Boycott Walmart

[Couture]

Instead of allowing the employees at one of their many stores to organize, Walmart has chosen to close the store. America's largest corporation has gotten a lot of bad press lately due to the low wages they pay employees. This same corporation has classes for employees, helping them to go on welfare.

I can hear their executives right now, "Well, you know, we don't have to have a store there. They can't unionize if there's no store there."

They're right about that. But, you know what? We don't have to shop at their other stores either.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Are they not paying minimum wage? Or are they doing the old "keep nearly everyone at 34 1/2 hours" dodge?

Most fast food places run the same racket, by the way.

Shanglan

 

[Couture]

Better yet....I'm going to go there, take a cart, push it to the back of the store . . . and then leave.

Fuck 'em

 

[minsue]

Better yet....I'm going to go there, take a cart, push it to the back of the store . . . and then leave.

Fuck 'em

That'll learn 'em

 

[Couture]

If everybody left a cart in the aisle it would.

 

[BigAndTall]

Nothing new about this.

About walmart (which I hate)

They pay normally above minumium wage. Starting in this area is $8 an hour.

But they do treat their people like shit.

And I don' t need a reason to not shop there, I find everytime i go to one to be just the biggest hassel.

The scariest thing about them, was that they indocrainate their employees to the point its almost like they want you to think its a religion.

 

[Guest]

That'll learn 'em

*giggle*

 

[minsue]

*giggle*

Somehow that giggle goes disturbingly well with your AV, but I can't decide why.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Yes. I was reading an article on one of their higher-ups who was semi-retired but still showed up at work at some godawful hour every morning - and kept everyone else under him showing at the same time. I believe that a work ethic can be a noble thing, but like anything else it can be taken to an extreme. It does appear to be the corporate American dream to have employees desire no life other than work, and Walmart seems to come closer than many to achieving that goal.

That said ... $8/hour for doing a job that requires no real education or training isn't hideous. To get better treatment, sometimes one needs to better onself.

Shanglan

 

[Guest]

Somehow that giggle goes disturbingly well with your AV, but I can't decide why.

It's because I'm just a sketch.


(cant needs to color between my lines)

 

[cantdog]

woof

 

[BigAndTall]

Yes. I was reading an article on one of their higher-ups who was semi-retired but still showed up at work at some godawful hour every morning - and kept everyone else under him showing at the same time. I believe that a work ethic can be a noble thing, but like anything else it can be taken to an extreme. It does appear to be the corporate American dream to have employees desire no life other than work, and Walmart seems to come closer than many to achieving that goal.

That said ... $8/hour for doing a job that requires no real education or training isn't hideous. To get better treatment, sometimes one needs to better onself.

Shanglan

Oh no doubt, they are bastards. Sure they live off of squeezing out efficentcy but I think that soon there will not be much left and they will be like Sears or Kmart than.

Personlly I don't understand why they have not been broken up on anti trust violations.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Clever lawyering, I wouldn't doubt. Corporations pay a great deal of money to know exactly how far they can push matters.

Shanglan

 

[davidwatts]

wal mart is the shits

They suck, and everybody realizes that. They treat their employees badly and pay them as little as they can. This is opposed to most other corporations, I assume.

Having said that, every corporation in America would trade places with them in a second if they could. They peddle their grocery/super center stores here in upstate NY, and people bitch and moan about them. Problem is their main competitor, Price Chopper, is also as anti-union as they come and do the same crap that everyone else does by working people just less than full-time so they don't have to give benefits, and paying them less than nothing.

Go to Wal Mart or Price Chopper or any other outfit like that, and FILL YOUR CART (just don't push an empty one to the back) with stuff and then leave it there. Just remember, no perishables because you'll probably be going back there later to shop and you don't want to get yourself or anyone else sick.

Retail is the pits, and I'm so glad I bailed out when I was young.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Ahem.

Who do you imagine is going to take that cart full of goods and place them all back on the shelves, then return the cart to the proper location?

Here's a hint. It's not likely to be the CEO.

Might we find a more targeted way to express our displeasure?

Shanglan

 

[davidwatts]

No...

actually the merchandise will be replaced by an employee, since that is something that cannot be done by anything automated. It's called reverse shopping, and if you gotta be there working anyway, it's a leisurely way to spend a few hours. They can't time people doing it easily either, so you can really f*ck off.

This will at least keep the people working there employed, since the latest rage is to send you to do-it-yourself checkouts. That's the latest thing here. Scan your own merchandise and do all the work so they don't have to pay someone to do it.

They may be menial jobs in retailing, but it's honest work, and if you do it long enough it will motivate you to greater things.

 

[BigAndTall]

About the other stores being anti union

Walmart has forced their competatiors to adopt most of the same polices just to keep up with them.

Personally I don't see how this will be corrected anytime soon without braking up Walmart, or heavy tarrifs on imports.

 

[davidwatts]

Sam Walton didn't invent hostile environments for employees, he just refined what others did before him and did it better than the others, which is why they are where they are and why K-Mart is where they are.

Shop in small locally owned businesses when possible and you'll feel better about the whole thing. It's better for the community as well.

Just don't kid yourself that if those businesses prosper and grow, they will end up treating their employees any better. The Ben and Jerry's of the world are few and far between, and even that business model eventually broke down.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Let's see... boycott Wal-Mart or save my money... boycott Wal-Mart or save my money... travel farther, use more gas, spend more on the things I purchase regularly OR save my money.

I think this is the hardest part of convincing the world to boycott the Wal-Mart.

...they do a good damn job for the consumer. Even the companies that have been bankrupted or screwed by Wal-Mart admit that. Wal-Mart does a good damn job for the consumer.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

But....but...where will I get my spandex biker shorts and tube tops??

 

[Boxlicker101]

Let's see... boycott Wal-Mart or save my money... boycott Wal-Mart or save my money... travel farther, use more gas, spend more on the things I purchase regularly OR save my money.

I think this is the hardest part of convincing the world to boycott the Wal-Mart.

...they do a good damn job for the consumer. Even the companies that have been bankrupted or screwed by Wal-Mart admit that. Wal-Mart does a good damn job for the consumer.

I must say, they do have good prices and sometimes the quality is as good as you can find elsewhere. However, there are many perfectly good stores closer than the nearest Wal Mart so I probably will boycott them for the sake of my own convenience. I don't rightly know if you could call that a boycott.

 

[Lucifer_Carroll]

Better yet....I'm going to go there, take a cart, push it to the back of the store . . . and then leave.

Fuck 'em

I'm with Black, when I used to work at the school bookstore we had special nicknames for the assholes who would unstraighten an entire bookshelf of books and feel justified for "sticking it to the man".

Well, the man never left his cushy office on the top except to make our minority and female floor managers lives a living Hell and they'd pass it on to us by yelling and being exasperated when they found the screwed up shelves we had fixed about 5-10 minutes ago.

Yeah, that was sticking it to the man, if you're using the Tool definition ("If I'm the man, then you're the man, and he's the man as well").

Just firebomb corporate headquarters. Really, this generation has been woefully unfullfilled of firebombings.

 

[Couture]

Let's see... boycott Wal-Mart or save my money... boycott Wal-Mart or save my money... travel farther, use more gas, spend more on the things I purchase regularly OR save my money.

I think this is the hardest part of convincing the world to boycott the Wal-Mart.

...they do a good damn job for the consumer. Even the companies that have been bankrupted or screwed by Wal-Mart admit that. Wal-Mart does a good damn job for the consumer.

They do a good job for the consumer to an extent. However, those low prices are being supported by your tax dollars that pay their workers welfare etc.

Anyway, this isn't a forever boycott. It's in support of all these people they kicked out on the street because they wouldn't let them organize. The last time I checked, you do have the right to organize.

 

[gauchecritic]

The last time I checked, you do have the right to organize.

Don't let amicus hear you say that.

Seems like you guys need to catch up with us Brits on the full time versus part time deal.

Over here, after a qualifying period obviously, part timers get the same rights as full time staff.

Pretty easy to get round but the rule does at least exist.

Seems that neither the government nor unions care very much that massive employee turnover is a very useful tool for employers.

Buyers market do I hear you say? Reminds me of an economics test question. "Describe the elasticity of a miner."

 

[cloudy]

Anyway, this isn't a forever boycott. It's in support of all these people they kicked out on the street because they wouldn't let them organize. The last time I checked, you do have the right to organize.

I'm not going to get into a union-good/union-bad argument with you here, but the last time I checked, companies also still have the right to close down any location they want to, as well.

Retail is also a notoriously quick-silver business. I've worked for one company that completely did away with its retail division, one that closed the location I worked in, and one that went out of business entirely.

They may have pulled out of that location strictly because of the threat of unionization, however, they could do it now, or they could wait until the employees had unionized, and they had lost even more money.

I'm not necessarily "pro-business" but I have my eyes wide open as far as the retail business goes. I worked in it for damn near 20 years.