Walmart’s Labor Problem: Limits to the Low-Road Business Model

Posted on October 9, 2012 by jway

Today, the Making Change at Walmart campaign released a report entitled “Walmart’s Labor Problem: Limits to the Low-Road Business Model.” It can be read in its entirety here.

Comments

  • Anonymous

    If you vote for Obama, remember you will be responsible for all the bad things that hppen in the future. Do you want 4 more years like the late 4 years? Over 8% unemployment and higher prices, then vote for Obama.

    • Anonymous

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      • Anonymous

        If Obama gets elected, I feel sorry for the young people. It is them who will have to pay over $75,000.00 dollars in taxes. Higher taxes for Obamacare and lower wages are to be had under Obama, if you can find a job at all. Will you be willing to put up with a $20 trillion debt. And higher gas prices and higher food prices as well.

      • Anonymous

        I feel sorry for the young people that have a dead end, poverty wage job at Walmart.

      • Anonymous

        If you want to see low wage, poverty wages, vote OBAMA. That’s what we have had the past 4 years plus higher prices. And wait until 2014 when you have to buy insurance or pay a $2,000.00 fine.

      • Anonymous
      • Anonymous

        Don’t you get it, Wal-Mart will just keep firing people! As long as they have tons of people looking for work, they will just hire new people. It’s not like these are highly skilled jobs. No skill jobs get no skill wages. But you will figure it out when Obama bites you in the ass. Or are you one of those who act on emotion instead of facts? Bet your one of those who thinks that a couple of people walking out, means something!

  • Fight till you die

    The largest retail employer in the US should be a union shop. That falls on the shoulders of unions througout the country. An organized effort should have been done years ago , in every state . I wonder if Mitt Romney shops at walmart, or Obama , or Warren Buffett, or Bill Gates . the unions in this country have been chopped down , but they better get back on their feet , or it’s over. The AFL-CIO has sold out workers in all 50 states , and the Teamsters are a shell of what they were . The government supports Chinese production. If you dont fight a lot harder , you wont even get a dime . Wake -Up AMERICA……did you forget about the power of boycott?? Corporations own this country, thats where the fight has to go !!!

  • Anonymous

    Wal-Mart workers who participate in an illegal strike should realize that their Wal-Mart career is over.

    • Anonymous

      Career? Very poor choice of words! But it did make me laugh.

      • Anonymous

        It is only not a career at the choosing of the employee. Wal-Mart loves to promote from within. Mainly the whiners post here. Whiners usually don’t get promoted.

      • Anonymous

        There a difference between a career and a dead end Walmart job paying poverty wages.

      • Anonymous

        Only for those who choose not to take advantage of the many resources available to just about anybody. Teaching people to whine there future away borders on criminal. The management of Wal-Mart is staffed by 80% of folks who started as entry level workers. People who worked hard and worked smart progressed. People who do just what is necessary and whine online stay at the bottom. This is how things work in the real world. Unions teach everybody to be average which is against human nature. People strive to excel. It is the way we were wired. Those who excelled got more food and passed on their genes more often. Unions and socialism are a recent thing and against human nature. Whining gives you liberals a temporary rush, but being a failure is a real bummer as I can see from your posts.

      • Anonymous

        Here’s a great article about just how shitty a Walmart ‘career’ can be. Tell me Walmart expert how many employees have been promoted from the warehouse????

      • Anonymous

        I have no idea how the warehouse or the shoe department for that matter. I have read that the number is 80% for management in total. This corresponds to what I have done in private business. Reading a resume and doing an interview is not nearly as good as having an employee working for you. You get a great view of their work ethic, interpersonal skills, and many other things. Sam Walton knew this as all small business owners know it. Working hard and working smart gets you ahead. Whining and doing just enough to get by get you nothing. The fact that this is news to you does not bode well for your future anywhere. You would do better for yourself and your family to learn this early on.

      • Anonymous

        People who are like MEProudLIBERAL had their genes passed on by people who are less then average. People who are LIBERAL don’t use their heads and don’t vote for who is BEST but who are LIBERAL. If they chose Adolph Hitler as the LIBERAL candidate they would vote for him.

      • Anonymous

        Then these people who get fired should be happy to be rid of a job that pays POVERTY WAGES.

    • http://www.facebook.com/dawn.brandenburg.7 Dawn Brandenburg

      So if you have never worked at a Wal-Mart how do you know about their promotion practices? This and some of your other comments have led me to believe you are associated in some way. If not, then keep your comments about what employees deal with to yourself. I believe actual employees would know what goes on better than someone pushing your nonsensical ideas. What is your suggestion to single parent families? Why would you assume that these workers have poor ethics? Are the reports of welfare recipients working at Wal-Mart false? Do national news outlets lie for employees? The list of questions could go on but lets try these to start.

      • Anonymous

        Never said I worked for them and I don’t. Their promotion practices are like everybody else’s. Good people get promoted, average stay where they are and bad employees get fired. It has worked that way for generations all over the US. What you read here on this union sponsored website isn’t a broad representation of Wal-Mart, but generally a thin slice of people who feel they have been wronged by their employer. My suggestion to all families is to not have children until you can afford them, It isn’t anybody’s responsibility to pay for their bad decisions. We waited and it worked well. Most people do. People repeatedly post about their poor attitudes and poor work ethics. Read their posts. I don’t think a full time Wal-Mart worker as part of a two provider family would qualify for welfare. Folks who are marginal workers and are the first to have their hours cut probably do qualify. The new 30 hour ObamaCare rule is going to hurt all low skilled workers. Many companies are deciding that these people are not valuable enough for the $7,500 for gold plated healthcare or the $2,000 fine, They will be reduced below the new lower hourly standard. Is their lack of value to any company the fault of the employee or the fault of the employer. We differ on who’s fault it is. I think everybody is responsible for their own destiny and you seem to think it is up to the employer or the government to take care of these folks unwilling to get the job skills millions of others have chosen to obtain.

    • txmouse

      6 people control 41.5 of the overall wealth, control 31% of the economy
      with their business practices, and affecting an estimated 33.8 million
      households, I am less than willing to set on my hands any longer. Just
      these six people managed to suck 10 billion dollars in overall wealth
      from 2007-2010 American households, for an increase of 22%, while the
      rest of us, saw a 38% decrease in income earnings potential and wealth
      from an average of 126,000 in 2007, to 77,800 in 2010. So forgive the
      militant stand, but I wish I had JUST SAW a 38% decrease instead of
      about 65% and still looking for work as a professional with a deep
      technical knowledge and skills who gave 25 years to this machine that
      ate my pension savings and dang near my home, faster that you can say
      MADE IN CHINA and it still wants more.Those 6 people are the Walton Family. So tell me how important these jobs are when most workers make less than a living wage, and qualify for public assistance. During the height of Black Friday, Walmart was selling 5,000 items a minute to feed the mindset these pigs, and the rest of them re-programmed a generation of Americans from a valued asset to a liabilty and a pocket to pick as they continue to claim “We are saving you money” A CEO who is one of Walmart’s biggest vendors was overheard in stockholders meeting saying “If I wanted loyalty, I would get a dog”. You want REAL change, stay away from Sams and Walmart unless life or death. And I am sure you can live one more day without the cheap IPHONES

  • Anonymous

    Sam Walton, JR makes huge donations to Obama’s 2012 campaign. Thought the libs would love this. Maybe you should all start shopping there. What will he get in return?

    http://washingtonexaminer.com/wal-mart-boss-sam-walton-funding-obama-big-time/article/2511391#.UIXPz4b-mSo

    • Blacque

      of course he does… all capitalists stick together.

      • Anonymous

        Obama is a socialist, not a capitalist. Capitalism and risk taking is what made the US different from any other country in the history of the world.

  • Anonymous

    Obama has to deal with these things:
    1.) Benghazi scandal
    2.) Fast & Furious scandal
    3.) Solyndra scandral
    and:
    4.) DOJ failing to obey LAWS
    5.) DOJ suing states
    6.) Healthcare tax issue
    7.) “Financial Cliff” issue

    • Anonymous

      8.) money to Fisker in Finland
      9.) Green energy debachel
      10.) Keystone pipeline
      11.) No plan for the future (except same old, same old)

      • Anonymous

        The liberal mainstream media will continue to coverf for him. He told a bare faced lie about Libya and they don’t even report it. Recent emails prove this.

      • Anonymous

        Where did they come up with that mob video story. In real time they saw the terrorists coming in with huge weapons and burning buildings and did nothing to help those people. I guess that’s why they made up the story about the mob and video, so they could cover their asses.

      • Anonymous

        Yep, and Obama’s big thing now on his stump speech is you can trust him and not trust Romney. What a joke. The emails show that they knew what was going on 7 hours before the last 2 seals were killed and did nothing even though help was only an hour away.

      • Anonymous

        I heard that they thought the people would be dead by the time help could get to them, so they decided not to put any others at risk. Guess they never heard of “LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND”.

  • Anonymous

    TROLL ALERT! Below!!!

    • Anonymous

      I knew a liberal didn’t know up from down and now you just proved it.

      • Anonymous

        Hey Einstein click on the ‘Discussion’ tag. You can sort comments different ways.

        What will them thar cornputer progrhammers think up next?

        If you sort on ‘Best’ your comments go right to the bottom.

      • Anonymous

        What is a “computer progrhammer” ?

      • Anonymous

        In case you didn’t notice, it’s “CORNPUTER PROGHAMMERS”! Besides, all MEProudLIBERAL has is a bunch of nonsense, but what do you expect from a LIBERAL who would vote for a compulsive LIAR?

      • Anonymous

        Now we find he stood by and stopped the Americans from being rescued in Libya and then lied about it for 7 weeks.

      • Anonymous

        Yeah, he denied all the requests from Benghazi for help. And then he said “The death of 4 Americans is not optimal”. This one of more “cover-up’s” that happened under Obama’s watch, remember the Fast & Furious thing where Obama claimed executive order for the papers. That way no one is held responsable. No one will be held responsable for this either.

      • StillYour Nemesis

        I’m somewhat surprised, but then again I’m not. Imagine… after all of this time, I see that two of my all-time favorite losers (floridanativee and billybob44) are still haunting this blog.

        Have they finally finished the ballot counting in Flori-Duh, floridanativee? The only thing worse than being the laughing stock of the whole country is being the irrelevant laughing stock of the whole country. We should just start holding elections beginning in 2014 without Flori-Duh. Think of all the money candidates could save if they didn’t have to campaign there!

        Normally, I’m not one to gloat. But in the case of you and billybob44, I’m willing to make an exception. After viewing the many posts the two of you have put out there… “No-Bama this and No-bama that,” the results of this election were all the more sweeter. I regret that I didn’t save the file I was keeping on some of the more outrageous predictions you two morons posted over the years. The truth is… I simply didn’t care anymore. As you know, this is the first time I’ve checked in on this blog in almost a year.

  • Blacque

    FYI from http;//www.kciww.org

    Greater Kansas City Industrial Workers Of The World
    One Big Union!

    Solidarity with Walmart Workers

    , tagged with solidarity, strike.

    For the first time in their 50 year history, retail workers from
    dozens of Wal-Mart stores have gone on strike. Their complaints range
    from poor wages, to poor benefits, and to retaliation from the company
    against those attempting to organize.

    The Greater Kansas City IWW has issued a statement of solidarity with the Walmart workers.

    —

    Workers everywhere, union and non-union, in retail and in
    other fields, owe a debt of gratitude to the courageous Walmart workers
    who exercised their right to strike to force America’s largest employer
    to change for the better.

    The Greater Kansas City Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) stands
    in Solidarity with them. We stand ready to support their fight
    to improve their workplace conditions, to be treated with respect,
    to raise their economic standing, and if they so choose, to
    empower themselves through collective bargaining and direct action.

    We recognize that workers everywhere have a moral and legal right to
    have a voice in the workplace, and when Walmart workers recognize and
    exercise their power to improve their lives, all retail workers, and
    workers everywhere, will see their living standards improve.

    —

    Solidarity!

  • Still Your Nemesis

    I knew I wouldn’t have to look too long. I never expected to find you 2 losers here after all this time… but then I’m not surprised.

    Of course you know who this is. I just dropped by to tell you both…. (YEAH…. I’m talking to you floridanativee and billybob44), I never enjoyed having two beers so much as I did last night “in memory of you two buffoons.” I reflected on your many predictions of how Barack Obama was going to be thoroughly defeated in 2012. You talked your trash ever since Obama was elected. I gives me great satisfaction to see you two so soundly discredited. Of course you have lots of company… Karl Rove, Mitch McConnell, Newt Gingrich, Paul Ryan, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, the entire Fox “News” network and the list goes on.

    Especially YOU…. floridanativee! Do they have the vote figured out down there in Florida yet? With losers like you living down there, I’m not surprised it’s taken this long. Florida has only had 12 years to figure out the voting system, and they still can’t get it right.

    I’m feeling so good… I may have 2 more beers tonight and dedicate them both to you! You too geniuses are part of a dying breed…Old angry white men.

  • Dorrene M

    If it is any comfort, Sam Walton will be spending eternity in a very uncomfortable place where he’ll be confronted with his vile greed every breathing moment. Read New Testament Book of James chapter 5 verses 1-8.
    Regarding Benghazi, Bush/Chaney ignored 70+ exact warnings from the CIA from 1/30/2001 to9/10/2001 while these two war profiteers were hanging out on their ranches with the Koch brothers. How many persons have died all over the world for this (intentional?) screw up?

  • Dorrene M

    Walmart failed in Germany and South Korea. The Walmart business policy did not go over with countries that insist on the lowest prices at the cost of the corporate employees and countries like China. It is said (by Christian organizations) that there are over 250 million Christians in China. Why would U.S. Christians approve of China Christians being exploited at 50 cents/hour and 16 hour days in deplorable conditions? What a great example of the ethics of the Christian business model–I think not!