And the right for workers to organize and negotiate for higher pay is at free will...oops! not at Walmart!

And the right for workers to organize and negotiate for higher pay is at free will --> Is there such a right?

Admittedly, I'm not a labor lawyer, so I don't know. If there is, though, I'd think there'd be an awful lot of companies out there (other than Wal-Mart) that are running afoul of this law.

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Steve Perkins

The National Labor Relations Act of 1935:

Quote:

Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection.

And yes you better believe that Union-busting is going on. I wonder what the Vegas odds of a Mcdonald's or a Walmart Union are?

And even if these fine oustanding corporations do repeatedly violate the law, it's ok because Labor Unions are communists right?

Anyone who dares to challenge Trickle-Down Economics, the Free Market Gospel, or wild unabashed Deficit spending is obviously a communist and should just leave the USA right now.

I'm not saying Unions are the answer to all ills, but nor will I say that the market cures all ills either. I don't think that there are many answers in ideological extremes period. I believe that as humans we need to use our intelligence to learn and adapt perpetually or we may as well begin a jihad.

What rights are Wal-Mart employees losing by not haveing a union?

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

Well they wouldn't have to deal with some of the recent scandals such as having to work off of the clock under threat of losing their job.

They could negotiate "living" wages with their collective bargaining power.

The management could avoid the embarassment of hiring fresh border jumping immigrants to clean their stores.

I don't think this list is exhaustive but then again I have yet to work at Walmart, but there is still hope!

But really the right they has been lost is the right to a union in the first place.

Sure it's not the second amendment or anything but it is still federal law and the world's largest corporation ought to respect it.

Or hire a lobbyist to subvert/change the law like any respectable corporation would do.

If Wal-Mart is lowering prices every day, how come nothing is free yet?

"What rights are Wal-Mart employees losing by not haveing a union? "

C'mon now. If it wasn't for unions there would still be child labor, 18 hr work days and no worker safety protection. Do you think it was the robber barons who brought these changes in?

At one time in history labor unions had their place in the workplace but in this day and time I don't believe they are needed. Wal Mart wouldn't be able to provide the prices and services they offer if they unionized.

The low health coverage you are talking about is because a good number of employees are part time

How many are really part time, and how many are part time because they're only allowed to work 39.5 hours per week?

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

As one of my old business professors used to say, "There's no Santa Claus in the business world."
This is the new marketplace. Small businesses adapt, or get swallowed, nobody is owed a living. Newsflash: There's nothing new about this marketplace. Wal-mart is just the current example of the end results of capitalism. The phenomenon is predictable- if unrestrained in the pursuit of profit, stores like Wal-mart will simply crush their smaller competitors. It represents nothing more than economic anarchy, and it's nothing to cheer.

Lord, I love the free market. I suspect the hundreds of small business owners who lost their livelihoods are less sanguine about it.

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

"Anyone who dares to challenge Trickle-Down Economics, the Free Market Gospel, or wild unabashed Deficit spending is obviously a communist and should just leave the USA right now."

No, hang out and liven up the party.
The Free Market, comrade, actually dislikes wild unabashed spending.

And as I alluded to earlier, this is America, where a person has the choice to work at Wal-Mart or be a doctor, lawyer or indian chief.
I feel sorry for people who, because of the choices they've made in life, end up digging ditches, cleaning port-a-potties, mopping hot tar, or stocking Wal-Mart shelves for minimum wage. I give them the human dignity of having made those choices, and the dignity of living with the consequences.
However, I'm not willing to pay more for bananas so they can unionize and get paid more than the market says they're worth.
I'm against all subsidies, large or small, overt or covert, government or private, that end up coming from my pocket.
Workers of the world, untie.
-bobo
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"What's good for me ain't necessarily good for the weak-minded."

Ever here of times changing? A company can't pull 19th century labor practices because it's illegal and the public wouldn't put up with it.

Unions had there place but now they are dinosaurs.

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

"How many are really part time, and how many are part time because they're only allowed to work 39.5 hours per week?"

Full time at Walmart is 35 hours. Part time on average is 15 hours a week. Full time gets thier hours, part time fills in the gaps. I managed for them I know I made the schedules.

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

. If it wasn't for unions there would still be child labor, 18 hr work days and no worker safety protection.

Listen, CG, I don't know what you crazy Canucks got going on up there, but this here is America. Noone held a gun to those urchins' heads and made them work in sweat shops way back when. If they hadn't been so stupid, they would've worked harder and become robber barons themselves.

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

How much is a living wage? The jobs at Wal-Mart are low skill. I can train anyone to stock shelves, do inventory or run a register. Human dignity and everyone is the same is nice in your dorm room deep thinking but it means nothing in the real world. An average hourly associate makes 7.50 to 9.00 dollars an hour at Wal-Mart. It makes no sense to pay them more because what they do is not hard to learn and requires no real skills.

Wal-Mart promotes from the inside. Work hard and knock on doors you will get promoted or you could go to school and raise you worth threw business classes or go to a tech school and get a job that pays more. If a person retires as a cashier it is his or her own fault.

You have to take care of yourself not let a company take care of you.



"But really the right they has been lost is the right to a union in the first place."

A union can be voted in no problem. It happens. Problem is you bring in the union all you salary and benefits are on the bargaining table. When a store goes union they get that extra .75 cents an hour but the benefits, which are pretty great for retail, go out the window.

My mom and dad both lost their business at the age of forty-started working at Wal-Mart and now management and started part time in a photo lab and unloading trucks. Do your research before you attack.

If you need to check to see if I did manage for Wal-Mart and am not talking out of my ass call

Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market

Murphy, TX

972 633 0257

Ask for Tom Tucker as him if Jonathan Beckham managed the photo lab from 2001-2002.

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

Just out of curiosity, why did you leave Wal-mart?

My problem with any of the big-box stores, is that they are so large and the associated parking needs are so great, that they have to locate on the outer fringes of large cities/towns which are very often poorly accessed by public transit. So even if you live just a few miles from one of these giant stores, you need to get in your car to drive to it. No one thinks about this, but it's all these little trips, that in the car that make a significant contribution to air pollution.

These stores are rarely situated so that you can walk to them or take public transit. Cycling is an option sometimes( depending on how far and what you are buying, obviously), but I have often cycled to local Home Depots or Zellers( in Canada) only to find NO bike racks!! I have spoken to the Store Managers about this and the reponse is, " Gee, we didn't even think about that!" Strange.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

When you go to a hardware store, you usually get things that require the use of a car to carry it off. Maybe that's why they hadn't thought of it.

Fleck, this is a big problem. I live in the middle of the city, and when I bought my house, I was glad to see that there was a small Target about 2 blocks away...easy walking distance. The strip mall around it included a radio shack, various small stores, a grocery, goodwill, a few others. Two years ago, Target closed that store...not because it was losing money, but because it wasn't make enough money. They knew most of their customers would drive to the stores in the 'burbs, because that's where the next closest Target is. For the folks who worked there or shopped there who rode the bus, they are out of luck. There are no bus routes to the 'burbs here. So they lost their jobs and people lost a place to shop. Now, the effects on the strip mall have been catastrophic as well. Without Target pulling in the traffic, the goodwill is gone, the radio shack is gone, the grocery is teetering on the edge, and half the small storefronts are empty. So now we have a decaying Target, half-empty strip mall, and a lot less choices for urban residents.

Great point and I qualified that in my post - please re-read. Obviously you are not going to buy a lawnmower when you are on your bike! However, when standing in the check-out line at the Home Depot, at Wal Mart and at the gocery store, I see all kinds of people making purchases that would easily fit into a back-pack for transport on a bike.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I agree with your point and support it...it wasn't a diss at all. I have a home depot 2 miles away. I can honestly say I've made 5 trips to the store in a day to pick up odd things that I forgot the first time I went. A pvc 90, pipe dope, a 1/2" copper union, thread tape, and Dap. All of that cost about $5 but I probably spent more in gas going back and forth in my car. I couldn't gotten a 20 mile ride in by going back and forth.

What you are talking about is the total lack of any urban planning what-so-ever all across North America. It is assumed that EVERYONE will drive everywhere. Yet at the same time people are also outraged by grid-lock traffic and air pollution.

There was all this talk a few years ago about Smart Growth. Well I still see a lot of Dumb Growth going on around where I live!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Brian - thank you for your honesty. Multiply your situation by a couple 100,000 and you see what the problem is. I have heard that to cut back on emmissons and make the Kyoto Accord limits all most people would need to have to do if, with respect, I use you as an example:

- Make a list

- walk or take your bike for these short trips, when you can

I have read that this would reduce emmissons by 10% - which would be huge.

However, you will likley show up at Home Depot and find no place to park your bike!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I wonder how many of those people buying things that would fit in a backpack are actually interested in riding a bicycle to Target/Wal-Mart/Home Depot?

Also, I wonder if the stores' need for large parking areas (which you claim moves them to the 'burbs) is a cause or a result of peoples' "need" to drive a car? In Dallas, everything is so spread out (and the "bike routes" are so poor) that you just can't ride a bike to get where you need to go. I'd be willing to bet that Wal-Mart would LOVE to have a store in Manhattan... but as I understand it, they haven't been able to get approval.

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Steve Perkins

One of my associates was sexually harassing another. I suspended the accused and opened an investigation. The accused's wife worked in the same store and started spreading rumors about the lady who was harassed. 4 associates approached me about the rumors. I said the rumors where a lie and not to spread rumors and the situation was none of their business.

By saying what they heard was a lie (I was a witness to situations) I broke the privacy of the accused so I was terminated. I was leaving anyway because there is too much rah rah team in Wal-Mart, kinda cult like in a family way. Wal-Mart people get every excited about Wal-Mart and I am into showing up and getting work. I don't cheer very well.

There are a lot of problems with Wal-Mart but making it out o be a sweatshop is a load of shit.

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.