WNY News
Wal-Mart: Every day low prices, every day low wages
By Lee Chowaniec
Oct 4, 2006, 09:59

After recently commending Wal-Mart for their four-dollar drug program and their environmentally friendly “green strategies” program, it is disheartening to have to portray Wal-Mart once again as the bad guy.

Once again Wal-Mart is making it possible for consumers to get those “always low prices” at the cost of their workers “always low wages” policies and programs. According to a New York Times report, the nation’s largest private employer, 1.3 million workers, $312 billion in sales, is pushing to create a cheaper, more flexible work force by capping wages, using more part-time workers and scheduling more workers on nights and weekends.

Wal-Mart’s intent is to better serve their customers by scheduling workers at busier times. Employees declare that the scheduling change will negatively impact their personal lives, in that they will have to make themselves available around the clock.

Employees also see this as a way to force older workers to quit to make way for lower-wage part-time employees. There are indications that Wal-Mart may be following up on many of the ideas outlined in an internal document, leaked last year, to rid its payroll of full-time and less-healthy employees who are more expensive for the company to retain.

Wal-Mart has increased its number of part–time workers from 20% to near 30% and will increase this to 40% to go along with economic strategist reports that say this step is necessary to get their languishing stock price up.

In early 2002, Wal-Mart’s stock was valued at $64. In 2006, the stock has hovered between $44 and $49. Wall Street analysts are praising Wal-Mart’s effort to better manage their workers, thereby raising their stock value and pleasing their stockholders.

By increasing their part-time work force Wal-Mart will have less employee benefits to worry about as part-timers are less apt to enroll in a health plan they cannot afford or have to wait a year to enroll in. Such move would mean more workers would become eligible to receive Medicaid and other government entitlements - corporate welfare at the expense of the taxpayers.

Wal-Mart’s leaked document last year claimed as much, implying that poorly compensated part-time workers lacking benefits will turn to government programs for the needy instead, a form of backdoor taxpayer subsidy.

Former Wal-Mart employees declare that many workers dislike the tougher scheduling demands, that typically does not take seniority into account and burdens them to make personal adjustments in their lifestyles.

Along with the wage cap, scheduling burdens will force many experienced workers to consider leaving the company. But that doesn’t worry Wal-Mart one bit. Their executives declare that there are seven workers waiting in the wings to replace each displaced worker. And as for productivity loss, Wal-Mart believes that is not a concern.

Sally Wright, 67, an $11-an-hour greeter at the Wal-Mart in Ponca City, Okla., said she quit in August after 22 years with the company when managers pressed her to make herself available to work any time, day or night. She requested staying on the day shift, but her manager reduced her schedule from 32 hours a week to 8 and refused her pleas for more hours, she said.

“They were trying to get rid of me,” Ms. Wright said. “I think it was to save on health insurance and on the wages.”
As stated in a Times editorial, “Costco has shown that better wages for workers don’t preclude low prices for customers.

If Wal-Mart wants to avoid increasingly onerous legislation, regulation and scrutiny, company executives are going to have to learn that human beings are not machines that can be turned on and off, that parents can’t always reshuffle their lives on short notice.”

With Wal-Mart, the bottom line is the bottom line, profitability at all costs to others. Their obligation is to the stockholder and Wal-Mart family members. You can almost bet that when you find them doing some good (most likely to improve their image), something negative will shortly follow.

Should long-term workers leave the company and be replaced by several part-time workers, Wal-Mart and their supporters will spin this as "creating more jobs".






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