Needy Employees Employee food drive leads to questions about the retailers wages By Denver Nicks @DenverNicksNov. 18, 201358 Comments inShare.9 Read Later Walmart J.D. Pooley / Getty Images Those smiling faces that greet you upon entering Walmart? Theyre becoming a thing of the past Email Print Share Comment Follow @TIMEBusiness A Walmart store in Canton, Ohio, is holding a food drive to benefit employees in need, leading some in the community to raise questions about the wages the company pays its workers. The food drive boxes are not on display for customers, but rather are tucked away in an employee-only area — the food drive asks for donations from fellow employees to help out co-workers in need. “That Walmart would have the audacity to ask low-wage workers to donate food to other low-wage workers — to me, it is a moral outrage,” one Walmart shopper told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. A Walmart spokesperson defended the food drive as an example of employees — or “associates” as the company calls its workers — looking out for each other. “This store has been doing this for several years and is for associated that have faced an extreme hardship recently,” said spokesperson Kory Lundberg. The world’s largest retailer is facing some hardship of its own in recent months, reporting its third straight-quarterly decline in sales last week. It often faces criticism for the wages it pays workers. 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(Merrill Lynch: Wealth Management) ▶ Buying vs Renting: The Real Facts (YouTube) ▶ Five High-Paying, Low-Stress Jobs (Monster) Recommended by 58 comments Livefyre Sign in + Follow Post comment Newest | Oldest mrsjeffkassel mrsjeffkassel I dont think this is strange at all. My mom was a single mom with 4 kids and she was paid fairy well at her job. However, she still struggled around the holidays to make sure we had a nice Xmas. The company she worked for held a fund raiser for her and other needy families in the company one year and it was a blessing. dad1111 dad1111 Maybe their sales have declined because people realize how crappy they are to their employees. I would never shop at Walmart there are deals to be found at better stores who pay their workers living wages and treat them all equally. LanDister LanDister This is a bit strange. But can we really expect anything less from walmart? caking caking Carol A. King, I am a 74 year old grandmother and live in a relatively small town on the Olympic Peninsula. I will never shop at Walmart again. If I cant find what I need at Costco or somewhere else I will do without. It is unconscionable that this multi-billion dollar company pays sub-standard wages to their employers and then has the nerve to suggest that underpaid employees should come to the aid of their co-workers. This is not what America is about, we are better than this. The Waltons do not deserve what we, as consumers, have given them! Enough!! I encourage everyone reading this to find somewhere else to shop. It would serve all of us for Walmart to fade into history and cease to be. AERzondzinska AERzondzinska Since Walmart isnt doing so well lately, perhaps the American public should organize a food drive for the Walton family. Oh wait, thats what we already do when we subsidize their wages with public benefits for employees! #libtardedamerica #libtardedamerica i know! lets pay everyone who works at wal mart $50/hour because they deserve 3 times what the average recent college grad makes to put crap on shelves. yep, that makes a ton of sense. and while were at it, lets watch wal mart fire the majority of their employees to save money and we can all cheer as the unemployment pool grows because hey, at least those 10 remaining wal mart workers with a very limited skill set are making a middle class wage. dont you love libtard naivety? RhondaTownes RhondaTownes I will not shop at walmart until they stop using sweatshops and treat women fairly in wages and better wages I live in Canada and walmart is here to I work for one of their competitors we have a union company paid benefits and get paid very well for the work we do so not all retail makes minimum wage target in canada pays above minimum wage if your not union which walmart is and slowly is in canada a couple of stores are in Quebec are then expect minimum wage and not being treated fairly im not going to shop in a walmart until the wages are better and staff gets treated with respect and not treated like dogs kikime kikime A friend of mine works at Walmart (3 years) and I work in EMS, guess who makes more.. She does! Ive heard enough about how little they get paid! Even their part time employees (my friend) get health benefits for super cheap! They get discounts at their own store and she took her family to Disney just last month and got discounts there and many other places too! Yea, being a Walmart employee is real tough, not! I think this is one more perk of being a member of the Walmart family, at least they are taking to take care of their own! jomac006 jomac006 Here is the thing about everyones moral outrage about this, they act as if Wal-Mart is the only corporation out there paying employees minimum wage. Pretty much every retailer out there are paying their employees the exact same as Wal-Mart is, but because theyre so big they catch all the flack. Also, several comments point to Wal-Mart chasing away smaller businesses because they can charge less. Most of those small businesses also only pay minimum wage and employee far fewer employees than Wal-Mart. You can boycott Wal-Mart all you want, but if you shop at any major chain store youre part of the minimum wage problem and not the solution. Also, I hope with all your moral outrage over minimum wage you tip well when you go out to eat because if you want to talk about people getting screwed over its waiters and waitresses, they make less than 3 bucks an hour and depend on your tips. TylerRichardson TylerRichardson I can only hope that the reason their profits are declining is because people like myself wont give money to a corporation that treats its employees like this. I hope they all find a way to better themselves and gain different, better, employment. ablindpig ablindpig This is employees helping other employees who are struggling. You dont do that in YOUR company or your office? If there were no Walmart there would be fewer jobs for people overall. There would also be no competition that offers different shopping experiences like Target or Costco who also employ large numbers of people and who also have some employees having a hard time making ends meet. This is just a whack job against Walmart - a part of a campaign to unionize probably, so the union bosses can buy more homes down in the islands. Meanwhile the new Obamacare policies are forcing companies to lay off full time workers to add multiple part time jobs with no insurance - It is like blueprint for poverty. Socialist Socialist While I agree with the shoppers opinion, I think that its a moral outrage that anyone continues to shop at Wal-Mart (unless one is genuinely unable to afford anything else than Wal-Mart, which is another can of beans...). BobJan BobJan This is the telling feature that a living wage is needed in America. If we can pay the Congress a living wage then everybody deserves a living wage. Denesius Denesius Effin Walmart - I cant believe this. If the SOBs didnt pay such a pittance, they wouldnt have so many needy employees. And @ClauLuke : you state ...most of their merchandize from China? How about all - except for the rotten or unripe crap in the produce department, I would be hard pressed to find any merchandise thats NOT made in China ClauLuke ClauLuke Walmart is really above the law. Walmart kills the competition and the small business owners and then order most of their merchandize from China(!?!). I asked myself why most americans are still shopping at this example of business piracy and unethical working standards? Right, i forgot, it is because above even Walmart, we have now become the UNITED STATES of CHEAP-O AMERICA, where most citizens can care less about business ethics and the well being of the country, as long as their houses a full of cheap and toxic products brought from China, a country with a human rights report which one of the worst in the world. We have fallen low, very low America… failureofreality failureofreality The colleges and universities could do the same thing for their adjunct teachers. The high paid administrators and tenured faculty could be asked to help the adjuncts, who receive wages similar to Walmart employees. gogoqueen66 gogoqueen66 That is insane. I am sorry but this is Walmart. They could find out who in the store is needy and quietly give them a gift card to help out but asking their patrons who are most likely on foodstamps to begin with to do this is beyond my realm of thought. I am speechless. DavidConroy DavidConroy “People speak sometimes about the bestial cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky TAZinTLH TAZinTLH I agree with Jessie but also with Nancy. The stockholders (mainly the Walton family) are making BILLIONS yet the folks who are making this possible are paid a pittance. What is the story about Real Walmart commercials & website? Barb Barb If the need is for non perishable food, Walmart should sell these products at cost to their own employees. JessieA.Batten JessieA.Batten The Walmart employees at this store deserve applause for caring enough about their needy co-workers to donate. The Walmart Corporation and Walton family deserve widespread condemnation that such a need exists because of the appallingly low wages they pay their employees. lkim65 lkim65 Oh, good grief. The accumulated wealth of the Walton family could pay a decent salary for every Walmart associate for a lifetime...and they would still have billions of $$ left over! I feel nothing but disdain for for that family. bkoog30 bkoog30 @#libtardedamerica Clearly Walmart puts down a lot of small businesses that these people would be working at, for higher wages. Thats the whole point! nowayout90 nowayout90 @#libtardedamericaNice trolling. Except its not libtard naivety when you pull the $50 salary out of your own rear. And youre foolish if you think increasing the minimum wage does anything other than have far more positive impact on the economy than the VERY minimal job loss. (knowable, documented fact.) Mouth-breathing knuckle-draggers hate minimum wage increases AND public assistance without the most basic understanding that poor wages cause the other. YOU are paying Walmarts employees because Walmart wont. Pick one; you wont get it both ways. #libtardedamerica #libtardedamerica @RhondaTownes ever heard of punctuation? barneydidit barneydidit @kikime Your friend is either working at a Walmart in Japan, or is lying to you Kiki. The company cut back quite a bit on its health benefits in 2011 for part timers, even their full time employees dont get benefits super cheap. Anna888 Anna888 @jomac006 To explain the outrage (if its so difficult to grasp for you): its because the Walmart is posting ridiculously high profits every year. It just would make sense that at least a company with high profits would pay its employees enough so they could buy food. Its pure greed on the part of Walmart management. AERzondzinska AERzondzinska @jomac006 Not true--a recent poll of small businesses found that most pay above minimum wage. (Check it out here: smallbusinessmajority.org/small-business-research/minimum-wage/) In any case, its not necessary to withhold moral outrage regarding Walmart just because most large retailers and restaurant companies treat their employees like labor should be free. Personally, I have bottomless stores of moral outrage for the corporate usurpation of power in this country. tom.litton tom.litton @jomac006 There is a theory that walmart employees so many people that if they raised their wages, then the other businesses would be forced to raise theirs as well. Why would people take a job at min wage if walmart is always hiring and paying 11 or 12 per hour? In a related theory, if walmart payed more, and it forced others to pay more (or the min wage is raised), then that would put such a large supply of money into the hands of the very people that tend to shop at walmart, that it wold raise their profits, and not lower them. C_Ryback C_Ryback Wow, thats brilliant. Attack their employer, then dont donate a dime. You and Fat Mike Moore are really grand .. gas-bags. tom.litton tom.litton @TylerRichardson I think their profits are declining because of 2 things: People have seen their income decline over the last few decades, and therefore cant afford to shop as much. This trend it finally catching up to walmart. Competition from cheaper stores, like Dollar General. Anna888 Anna888 @ablindpig Obamacare sure is not forcing any company to lay off their full time workers - its the decision of the company and priorities of the owners. If you only create a company to stuff your wallet, then you fire your highest paid employees, and keep the money for yourself. You pay the least you can, and hope for the best, hope that underpaid, disgruntled workers who cannot feed or provide health care for their families will work well enough even with that sack of worries on their shoulders. But If your focus extends beyond your wallet, into living in a healthy community, into creating something positive in the world, then you pay people decent wage and see them flourish - look at Google. Anna888 Anna888 @BobJan since politics is a public service, we should pay all politicians a minimum wage only! AlyssaReneeSapp AlyssaReneeSapp @gogoqueen66 the article clearly states that it does not ask customers to donate. C_Ryback C_Ryback Is there a point here? AlyssaReneeSapp AlyssaReneeSapp @JessieA.Batten appallingly low seems a bit harsh. ive worked for walmart for four years and have rarely had trouble making ends meet. im an hourly employee, not salary, mind you. and the times i have had trouble were because i was living outside my means. twominutes twominutes @lkim65 Im not at all a fan of Walmart - I wont even shop there if I can avoid it - but its nto quite that simple. The accumulated wealth of the Walton family, according to the Forbes billionaire list, is about $120 billion. Walmart has 2.1 million employees. Dividing the money out, each employee would get about $57,000 - which would be quite a lot of money for the average Walmart employee, but is not remotely enough to qualify as a lifetime salary. C_Ryback C_Ryback .. And youre foolish if you think increasing the minimum wage does anything other than have far more positive impact on the economy than the VERY minimal job loss. (knowable, documented fact.) Then prove it. Were waiting. Otherwise, you are just OweBamas tool. Butterbunz Butterbunz Maybe she used voice-to-text. C_Ryback C_Ryback Lying? How do you know? Wheres your proof? tom.litton tom.litton @barneydidit @kikime now now. Its entirely possible the friend is in management, or works at the corporate office. murphydogmom murphydogmom @Anna888 @ablindpig I agree. Employers are eager to blame health care requirements, but the reality is that they just want to lay people off. I have always found it odd that conservatives, who hate the idea of welfare, are eager to embrace the wages of a place like Walmart, which, by necessity, means having their employees apply for, and receive government assistance. I try very hard to only shop at the places that actually level the playing field. In the end, for companies like Walmart, the tax payers are paying part of the salaries of the private sector, which is ridiculous. gogoqueen66 gogoqueen66 @AlyssaReneeSapp @gogoqueen66 MY bad. My apologies. I think it is still rude to ask fellow employees. I doubt we have any wealthy people working at Wallyworld. tom.litton tom.litton @AlyssaReneeSapp @JessieA.Batten Situations are different. Just because a single person living in a small town can make it work, doesnt mean a family living in a large city can. The costs for living are very very different. griggg griggg @AlyssaReneeSapp @JessieA.Batten The point of having a job is to meet fundamental needs AT THE LEAST. If you cannot literally get food on your table, pay rent/mortgage, have clothes, then the hourly position at WalMart is not paying enough for workers to meet their fundamental needs. I would be hard pressed to know how a parent can afford to care for children/family on this income. tom.litton tom.litton @twominutes @lkim65Walmart made $17 billion dollars last year, so thats an extra 8k per employee that could be payed every year. Not that im suggesting they pay back all of their profits to their employees, but they can afford a significant raise easily. finance.fortune.cnn/2013/11/12/wal-mart-pay-raise/ DeweySayenoff DeweySayenoff @twominutes @lkim65 They have more wealth than the poorest 90 MILLION Americans (almost a third of us) do COMBINED. C_Ryback C_Ryback How much are you donating to the unions behind this? Because talk is cheap, clicks even cheaper. C_Ryback C_Ryback Show us the math. Were waiting. Otherwise, this is just like OweBama, a load of crap (D). C_Ryback C_Ryback So .. you steal their money .. what next? Who would you steal from next? Mao and Stalin ran out of targets. So will OweBama (D). by Taboola RECOMMENDED FOR YOU The Netherlands to Immigrants: Learn Dutch o… Meet the Tea Party Five Worst Inventions TIME Explains: Why Bees Are Going Extinct Latest from our Partners The 10 Companies Paying Americans The Least — Huffington Post Read more: Walmart: Food Drive for Employees Raises Questions Over Wages | TIME business.time/2013/11/18/walmart-seeks-food-donations-to-help-needy-employees/#ixzz2l8PCvxbO
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 22:49:18 +0000
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