Mistakes or sloppy work

[Lee K]

Wal*Mart bashers seem to think so.

[Locutus]

Of course, Walmart is the only company that doesn't offer full medical benefits... besides my company... :(

[Locutus]

Source?

Those jobs are replaced by other, higher paying jobs. Such as transport, importation, sales, and distribution. Also, the products are cheaper, allowing your US dollar to buy more than it otherwise could.

So are you suggesting that companies be required to provide full medical benefits for all employees? Or just Walmart?

Because that certainly would cost us anything would it? $5 roll of toilet paper anyone?

This is America, that Wal-Mart may only be helping the Waltons is not a bad thing. (not that it is true).

[RicodJour]

of Walmart's practices are just plain sketchy. It's not good business, and it's certainly not what people would consider "the American Way".

"One of the class representatives in the New York lawsuit, Maria Gamble of Suffolk County, New York, claims that while she worked at Wal-Mart as a customer service manager, Wal-Mart supervisors locked her in the store with her co-employees after the store closed when all employees were "off-the-clock." Ms. Gamble described her experiences at Wal-Mart:

"When I worked at Wal-Mart, we were routinely expected to work at times when we were not paid. The worst part of this was we were locked-in to the store at night. Every week, I worked at least one shift that went from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. or 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. When the store closed at the end of my shift, the manager or the person closing the store would lock the exterior doors but the hourly employees like me would have to remain in the store and restock merchandise and count out the cash registers, even though we had already clocked off and were not getting paid. The tasks we had to do after the store closed always took at least an hour-and-a-half, and often two hours. The doors weren't unlocked until the work was completed. There were other ways in which I wasn't paid for time I was working, as well, such as mandatory attendance at unpaid meetings, and times I had to work through lunch and breaks."

keeps pushing everything down. Sounds great, right? What's not to like about low low prices? It's how they're pushing down and what gets squeezed out.

I had to laugh at the comments about no one holding a gun to Walmart employees' heads. Walmart comes in and a bunch of businesses go out. Due to the economies of scale, which dictates everything that Walmart does, they don't need as many employees as the other stores would have required. Those out of work people are now looking for jobs to support their families and the jobs that are available in the area are Walmart jobs paying substantially lower wages. Ask yourself the question, what would you do if you were on one of the lower rungs of the economic ladder and needed to put food on the table. You'd do about anything - even work for Walmart.

You're kidding yourself if you think that Walmart's practices only affect the employees. If you want to contrast their employment practices with another, similar warehouse store, check out Costco. Entirely different corporate culture, far better employment practices and still damn profitable. That's the American way.

R

[Locutus]

Since you are not an American, it doesn't surprise me that you don't know jack about the American way.

Capitalism is the American way, and Wal-mart is a shining example of that. The good part about the American way is that others have the opportunity to compete with Wal-Mart, if no one is currently capable of doing that, that isn't Wal-mart's fault.

[RicodJour]

messagenews: [e-mail]...

LOL! Good one! I'm always fascinated by assumptions that lead to wrong conclusions. Which assumption of yours led you astray and why did you make that assumption in the first place?

What does competing with Walmart have to do with Walmart hiring illegal immigrants, locking employees in stores, not paying overtime, sexual discrimination, etc.? Which of your relatives would you want some of those things to happen to? Are you saying that those shady practices are what gives Walmart the edge? Give me an edge and you can go screw yourself? Is that how you believe capitalism is supposed to work?

BTW, we're not in a capitalist society. Them there are buzz words that people like to hang on to. Our economy has capitalistic tendencies. We're actually in a mixed economy where the government regulates a large portion of it. It is not a free market and it is not a capitalist economy. Turn of the 20th century America was far closer to a capitalist economy. That was the era of robber barons, market manipulation and monopolistic trusts. As, those were the days, eh?

R

[J. Clarke]

were in the employ of third-party contractors.

So show us the "numerous times".

Locking someone in a store would be a violation of Section 135.05 of the Laws of New York (unlawful imprisonment), and depending on the class of occupancy would probably be a violation of Section 27-371 of the NYC Administrative Code as well. Since egress in case of fire was prevented that might also elevate the offense to Unlawful Imprisonment in the First Degree, which is a Class E felony that could have the manager in the slammer for four years.

Personally if my boss locked me in a store with no way out I'd call the cops and if I had no way of doing that I'd pull the fire alarm and explain the problem to the fire chief after he got through busting the door down.

[Nova]

I think it more than one or two managers:

"Wal-Mart has known for years of a massive companywide problem of fair labor standards violations but did not take sufficient steps to address the problem. An internal Wal-Mart audit of one week of time records in

2000 from 25,000 employees had alerted Wal-Mart officials to potential violations. The audit found 60,767 missed breaks and 15,705 lost meal times. It also alerted Wal-Mart executives to 1,371 instances of minors working too late, during school hours, or for too many hours in a day. [Steven Greenhouse, ?Suits Say Wal-Mart Forces Workers to Toil Off the Clock,? New York Times, A1, 6/25/02]"

[RicodJour]

Okay, but this is the last time I'm doing your homework for you.

dozen subcontractors were implicated, but Walmart was the one made to pay the bulk of the penalty. Walmart was trying to push the responsibility down on the subcontractors - it didn't fool the government.

Wal-Mart:Locking someone in a store would be a violation of Section 135.05 of the

Before or after beating the crap out of the boss?

R

[J. Clarke]

It's the same bust--you still haven't demonstrated "numerous times". One bust is not "numerous times".

Wouldn't lay a hand on the boss, that would be assault. Besides, I'm getting too old for that shit.

[Allen Roy]

The key word is unskilled. If an employee doesn't like the low pay, then he or she should learn a trade or go to night school. If you ask anyone that has worked in retail for more than a year, Walmart is not the only one to offer very poor health insurance. However the rest of our benefits were pretty decent when I worked at the Crapsman house.

I'm not a big fan of RTA furniture, but it does serve its purpose in certain situations. Kids rooms is a big one. That way I don't keep thinking of how much time I have in making something to have it trashed in a few months.

Allen

[CW]

What, their into slavery now? The employees can't leave?

[Leon]

You are mistaken. Wal-Mart does not sell furniture. You went down their "Reclaimed for Firewood Isle".

[RicodJour]

investigation evolved out of two prior immigration operations that began in 1998 and 2001, respectively. These operations targeted cleaning contractors that were hiring unauthorized workers from Eastern Europe. The follow-up investigation culminated on October 23, 2003, with a series of immigration enforcement actions at some 60 Wal-Mart stores in

21 states. In these actions, ICE agents arrested approximately 245 illegal aliens employed by cleaning contractors and put these individuals into deportation proceedings."

It was a sting operation where the feds descended on numerous stores.. There were numerous busts. I also am not sure how much more severe of a situation it would need to be to satisfy you that it was egregious. There were a dozen companies and the single largest fine in US history for hiring illegal immigrants. If it were an isolated incident, and not a pattern of abuse, there wouldn't have been such a large fine.

I think this is where you move on to say that it was the subcontractors that hired the illegal immigrants. Then I reply that obviously Walmart was aware of it, that it was a pattern of abuse that Walmart took advantage of to line their coffers, and why they ended up paying a fine almost three times as much as the 12 subcontractors' fines combined. Then you call my heritage into question, I pop you one, we scuffle for a while, then get winded pretty quickly being old farts, and we retire to a local tavern for some libations and to trade war stories. It's a formula, but it works. ;)

R

[Brian Henderson]

For which they should be busted because they are breaking the law. They are not breaking the law by paying minimum wage to people with no skills.

That's not their problem. Maybe if these people had an education and were more responsible, they'd have better jobs. It's not Walmart's fault that people are stupid.

[RicodJour]

Back up there a moment, Hoss. Walmart foists some of what should be their costs of doing business onto government programs. So instead of paying their own way, Walmart is essentially getting subsidized by the government. Do you feel Walmart needs the help financially? You're okay with a mega-rich company taking some of your tax money simply because they want bigger profits?

R

[Upscale]

Considering the amount of jobs that are being contracted at cheaper rates overseas, it's obvious you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

[Joe Bemier]

I feel that's a poor way of looking at things, Pete. Go out and find the worst presentation of things so you can feel better about your own shortcomings? I'd hate to think what will happen if you are exposed to a prison. I try to look the other direction. When I was younger I spent many hours at the library. I was not checking out books but studying the woodwork. My hometown had a library with elaborate oak molding that ran into shelving, readng desks, window trim and a small set of stairs. I was in awe of the carpenter who did the work. I worked so hard to make my work measure up. Even when carpenters look at my work and compliment, I am not satisfied because I know where the flaws are - and they are always there if perfection is our only standard.

J

[Upscale]

Agree, I think that attitude is the mark of the better carpenter. At times when I've received compliments on some of the things I've made, I always known there's some imperfection somewhere and constantly strive not to repeat that type of imperfection again. If we're not always improving ourselves, then we're either stagnant or getting worse.

[Prometheus]

If you want a real ego boost, go to a Pier One store- all the defects you've described, with a much higher price tag!