Wal*Mart in DC

[Something completely different]

We should not stop at 12.5$ an hour, but raise the minimum wage to 40$ an hour, that way workers can get the most amount of money and will solve the gap in wealth.

How come you damn all social collectives in one thread and then propose the raising of the minimum wage to resolve social problems of wealth inequality.

Go away before I harvest some trollfat.

[Creed of Heresy]

My home ...city? District? Is Washington, D.C. DC has enough problems without Wal-Mart fucking it over even harder. There's a lot of small businesses and locally-owned and operated stores in that area that would suffer greatly for the presence of a Wal-Mart which would threaten to fuck over the wealth disparity already struggling there. Wal-mart's practices are unsavory at best and destructive at worst and they're often at their worst wherever they go.

Like LP said. Fuck Wal-Mart.

[Fruity]

Wal-Mart knocked on our door about four years ago (lived about 30 minutes away from the town I live in now). The town had a lot of locally owned businesses and grocery market chains no bigger than having a store in a few cities in the state. People had full time jobs, or at least part time jobs that promised some 30 hours a week. I remember having a town meeting where people could voice their opinions regarding Wal-Mart. Some complained that the town needed to grow and progress and business owners did what they could to keep Wal-Mart out. Wal-Mart won. In it came with its ridiculous work hours and wages. Businesses broke and had to close, one of my favorite grocery stores closed, and people kept applying for work at Wal-Mart. I remember people being excited about "getting the job". That never lasted because they have been getting ten hours a week, 12 hours a week, sometimes no hours a week. So they have to make up for it by working the crops in the fields. Way to go Wal-Mart.

[festive1]

My home ...city? District? Is Washington, D.C. DC has enough problems without Wal-Mart fucking it over even harder. There's a lot of small businesses and locally-owned and operated stores in that area that would suffer greatly for the presence of a Wal-Mart which would threaten to fuck over the wealth disparity already struggling there. Wal-mart's practices are unsavory at best and destructive at worst and they're often at their worst wherever they go.

Like LP said. Fuck Wal-Mart.

The counter argument is there are a lot of unskilled workers in DC, and Wal*Mart could provide them jobs. But they will only pay minimum wage and will likely be part-time to save Wal*Mart the cost of benefits. I think this would be worse. If those people could earn the $12.50 an hour, they'd still have no benefits and likely be part-timers, maybe Wal*Mart should just go away.
The problem is DC, especially eastern DC does need development. Just not this kind of development that will give people jobs and yet make it worse for them.

[Creed of Heresy]

Yeah, I'm from eastern D.C. I know all about the development it needs. But it doesn't need Wal-Mart development. That's the wrong kind of development.

[CapnAwesome]

So the DC City Council passed preliminary legislation requiring employers who gross more than $1 billion and have a store larger than 75,000 square feet, to pay their workers a "super-minimum wage" of $12.50, vs. the regular minimum wage of $8.25. This does effect other stores in DC, but there is an exemption for Union shops.

To me this is just a crazy law. How does it make sense that a smaller business is allowed to pay shittier wages? Why is it worse for a huge company to pay shitty wages, or a unionized company to pay shittier wages. The only explanation is that some union has a really good lobby.

[Faith No More]

The only explanation is that some union has a really good lobby.

I think this is just DC politicians trying to keep WalMart out, not the work of a union.

[thesummerqueen]

As long as people are stupid enough to continue shopping there,

Let me give you some perspective here: As long as people are POOR enough to continue to shop there.

Before I moved in with David, I shopped at Wal-mart because there was no Trader Joe's near where I lived and Wal-Mart prices are bangin' for a single person living on 30k or less.

I make just enough now and he pays just enough now on bills that I can shop at Target instead.

But as much as I make fun of the yokels who also shop at Wal-Mart, don't you fucking judge the people who shop there. No one gives two fucks about the corporate business jack-offs if they're charging low enough prices for them to feed their kids.

You claim to have a better business model than Wal Mart? Why don't you start the company?

You mad, bro?

[thesummerqueen]

I'd like to add something else.

As far as people continuing to shop there, even if those people made enough money to conceivably shop somewhere else, I'm failing to see how it is the fault of the buyers for how much the corporation pays their employees. If less people shopped there, they wouldn't suddenly raise the salaries of the employees working there - they would shut down store locations, downsize, and fire staff.

And if things get really bad, they require customers to do things for themselves, raise prices, or switch to machine operation wherever possible.

The company I used to work for, when the housing market burst, went so far as to let their receptionist go, leave a telephone at the front desk and a notebook, and required customers and vendors to dial back to the appropriate desk themselves. I never asked who distributed the mail.

[festive1]

Ahh... An update:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/wal-...story.html

So Wal*Mart is calling foul on the living wage bill, which is set to be up for official voting by the City Council on Wednesday. HOWEVER! According to several community leaders which the company has been wooing and reassuring, in an attempt to win them over to supporting their move into the DC market, Wal*Mart has on various occasions promised to pay a "living wage" to all DC associates. This ranging from the Northern Virginia wage of $12.39/hour to $13.00/hour dependent on who you're talking to and which meetings they attended.

Wal*Mart is screaming "BAIT AND SWITCH!!" But if they were planning on paying workers a minimum of $12.39/hour anyway, what is the big deal of the Council forcing them to pay a minimum of $12.50/hour? Something is rotten in the state of Denmark... In a battle of who do I trust, between Wal*Mart and DC community leaders? The community leaders win, hands down, no question, even if they are clergy.

The article states:

They [Wal*Mart lobbyists] say the legislation is an effort by politicians sympathetic to labor to protect unionized businesses by making life harder on nonunion retailers, including Wal*Mart.

To me this is the crux of the matter for Wal*Mart. The DC Council wants to support union shops, and Wal*Mart hates unions. Period.

Wal*Mart hates unions? How much? This is how much.

Wal-Mart's anti-union efforts were headed by one of Clinton's fellow board members, John Tate, a Wal-Mart executive vice president who also served on the board with Clinton for four of her six years.
Tate was fond of repeating, as he did at a managers meeting in 2004 after his retirement, what he said was his favorite phrase, "Labor unions are nothing but blood-sucking parasites living off the productive labor of people who work for a living."
Wal-Mart says Tate's comments "were his own and do not reflect Wal-Mart's views."

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4...dlxtxaYdhA

I personally knew John Tate. I know that his views on unions were and are, in fact, shared by current Wal*Mart executives. One of his main jobs as executive VP, was to write, shape, and enact Wal*Mart's labor policies and practices. Riddle me this: IF his views were NOT reflective of Wal*Mart's attitude, why was he brought in as an executive VP? Prior to joining Wal*Mart, he was an independent attorney working with many different companies regarding their labor disputes. Sam Walton, personally, wooed him to leave his firm and join Wal*Mart.
Bah! Venting... I really hate waking up and seeing shit like this in the paper. /end rant #WalMartSucksBalls