The 'mom and pop'/independent stores/local retailers don't stand much of a fight against wallmart because when walmart introduces a new store, they purposely undersell. even going into a temporary defecit. forcing the smaller businesses into bankruptcy.
once they get rid of the competition, they have a monopoly and raise the prices.
they can do that because of their size, access to capital and advertising budget.
(i don't know what the small retailers can offer that can compete with that; hardly a fair fight)
also, the profits they do make go straight back to their headquarters in Bentonville.
independent stores, however, reinvest the money into the local community.
the other major problem with walmart employment is that it's mainly part time based.
they claim that 70% are full time, but you have to be full time for 2 yrs in order to get any health benefits.
and to make matters worse they have a tendency of rapidly replacing their staff. in some cases, over 90% are replaced in a year. making it harder for employees to achieve 'full time' status.
and full time is only 28 hrs a week, meaning an annual income of less than 15 k anyway
walmart also has the largest dependency on cheap chinese (slave) labour, i'm not going to get into the slave labour deal, cuz i'm sure most of you have heard enough of that already.
a little note about the 'they scare people' factor, i think he was referring to the infamous union busters. and it's extreme 'no union' policy.
..from a company guidebook for supervisors...
" You, as a manager, are expected to support the company's position. . . . This may mean walking a tightrope between legitimate campaigning and improper conduct."
interesting economical walmart facts;
(that i stole, but how can you not 'steal' facts?)
-Robert Walton is now officially the richest man on the planet surpassing bill gates with 65 billion.
-walmart is officially the world's biggest corporation making more than $220 billion. (more than the GDP of Ireland and Isreal combined)
-of the top 10 richest people in the world, 5 are Waltons.
prime example of the richest of the rich getting rich off of the poorest of the poor
Unions are far from perfect, but they do have their place in this world. When a manager tells an employee to do something that's grossly unsafe or is completely out of their job description, the worker should be able to say no with the full confidence that they cannot be fired for doing so. Workers also should be safe from forced, uncompensated overtime and should have access to decent healthcare at a reasonable price.
catdad said:
When was the last time you tried to unionize with them?
Never, because my managers made it clear when I was being trained that unions and Wal-Mart would never happen. Ever ever ever. I've heard rumors that there are teams called "union busters" that come in if there is too much talk in a store among the employees about unionization, but that is just heresay.
Those things don't scare me, though. I really don't care about it, to tell you the truth. I'd like a union job, but if I really really wanted one, I'd go somewhere else. My job at Wal-Mart is not worth the hassle. It's just a job. They make it clear from the beginning of your employment that Wal-Mart does not "need" unions, so anyone who is bitching about it despite being told that they will never happen really needs to quit the company and find employment elsewhere. Seriously.
UFCW... what a bunch of clowns. Had that crew try to get one of their subsidiaries into my job about a year & a half ago. I did some research on them... they make Wal-Mart look good.
As a former manager for wal-mart i have seen the wal-mart anti-union stance first hand. When I was promoted to manager i was required to attend "how to handle a union rep in your store" class. Wal-mart will fight tooth and nail to make sure that no store will every be unionized
All the union hate makes me laugh, what has a union ever done to you except get you some job security and benefits, and a wage you can pay the mortgage with? Union dues, other crap like that, blah, the labor movement is what made the middle class possible.
fiendish said:
unions only cost people money is true for the most part for retail stores
a 16 year old don't need benefits he/ she needs money it's good for the lifers i guess.
the unions suck they don't fight for anything but to get your money and when the contracts up but besides that you are on your own.
[Edited on Feb 26, 2005 by fiendish]
Grocery unions don't tend to cover the teenagers, who are all part-time employees in any case. It tends to be for the fulltimers, the adults. Meatcutters and the like.
The union where I work royaly pissed me off. After about a year of working for this company, for which i had to join a union, the unoin sends me this notice telling me to go to one of there offices to get my $100. I would have to sit through some pro-union nifomercial for 2-3 hours to get BACK my own $$$ that the union was holding ransom from me? What? They take out dues, and then steal my sunday, one of the 2 days I don't work, one of the 2 days I don't get up at 3am to do, to go to there pissy offices at 8am on a sunday to get back my money? Piss Off Union.
on the other hand, i get 2 free pairs of glasses every year, an eye exam every 2 years, and good dental.
I started at Wallie World a couple weeks ago, and they do have an "orientation" tape which discourses on unionization. I believe it ran something like this: "We here are Walmart (picture of old man giving kid balloon) aren't opposed to unions. We just feel (shot of union guy raping puppy) they don't have a place in our company."
I'm not going to say I'm for or against unionization at Walmart. I haven't been hit up by a union rep, and I don't see a whole lot of room for improvement in my store. My schedule is exactly 5 days/40 hours. If I stay late, they'll complain about it, unless a sup authorizes it. I'm not asked to work off the clock. I don't take abuse from management (wouldn't even if they tried it). The discount's average (10%). The only real failing I can find is with their health benefits, and even that's hearsay. From what I gather, they use Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and it's unspeakably expensive.
Anyway, I'm drunk and delerious, so if this doesn't make sense, you know why.
AaronB said:
All the union hate makes me laugh, what has a union ever done to you except get you some job security and benefits, and a wage you can pay the mortgage with? Union dues, other crap like that, blah, the labor movement is what made the middle class possible.
If you look at the people making negative comments about the union, it's mostly people who have been in the union. May I ask what union you work for?
I for one have worked for a union. UFCW Local 101. They protect those that need it and know their rights, furthermore it sounds like those that 'hate' on the union made themselves unprotectable or were never in a position that needed the help or protection.
I was a member of Teamsters Local 38 (affiliated with UFCW) and IBEW (electrican's) Local 44. If you're bitching about your representation, do you vote for your reps? When times were good nobody was showing up at meetings. When people are short on work, then they show. Stop treating it like it is some alien group and attend. You'll find that they discuss issues that concern your pay, your jobs, your benefits, and even your dues. They are supposed to work for you.
AaronB said:
All the union hate makes me laugh, what has a union ever done to you except get you some job security and benefits, and a wage you can pay the mortgage with? Union dues, other crap like that, blah, the labor movement is what made the middle class possible.
If you look at the people making negative comments about the union, it's mostly people who have been in the union. May I ask what union you work for?
AaronB said:
All the union hate makes me laugh, what has a union ever done to you except get you some job security and benefits, and a wage you can pay the mortgage with? Union dues, other crap like that, blah, the labor movement is what made the middle class possible.
If you look at the people making negative comments about the union, it's mostly people who have been in the union. May I ask what union you work for?
No
So I can safely assume either
A: You have never worked for a union, or do not work for a union
or
B: Don't care to say what union you are a part of for some odd reason
Either way it doesn't look like you have any information to back up your claim.
Other than history lessons, and my Father's family (whole family) being construction workers in Minnesota, no I'm not in a union.
Ok so your sources are history lessons, which reafirm that back at the turn of the century, there was a big need for unions like AFL/CIO and others to come along and protect the worker from the big bad businessman. Today the government regulations such as minimum wage and OSHA laws kind of make the role of many unions obsolete. Not saying anything ngative about your family, but it's safe to say they have probably worked the majority of their lives in construction and feel the union is as amazing as sliced bread, which is understandable. But I can almost guarantee that the UFCW sees unionizing one Wal-Mart as the first domino in a long line of more money by unionizing the largest company in the world. Ok so the workers becoem unionized. What gets better for them? Either A: they get minor raises that equate to what they were making before because of union dues, or B: they make less what they were making before since by law they are making minimum wage before dues are taken out. True conditions could probably stand to get better at Wal-Mart, but it's not going to happen through a union, and surely not the UFCW i.m.h.o.
Well the minimum wage is a joke, full time at the federal minimum wage is well below the poverty line. Collective barganing could do great things for walmart, such as, getting full time employees 40 hour work weeks, add a decent healthcare package for those employees and provide a living wage for all the uneducated single mothers that work there.
As far as my Grandpa goes, he's living of a pension that the union got him, so he's always been a supporter.
I realize established unions don't do much except for keeping the status quo, but I do believe they still serve a purpose.
With the way our manufacturing jobs are flying over sees, service workers unions are becoming more important.
DireChocobo
Fairburn, GA
July 2004
FEB 26, 2005 06:56 PM