Wal-Mart Workers' Black Friday Strike

[Cuda1447]

Walmart is about offering everyday low prices...don't you listen to the advertisements? And it does just that by paying unskilled labor close to minimum wage. If they don't want to be paid minimum wage...they can teach themselves some valuable skills, go to a community college and get a degree....etc etc. Walmart isn't a BestBuy or a Harris Teeter....people go there for low prices...what is so hard to understand? If you don't like how they treat employees...shop elsewhere but Walmart won't care....you know why? Because they offer everyday low prices and that's why so many people go there...

What exactly is your argument? You want Walmart to increase wages just to be nice? LOL

No, the argument should be Walmart should increase it's pay because if it doesn't the workers are going to continue raising hell, hurting Walmarts profits. Higher wages may not make Walmart more profitable, but to low of raises certainly can make Walmart less profitable through shitty employee morale, attendance and movements like this.


I hate how so many people side with large corporations, acting like they have no choice in the matter. They certainly do have a choice. It's their choice to create situations where their employees have shitty morale and want to strike. They made the choice to pay their employees shit and treat them like shit.

 

[Ichinisan]

No, the argument should be Walmart should increase it's pay because if it doesn't the workers are going to continue raising hell, hurting Walmarts profits. Higher wages may not make Walmart more profitable, but to low of raises certainly can make Walmart less profitable through shitty employee morale, attendance and movements like this.


I hate how so many people side with large corporations, acting like they have no choice in the matter. They certainly do have a choice. It's their choice to create situations where their employees have shitty morale and want to strike. They made the choice to pay their employees shit and treat them like shit.

Most of the retail employees are apathetic, uncaring, worthless pieces of shit and don't deserve better pay than they get...fucking PERIOD. Anything over minimum wage for those store jobs is generous.

 

[Baptismbyfire]

Can't wait for all the unemployed to have to start paying higher prices at Wal-Mart. Lets all pull together and ruin the one great thing about America. It was bound to happen.

What was the one great thing about America? It couldn't have been companies like Google with record sales sitting on a big pile of cash, while paying minimal tax rate using various tax loopholes slipped into tax bills by Congressmen bending over backwards for corporate lobbyists, instead of hiring new workers or reinvesting that money to jump start the economy.

Why are so many people (including those people who have to shop at Walmart) unemployed in the first place? Does it have more to do with higher wages and regulations in place to protect workers and the environment, or more to do with the creation of an increasing neofeudalistic society, where the top 5% play under different rules than the bottom 95% from cradle to grave? Did you know that America is ranked 10th in terms of social mobility among OECD countries? Is the American Dream as prevalent as some people would have us believe? Do you really think it is those Walmart employees who are standing in your way of a better life?

Whatever it is that people think once made America great was lost as soon as the ordinary citizens lost political consciousness, did away with their critical thinking ability in return for cheap entertainment and a fat paycheck, and started to fingerpoint other helpless citizens, instead of looking at the heart of the problem, which has become too complicated and imposing for many to dare to try to understand.

 

[Cuda1447]

Most of the retail employees are apathetic, uncaring, worthless pieces of shit and don't deserve better pay than they get...fucking PERIOD. Anything over minimum wage for those store jobs is generous.

You know most of the employees? Really?

Listen. I'm not saying these employees are generally the most qualified people. Nor are they necessarily intelligent, capable or awesome. But they still deserve some respect. And they don't get that from their employer. You say they can go look for another job elsewhere, well unfortunately most of the jobs they are qualified for treat their employees the same way. The grass isn't greener on the other side. They don't really have a lot of options in many cases. They have to take what they can get.

This is the one thing I don't understand. Why take the side of a corporation whose sole goal in life is to suck as much profit out of the country as possible. Why not side with the worker, who is just trying to survive? Sure, you can say bad things about either side in this argument. No one is going to say Walmart employees are the best of the best. But for fucks sake, nothing good comes from siding with a corporation. Their entire reason for existence is to take more profits for the owners. That's it. That's all.



Slowly, but surely, this country is moving toward a very bad place. Eventually all the major corporations will be run and owned by a few people. All wages will be fixed and low. You will not have the choice to work somewhere else because all places will pay the same wages. You will be stuck. And I'm not talking about Walmart employees. I'm talking about most employees of any job. With the exception of very specifically skilled jobs that very few people can do.


Why let corporations have that much power over us?

 

[halik]

So true. Wal Mart is America compressed in a retail store.
Lazy workers with poor attitudes, cheapest China made junk you can buy, shit wages and healthcare, fat slobs walking the aisles while their children run around like wild animals, food stamps being used like it grows on trees.

Best rant I've read in 2012. Thumbsup!

 

[halik]

Yet the owners of the business are the 10-15 richest people in the world.
Sounds like you're buying into the corporate pr spiel.

Yeah, they don't make a lot per employee, but they have a shitload of stores and employees. That still doesn't mean they can pay a lot more per employee.

Walmart makes ~$7000 in profit per employee, Target makes $8000 in profit per employee. So in terms of some asinine notion of "greed", target is more greedy than Walmart.
http://www.smartmoney.com/quote/wmt/?story=profile
http://www.smartmoney.com/quote/tgt/?story=profile

 

[BUTCH1]

Most of the retail employees are apathetic, uncaring, worthless pieces of shit and don't deserve better pay than they get...fucking PERIOD. Anything over minimum wage for those store jobs is generous.

I wonder what your attitude would be if YOU had to work for crap pay, unaffordable benefits, unannounced schedule changes, ect., think you would be all happy to go there?, I think not. Please don't bother with the usual " they should just quit and work elsewhere crap", this is still a crap economy, it's nowhere as easy to do that as it sounds..

 

[drinkmorejava]

Yeah, they don't make a lot per employee, but they have a shitload of stores and employees. That still doesn't mean they can pay a lot more per employee.

Walmart makes ~$7000 in profit per employee, Target makes $8000 in profit per employee. So in terms of some asinine notion of "greed", target is more greedy than Walmart.
http://www.smartmoney.com/quote/wmt/?story=profile
http://www.smartmoney.com/quote/tgt/?story=profile

I'd say that's still an over estimate of the average value per employee. Last quarter net income for Walmart was 4B, but non-operating income was .75B. A decent portion of their profit is from investing their float...completely independent of any value added due to their stores and people.

I guess that doesn't really answer the question of if they can afford to pay more, but it doesn't help their employees look any better.

 

[Ferzerp]

If you don't like walmart, don't shop there. I don't.

It's not that hard. I'll spend more somewhere else before I go there.

 

[Nintendesert]

Hmm unskilled laborers wanting to strike in an economic environment with mass unemployment and absolutely no leverage. This won't go well for them.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Yeah it's really sad how little they make, considering they could easily afford to pay them like 20 bucks an hour.

At those wages you care barely survive given how expensive living cost's are these days.

20 bucks an hour? For unskilled labor? lol

There are many other jobs that take far more skill that pay 20 bucks an hour.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Hmm unskilled laborers wanting to strike in an economic environment with mass unemployment and absolutely no leverage. This won't go well for them.

this is why they timed it at the beginning of the critical holiday season. Pretty smart, honestly at this time we should all be rooting for people to get more pay & respect at work.
Seriously these stores probably need 150+ workers. Yes you can hire more but how quickly can you train them without any tenured employees around and how much inventory will be lost/stolen from mistakes?

 

[Ichinisan]

You know most of the employees? Really?

Listen. I'm not saying these employees are generally the most qualified people. Nor are they necessarily intelligent, capable or awesome. But they still deserve some respect. And they don't get that from their employer. You say they can go look for another job elsewhere, well unfortunately most of the jobs they are qualified for treat their employees the same way. The grass isn't greener on the other side. They don't really have a lot of options in many cases. They have to take what they can get.

This is the one thing I don't understand. Why take the side of a corporation whose sole goal in life is to suck as much profit out of the country as possible. Why not side with the worker, who is just trying to survive? Sure, you can say bad things about either side in this argument. No one is going to say Walmart employees are the best of the best. But for fucks sake, nothing good comes from siding with a corporation. Their entire reason for existence is to take more profits for the owners. That's it. That's all.



Slowly, but surely, this country is moving toward a very bad place. Eventually all the major corporations will be run and owned by a few people. All wages will be fixed and low. You will not have the choice to work somewhere else because all places will pay the same wages. You will be stuck. And I'm not talking about Walmart employees. I'm talking about most employees of any job. With the exception of very specifically skilled jobs that very few people can do.


Why let corporations have that much power over us?

I haven't read your entire post yet, but know this: In my observation, Walmart specifically chooses people for these retail positions who really can't do anything else because they don't have the skills to do anything else. If one of them actually desires something better, that person can gain some usable skills and work somewhere else (why would anyone choose to work Walmart retail if they are capable of doing anything else?). Some apathetic people with no desire to do anything else will just keep on working at Walmart. They supplement the income with government checks and spend all their free time playing XBOX and PS3. Yes. I personally know these people and I do not believe they deserve any more than minimum wage. Those positions really don't deserve any more than minimum wage for anyone. Period.

Regarding "big corporations," you are really seeing it the wrong way. The only way they can get rich is by convincing us to give them our money. They do that by offering a better product, service, or price. In other words, their "greed" benefits us, the consumer. Without the prospect of money, there is no incentive to succeed.

I'm not even sure what I earn exactly, but I think it's less than $20/hr, and it's my own fault for doing nothing to change that. It has nothing to do with my employer of >8 years.

 

[Nintendesert]

this is why they timed it at the beginning of the critical holiday season. Pretty smart, honestly at this time we should all be rooting for people to get more pay & respect at work.
Seriously these stores probably need 150+ workers. Yes you can hire more but how quickly can you train them without any tenured employees around and how much inventory will be lost/stolen from mistakes?

You really think Walmart will make concessions that will affect them nationally like that? They'll just close to store down first, rehire more workers and open up later. It's not going to hurt them more than giving in will.

 

[Ichinisan]

I wonder what your attitude would be if YOU had to work for crap pay, unaffordable benefits, unannounced schedule changes, ect., think you would be all happy to go there?, I think not. Please don't bother with the usual " they should just quit and work elsewhere crap", this is still a crap economy, it's nowhere as easy to do that as it sounds..

Been there, done that. Got some skills and did something else.

 

[Ferzerp]

we should all be rooting for people to get more pay & respect at work

Unless you shop at walmart, because if you do, truthfully, you're preying on these individuals as well. I'm not going to judge you for it, because it only exists because people are willing to work for that little, but I, personally don't participate.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

You really think Walmart will make concessions that will affect them nationally like that? They'll just close to store down first, rehire more workers and open up later. It's not going to hurt them more than giving in will.

Well appearently the folks that work there think so, its their battle not mine. I'd bet they would meet somewhere in the center on pay/benefits, which is the way it should be.

 

[Jeff7]

You know most of the employees? Really?

Listen. I'm not saying these employees are generally the most qualified people. Nor are they necessarily intelligent, capable or awesome. But they still deserve some respect. And they don't get that from their employer. You say they can go look for another job elsewhere, well unfortunately most of the jobs they are qualified for treat their employees the same way. The grass isn't greener on the other side. They don't really have a lot of options in many cases. They have to take what they can get.

This is the one thing I don't understand. Why take the side of a corporation whose sole goal in life is to suck as much profit out of the country as possible. Why not side with the worker, who is just trying to survive? Sure, you can say bad things about either side in this argument. No one is going to say Walmart employees are the best of the best. But for fucks sake, nothing good comes from siding with a corporation. Their entire reason for existence is to take more profits for the owners. That's it. That's all.



Slowly, but surely, this country is moving toward a very bad place. Eventually all the major corporations will be run and owned by a few people. All wages will be fixed and low. You will not have the choice to work somewhere else because all places will pay the same wages. You will be stuck. And I'm not talking about Walmart employees. I'm talking about most employees of any job. With the exception of very specifically skilled jobs that very few people can do.


Why let corporations have that much power over us?

Stockholm syndrome.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Your perspective is skewed because you are Canadian. $20/hr is entirely too much pay for the average Walmart store employee.

I was just saying that as an example. My point was that high profit high volume companies like Walmart could easily afford it and still make huge profit at the end but they're too greedy so they'd never do it. The least they could do is pass on a bit of the profit to the employees in the form of bonus, or raises. Maybe a 50 cent yearly raise or something, does not need to be over the top. Sadly you just don't see loyalty like this because companies are so greedy. They'd not pay their employees at all, if they could. Look at Chinese manufacturers. They tease them with a few pennies just to be able to say they're not slaves.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I'm disappointed with how many people say f-them, really? big companies haven't had a good enough run for the last 13 years? Who knows why someone chooses to work at Walmart but regardless they deserve some dignity and asking for better pay/benefits isn't a crazy thing.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I'm disappointed with how many people say f-them, really? big companies haven't had a good enough run for the last 13 years? Who knows why someone chooses to work at Walmart but regardless they deserve some dignity and asking for better pay/benefits isn't a crazy thing.

I'll laugh my ass off if some of these "skilled" assholes in this thread, that say f the Walmart workers, jobs are outsourced to India and they find themselves being a door greeter at Walmart.

 

[goog40]

Yeah it's really sad how little they make, considering they could easily afford to pay them like 20 bucks an hour.

Walmart would go bankrupt if they paid their employees $20 an hour.

I was just saying that as an example. My point was that high profit high volume companies like Walmart could easily afford it and still make huge profit at the end but they're too greedy so they'd never do it.

Walmart is high volume, but profit margin on retail is terrible.

 

[MagickMan]

Yea, I'm sure Target's wages and benefits are way better than Wal-Mart.. 🙄

A little better, yeah. I have family members who work for them and I hear the stories.

 

[tcsenter]

Walmart would go bankrupt if they paid their employees $20 an hour.

Don't bother. They think the Walton clan became billionaires by siphoning profits into their own personal bank accounts rather than through the market value of company stock, because how stock works is too difficult to understand.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Don't bother. They think the Walton clan became billionaires by siphoning profits into their own personal bank accounts rather than through the market value of company stock, because how stock works is too difficult to understand.

Red Squirrel has the numbers wrong.

The truth is Walmart is probably overstaffed, but would need to increase wages to achieve acceptable performance from a correctly sized staff. Productivity of their workers is low, and frankly the company deserves no better. Call the workers lazy if you like. The company is a bottom-feeder; it's a match made in Heaven.