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Did WalMart Close A California Store To Punish Employees Who Protested Wages And Working Conditions?
On Wednesday, we asked why WalMart simultaneously closed multiple geographically distinct stores across the US for “plumbing issues.” We began by noting that the company — the largest retailer in the world — raised wages across the board just two months ago. Here’s an excerpt from the letter sent to employees by President and CEO Doug McMillon:
For our current associates, we’ll start by raising our entry wage to at least $9 an hour in April, and, by February of next year, all current associates will earn at least $10 an hour. I’m also excited about an innovative program we’re launching for future associates that will allow you to join Walmart at $9 an hour or more next year, receive skills-based training for six months, and then be guaranteed at least $10 an hour upon successful completion of that program. We’re also strengthening our department manager roles and will raise the starting wage for some of these positions to at least $13 an hour this summer and at least $15 an hour early next year. There will be no better place in retail to learn, grow, and build a career than Walmart.
We went on to point out that there is no free lunch especially when you operate on razor thin margins in order to retain the “low price leader” crown and so someone has to pay for all those extra pennies the company is now paying out to its employees and because passing along the costs to customers is a no-go, the supply chain has to foot the bill, and because of WalMart’s size, vendors have no choice but to cooperate. WalMart is legendary for its supply chain management, but as WSJ notes, the company is finding it more difficult to maintain its competitive advantage and must figure out how to retain its leadership position in the market all while striking a conciliatory tone on wages:
Wal-Mart has long had a reputation for pressing its suppliers to cut costs to help lower prices, but the retailer’s new leadership has embraced the concept with fresh vigor. Wal-Mart’s price advantage against its competitors has been eroded, and it has steadily been losing market share in the U.S. since the recession ended, while rivals including KrogerCo. and Costco Wholesale Corp. gained share, according to data from the consultancy Kantar Retail.
With the growth of dollar stores and other discounters, Wal-Mart is facing ever more competition on price, which for many customers is the most important selling point.
It’s against this backdrop that the company recently began closing stores and laying off thousands of employees citing “ongoing plumbing issues that will require extensive repairs.” Once we discovered that no plumbing permits had been filed and that seemingly none of the affected workers could offer even a shred of anecdotal evidence as to the existence of the “clogs and leaks” WalMart officials claimed were at the heart of the problem, we suggested that perhaps — just perhaps — something else might be behind the store closures such as the company’s desire to cut costs in a tough economic and competitive environment. Here’s a list of the affected stores:
1620 W. Church St. Livingston, TX
4517 N Midland Dr. Midland, TX
207 S. Memorial Dr. Tulsa, OK
8500 Washington Blvd. Pico Rivera, CA
1208 E. Brandon Blvd. Tampa, FL
When we began to look into each of these locations we came across something rather interesting involving the Pico Rivera, CA store. As it turns out, it’s been the site of wage and working condition protests on a number of occasions, the most recent of which was less than six months ago. Here’s more via local news footage:
Protesters chant "we are proud of you as police arrests 4th person." pic.twitter.com/p33uwVsYtW
— Making Change @ WMT (@ChangeWalmart) November 14, 2014
Almost exactly one year earlier, the Pico Rivera store was (along with multiple other locations across the US) the site of protests alleging that the company did not pay enough to keep many of its workers from seeking government assistance to supplement their meager wages (recall that 73% of those receiving public assistance in the US come from working families). Here was the scene at Pico Rivera in November of 2013:
And just a little over a year before the 2013 Black Friday protests, more than 200 workers at Pico Rivera went on strike and protested in front of the store waving signs that read “On Strike for the Freedom to Speak Out,” suggesting the company was retaliating against those who fought for better wages and working conditions.
Here’s what The NY Times had to say at the time of the October 14, 2012 walkout:
Several dozen Walmart workers in Southern California staged a one-day strike on Thursday, according to workers and union officials, a move that culminated in a rally of some 250 workers and supporters in front of a Walmart store in Pico Rivera.
The strikers, who union officials said came from nine Walmarts in the Los Angeles area, said they were mainly protesting what they said was management’s frequent retaliation against employees who spoke up about working conditions.
Several of the workers, who said this was the first-ever strike against Walmart in the United States, also said they were protesting low wages and short hours.
Manuela Rosales, 25, who works in the cellphone department of the Pico Rivera store, said she walked out on Thursday, missing her afternoon shift, because “when we speak out, they cut my hours in retaliation and they have me pull pallets, which is very hard work.” She added, “I’m a single mom and I can’t afford them cutting my hours.”
Then, one month later in November of 2012, the same workers planned a similar demonstration against what some called “degrading” circumstances. Here’s a visual from that event:
Given the history at the Pico Rivera location, one could be forgiven for suggesting the store closure could very well have more to do with employees’ views on wages, working conditions, and retaliation than it does with “clogs, leaks, and plumbing issues.”
What's especially interesting here is that one of the groups which has consistently backed protests at the Pico Rivera store is the The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union or, UFCW. The group posted the following video to its website during the 2014 "Pico Rivera Sit Down Strike":
Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream
The UFCW has a history with the company. Back in 2004, when workers at the Jonquiere, Quebec location voted to join the organization, WalMart closed the store six months later noting that "you can’t take a store that is a struggling store anyway and add a bunch of people and a bunch of work rules." This case ended up before the Supreme Court in Canada and just last year, the high court ruled against the company (the full decision is embeded below). Here's more on that via ThinkProgress:
In September of 2004, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) was certified as a representative of employees in a store in Jonquiere, Quebec. In April 2005, just before an arbitrator was about to impose a collective agreement, Walmart closed the store.
On Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Walmart violated Quebec’s labor laws in doing so. It found that the company closed the store during a freeze period codified in the law, which limits a business’s ability to change working conditions from the time that employees file to unionize to when they have a contract, go on strike, or are locked out. The court ruled that Walmart ran afoul of this law without a valid reason for closing the store, which never re-opened.
The company has said it didn’t close the store because workers joined a union. In an email to the AP a Walmart spokesperson said, “We are disappointed by the decision.”
An arbiter will now determine remedies for the 190 fired employees, including possible payment for damages and interest.
So here is a WalMart location which has staged protests each and every year dating back to at least 2012, the latest of which led to two dozen arrests and these protests are backed by the same organization which was involved in a Canadian Supreme Court case against the company for closing a store where workers had agreed to adopt the UFCW as their representative. While there may or may not be any connection to all of this and the Pico Rivera location's "plumbing issues," we would note that several people are beginning to draw a parallel. One manager at the store told a local CBS affiliate the following on Thursday:
Venanzi Luna was one of 530 employees told Monday that the store is closing for six months to fix plumbing issues.
Luna has worked as a deli manager at the store for seven years getting paid $14 an hour. She explains that she was slated to get a raise in June.
Luna says that as a member with the Organization United for Respect at Walmart, a group funded by the Food Workers Union, she has led strikes and sit-ins.
Pico Rivera has been a hotbed for worker activism as protests took place there for higher wages. Luna wonders if Walmart was targeting the workers who spoke out.
“This is the first store that went on strike. This is the first store in demanding changes for Walmart,” she said. “I can’t speculate on Walmart’s motives,” City Manager Rene Bobadilla said. “What we were told that it was a sewer issue.”
Yes, a sewer issue at WalMart, which is something one would think WalMart plumbing technician Codi Bauer would know something about. This is what he told a local reporter in Florida:
"Even if they had to replace the whole sewer line, it wouldn't take six months to replace a whole sewer line in that store.”
So that is the short history of the Pico Rivera WalMart location where hundreds of employees were laid off as part of the company's mysterious nationwide "plumbing" problem. We again leave it for readers to decide whether WalMart — in an attempt to kill two birds with one stone by eliminating a "problem" store while simultaneously giving an incremental boost to a nationwide cost cutting effort —created a problem which didn't really exist as an excuse to shut the doors, or whether somewhere, deep beneath the now empty California location, the pipes are truly clogged up and leaking.
Pico Rivera has not received any building repair permit requests from the company.
***Update
Then, just this afternoon, this comes across the wires (Via Reuters):
Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, is cutting the role of zone manager from its stores as part of efforts to simplify its operations, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The duties of zone manager, of which there are generally about six per store, will be transferred to other managers, Bloomberg said.
Expect more "plumbing."
* * *
Full WalMart/ UFCW decision:
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Burn down those sad stores of destruction.
All kinds of theories out there:
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/video-walmart-plumbing-issue-related-to-dhs-underground-tunnel-network-this-is-a-very-real-situation_04172015
Yes, theories abound. But it always comes down to money, greed, and who has the leverage.
Sad friggin' state of affairs. USA!
I'm not defending Walmart, but they have the right to close a store for any reason they want IMO, while they have certainly benefitted fr our current state of affairs, the blame for it lies with the govt and the fed. Why is the solution to this, have the govt move in and order Walmart not to close stores and pay it's people a certain amount that they deem fair? No thanks.
Are they all in the same "type" of neighborhood ?
You know, the kind that gets looted by the natives whenever something goes wrong.
Hmmm if I owned thousands of stores throughout the country and the employees didn't seem to want to work for what I was willing to pay, yet kept showing up to work and regularly and got my business bad press by protesting, what would I do. Oh yeah close the store and urge them to find work elsewhere.
Burn down those sad stores of destruction.
Moron...
I wish unions were not run by the mobsters, mafia, fucking italian crime shits, but they are.
They're run by communists now
Walmart already gets its merchandise from communists, so it shouldn't have a problem with unions...
I'm just fucking SAD that this thread is getting so much attention...
I tried 2 stay away, but then it was like ~ WTF? so I came over & , well, HERE I AM...
I apologize, in advance, for my even being here & dropping a comment...
Good for Walmart and the free market. Many on ZH cheer for a totalitarian police state. Well, except when police are involved then they just want a soul crushing government with people with guns to enforce it but not the "police."
The employees are protesting that their wages are not buying enough any more. That's not WalMarts fault. The fault is in Washington DC and that's where the protests should be taking place.
To sun tzu - you said "They're (unions) run by communists now."
Funny thing about that term, "communists." You mean "communists" like the Communist Chinese? Those same communists that Corporate America has seen fit to give not only most of our manufacturing base, but also all of our manufacturing technology that we developed over hundreds of years, all in the name of profits? But I guess those are good communists, right?
I mean, really, how seriously are we supposed to take that whole "ooooh, booga booga communists booga booga" argument when Wall Street runs to the government and gets them to give them $50bn a MONTH in taxpayer money for YEARS and YEARS via QE, receiving I don't know how many trillions of dollars in free money during that time? If that isn't some form of socialism AKA "communism" then I don't know what is. So I guess you're saying that the unions are run by the people who have all of the manufacturing, all the machinery and all of the money? If so, then why are they so powerless, and why is union membership down to levels not seen in over a hundred years?
The 1950's called. They want their boogieman back. Guess you'll have to find a new one, maybe ISIS?
They have to find the money to pay for the wage increases...at a time when they can't raise prices
I, personally, want them to stay open so as to provide a place for the typical Walmart shopper to go to. If you close these stores these roaches will flood the other stores. Remember, when you step on a Roach Nest, they scatter in every direction, sometimes including yours.
Arrogant snob.
They'll all come back to the county fairs now , and not as exhibits.
I agree that is their right, as it is my right to patronize another store which treats its employees more fairly, such as Costco. If it costs me a bit more, so be it. That's how I choose to spend my money. The Walmart heirs can go fuck themselves as far as I am concerned.
that describes the tulsa store.
a. ) You are defending Wal Mart. If they have this right, why are you afraid to claim you're defending them?
b.) If they're not doing anything wrong, why are they lying about it?
Close them all.
I am not defending Walmart.
I'm defending Walmart and free market capitalism. Free market capitalism is what made the U.S. the most wealthy nation on the planet in less than 200 years. Now we're going down fast as socilisim takes hold. Nobody is forcing people to take jobs at Walmart. They are free to work cash registers and stock shelves (both jobs require PhD's, correct?) are other companies for higher wages/benifits.
Please dont equate 'free market capitalism' with WM. In many places where WM enters, the 'alternative' is welfare and you know it.
The alternative is welfare only because it is wrongly available and you know it. In a free market economy people would better themselves instead of living off of other people's work because they don't feel like bettering themselves. The welfare state needs to go away to the point where it is a VERY temporary safety net if that. Local communities, churches, synagogs, neighbors, etc., should be the "welfare" system. Instead we have an impersonal, political, wealth transfer machine that enslaves recipients and make the government ridiculously powerful. And you know it...
LOL! We've got some ZHers who think that big, soul crushing, government and being lazy, living off of other people's work/income is the way to go in life. Yes, you are pathetic losers. Now that the government has moved you along, out of their primary school systems, the gold stars on your elementary school homework don't count any more.
Sorry, someone had to tell you.
Oh, and by the way. Quit whining about the Fed/banksters destroying your futures if you want a massive welfare state. Three fourths of federal spending is on wealth transfers. We can't afford it even if the military (roughly 20% of the budget) were completely eliminated. The Fed has to devalue the dollar in order for the government to constantly increase spending on vote buying/welfare programs - for people and for crony capitalist (not free market capitalist) organizations.
Yah, I think people get WalMart confused with the Welfare office. Don't get me wrong....I hate walmart....but I also believe a company has the right to close any operation they please, and I guarantee you, that if this store was some big cash cow for Walmart it would not be closed. marginally profitable operations, get shuttered in marginal times. that's life. Ask 11,000 Schlumberger employees today how they feel about life in the $50 per/barrel oil world.
This presumes private property exists in the Soviet States of Amerika. NOPE.
Agreed. Fuck 'em. If you don't like your job, there's the door.
Cant wait to see the FED with "plumping issues"
I do not like Shit Mart but if the workers do not like it then go get another job. If people do not like China Shit Mart then shop at another store. Aldi and Trader Joes (same company) pay their employees well and so does Costco.
Wal Mart is entitled to close stores just do not lie about it. They are scum like many of their vile customers - many who are on EBT or are illegals.
TWO autoplay videos on the same page?
That's so ghey.
urp...
Is this why there were armed national guard troops marching through ontario california the other day? Things are getting fuckin' nuts out there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZihgUF25XKI
All these idiots who claim the company should pay them more are out of a job. Boo Hoo Hoo, my heart bleeds for you.
Why don't you ask the little Latina executive** biatch (Gisel RUIZ), who ordered it... if it's a Cost thing (and unchanging Bonuses for Primecut Shareholders and execs), or a DOD/DHS thing?
/ How's that Feminist Equality and Affirmative Action thing working out for ya? / sarc
** https://fortune.com/most-powerful-women/gisel-ruiz-28/
Did Walmart close those stores down as punishment?
You will find the answer when you ask a bear if he shits in the woods.
I think, I can never earn over which I paid by my precedent employer, but I was wrong, world is so large to try their fate.but now I am making $92/hr even more, can easily minimum $1700/week, on the experience everyone must try to do work online, easy way to earn, here's an example what I do... www.globe-report.com
If you are employed at walmart I feel for you and hope you find a better job but remember this, if you give your job shit, your job will shit on you.
Bingo. Don't like working at WalMart? Then quit and find another job.
Look at the people in the photos and video. These are not the cream of the crop. If one wants more than minimum wage they must make themselves *worth* more than minimum wage.
http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/
I think this is great news. Now, there are that many less Wal Marts and local small businesses can come back and provide the many multiples of jobs that those stores destroyed in Wal Mart's maniacal race to the bottom.
"I think this is great news. Now, there are that many less Wal Marts and local small businesses can come back and provide the many multiples of jobs that those stores destroyed in Wal Mart's maniacal race to the bottom."
You know....there's this new drug on the street called "Flakka". It's the new "Bath Salt" zombie drug. You're obviously on it.
In this ZIRP, NIRP, Global Wage Arbitrage, Skynet and the Robot world we live in; if ALL the Wal Marts closed tomorrow and Mom and Pops' just magically reappeared the next day that they would not be constrained by the same costs as Wal Mart which means shit mom and pop jobs with shit pay?
Bingo. Don't like working at WalMart? Then quit and find another job.
Real smart asshole. Why do you think SO MANY people work at Wal Mart ? THERE ARE NO OTHER JOBS, DOUCHE-WEASEL !!
So the solution to that is...?
Think it all the way through.
Protectionism?
Nuke from orbit?
The solution to bringing back jobs is to bring back manufacturing, and the way to bring back manufacturing is to bring back tariffs. There, I said it, and I meant it, and I'll say it again: Bring back tariffs!
And by the way, Hillary Clinton, who is on the record as having been one of the biggest proponents of NAFTA and GATT back in her "co-president" era during the 90's, got in front of the camera during her campaign announcement and said some blather to the effect of wanting to be a champion for "everyday Americans." You mean those same "everyday Americans" you sold down the river with NAFTA and GATT? Those same "everyday Americans" who were calling and writing and faxing with pleas not to pass those awful betrayals, at a rate of 9-to-1 against?
The Clintons made a simple deal during the 90's: Fuck the unions and the workers, suck up to the corporations, do their bidding, get lots of money, and win elections. It worked. It also fucked the working class nearly to death.
I hate to self-invoke Godwin's law here, but seriously, watching Hillary Clinton proclaim herself to be a "champion of the common man" is like watching Adolf Hitler getting up on a podium and announcing to the world that he wants to run for Chief Rabbi of Israel, before breaking out singing the dredel song and dancing the hora. It was just so utterly ridiculous that I ended up laughing my ass off for the better part of an hour; I laughed so hard I nearly puked - twice! She has such utter, amazing chutzpah!
This was how the federal government was supposed to be funded, based on the constitution. So much for that.
There were good paying jobs, but this is CA, so we can't have that. From Wikipedia entry for Pico...
Historical site[edit]There was a 157-acre (0.64 km2) manufacturing facility located at the corner of Rosemead and Washington boulevards, which was owned and operated by the Ford Motor Company called Los Angeles Assembly. The plant opened in 1958 and closed in 1980 and was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 1982 for its Advanced Systems Division.[25] Upon the unveiling of the B-2 Spirit bomber in 1988, it was revealed that much of the development for the former black project had in fact occurred at the site. In the early 1990s, the division was renamed the B-2 Division to reflect its most famous product. At its peak, the project employed approximately 13,000 workers in Pico Rivera.[26] The site was closed and then demolished in 2001 partially due to air quality remediation efforts, and is now a large retail center.
...the long downward spiral. When your employees are a part of the entitlement class, they think everybody owes them something, but they forget that you are not the government.
So what if they did? It's Wal-Marts' store. What do you want, the .gov to regulate if you can close a store and for what reasons?
that is too obvious or they will get the shit sued out of them for being both assholes and the dumbest bunch of corp. execs on the planet.
The 'dumb assholes' would be the people who shop at Walmart.
let's not discriminate -- it can be both.
I will spell it out for the junkers. WARN requires 60 days notice. Violating WARN makes you liable for 60 days pay for each employee, plus reasonable attorneys fees, maybe penalties and interest.
So if you are going to lie to avoid WARN you would not claim the same, easily falsifiable reasoning for various store closures (unless the execs are extremely stupid as mentioned above). If they didn't care about the 60 days pay, they would not have lied and just shut down the stores.
So we can assume two things: There are no plumbing issues as evidenced by the permitting info, and it is not a ruse for shutting down the stores.
What it is, I do not know.
Nope, there are very general exemptions.
You show yourself worthy of 7.25 per hour or less, as an ill informed trog, however.
and which exemptions apply here?
Besides, Employment/Labor lawyers don't just shrug off WARN Act violations b/c of "very general exemptions" and say eh fuck it. If a meteor hit one of those stores leveling a block in every direction, Labor lawyers would still come a-callin and claim that 60 days notice was required.
Using the same excuse for six different sites would be catnip for the lawyers.
didn't junk btw.
What is it? The management of Wal Shit Mart are scum. The majority of their customers are scum, EBT card holders or illegals. Many of the rank and rank employees are scum especially those who strike.
And the entire USSA govt is criminal scum.
This is all about Wal Shit Mart lying to close down the stores but the WARN law is stupid as well. Morons will keep shopping there. I personally hope Shit Mart chokes and goes out of business. Not that Target is much better any more. They are scum as well along with Whole Foods, McDonalds, StarBux and many others,
f them. These shitty retailers live off FIAT money, cheap labor, imported chinese shit, govt lobbying and EBT cards.
So we all we have to do is protest to shut the rest of this festering carbuncle on humanity's ass down?
Tulsa, OK is one site. HAARP rings captured by DutchSince.
Jade Helm...major power grid...
I smell a skunk.
Ah, the serfs are noisy- the Walton Family royalty will begin the beheadings any moment now....
It might be moar profitable to simply name Larry Silverstein to the Walmart board... I'm sure he could pull some time tested and profitable solutions out his ass.
I prefer the new story in tabloid internet that the Walmart stores in question are overlaid on top of the vast network of underground tunnels across the US and that as entry points can be used for access and egress bringing thing and people in and out without attracting a huge amount of attention.
So, I suppose there will now be nutty conspiracy theorists watching to see if there are trucks pulling into the Walmart docks while those stores are closed.
... and if the SHTF, they will know where to go.
Print infinite dollars, and the working class doesn't have any means to leverage its power.
another slow news day apparently
Protesting is how it works.
Time to form a retail union.
"I am leaving it as I found it. Take over. It's yours."
-Sign left by Ellis Wyatt at the foot of the burning hill of Wyatt Oil
A corporation is beholden to its shareholders. If shutting down a store is a benefit to the shareholders, then that is what you do. Who gives a damn if people like the decision or not? Those that snivel are free to open their own retail outlets.
Isn't there such a thing as corporate responsibility in the US? Being a good corporate citizen even? If companies act like arseholes don't they lose customers? They do here. And that's not good for shareholders either.
They should convert them into local landfils and recycling centers. As the NWO continues to dismantle the United States of America the poor displaced and useless citizens can haul the remainder of the last several decades productive corporations and local businesses to the dumps and get a little cash to eat with.
FEMA camps for re-education of zerohedgers
Have you ever been in a Walmart? They're already landfills.
It takes time to train undocumented immigrants. Has anyone ever been to Pico Rivera? </sarc>
at the height of usa influence the saying was "as gm goes, so goes the nation". gm was the largest employer in the usa at the time. everyone was paid well enough to buy a new car and own a house.
today walmart is the nation's largest employer. of the hundreds of employees each stores has only a few are paid well enough to buy a new car and own a house. almost half of the remaining employees receive some direct .gov financial assistance.
do you really think the usa will come back from that?
I am not pro union, they have crossed the boundaries of reason many times, on the other hand with ObamaCare and other benefits cutting full time positions and people struggling to survive while working there has to be some kind of solution.
When I see the owners of Walmart getting billions every year for sitting on their asses I wonder if a billion less to the kids who inherited the store and distributed amoung the workers may have a positive eeffect, one which would be appreciated by employees and consumers alike.
When I owned my business my employees always got paid before me and sometimes I went without, especially near the end. When times are good everyone benefits, when people are struggling I think it is incumbant to the top to sacrifice a little for the good of the company.
Walmart was tested a number of years ago in Canada - Quebec to be specific - french, lazy, heavily unionized, big taxes and big gubbamint. Union got in. Walmart closed.
Walmart is known for closing stores where unions are close to organizing. When Walmart closes, it fucks the local economy badly and the local vendors get hosed - accounts receiveable go to zero - big ouch.
So politicians have learned - like it or not and so have unions. Unions can organize and then watch their families starve.
It's more like when Walmart "opens" it fucks the local economy and suppliers badly, and the local vendors gets hosed. That's the cornerstone of Walmart's modus operandi.
Walmart doesn't do that. Consumers do when they flock to the lower prices. That's the cornerstone of the MO of fat, lazy, stupid, greedy Americans.
So, brillliant you, you shop where prices are higher for the same merchandise?
For the most part, I frequent sole proprietors. Walmart doesnt carry the products I buy. Even if they did, I couldn't stand to go in there amongst the disgusting people who do shop there. I don't buy crap, I don't eat fast food, when I stay at a hotel I leave a tip for the maid (same with rental cars - $5 stashed in the cup holder for the worker who has to clean it).
Picture a hypothetical scenario: You're a company that makes stuff. You have multiple customers. One customer in particular is notable for placing large orders, and being cheap to the point where it is just almost not worth having them as a customer; they're endlessly pressuring you to cut, cut cut cut cut cut cut your prices.
Now, considering this hypothetical scenario, do you think that maybe, just maybe, that company might run a second line of their product? One that cuts a few corners here and there? Or perhaps a whole lot of corners pretty much everywhere?
"Same merchandise." Perhaps. All hypothetical, of course.
Why shouldn't Wal-Mart be able to go on strike, too? Free country, bitches. Wal-Mart going Galt, gotta love it.
And with 15 million cheap illegal immigrants looking for work, being shoved down America's throat, why would anyone even expect their wages are going to go up anytime soon? Ain't gonna happen.
You need to read 'Atlas Shrugged' before posting stupid stuff.
"Did WalMart Close A California Store To Punish Employees Who Protested Wages And Working Conditions?"
Depends on whether bears shit in outhouses or the woods?
The banksters need to repay us.
Ditto the 6 other stores.
Don't forget to mention your dusty gun collection!!
They can get a job loading baggage for Alaska Air - you get to work for a contracting company that brings in labor to replace Americans that will not do that kind of work and you get to sleep on the job - but remember to get off before the plane takes off ha ha ha
Just this morning I drove past two Walmart superstores... and noted all of the shuttered, boarded up buildings in the surrounding area, that at one time housed prospering small businesses who couldn't compete with Walmart after they moved in. I wondered how many people who used to work for those small businesses, or even the people who owned them, now work for those Walmart stores.
I wonder how many of the people who, while working for those small businesses, shopped at Walmart and then complained when those small businesses closed, they lost their jobs and all that was left was Walmart???
I think we can agree we wouldn't have to wonder about that idea for very long before we both came to the same conclusion.
http://www.cheatsheet.com/business/5-states-where-the-middle-class-is-be...
Remember that Walmart, good or bad, is a symptom of what ails us, not what ails us.
What ails us are plundering banksters and their violence-puppets, government.
The banksters need to repay us.
I'm with Wal-Mart on this one. If your profitability is being regulated down by an interfering government you will have to do something...
so you're for the snap subsidies then?
Helps many people.
Mainly keeps the Rioting to a somewhat manageable level.
Wlamart is a globalist organizatoin. They and the government are one in the same.
Tuco
Let's see:
Destructor of small business and local vendors - check
Importer of 80%+ of Chinese goods - check
Pays wages that people need to work multiple jobs to make ends meet - check
When strikes or union uprises occurs, they close up shop so they aren't held accountable to support the community - check
I know sustainablity when I see it.
unionize all walmarts
You mean convert them to communist store. Yea good idea... Lets all have one selection of bread and rotten meat to pic from
As someone noted above, they already buy 99% of their products from Communists, so
they should be alright with turning Communist themselves.
Owners and investors should cash out and close all stores - there, fixed the low wage problem.
Go Galt and let the free-shit army go to hell.
Yes, then we can have 2.2 million people all out of a job in a single day; BRILLIANT!
Missed the part where it's evil and wrong for a private company to close stores for financial consideration.
Missed the part where it's "ethical" to lie to your employees and the world regarding your business intentions.
Walmart upper management has no class or ethics.
Tuco
So you're saying if they didn't lie your panties wouldn't be in a bunch over them making startegic business decisions? You'd be completely fine with it if they said "We don't want to tolerate union bullshit so we're closing the stores"? I'd be fine with it, but realize due to the class warfare and free shit and crowds WMT had to be delicate.
Don't get your red communist panties in a wrinkle dear..
Like burger flippers wanting 30 K per year... Piss off
Walmart employees are paid way above minimum wage. Want to have a stage a sit down strike in MY store - well, have a great day - you're fired. Not a problem. If problems persist - I'll close the damn store. Doesn't matter in the big picture.
The big picture being you live in a nation of poor people .. LOL. you are just another fucking idiot. and sucker.
Most of those people deserve to be poor. When you look like this: http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/ you severely limit your marketability.
Thats because of your dumbed down school system and your consuming crap food. and being lazy you get FAT. Those people are ugly because they are too lazy to do anything else because your WHOLE sytesm in the USA encourages people to be lazy.
How may bike paths do you have in the USA for bikes? I have talked to Americans whosay they hate bikes and would love to run over bicylclists. Disgusting people. Ugly infrastructure in the USA and towns look like 197O. Drive down any interstate and all you see are those ugly blue Walmart stores and signs for RESTAURANTS. Does anyone ever cook REAL food in the USA?
Anyone who allows themselves to be fat, stupid and lazy deserves what they get - a crap job at Walmart (if they're lucky).
Get over this 'you' shit dutchboy.
I mean right now.
Fuck off, Americunt fucktard. Go get your food stamps you son of a crack whore.
"Americunt fucktard"
Nice, all we need now is a couple salvos of "I know you are but what am I."
I love playground shoving matches....
And in the USA, "bike" is usually a shorthand form of motorcycle, not bicycle. So anyone that says they took their bike means they took their fat, ugly, underpowered, over-accessorized Harley.
Yes. Yes they did.
The real question is....
What will the sheep do about it?
Yeah....I thought so.
I came to the same conclusion 2 days ago after I also read the Reddit comments on these closures which pointed to pro-union sentiment at these locations being the reason. Just giving credit where credit is due, right ZH?
Coulda done the same thing here...2 days ago. The very first sentence of this post linked here.
You Reddit "First!" folks are tiresome. How awful to read different analyses of the same topic from different sources! Woe unto you!
As far as I'm concerned , every Walmart on planet Earth could be consumed by a sinkhole.
The "Mom and Pop" stores keep lending and borrowing in the community, and offer superior product.
When you sell your neighbor a piece of shit lawnmower, that another neighbor built with a loan from the bank another neighbor runs>>> Well, you get the jist of things...
Wecome to 'Price Discovery Ville'. Everyone produces, and there's minimal taxes.
according to bill dudley et al a soaring stock market is good for the little people in the real economy. the waltons are cashing out billions. their employees? not so much.
So invest and take the risk - not my money. And yes I too am a little person.
so you are basically telling me to throw down on the fed equity put, that lever-financed orgy of greed designed to benefit the bankers and billionaires? is that what you're telling me i should do? give my money to uber maggots in the hope of making a meager fascist-socialist return? really?
When hunting, try to think like an animal. Quit bitching about the successful.
when the successful do it by fucking the country in the ass you're damn right I'm bitching bitchez.
I can bitch I can bitch 'cause I'm better than you. [/Elton John]
Then quit bending over and get independent - self-sufficient and buy local - ahole.
Didn't you just recommend that I buy WMT common?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdrFBwwWJ44
Only if you complain that some are successful in the market - otherwise just stay out of the game and quit bitching. Go Galt or whatever works for you.
Germany kicked out Walmart over 3 years ago because Germans don't like being treated like shit like Americans do, and it also hurts small businesses.
Here in Holland we won't even allow them in to dirty up our beautiful landscape with their big ugly box stores. And small businesses here are the backbone of the economy. We have many more small businesses per capita than the USA does. and we have real competition in broadband and cellphone providers also. A nation of 17 million with about 8 different broadband providers and about 10 cellphone providers which means CHEAP service for the consumer.,
We love Capitalism , America loves FASCISM Corptocracy.
Still too many big boxes in the lowlands, just like in the highlands.
http://www.ikea.com/nl/nl/
http://www.aldi.nl/
http://www.lidl.nl/nl/index.htm
http://www.coop.nl/
And those are just some of my ugly neighbors' evil siblings in your neck of the woods.
PS- swap .de for .nl and you have a convenient list of oligarch interests that were protected by keeping Walmart out.
DutchBoy2015, The CEO's of the multinational corporations and our politicians, who provide for their welfare, are the ones who love FASCISM Corptocracy. The citizens of the USA who possess half a brain and realize it for what it is, don't love it... one damn bit.
I'm not too sure of your assessment regarding consumer/customer respect in Europe. In fact, I remember (many years ago) that public bathrooms were almost nonexistent in retail establishments. The thought being... eff you, you got to go? GO home. No haggle in Europe, the price is the price. No atmosphere that the 'customer is always right.' Of course, they are often effed up slugs, but that's another topic.
Thats bullshit , you must be talking about 50 years go;. most stores now advertise , beat our price and we pay the difference.
Times have changed. perhaps you neeed to come over and have your myths dispelled.
I saw first hand what having a walmart move into a small town does to small businesses that have running there for generations in some cases. Its sad.
In this case, that Walmart failed because the employees pilfered so much, but tbat didnt bring back the old establishments and everyone lost.
Your observations are not untrue, I just find you to be obnoxious in your blanket characterization of Americans.
And yeah, I downvoted you. You earned it.
2 fingers to employees and 2 fingers to USSofA. GOV ( less Buffetesque free loads ). Chinese shit ain't as chirpy cheap as it used to be. Where's your mama gone?
Plumber is the code name for such an employee on black lists.
<danger - possible conspiracy theory below>
There is another more obtuse possiblity that I came across last night, but I just skimmed over the article quite quickly.
It turns out someone recently embezzled quite a bit of money out of a Walmart so other stores that might be missing large sums of cash could be shut down until they figure out if it is merely individuals or a more concerted effort by a group or gang of people.
Found it...
http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/crime/2015/04/15/wal-mart-employee-accuse...
because plumbing is a really lame excuse...
You morons that bash unions are so STUPID you don't even realize that without UNIONS. ALL of you morons would be working 80 hours a week for 50 cents and hour.,
Amazing how ignorant you are.
Innovation and productivity drive higher wages. Wages are driven by demand, NOT discounting, which is exactly what Central banks are doing.
Have fun flipping those burgers at Mc Donalds with your new robot buddies... Enjoy those 30% off McRib coupons.
Damn. Damn. Damn all autostart videos. Move from page one to page 2, crap again. Move from page 2 to page 3, more crap. Screw AdChoices.
Thanks for showing your stupidity and the thumbs down. LOL MORONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe some of us don't like your personal attacks on rank and file Americans.
There may even be a few that may think the next time your country gets occupied you should liberate yourselves..
I was a union member and steward for years, and Unions are Marxist viper pits. Douse them and burn them to a crisp. The rank and file aren't the point of unions, but are very lucrative to the leadership in access to power and money. JFK's most monstrous legacy...an EO granting unionization of gov't employees.
I don't care if Clem Fucking Kadiddlehopper is running for prez, if he vows to rescind JFK's EO, he has my vote.
That story goes down the rabbit hole a ways too. The Mob was tied into the unions and there is now pretty clear that the CIA created (at least in part) the mob.
We eventually always do the right thing, after we've tried everything else.
That's why we are free to own guns here, because eventually we may have to do the only right thing left and use them./p>
The lifecycle of union labor:
1) Symbiotic phase. Workplace safety, predictable hours, competetive wages. Workers more productive, company makes more money.
2) Parasitic phase. Unions grow emboldened and confrontational, egged on by democratically elected civilian leadership. Collusion and price fixing, highly illegal, is rebranded as collective bargaining and made into law. Parasites damage the host, but rely on the host for their survival.
3) Virulent phase. Unions economically destroy their host, and swarm the carcass for any remaining pension funds.
Obviously, we are in the virulent phase.
God bless WMT/YUM/Darden's et. al. Their customers and employees are of a demographic I wish to avoid in daily life, and thanks to these companies, I know how to avoid them.
Another educated idiot.
Keep your commie club
DutchBoy they've been conditioned to think against their best interests since Ronald Reagan's time.
It is a little sad to listen to Americans who believe that the MSM is spewing propaganda and the oligarchs are strip mining the country and the government is screwing them at every turn. They've figure a few things out, but they still believe the ultimate oligarch propaganda that all unions are evil and run by the mafia. Though not perfect, the union were the only thing that insured that some of the gains in productivity over the years went to the workers. The anti-union propaganda has worked and the average American has paid a heavy price for this. Let's hope they wake up before it's too late!
ironically a town without a walmart just improved their economic health because the parasite is gone.