ACCC
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For all of the Wal-Mart defenders on here, they will be cutting benefits costs by modifying/reducing the level of benefits, and also cutting certain pay for new employees. I guess the current billions in quarterly profits isn't enough for the corporate elite at Wal-Mart.
Also, by reducing pay, Wal-Mart sets an example that leads to lower pay at many other businesses. Shopping at Wal-Mart contributes to the redistribution of income into the pockets of the corporate elite.
Also, even if you save in the short-term with very low prices, it just comes back in the form of higher taxes, since the workers take welfare payments caused by the low wages and benefits. With health care reform, this will just be more workers who will get government subsidies to buy health care (since the employer provided benefits would be too expensive and the wages will be low enough for government aid). This will also come from the taxpayers, including middle class taxpayers who have to foot the bill for Wal-Mart's workers
Excerpts of Article;
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the largest private employer in the U.S., plans to stop paying staff there an additional $1 an hour for working Sundays, taking a bite out of its single biggest expense
“It’s sad -- people who work on Sunday need that extra dollar,” Cynthia Murray, a Wal-Mart employee at a supercenter in Laurel, Maryland, said in an interview
Wal-Mart’s move represents a blow to hourly workers, said Dorian Warren, an assistant professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University who studies labor relations.
Wal-Mart said it plans to end profit-sharing contributions next year, replacing them with matches to employee 401(k) retirement plans to bring down benefits costs.
“The company is obsessive about labor costs, not just to save money in the coming quarter but to encourage turnover, which also keeps wages low,” Nelson Lichtenstein, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said in an e- mail message
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-07/wal-mart-to-end-extra-pay-for-sunday-shifts-in-2011-as-duke-targets-costs.html
Also, by reducing pay, Wal-Mart sets an example that leads to lower pay at many other businesses. Shopping at Wal-Mart contributes to the redistribution of income into the pockets of the corporate elite.
Also, even if you save in the short-term with very low prices, it just comes back in the form of higher taxes, since the workers take welfare payments caused by the low wages and benefits. With health care reform, this will just be more workers who will get government subsidies to buy health care (since the employer provided benefits would be too expensive and the wages will be low enough for government aid). This will also come from the taxpayers, including middle class taxpayers who have to foot the bill for Wal-Mart's workers
Excerpts of Article;
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the largest private employer in the U.S., plans to stop paying staff there an additional $1 an hour for working Sundays, taking a bite out of its single biggest expense
“It’s sad -- people who work on Sunday need that extra dollar,” Cynthia Murray, a Wal-Mart employee at a supercenter in Laurel, Maryland, said in an interview
Wal-Mart’s move represents a blow to hourly workers, said Dorian Warren, an assistant professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University who studies labor relations.
Wal-Mart said it plans to end profit-sharing contributions next year, replacing them with matches to employee 401(k) retirement plans to bring down benefits costs.
“The company is obsessive about labor costs, not just to save money in the coming quarter but to encourage turnover, which also keeps wages low,” Nelson Lichtenstein, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said in an e- mail message
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-07/wal-mart-to-end-extra-pay-for-sunday-shifts-in-2011-as-duke-targets-costs.html