ibrone @ 57:
that's right i remember that......they put a flag on their
merchandise....not any more.... now it's china-mart. i agree i would like to see them go out of business that's not likely.....i would like to see employees be unionized and have a say instead of being threatened like slaves
I am willing to bet that almost all the Walmart managers are secretly hoping that the store does go union. It makes their jobs a million times easier. Instead of hiring unreliable meth addicts at minimum wage, they can pay a competitive wage and attract a better crowd of employees.
Wal-Mart scares the shit out of me. One step in the parking lot and you find yourself surrounded by teaming crowds of obese, NASCAR loving, self involved, freakishly identical middle Americans herding their screaming, unkempt children into the store with a horrifyingly wide-eyed worshipful expression like they're about to have some kind of religious experience. You walk in and you're barraged by synthetic voices announcing "Today's Great Prices, Always At Wal-Mart", while TVs around the store announce "Buy Now And Save"; all of it mingling with the happy beeps of the cash registers to create a vast, subliminal cacophony of capitalism straight out of some kind of Orwellian nightmare.
Wal-Mart is the Devil - the sum total of everything that is wrong with America today all under 1 roof. It's corporate greed incarnate. Don't go there. Ever.
Twenty years ago when I lived in the South, I had the displeasure of working for Wal-Mart for three wonderful months. Hands down, it was the worst job I've ever had. The people working there, with a few exceptions, were absolutely miserable. At the time, a full time position was defined as 28 hours per week, with the normal schedule being a 7.5 hour day - to ensure that you didn't receive overtime. During orientation I had to watch a video extolling the evils of labor unions that was longer than the mandatory safety video. I hated the place from about the 3rd day there, joined the military shortly afterward and was scheduled to ship out in 4 months. I obviously angered them by informing them of my decision and by taking 2 days off to complete my physicals and testing. Two weeks later, I worked Monday July 3rd, had the holiday off, worked a full shift on Wednesday, and was fired after clocking out for the day. The reason was that I "didn't fit in with the Wal-Mart culture." Thank God. I spent 6 decorated years in the military and the past 12 as a successful employee of a Fortune 500 company. I've seen what Wal-Mart has done to rural America and I will not shop there.
Rofl, you people hate Wal-mart because its the cool thing to do.
Fact is none of you have worked at Wal-mart, so you know shit about it.
Not only did they pay more then everywhere else out there, They offered you raises and promotions alot as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGb9OLqsvV8
I Like Pie @ 67:
Exactly so. Furthermore better paid employees are more likely to use their employee discounts to recycle the money back into Walmart. What they're really afraid of is health care.
bbk @ 64:
From the numbers I've seen, that'd be over half a million votes for Obama, if this thuggery completely backfired. If WalMart's motto is continuous growth, can they really use the big stick of threatening to close the store? Pretty hard to take those stocker and cashier jobs overseas, ain't it? Now, if only the stockers and cashiers would figure that out...
Xsorus @ 70:
That was a great scene when Penn put his hipboots on and had the back feet of the little lamb in his hipboots on the the edge of the clip. I feel ya.
Xsorus @ 70:
I got plenty of horror stories from my sister who worked there. Keep swillin' their Kool-Aid. Fuckwit.
Xsorus @ 70:
McCain Trolls: Proud Wal-Mart Shoppers.
Unless you have a golden parachute that allows you to walk away with many millions of dollars after you have run a company into the ground like George Bush Jr. used to, over and over, you should be in a union. Actually, even then you should be in one because you are likely still a pissant on a global scale, but I can understand the ethical problems with that. We just need to find or make that union.
Class warfare started again under Reagan, and not by the workers. It was ignored by many of us, myself included, 'cause we were having fun living our lives. Now's the time to suck it up and get serious. If globalization is inevitable, then so is a global union.
I'm on disability, trying to live off of $12k a year, but I haven't bought anything from Walmart in several years (and rarely did before that) and they certainly won't get any of my money in the future. It's not THAT cheap, and certainly not worth it.
Here is a video that discusses the Employee Free Choice Act:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HD2Eey-pcc
Reason #1,459 that I fucking hate Walmart.
Xsorus @ 70:
Well, apparently we've located the Wal-Mart PR/Marketing employee. Are you on overtime or do they make you come into chat rooms to push corporate interests as our interests on your own time?
Thanks for stopping by and trying to sell us how great Wal-Mart is and how we don't know shit. Wal-Mart is a company whose business plan is global slavery. They are the corporate equivalent of the BORG or an ant colony.
Hahahahaha!
Xsorus @ 70:
Prove it.
We'll wait....
BennyP @ 32:
Gore on their board? I'd like to see proof of that. And Hillary was involved back when the corporation made a point (at least publicly) of stocking U.S.-made merchandise (1986-1992); she's hardly responsible for what they've become today.
Poor folks who shop at Wal-Mart can't really be blamed, but they can't be defended, either. Same with their employees who actually believe the anti-union bullshit their bosses pump out 24/7. Both groups will perpetuate their own poverty until they decide they've had enough.
Screw Walmart. They've destroyed our city. Run scores of small businesses into the ground. And they leech all the money out of the community and send it to China.
It's time to start having protests on the sidewalks in front of Walmarts. They go against our democracy, it's time to talk back to them.
I work at Target and they have been showing a similar anti-union video.
walmart/target et al are the largest single reason for job losses and the working poor in north america, nuf said.
Xsorus @ 70:
Tell us then why they're so afraid of unions then. Store goes union store closes.
Is it just me or does this smell of desperation on Walmart's part?
Xsorus @ 70:
They were also the primary reason that pay has dropped as low as it has for people who produce something. Post-Sam Walmart worked to off-shore our manufacturing, then wants to credit themselves for being high up in pay in the service sector.
Xsorus @ 70:
And you guys won't even let me leave my RV in the parking lot any more. Sam must me rolling over in his grave.
John G @ 84:
I wouldn't be surprised if K-mart was too
"
This is crap. I've been a member of the UAW for over 25 years. My dues are only 2 hours pay a month.
They are stupid and they will fall for it, did twice, and as Dr. Phil sez, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.
Commentator @ 68:
Can I get an Amen?
Preach on brother!
Xsorus @ 70:
I made it to 5:00 to see Penn shrieking about how Greenwald had his facts wrong and Wal Mart subjects are not paid $5.15 an hour, they are actually paid $10.15 an hour.
Uh huh. No word on how much Wal Mart paid these two bozo's to jerk off for them.
How the hell is it even legal for Walmart or any employer to threaten their employees over elections?
It's as though nothing has changed in the US - a hundred years of robber barons.
...Yeah, lets see if we can lower some quarterly profit numbers by not shopping there for the next 6 months.
Fuck Wally World
"High Cost of Low Prices" is a terrible documentary that people should watch, but not feel is the end all/be all of Wal-Mart discussion. It focuses too much on individual cases instead of the facts.
I know what a store will do to avoid unions: I live in Canada where if a Wal-Mart is unionized, they close it ASAP. They stop shipping to it, no matter how much money they lose in the five years (After five years they re-open in a new location and deny employment to former "associates"). I know Wal-Mart: Worked there for two years. I know management: I was team leader of Receiving.
People need to avoid the radical ("Wal-Mart destroys small towns", which it doesn't. Small towns survive on small profits and Wal-Mart simply centralizes them) and focus on the unjust (How Wal-Mart fires associates, how they treat them, how they pay, etc.), provable, appropriate arguments that could sway people from shopping there.
For those wondering, I have not shopped at a Wal-Mart since quitting in 2007.
Oooo. The terrorist bogeyman, and now the union bogeyman!! AAAAAAAHHHH!
While most of the civilized world deals with terrorism sternly & lawfully, while most of the civilized world supports the rights of workers to collectively bargain for their best interest on the free market of labor, the Republicans want you to be very, very scared!
Why do free market capitalists fear labor bargaining in a free market? Because they only want a free market when it's to the advantage of the wealthy elites. This is all about labor versus capital. I'm a socialist. I'm a capitalist. I believe in the free market. Unfortunately, in the U.S., we do not have a free market. Unions have been dismantled by our government with the big anti-union thrust being started and thrown down by Ronald Reagan and his goons. They want workers to believe that they should feel lucky to have a job while they guarantee corporations more rights than citizens. They want you to believe that if you fail as a labor provider, you are a failure and a welfare pariah. But if a corporation fails (Bear Sterns, Countrywide Financial, etc., etc.), it and it elite class owners will be bailed out by the government. Corporate welfare? No! It's the Republicans saving capitalism! Free market my ass.
I call bullshit. I'm sick and tired of the wealthy, elite class controlling the message while they import illegals to work for sub-par wages, send middle class jobs overseas, and stuff their money in overseas currencies and vacation in Bermuda.
Wake up America. You are being screwed. There is no such thing as a right unearned. We will have to fight for it.
"stresses the downside for workers if stores were to be unionized"
You mean the same downside like our low-rank workers in Europe suffer:
higher wages, better work hours, affordable health care, financial protection if you are a victim of an accident, social and judicial assistance when involved in a feud with the employer or the government?
And all that for the hefty price of 5 dollars per month, while receiving back a benefit of 60 $ per year (no withstanding all the other benefits, eh I mean downside). Yes indeed Union fees equal to zero here in most European countries (you pay a small fee, but you get that almost immediately back in another financial subsidy).
O and also serving as a reliable information source for the real implications of government policies on those workers lives, is such a big downside too.
Of course a low rank worker who earns 1000$ a month is so much better served by a high profile pundit who earns 2 000 000 $ a month on how to get informed on what best policies serves his interest. I mean this guys earns so much its because he is so smarter and surely will be more aware of the problems a Walmart employee faces than a 2000$ per month-earning union representative.
Yeah unions are indeed so bad! Imagine that, next thing a Walmart employee might actually earn enough to shop in Walmart too?? Where is the world going.
Historically, I believe it is said that some slaves loved Massa, feared freedom, and more-or-less willingly continued to do what they were told for the war effort in the Confederacy. So, sure, what does Wal-Mart have to lose giving it a try?
A small level of disgust washes over me anytime someone I personally know states they shop at Walmart. I think to myself that this person chooses to be ignorant as to how the Walton clan destroys both the national and local USA economies, runs mom & pop stores closed, raises local taxes due to the crappy health benefits they give their employees, locks employees in overnight (this HAS happened), contributes to slave labor and suffering of adults and children who have to toil in third world sweat shops thereby taking away manufacturing jobs that could have actually employed fellow Americans, threatens our national security by outsourcing our ability to make ANYTHING, etc., etc., etc.
I try not to be the preachy type, but sometimes after I tell those who shop there even some of the above I clearly see the embarrassment in their faces that they have chosen not to be informed as to how Walmart hurts people, communities and America.
Haven't shopped in the Chinese imporium in years, nor do I intend too! These SOB's are pure, 100%, unadultered evil!
Ian @ 102:
"But their crap is so cheap!" Of course it falls apart when you take it out of the package, "but it was really really cheap!"
"And their cheap (non-inspected or regulated) ciproflaxin laced seafood is a great deal!"
"Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices" is not the end-all and it certainly doesn't answer all the questions but at least Robert Greenwald’s documentary finally begins to ask them and opens the windows of enlightenment for those who wonder what all the controversy is all about ...
I live in Europe and we have a few problems from such "super-stores" moving in or trying to - but overall most of us go to the street market/shop on a daily basis, sit in a cafes with neighbours and gossip about you Americans, "I wonder when our cousins across the pond are going to finally take on a bit of wisom, grow a backbone and do the right thing?"
angryspittle @ 8:
Ding ding! We have a winner!
Alice X - Jeffersonian Revolutionaries Unite! (Chomsky Nader) - status quObama - change you can pretend in - @ 7:
Yeah yeah. They are always claiming some bullshit sack of lies. And no matter what, even if their hair was on fire, they will stick to those lies in order to perpetuate the fantasy of their position. Just like old Georgie W.
F* Walmart! I HAVE NOT SET FOOT IN THAT NAZI SHOPPING CENTER SINCE 2000 !
Xsorus @ 70:
Hey Xsorus. Do you even know what you're talking about? See my posts at 26 and 52. You call that cool?
odanny @ 93:
Right on. Don't buy from a company that prays to the god of profit and shareholder return---and is willing to throw it's workers under the bus to make their quarterly returns and keep Wall Street off their ass. They crush the small businessman and entrepreneur, which is in my estimation what makes America great. They pray that they can buy off the public with their seductive low pricing without having them notice that they are tearing down what valiant and other centered people gave their lives to build.
Xsorus @ 70:
No its not cool, it's the right thing to do. Big difference. Doing the right thing requires some courage and conscience, of which Wal Mart seems to have little. And if companies like Wal Mart treated their employees with respect instead of like disposable plastic bags, unions would not be necessary. I don't have time to hear Wal Mart's selfish, hysterical propaganda on how they will take a hit on their EPS if Democrats are elected. They can take their bald faced political advocacy and jam it. If these swine don't have time to do the right thing, I'll go elsewhere.
Walmart is awful ! This post just shows even more how ruinous they truly are. No regard for their employees, adverse effect on local economies (especially smaller communities where their evil tentacles of power are felt more), horrible cheap plastic crap that falls apart after a while...ugh ! Haven't set foot in one since probably 1999 0r 2000. To me, just being inside one, with its casino-like atmosphere (seriously...no windows, no clocks, and those ding-dinging cash registers...just like a casino. I wouldn't be surprised if they lowered the oxygen in their stores so as to keep everyone in a stupor.) was a turn-off to me. ugh !
Alice X - Jeffersonian Revolutionaries Unite! (Chomsky Nader) - status quObama - change you can pretend in - @ 7:
That's a really stupid move by Wal-Mart, being that most of their customers are probably Democrats.
"Wal-Mart Corp. Warns Its Employees About The Perils Of Democrats In Office"
I've been through that situtaion before.
In the early 1990s I signed on to Raytheon. I was to work at the Munitions Storage Area. Because this job was previously military Raytheon had no clue what civilian pay would be. And they, Raytheon, stated we were going to be paid 8.50 an hour.
We, my shop, petitioned the US Government and got our hourly wage raised over 11 dollars an hour.
As for the rest of the workers in the company. They hadn't had any type of raise in 5 years. Workers held a meeting and decided we would vote for a union. The rest is history.
The Union was voted in. We now have Union Retirement instead of a 401K.
The one problem I have seen is Company Management.
Management didn't want to address the problem when workers didn't get a pay raise in 5 years.
As you know management is salary. Management, don't give a rat's ass about workers salaries.
Here is another CLASSIC case of a population (Walmart workers) possible voting AGAISNT their own self-interest...
Like Christians voting for McCain...
Or National Guard members voting for McCain...
Or Students voting for McCain...
Or ...
well, you get the picture.
The Wall Street Journal writer who set out to write a pro-Walmart book several years ago and ended up writing a scathing critique of the company is one of my favorite stories. He told the story of how Walmart insisted that Huffy Bicycles sell their bikes to them so low that the company eventually went out of business trying to meet their demands. This is a microcosm of their business practices. They stink and they are proud of it.
Walmart business practices are a main ingredient in the manufacturing job loss in this country. Yet, union workers go there all the time to save a few bucks. Probably buying the knives they use to slit their own throats.
angryspittle @ 5:
I walk through my local Wal-Mart(s) singing "I'm working for the Union", "Look For The Union Label".
I also say loudly, "We gave up our Manufacturing Jobs for our National Flags to be made in China!?"
Then I rapidly depart before the tazer patrol appears.
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