Protests on Black Friday every year seems like a tradition, but why? Employees are not getting treated right. Employees who work for Walmart, all over in the world are asking for the Walmart Company to hear them out. Employees want to be heard because they have to live poorly with their salaries. Protesting the only way that they can get heard and they will not stop until they receive what they’ve been fighting for. Will protesting help them? Employees want fair schedules and affordable health care. They want to work full time with a high wage in order to earn more, to take care of their family and themselves. Many are also asking for health care that is affordable since the Walmart health insurance cost is $23.20 PER DAY (Walmart). employees …show more content…
Shawn Gakhal, from In These Times, said, “Protests were staged at about 1,600 Walmart locations in 49 U.S. states on Black Friday.” In 2015, Walmart raised the wage to $9 an hour (In These Times). The was the minimum wage which is not a living wage. Walmart DID end up raising the wage up to $10 an hour in 2016 except that their shares fell 10% to a 3 year low; because of that problem, Walmart blamed wage increases for hurting their profits. The company’s decision to raise wages for its workers comes from the Fight for 15 protests over the past few years, as well as the OUR Walmart strikes and protests by Walmart workers. According to CNN Money, those who were hired before January the 16th of 2016, would get paid $10 an hour. The Company said that it will be the second round of pay increase (CNN Money). Walmart said its average hourly rates were "about" $13 for full-time employees and $10 for part-time. Later on, The company said, “the second round of wage hikes in February will bring the average hourly wage to $13.38 for full-time workers and $10.58 per hour for part-timers”. The Walmart Company also said that it converted about 150,000 employees from part-time to full-time status last year (CNN
In Deenu Parmar's "Labouring the Wal Mart Way," the author discusses the business practices of Wal Mart, their impact on systemic poverty, and on existing work unions. Their business model forces competition to align with them, or close up shop. Wal Mart hires workers that would usually have a difficult time finding employment. That said, they pay them well below a living wage. Staff are also subject to abuses like overtime without pay. Wal Mart is resolute in their feelings towards unions. Their hiring process designed to cut out union sympathizers. This way, they can prevent any retaliation from staff seeking a better work environment. If anti-union efforts are unsuccessful, they close the store. It also forces existing unions to take pay
Walmart is one of the most successful franchises of all time and continues to take fire from multiple angles, whether it’s about the costing of jobs, the wages, the health insurance, the small business destruction, or the environmental impact, but can always back itself up by negating those claims with facts that proves that it is beneficial to the community.
There are three articles that will be referenced during this analysis. The first article is taken from the mainstream media publication USA Today. “Wal-Mart takes hits on worker treatment: Lawsuits, unions slam megaretailer”(Armour, 2003) argues that Wal-Mart is coming under attack from critics who argue workers are underpaid, women are discriminate against, and illegal tactics are being deployed to kill unionization efforts. Armour (2003) states, “company officials say they don’t know why the attacks are coming now, and they also say the allegations are unfounded.” The next statement made during the article states that Wal-Mart employees agree with the statement. The author continues reporting on the issues at stake, but focuses mostly on how unions may be less relevant in today’s world. The article makes mention of both sides of the argument, but the rhetoric and terminology used leans towards the portrayal of Wal-Mart as a victim of biased attacks to further union interests in the market.
Today Wal-mart has a higher GDP than the entire country of Switzerland, but don’t worry they’re pretty neutral about it. But there has also been news about how they treat there employees. In 2004 an article was released entitled Everyday Low Wages: The Hidden Price We All Pay for Wal-Mart, and soon after Washington got involved. The bad publicity took a toll on Wal-mart and in fact is still today, Maryland passed a law in January, 2006, that said larger employers, such as Wal-mart, must spend at least 8% of their payroll on health benefits for their employees, and now many other states have followed suit. The bad publicity also made it so 8% of customers shop elsewhere because of what they’ve heard, this has caused lower expected sales around the holidays during 2004, and 2005. Some things they’ve done is in 2006 they paid employees on average 9.36 dollars, while other major retailers like Target and Sears pay on average 11.08 dollars. While this can be easily denied by Wal-mart, another way they have gained bad publicity is from something called off-the-clock work. If they had not finished their job they had to clock out and then still finish their job, meaning they wouldn’t get paid for
Do a search online about raising the minimum wage and you will see any number of articles, and essays detailing why it shouldn’t be done. As detailed or as long winded as these articles are, they all have one central argument, and that is; if we raise the wages of the lower class, than the providers of goods and services will have to raise their prices, which in turn makes everything go up. To this I say bah humbug. It is asinine to think that a company such as Wal-mart whose CEO makes an annual salary of $20.7 million would have to raise prices along with employee salaries in order to make any substantial profit margin. This is simply not true, especially when you consider that the average Wal-mart employee only makes close to $9.00 an hour, and it’s not just Wal-mart, but other consumer based companies, such as Target, and TJ MAXX. The CEOs of these companies make ridiculously high salaries while not even paying their workforce enough to live on.
...ir employees without their knowledge at all. Because of their prices being low, wage is even lower to make an over decent profit. Wal-Mart is a growing competitor to those who have enough trouble just surviving. It is easier for everyone just to back-off and let them do what they want, but they have taken advantage of that and the people do not like that.
...y that they were right. Their only way to bring attention to this was the act of civil disobedience. This drew attention to their issue and drew support from citizens in the community. They hope that this new focus of attention on their issue would help Walmart see that the workers did indeed deserve more pay. They hope that Walmart will reconsider the practice of low pay to their workers.
The minimum wage for HEB is $11.00 a hour. On top of that, HEB recently introduced the partner stock plan. Now Partners can start investing money, and become owners. Now, while Walmart may not start employees off at $11.00 an hour. Both however do offer full time employees medical, dental, and vision. Employees from both receive discount card with takes off 10% off items, they are eligible for the 401K retirement plan. HEB and Walmart work hand and hand with employees who are in school, working around their employees class schedules. To top it off, both companies even offer select scholarships to their student
By keeping their prices low, Walmart can easily pass that savings on to their customers and in return, their buyers are able to have a higher income and can spend their money on more products, preferably Walmart’s.
Living under poverty circumstances, workers most likely live in small apartments, drive beat down cars, and have filed for bankruptcy. However, at the end of the day they can't get low prices they cant even afford. Although I do not agree with this business model I have a job and it helps me pay for my expenses; I have no choice. Many others in my positions are losing out on gains that we can only hope to share on in the future. Critics should prevent Wal-Mart from opening new branches because ordinary families and their own workers will never in share in those gains under poverty conditions.
The fact is that Walmart pays its employees a minimum of nine dollars per hour, which is more than the federal minimum wage at seven dollars at seven dollars and twenty-five cents per hour. Additionally, Walmart does provide their employees with basic health benefits. Still, critics demand that Walmart pay their employees more and provide more health benefits, but rising costs would result in higher prices which would result in less purchasing power. That is not good for the economy. What critics fail to comprehend is that a job at Walmart earning minimum wage is not a full-time job but a part-time job, as employees should be going to college or looking for other higher paying jobs. Overall, it’s the same exact situation as the “Mom and Pop” farce and every other complaint, like price discrimination and predatory pricing; Walmart is following a business model that gives consumers the goods and services they crave at affordable prices and a low cost for Walmart. Walmart’s practices are ethical, legal, profitable, and exemplify the principal of the free market system, so any American that claims that Walmart should be targeted for its practices are virtually asking the government to target the foundation of the American economic system. In addition, those same people are asking for
Few companies create as much controversy as Wal-Mart has done with its approach to maintaining high profits with low costs. Individuals either love or hate Wal-Mart. There are consumers who like the low prices and convenience of shopping at Wal-Mart. Supporters of Wal-Mart also laud the fact that the company creates multiple jobs for not just the individuals who are employed within the stores but also those who create the products that are sold in the stores. Critics of Wal-Mart have issues with the treatment of those individuals who work at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has a poor track record when it comes to Fair Labor Practices by giving low wages, bad healthcare coverage, and treats employees. Low wages, no benefits, irregular schedules, and unreliable hours are just some of the horrible working conditions most Walmart workers have to endure.
From this, it is clear that not everyone is a fan of the company. But where are this perspective coming from? It is just as likely for them to be from a biased outlet as the information they’re presenting being false. However, these perspectives can be easily counteracted by opposing ideas. One of which being the author stating the so-called “investing over $2.7 billion in wages” plan. Which I can confirm is true. In addition, since this plan was introduced in 2015, it has had a positive impact on the companies sales both in stores and online. The 200 training centers opened in 2015 as mentioned by the author, was a positive implementation in order to increase the minimum hourly rate. Before of which, had been a common complaint and issue associated with the company. Not only this, but there were endless complaints made about the company’s employee treatment, but it seems as though Walmart has acknowledged these complaints and in recent times has taken a step in the right direction. The author had not addressed much factual information regarding its suppliers and rather the “goals”
Many employees claim low wages, no benefits, irregular schedules, and unreliable hours as some of the horrible working conditions they have to endure. Walmart employees put together different unions all the time to try and protest or strike about the wages, treatment and anything else that seems to come along with being an employee of Walmart. Walmart does not take well to these unions. Women of Walmart seem to have it the hardest though. As recently as 2013, despite the fact that women account for as much as 57 percent of Walmart’s U.S. workforce, women were paid $1.16 less per hour (Osterndorf). In an article about Walmart and how it treats employees wanting to take sick days, a woman in fear of losing her job at a North Huntingdon Walmart, went back to work even though she had doctors' notes and hospitalization recorded, which were both rejected by her supervisors, to excuse her from work due to a miscarriage. She was worried the she would get fired due to absences so she went back (Abrams). Walmart also does not give out good health care to its employees. There are many claims of Walmart cutting health care for employees or finding the cheapest possible solution for an employee's health care. In 2014, the company cut insurance benefits to its part-time employees (Osterndorf). In a New York Times article about health care called, Walmart to End Health Coverage for 30,000 Part-Time Workers, it stated
Walmart has had a long-standing presence in America society since the middle of the 20th century, seen as a place to get everything done, Walmart has become a fixation in our society. From grocery shopping, to changing your oil and even filing your annual tax returns, Walmart is always there, everyday. Started by Sam Walton in 1962, it began as a small operation catering to a small Arkansas community. It was started on principles very similar to small local businesses in small towns. Today Walmart has gotten a different, darker reputation. On the surface, Walmart may seem like the solution to everyday issues. Low-income families are attracted to the low prices, and people who work odd hours benefit greatly from the 24 hours a day that many Walmarts are open. Lately, Walmart has also managed to be publicly recognized as a store that sells many of today’s green products, including organic food, environmental conscious cleaning products, as well as, paper products made from recycled paper. However, underneath all this, Walmart has a different side. Exploitation of its workers is widespread amongst Walmarts who do not belong to a union, especially in the United States. Wal...