Why only Wal-Mart?

[davidn3600]

What about Target, Staples, or grocery stores or Home Depot?

Retail employees are rarely paid much more than minimum wage and offered few benefits no matter what the company.

Hotels are nearly just as bad.

[Jamastiene]

1. I know one thing that puts Wal Mart high on the list of baddies.

They make you sign a contract saying you will not join any union while working there. At least, they did back in the mid 2000s when I worked there.

I don't know if any of the other stores you mention specifically have that kind of policy against employees (or associates as Wal Mart called us) <------

There are tons of other reasons, but that is one big reason to start off.

[Lasher]

2. That's a Yellow Dog Contract.

It was outlawed in 1932 by the Norris–La Guardia Act.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-dog_contract

[Lady Freedom Returns]

3. It was but Wal-mart still has you sign that you won't

What big boys get away with.

[Jamastiene]

5. Apparently, there is a Wal Mart exception nowadays

or at least in the mid 2000s when I worked there, because that contract was in the papers I had to sign to work there.

[Lasher]

15. I don't doubt what you say.

I don't know if it's illegal to require job applicants to sign Yellow Dog Contracts, but Norris - LaGuardia made them unenforceable.

[Jamastiene]

25. I appreciate you letting me know.

The unions are not strong down here in my area. So, I would have never known that had you not pointed it out to me. I wish I had known back then.

[Lasher]

29. I have learned a lot of things since I found DU.

At our best, we help one another in this way. It is rewarding when I am able to help someone. Others here have done the same for me.

[graham4anything]

4. Walmart cuts workers hours to ensure not enough to qualify for ANY benefits whatsoever

and with less hours worked, employees can't even make a bad living as there are not enough hours X dollars to equal anything.

And Walmart more than any other store nationwide killed the mom and pops in any area it is in.

Which meant killed small business and now, those hard working people who owned their own,
are working low paying no benefit jobs (and can't even have the write offs a small business has)

let alone Walmart sells cheaply made clothing that needs to be replaced quickly and actively promotes themselves when disasters happen

(Why was it in NJ during Sandy, walmart was the only one that remained open fully stocked
while no other facility was? Because they gobble up the goods at a fraction of the cost that mom and pops if still open cannot do.And how did they have the gas in their supply truck tanks when no one else in North Jersey did?
Does Walmart actually make money or do they lose leader everything and anything to further their private goals longterm?
(i.e.-are they almost like a secret mercenary army or Halliburton type business who makes their lives off of everyones misery?)

the sad thing is, people are trancelike enduced to shop there solely on the cheapie prices, especially the meds, yet other drugstores/supermarkets will sell Medicine at same price, but it is not widely know.
And in alot of areas, of course, there is NO other choice now anyhow unless you shop online
or travel a greater distance (whcih means more gas).

(Another reason I admire Mayor Bloomberg of NYC who so far has kept them out of Manhattan itself as they repeatedly attempt to enter.

[HopeHoops]

10. Oh, it's far worse than that. You can work more than 40 hrs/week with no benefits.

They pioneered the practice of giving people two part-time jobs in different departments and then cross-billing between departments. In essence, that means you can work 50 hours in shoes and have 29 of them billed to sporting goods without ever setting foot in the sporting goods section - no benefits. That company is evil.

[former-republican]

34. You just blew my mind

Is this really true?

[HopeHoops]

36. Has been for about 15 years.

[Honeycombe8]

13. All retail does that short-hours trick. My sis used to work at Penney's decades ago...

she complained about that.

Target employees get paid peanuts, too, and aren't allowed to work many hours, etc. Same thing as WalMart. They're pretty unhappy.

I guess the lesson is....don't go into retail work unless you want to work long hours w/o pay, or short hours when you need more, are okay with no benefits and being treated like a thing. That's the impression I get about retail.

I may work retail when I "retire" from my office job. Just for something different. When I don't need ins., and when I don't want to work full time.

[HiPointDem]

6. Because walmart is bigger than most of its competitors combined. It's the biggest

employer in the US & the biggest employer on the planet. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined. It sells more food than Kroger & Safeway combined.. It's the price-setter through its practices of forcing suppliers to reduce prices every year, and all other retailers are thereby forced to adopt its shitty, murderous practices. walmart is bigger than norway, which is the 25th biggest economy in the world.

Target, staples, any grocery chain and home depot are mere ants by comparison. nothing is achieved by going after them.

[TheBadWolf]

7. I wish I could boycott my grocery store.

There's only one in town, so it's either do that or drive 15 miles to the nearest store - which is Walmart.

[HopeHoops]

12. We're fortunate to have a family run grocery chain in the area (7 stores total).

Their prices are lower than what WalMart advertises and they actually stock local produce (when available, obviously). I can always find a spot near the entrance, and I have a handicapped placard but rarely have to use it. I don't even like to shop in a plaza that HAS a WalMart because there's never a place to park near the store, and some damn SUV without handicapped plates or a placard is always in the handicapped spot. Every fucking time. It never fails.

I keep my money local whenever possible. I go to a family run hardware (the kind where you can open a tray and buy one screw for four cents). I shop at K-Mart because it is ALSO cheaper than WalMart and you don't have to spend 45 minutes looking for the automotive department. We go to local family-owned restaurants instead of the big chains. I use the local UniMart for gas (privately owned franchise location).

If you don't support your local stores, they go away. That's never good.

[cyberpj]

18. Welcome to DU!

Glad you're here.

Just wondering..... 'TheBadWolf'... Fairy Tale fan or Doctor Who fan?

No matter - just curious.

[TheBadWolf]

21. Yeah, Doctor Who.

I was here for about 7 or 8 years under the username BulletproofLandshark, but I couldn't access my account for some reason after the switch to DU3.

[cyberpj]

23. Aha.

So no welcome necessary.

Just a from a fellow Whovian.

[hrmjustin]

24. Welcome to DU!

[Agschmid]

32. Wegmans, phew. n/t

[Egalitarian Thug]

8. Because they are not only the largest private employer in America, they are the reason that

those other places and businesses pay so poorly today.

I think it is also worth reminding you that walmart did not become what they are with the model they use. Sam Walton built it by paying a decent wage, selling American made stuff, and bringing retail into towns that didn't have any options.

Walmart today is entirely exploitative and therefore, destructive.

[HiPointDem]

11. sam walton started importing long before he died. his folksy patriotic image was

the product of PR.

From the beginning, Sam Walton and Wal-Mart focused on buying goods as cheaply as possible, which often meant buying imports. Here is an examination of the history of Wal-Mart's procurement practices in Asia and China -- even through its own "Buy American" promotional campaign in the 1980s and 1990s -- and the prognosis for the future.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/secrets/wmchina.html

walmart was always exploitative, though he couldn't do as thorough a job until he got some bigger money behind the effort.

[Egalitarian Thug]

19. Yes, you're right. I didn't mean it to sound like he was good guy before, but it did come out

that way.

He bought American goods as long as he had to and got the most advertising out of it. He always squeezed vendors unmercifully, literally forcing many to move to China.

[HiPointDem]

22. he was buying imports even as he made a big "made in america" PR campaign.

[liberal N proud]

9. K-Mart was the first store to open on Thanksgiving

I think it is because WalMart is the biggest retailer.

[obamanut2012]

14. The Waltons are the richest family in the US

The Top Ten Richest Women List is literally almost all Waltons. They give no money to charity. They give lots to RW politicians. Their company is notorious for being sexist and homophobic in employment practices, in having peasant life insurance policies, in destroying vendors and communities. They are huge union busters. They almost singlehandedly destroyed the US textile industry. And, through all of this, the Waltons DO NOT CARE!

They also prey on the poorest consumers, and the elderly, and the disabled.

Is the head guy at Staples a RW jerk? yes. Is the Whole Foods CEO anti union and pretty Right? Yes. However...

Wal-Mart, and the Waltons, are, by far, the worst of the worst.

[socialist_n_TN]

16. Because you've got to start somewhere........

so you might as well start with the biggest and baddest. Smack Wally World around and you have a better chance to organize the rest of them.

[Cal Carpenter]

17. It takes time to build solidarity and confidence

This is a huge step in the resurgence of the labor movement in the US.

There have been efforts among workers at some of the places you mention. Problem is the workers who try to organize or agitate get demoted, hours cut, or fired. For low income workers it is extremely risky.

There is growing public support for strike actions. If Friday goes well, it may help build momentum for other workers at other big box stores.

I would recommend checking out sites like Labor Notes and Jobs With Justice to see some examples of organizing and bargaining efforts in a variety of industries. There is so much going on nationwide.

Because Walmart is so huge and this is happening at so many locations, this is getting a lot of press. I think it is exciting as hell, personally.

[Brickbat]

20. Walmart workers are trying to do something about it.

I don't tend to shop at places that treat their employees like crap anyway, but when the employees start to stand up for themselves, they get more support from me.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. As the largest employer in the US

They set the pace in Retail, that is why.

[johnp3907]

27. "Only?"

It's not "only Wal-Mart." Labor struggles go on all the time, all over the world. This is just one of the high profile cases.

[bhikkhu]

28. A friend of mine who worked at the grocery store I shop at -

doesn't work there anymore, as she finished her college degree and got an excellent job elsewhere. While she was working for the store the manager was very encouraging. They had no problem with working around her school schedule, and actually gave her a raise so that she could get by with fewer hours in her last term, which was pretty demanding. That's the kind of place I want to shop at.

I don't know about other stores, but I know Walmart is a place that grinds people down, not one that builds them up. It does the same thing to the business communities in the towns where they locate.

[LadyHawkAZ]

30. My local grocery chain is union n/t

[LeftInTX]

31. It is ranked #2 among Fortune 500 companies

Last year it was #1

That's pretty gross if you ask me. It's gross that it's ranked so high, not that it dropped a notch.

[PATXgirl]

33. Our local grocery chain is now employee owned. My husband & I talked about starting to shop there

More from now on.

[backscatter712]

35. Basic strategy. Contrary to popular belief, we don't have to attack every enemy at the same time.

We pick one target, ideally one that's become a symbol of the forces destroying the Middle Class, and concentrate our fire.

Basic strategy.