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WalMart's Mysterious Store Closure Devastates California City
Earlier this month, we brought you the short history of worker protests at the Pico Rivera, CA Wal-Mart location. The store has been at the forefront of pickets, walkouts, and sit-ins for some time, with workers staging demonstrations every year since 2012, the latest of which came in November of last year and resulted in the arrest of two dozen workers. The employees — whose grievances generally revolve around wages, working conditions, and retaliation — have been supported by The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union or, UFCW, which last year prevailed in a Canadian Supreme Court case against the retailer stemming from a decade-old incident in Quebec when Wal-Mart closed a location after workers voted for UFCW representation.
Given the store’s history, one can hardly be blamed for wondering if Wal-Mart’s recent decision to close the location for “plumbing issues” was in fact an excuse to shutter a "problem" store. The plight of the Pico Rivera location is of course part of a larger story wherein Wal-Mart — in what we have suggested is an attempt to cut costs — has closed multiple stores nationwide (laying off some 2,200 employees in the process) to fix what the company says are “clogs and leaks.” The absence of plumbing permits, the company’s express desire to rein in costs on the back of an across-the-board wage hike, and the history of the Pico Rivera location led us to suggest that factors unrelated to pipes and drains may be at play.
Sure enough, just days after our Pico Rivera story ran, the UFCW filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations board alleging that the California store was closed to punish employees for worker activism.
In the latest from Pico Rivera, the city now says the company’s decision to close the location could have a decisively deleterious effect on tax revenue, 10% of which came from the local Wal-Mart. Here’s more via LA Times:
"It's a severe blow to our community, certainly, with the local economy, the homes and families, in terms of those people that were counting on those paychecks," mayor Gregory Salcido said.
With 530 workers, the Wal-Mart store is the city's second-biggest employer, topped only by the El Rancho Unified School District. Pico Rivera's nearly 64,000 residents have a median household income of almost $57,000, about average for the county.
Salcido estimated that Pico Rivera receives about $1.4 million a year in tax revenue from the retailer, potentially 10% of the city's sales tax revenue. City officials, he said, are trying to figure out how to deal with the lost revenue if the store remains closed for at least six months, as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has announced…
The Wal-Mart was built on the grounds of two prior Pico Rivera employment giants…
The city then helped develop a portion of the site into the Pico Rivera Towne Center, a 630,000-square-foot open-air shopping center.
When Wal-Mart arrived, the low prices were an immediate hit in the largely Latino town. It was open 24 hours; the aisles were often jammed.
The store was renovated in 2007 to become a Wal-Mart Supercenter that sold groceries and underwent further remodeling in 2014 (ZH: hold this thought)
Jenny Mills, a nine-year Pico Rivera Wal-Mart employee, lives in her car with her husband and their cat in the parking lot of her former store. The couple lost their apartment in Monterey Park about a year ago when the rent was raised and they couldn't make payments.
She's now part of the National Labor Relations Board filing and said she hopes to get her job back.
The Pico Rivera Towne Center has become an "economic engine" for the city in terms of retail, Salcido said. Other tenants in the center include Lowe's, Marshalls, PetSmart and Panera Bread.
But the loss of the Wal-Mart store, even temporarily, Salcido said, "is significant, no doubt about it."
Meanwhile, the LA Times also notes that the Pico Rivera location underwent a half-million dollar refurbishment last year that included some of the very same plumbing issues (see embedded document below) cited in the closure of the store this year, which begs two rather obvious questions: 1) why weren't the problems fixed during the refurbishment and 2) why was WalMart able to complete last year's plumbing work without closing the doors?
For reference, here is the complaint sent to the Labor Relations Board:
Dear Regional Director:
Enclosed is a Charge we are filing on behalf of OUR Walmart.
This charge arises out of the well-publicized decision by Walmart to suddenly close five stores on the pretext of a "plumbing"problem in each of the stores. Walmart's action was intended to target the Pico Rivera store, which has been the focal point of activity by Associates for better working conditions.
This case warrants immediate relief under Section1Q(j). Approximately 2200 Walmart Associates around the country have been thrown out of their jobs. Although Walmart has offered WARN Act payments, the employees are being asked to sign severance agreements in order to receive additional severance pay.
Thus, Walmart is attempting to weed out many of the activists in the Pico Rivera store as well as the other stores who are subject to this sudden and wholly unexplained "closure" because of unexplained "plumbing problems."
We are prepared to present a number of workers immediately to the Region who worked in the Pico Rivera store. They will describe the activity which has gone on in that store and elsewhere since at least 2012.
The Region is already familiar with much of this because of Case 21-CA-10541, as well as other consolidated cases which are pending in various Regions or before various Administrative Law Judges.
Please assign this immediately to a Board Agent who can begin taking statements in the next day or so.
We will be presenting additional evidence in support of this.
We expect that Walmart will come up with some pretextual argument that there was a "plumbing problem." No one in the City Administration of Pico Rivera was aware of any plumbing problem. No permits have been pulled or sought. This, in fact, is true of all five of the stores as far as we can tell.
And here is the permit for last year's refurbishments:
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Some Australian unions did that years ago.
Went broke, of course.
Those Walmart workers are no where near the median income of $57,000. So the 'good' news is that once those workers leave town - the median income will GO UP! Another Obama success story!
Hmmm...as the broader economy circles the drain at an accelerating pace, the Wal-Mart store closures and plumbing mystery deepens?
I'm trying to connect the dots, but coming up empty.
Well, it's a deep subject.
(Thanks for letting me slide that groaner into sane conversation.ald)
As another poster who figured it out = SEIU. The La Raza, illegal alien marxist union.
Hopefully they will unionize dope growers in colorado next. Soro's marxist kleptocracy.
But what about all those towns where the citizens protest against Walmart opening a new store? Surely having a Walmart in your town is a bad thing???
Let them eat cake...
- Alice Walton
yeah right? these damn chiselers...I think they should be able to close the store if they want...but I'm not going to cry for poor walmart. Last time I was there the workers out gathering the shopping carts looked like hobos.
http://walmart1percent.org/family/
Boo fucking hoo
Best first step: do not allow chain stores. Period.
India had the right idea, but then they went neoliberal/neocon on us.
No monopolies, no chain stores.
I guess they'll have to push the gun and badge thugs to knock more heads for revenue.
"Your son was climbing a tree in the park so we tazed him. Here is a ticket for $555 for climbing a public tree, and another for $345 for child neglect. Have a nice day, and don't forget to call 9-11, as your city depends on the revenue."
Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.
The bankster beast must be fed.
Only $4 per sq foot for gov fees!
Yeah, I ran the numbers on one in the town near where I used to live. It appeared to me that government made more "profit" than Walmart.
Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.
Perhaps the local kleptocrats should significantly reduce their building permit charges if they want people to actually pull permits. $7000 for a license for basically kitchen & bathroom upgrades is obscene, particularly on top of the local sales skim and wage theft.
I really hope the disorganized labor fuckwits submitted more than just that pathetic and unsubstantiated snippet to the NLRB, otherwise the Evil Empire will win without breaking a sweat.
Yeah, the "$7,000 for a permit" part makes this actually make sense. If the cost to perform a single fix is that high, then it would make sense that they delay fixes so that they can perform many fixes at once. So many fixes, in fact, that the entire store needs to be closed as they cannot provide the "bathrooms per patrons" metric that the government requires...
the largest employer is the school district....ding ding ding ding...there is the problem right there.
They should tax the school district.
Oops!
Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.
Yeah, but think of all the taxes those govt. employees pay.... that's the "logic" of liberals.
To be sure, the city brought this on themselves (government the largest employer...sheeesh), but Walmart will win this situation due to the reliance of the city on the Walmart tax base. The beauty of Walmart's situation is that they do not pay the taxes, only collect them for the government.
In this way, and in addition to owning the federal government through lobbying for laws and regulations to squelch competition, mega corporations wield power over the smaller authorities.
This is no criticism as I have become mostly disinterested, only an observation.
It may be only your uncritical observation, but it is one of the more correct observations I have seen on this topic.
20% of walmart shoppers are on food stamps. Roughly 48M "folks" in the US (legal and illegal) are on food stamps and the program was cut over $5B last year, with more squeezing to come. Their holiday season...sucked. Brazil? failing and closures. China? failing and closures. Japan? closures as well. India? nope, not quite ready to play hard there yet.
We are, and largely have been for the past few years, at the point where a fine and some bad press is less than the cost of doing business with an entitled union workforce or paying a low skill/no skill workforce a severly distorted wage. Meanwhile, Target Canada is gone and Walmart can fill a perceived gap there with 30 or so stores. With Canadian workers. Workers who aren't on the Saul Alinsky social justice uprising/riot/entitlement bandwagon.
In contrast to your uncritical observations, I get a little excited when I see an engine of commerce telling a town and a workforce to fuck off. They earned it. My only disappointment is Walmart pulled this chickenshit plumbing deal into the mix to provide a ray of hope. Shut. It. Down.
The squeezing isn't necessary. I was in Brazil in the late 90s and the driver was pulled over -- because I in the passenger seat had glasses, and was reading a book.
Literacy there means money, and the cops thought they could shake us down. Fortunately her brother worked for the chief of police, and they let us go with apologies.
I agree that we're at a breaking point. Many families are so paycheck-to-paycheck that an additional fine would cause them to miss payments, adding additional charges causing them to miss additional payments -- we are a nation at a breaking point, some of us more so than others.
WMT's customer base buying food at WMT stores who are on EBT are well over 50%. EBT/food stamps are the core of their business now.
I just hope Aldi/Trader Joes take more business from WMT like when Aldi ran WMT out of Germany. Aldi 9which also owns Trader Joes) pays good salaries and the employees generally like working there. They have to work pretty hard but they get decent wages.
Threre's still time to riot --- I bet there's still inventory to procure left in the store. If not, just bash some windows and call it a day. Urban renewal in process.
Inventory hell, think of all the copper wire and plumbing! That's a Compton Gold Mine just waiting to get harvested.
you forget, they don't have any plumbing.
All their plumbing is cast iron, PVC or PEX.
Dr. Copper is for stores that dont accept EBT.
Corporate Amercia outsourced most of their jobs to the third world years ago and now they're trying to come back to the states and implement the same third world strategy by creating a wage race to the bottom. You are all truly fucked
Remove 14+ million illegals from the payrolls and government (our taxes) freebie train and you would be surprised at what a business would pay an employee,
This is just one of the ways in which the Federal government and unions intentionally destroys the middle class.
"What Govt and Wal-Mart giveth can be taketh away.!"
Workers: your labor is valued at ZERO, your dependency on Govt, Wal-Mart and likewise entities guarantees your enslavement and poverty.
Break away. Seek, and ye shall find...!
Something ominous (mysterious) is brewing and it will dwarf this article about the few, newly unemployed in this California city.
The closure
The closure of the Pico Rivera Walmart had nothing to do with worker activism. That would be a too obvious invitation to civil lawsuits. We don't know the full truth of why it was closed -- yet. All we know is that there is no plumbing problem and Walmart is lying.
DAHBOO777
https://youtu.be/qYCEZ0zAWW4
"DAHBOO777"
Ha, HA, HA, HA, HA . . . . . what a fucking joke.
Yeah, this is the guy who posted a video showing the whiskey aging buildings in Kentucky(?) for Maker's Mark Whiskey and saying the site was a "FEMA Camp" for "Jade Helm". As soon as this info started making the rounds on the net the video was conveniently taken down. Take anything you get from this guy with a BIG grain of salt . . . . .
Here's some other purveyors of total bullshit regarding issues like WWIII, "The Russians are coming/are already here and ready to KILL YOU", "Jade Helm", the NWO, etc. (some are much worse than others and this is a very short list . . . . .):
beforeitsnews.com (the KING!!!)
allnewspipeline.com
wnd.com
thecommonsenseshow.com
stevequayle.com
At times they are entertaining though!!!!
While I would prefer not to agree with you, according to the macro numeric data, I'm afraid I must.
Given the last Census survey, that one out of every two Americans qualifies as poor, the total number of Walmarts cannot continue to exist.
There must logically be store closures, just as the retail numbers aren't dropping so much as they are realistically aligning with real disposable income.
Unfortunately, we will never hear that on the America Village Idiot Networks [but fortunately, given that viewership of CNN and CBS News has plummted to a 63% loss and continuing to sink, evidently Americans are beginning to wise up some].
MOst Merikans simply refuse to even try to be 'informed.' It makes them too unhappy.
My guessis what another poster posted - SEIU. The La Raza marxist Democrat union. They get a foot hold in Wal Mart then they are screwed or will just charge their EBT customers more for their free EBT food.
Amerika is a joke now.
To be sure, the city brought this on themselves. . . . .
Absolutely!! How many "mom and pop" small grocery stores, hardware stores, etc. were pushed into bankruptcy within a year of WhaleMart setting up shop in this town. Just like the other thousands of Whalemart locations nation (and world) wide??? The key to beating these bastards is localization, whereby you pay a little more to shop in a local establishment that when combined with all the other small businesses in the area make for a much more vibrant economy. The problem is the sheeple are convinced it is worth standing in line to save $4.00 on a $50.00 basket of Chinese crap, or paying $1.00 for a two liter of pop instead of $1.50 (sorry - "soda" for you non-midwesterners). Consider the slightly higher cost of shopping local a small tax to keep your neighbor in business and his house from being foreclosed on . . . . .
Urban myth. WMT is a business creator, that's why land is a premium for the small niche businesses that invariably open in its shadow. I'm not a WMT booster by any means. The WMT presence particularly enhances commerical activity in small towns. I've seen it so many times travelling on the back roads. Mom and Pop retailers...the ones supposedly rubbed out by unfair WMT...like general stores were mostly shit. Very limited selection and high prices. BTW, I didn't junk your post.
WMT is a business creator, that's why land is a premium for the small niche businesses that invariably open in its shadow.
Sorry, I disagree with your hypothesis that they are a business "creator". From my direct past experience working with them they squeeze their vendors until the margins are paper thin (or almost non-existent - it's the "You figure it out" routine) and if you don't go along with their dictates they give you the "it's my way or the highway BS". Also, of the two Whalemarts within my area 20% of the other stores in the complex are in bankruptcy or are vacant . . . so where is the business creation? These two locations ARE NOT an anomaly either.
"it's my way or the highway BS"
That is what every customer and business does in the US, if they don't like it or the price they don't buy it.
WMT is a net drain on the economy. Huge percentage of their employees are also on the government dole.
If Walmart didn't get tax breaks and EBT shoppers they would be out of business. They create poverty.
Tonight, say around 2am, the city needs to pass the AWA (all walmart all the time) bill. If you do not submit a walmart receipt, weekly, to city hall they repo your car and your unemployment check.
Really? An entire city, population, jobs, and .gov income dependent on walmart? Perhaps the city should adopt a worldwide approach, like the IRS. If you sell anything in our city, boom, tax on. We will collect taxes from china or else we file a lien on your country and sell it on auction day down at the courthouse.
What do you expect from a bunch of illegal immigrants? Oh wait, we are talking about Mexico right? No wait, I was thinking it FORWARD. I thought it was 2025 and Mexico had annexed mexifornia in order to get their water and taxpayers back,,,no wait Mexico doesn't have taxpayers. Just as well mexifornia doesn't have water.
Colorado is following Obamacare's philosophy, "We like our water and we can keep our water."
Well, anyways, at least Mexico has a nice auto industry now that most of the NE states are burning to the ground. Well, except for all the .gov motors still there, the rest had to leave the country, a long time ago. Who needs jobs anyhow? Look at Pico, all you really need is a walmart.
No job is better than a crappy job, like this!
Oh, shit...
Get a fu.king life!
If you don't like to shop at Walmart don't fu.king shop at Walmart.
If you don't like to work at Walmart don't fu.king work at Walmart.
You are a bunch of whining ass holes!!
I saw you in the Apple Watch thread, too, hasbara. You're a particularly shitty shill. Tell your bosses that they're going to have to do a lot better than you to slip narrative into Zero Hedge readers.
Better yet, torch the effing store. . . .
Heh if Wally World shutting down bankrupts a city, you done fucked up. Thanks Fed monetary policy of centralization (socialism)
I guess this is what the Fed/government policy of cheap money does to an economy...! Bravo for Wal-mart for finding a creative way to polish off the "extend-and-pretend" policy...
I was having lunch and also buying a new toilet seat, with my Mother earlier. We briefly discussed what a fucking sham the MSM coverage of this skirmish in Baltimore is.
The reason I'm taking the time to explain this, is because what people are being fed, has NOTHING to do with racism, and racial divides.
The entire 'Middle Class' in the United States has been GUTTED, sold off and squandered to far off lands. What's left of the Middle Class is being extorted through cheap onshore labor, and illegal immigration.
The PTB, want racial divisiveness so that they don't have to deal with the MACRO issues. I don't care what color anyone is, the country is hurting from the CORE! From the heart...
The store closing in Pico Rivera, is just another notch in the bedpost, of our country being sold out. Do you think hard working Mexicans, want their fucking country over run by Central Americans, or Chinese slave labor?
Once American peoples of all colors start to realize we're all on the same side, the better. Bitchez
+1000
Soros and NWO is using similiar tactics to loot and enslave the Ukraine. Idiots on supposedly conservative web sites like Free Republic are buying the MSM Soros narritive that Putin is the bad guy in that story.
They are Jonathan Pollard conservatives at Free Republic.
You have the fucked up Ukrainians vs the fucked up Russians and Russia took the land from the Ukraine - just fact no matter who used to own it.
I agree YC. However most , if not all, my circle of well educated friends think i am wrong. And that's the problem I see. For SONE reason I am able to put myself in a black persons shoes and understand we need to unite. Others can't and think they are just animals and I guess are afraid of them.
Seasmoke we go go back, and I respect your thoughts. We agree more often than not. We share mutual respect for eachother, even though we've never met in person.
I've had the same conversations ad nauseum with friends and family. I don't take the perspective of race or religion, or who owns the best new toy. Instead I try to show/paint an overall picture during our conversations. It's important hat you aren't making the group or person feel inferior. Z/H is pretty intense, and I've had to catch my tongue at times, when dealing with others. (you're not alone)
Unfortunately we're brought~up to be haves/halves and "have -nots" judged buy the number of fractional reserve notes we control. When I have discussions with friends and associates, I'll discuss peers and family members, as opposed to financial issues, out of legitimate concern.
Most of those conversations end up well, when MONEY is taken out of the equation, from the start.
Caring and Understanding will take you a long way in life...Occasionally, you have to put your foot down. :-D
We're only human.
Every single one of us.
Speak for yourself mortal.
Thank you Yen Cross and Seasmoke. Sometimes I leave this site despondent. It's not the articles even though they are depressing, it's the comments. In my opinion everyone wants someone to blame and they usually pick who they view as being below them on the success ladder. They don't look up because that's where they want to go. They don't pick complex issues because identifying a group of people is easier. They don't want to blame people who are the same skin color or nationality because that hits too close to home.
The problems we face as a society are complex. If you feel compelled to find blame look in the mirror. None of us are perfect, If you feel you have not done anything wrong then you are not looking very hard. If nothing else we are all guilty of believing someone else will fix the problem.
Apathy is out- Activism is the new sexy. Program your Congressional Members/President contact info into your phone and every week demand CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM. Will all the problems go away overnight- no, but maybe with critical thinkers representing us we can get beyond the blame game and find solutions.
Hellz Yah! Its WE THE MUTHA FUCKIN PEOPLE vs THE FUCKIN SLUM LORD MUTHA FUCKIN FEDERAL GOVT
Barefoot Pinot 4 pack only $8...highly recommended
Pico Rivera sucks. It sole purpose is Hispanic gangbanger manufacturing.
Walmart closes = less shoddy Chinese crap= a good thing.
I'm looking for a retailer, specifically a major one, regardless of its primary product line that doesn't rely upon chinese suppliers.
BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
You think this is 1970????
HAHAHAHAHAHA
Me too but you won't be able to afford to shop there because the unions will have driven the prices through the roof.
You see the unions are only interested in more money for them by making you pay more for everything you need.
You pay more, so they can stuff their communist wallets.
Yeah but then where will all the EBT payments go?
Besides I can't afford to shop anywhere else on 75K a year. The g*d damn Federal, State, and local taxes plus Medifuckyou and Medifuckass, FICAfuck, and Social Fuck You Up the Arse Insecurity take too much of my mutha fuckin money.
Boycot China Marts everywhere fuck them right in the wallet.
I'm down wit it, but I'll hardly be able to buy anything. And we try
Then you will only buy what you really need and if you are discerning, it will be of higher quality and last longer thus having a lower cost over its lifetime.
Edit: Except ammo. You needs lots of ammo so buy it at Walfart if they have the best prices.
"Given the store’s history, one can hardly be blamed for wondering if Wal-Mart’s recent decision to close the location for “plumbing issues” was in fact an excuse to shutter a "problem" store."
If it were my store, I'd shut it too. Walmart jobs weren't meant to be careers, just jobs.
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/all/modules/blockquote/images/menu-leaf.g...); background-position: 100% 100%;">"When Wal-Mart arrived, the low prices were an immediate hit in the largely Latino town. It was open 24 hours; the aisles were often jammed."
Maybe if it were a largely American town, these jackwads would understand they need to be grateful the Walmart was there to begin with. These people really do feel like they're owed employment.
Fuck em.
"Walmart is the Devil!!!
...
Walmart is leaving! God help us!"
On a side note, does anyone want to take a bet that the plumbing issues are being caused by union activists flushing crates of tampons?
If Walmart is such a piss poor employer that doesn't pay livable wages then how can it have such a "huge" impact on the county economy. Everybody hates Walmart until they close their doors.
Wow. Can Main Street get a big Reset Button too? Because I know about a dozen real families who would enjoy snap-in tax and rent abatements for their mom n pop shops, perhaps shut the doors and take a vacation for once.
What other business operates like Wal*Mart? Any .mil sisters or brothers out there? I seem to recall retribution in the 90s, where bases were closed due to whistleblowing activity.
The UFCW, the union I was had to join in my youth for a job when I was still in HS. These people are crooks as far as I am concerned. I avoided joining as long as I could and after I got cornered after union dues I was making less than minimum wage. Some deal eh? They don't even pay the people they hire to protest walmart a "living wage". What they want to do is expand the number of people paying tribute to them. IMO, using my experience as a guide, they will do little to nothing to benefit Walmart employees as a whole.
Ever notice how union leaders and organizers are usually dual shitizen types?
This so reminds of the Air Traffic Controllers Strike during the Reagan era..Ones song came out Take this Job and shove it by Johnny Paycheck and when it was all over..the last sequel to the song was..I wish I had a job to shove. :(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0A2QpPbZDA
Boycott walmart. Are we too stupid to do that now? I'm pretty sure other places accepts EBT too
Don't feed the beast
Heh no probs on that 10%, we'll jiust jack up the rate of real estate taxes to compensate for it, since WE are the ones that send out the bills. I can't wait till I retire at 52 years old!! Keep paying, we'll sell youi're fucking house from uinder you if we have to!!
Anyone that thinks like that..............enjoy what's coming.
Poco Rivera's official "other name", and by official the city adopted it, is Little Mexico. I used to live in an adjacent town. It's not a bad place, just Little Mexico. They had a horrendous mass milder while I lived near it.
What is the "Public Image Enhancement" fee all about?
Uh, is it illegal to close a store if you don't want it anymore. Whatever the reason, neighborhood, unionization... Aren't buisinesses free to choose where they want to do business ? Hey, if the place is that great, another retailer will snap up the location and do a bang up business...
You must be mistakenly talking about capitalism, which was successfully eradicated from the US by a group including the CFR, AIPAC and numerous other alphabet soup agencies not least of which was the UN.
You forgot about the communists and communist unions
That's what I don't get. These plumbing problems appear to be a farce, as the entire store could be re-plumbed in less than 6 months. So why not just state you're consolidating and these 5 stores are on the list for closure? Let me guess... the DOL has some rule, created by a congressman as payback to a union for election support, that penalizes companies who choose to close a store in a Latino-majority community or some such nonsense.
An individual who can't handle a 10% cut in income without being "devastated" financially may want to re-examine their financial lifestyle.
83_vf
Right you are. People have gone into debt buying crap they don't need with money they don't have.
What a great example of Walmart's financial sociopaths at work.
Walmart is closed , they are addressing a plumbing problem, namely trying to dig themselves out of their own shit.
I love this country. Labor unions teach their members to do a piss poor job and walk out on a whim. When businesses have enough and say "fuck off" and close, the marxist union then files a petition with the NLRB and sues for unfairly closing. The Marxists on the NLRB will find in favor of the union and force Walmart to pay the shitty ass degenerate workers their piss poor wages which will then be taxed by the union.
Why would ANYONE START A FUCKING BUSINESS IN THE USSA?!?! FUCK YOU FEDERAL GOVT
Maybe some local businesses will open and Walmart won't be needed or wated anymore.
"...deleterious effect on tax revenue, 10% of which came from the local Wal-Mart..."
Atlas shrugged.
Why can't we just give Southern California, New Mexico, and Arizona back to Mexico? The country would be much better off...and McCain could run for El Presidente in Mexico that Mutha Fuckin Gollum Mutha Fucka
You think that would stop them then trying to get into what remained of the US?
When Wallmart arrives to a place it kills off all other present retail and small shops. Goodbye to your green grocer, butchery, appliance shops, etc. After monopolizing a place and putting everybody else out of business they can impose whatever they want on workers and local suppliers. Then Wallmart packs and goes and the place is left without anything. Adam Smith's "invisible hands" not doing so good for local communities but he also warned against monopolies.
Yeah, and no one will fill that void left by walmart? There will be lots of opportunities for the locals to open their own shops and you can bet they will. You sound like you need gov't to help you with your life.
Where does it sound like I need gov't help with my life?
Ok, there is a difference between government monopoly and business monopoly but both can determine prices and conditions. Monopoly is bad. Adam Smith understood that and called for regulation to avoid monopolies or break them up. Entrepreneurial spirit should always be supported.
Sure there will be people that will open shops but if you want to open a shop you need credits. For that you need credit history, score and credit lines (and collateral). You need contracts with suppliers, you need real estate to buy, lease or rent. You need permits and in the case of food need proof of safety standards. You need administration, pay taxes and social security. The neighborhood there doesn't sounds to me like one that easily qualifies for all the above. That is because people have become complacent and dependent on Wallmart and on government EBT or however you call it.
So if that's your argument (that it's too hard to start a business), how did the business get there in the first place, the ones you said in your post above that had to close their doors because wal mart moved in? If they could get the credits and permits before, they will get them again.
The city doesn't exist in a vacuum. Of course the min. wage union activist doesn't have the funds or work ethic to start a business, but somebody who already owns a small business in the next town over can easily come in and open a business, and charge the laid off workers twice the price and half the selection of goods than wal mart did.
Not to mention if those businesses were so good for the community in the first place, why couldn't they compete with wal mart?
Yeah! All those penniless chumps can open up tents at the flea market selling nuthin' to noone. Some asshat town in California is about to learn how to build an economy entirely on meth and hookers.
Anyone who casually talks about opening a busines like it is an easy task anyone can accomplish, has obviously never owned a business. There are so many hoops to jump through and fees to pay it is absurd. And you better have at least a years worth of reserve funding to back you up or you probably will not make it through that first year. In fact most new businesses don't last a year.
Adam Smith's invisible hand is at work here. Walmart will leave and small shops will open to replace them. This is how capitalism is supposed to work. The community will be better off in the long run.
Communities were often doing fine before Wallmart showed up. Then Wallmart comes, people find it convenient to shop at a 'one stop shop' and before you know it your town is full of white chalked windows of local shops that had to close. Local farmers that used to supply local shops now once of a sudden have to compete with far away suppliers of Wallmart and Wallmart can impose whatever it wants. Farms go belly up. Sure, Wallmart offers employment to local people but at low wages. The only one that Smith's invisible hands are working for very well is Wallmart.
Perhaps these small shops come back. Perhaps not.
Fuck Walmart. Close them all
Turn them into landfills. I've been recommending that for years. And convert JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs offices into free range chicken farms.
As the local stores go tits up, so will communities, cities, states, and countries... Debt has paved the road to oblivion.
Since I started freelancing I've been bringing in $90 bucks/h… I sit at home and i am doing my work from my laptop. Th? best thing is that i get more time to spent with my family and with my kids and in the same time i can earn enough to support them... You can do it too. Start here... www.globe-report.com
Since I started freebasing I've been burning $90 bucks/hr… I sit at home and i am doing my pipe in front my laptop. Th? best thing is that i get more time to spent pretending I'm with my family and with my kids and in the same time i can burn enough to impoverish them... You can do it too. Start here... www.globe-resnort.com
Spammer!!
From the article, this caught my attention:
After some searches, it would appear that the store was built on the site of a Ford Motors assembly plant (1957 -1980 (employed 1.670)), then from 1982 - 1999 Northrop Grumman facility that built B2's (employed 2,000))
They lost MUCH MORE in the past.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-walmart-pico-rivera-20150427-story...
But in the past, it wasn't so completely obvious and commonplace that the system is designed and tilted towards the entitlement mentality. Given enough time, the preceding generations will be looped into this as a class action lawsuit against Walmart, Ford, and Northrop.
The problem for the unions is that they had a bunch of legitimate grievances (safety, mandated sick pay, vacation, minimum wage), unionized, won them.....then voted them into law. With OSHA, DoL, FMLA, etc., what value-add does the union represent? So they drive on to non-legitimate grievances (higher than market wages, cumbersome work rules, protection of the incompetent, closed shops) and rely on government cronyism to maintain their relevance.
We should just issue a directive that Walmart can't shut down. Let's call it Directive 10289.
Wesley
Who is Barack Obama?
Walmart to open 115 stores in China
April 29, 2015
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-32509077
Wow, the Chinese buying their own junk.
Great! Now the Chinese won't have to come to America in order to buy cheap crap made in China (but not marketed there, until now).
That means an even faster downward spiral here for the Middle Class.
Anyone who voted for Nixon, Reagan, Poppy and Baby Bush must be felling rather proud of themselves right now....
Great! Now the Chinese won't have to come to America in order to buy cheap crap made in China (but not marketed there, until now).
That means an even faster downward spiral here for the Middle Class.
Anyone who voted for Nixon, Reagan, Poppy and Baby Bush must be felling rather proud of themselves right now....
Headline 2030: Walmart, McDonalds, CVS, Home Depot Announce Total Automation On Stores and Transport Trucks. Human Labor Costs Drop to 1%. Stocks Skyrocket on News.
And there you have it. The full on chickenshit reflex of the uber wealthy when confronted by the natural unperverted laws of commerce. Instead of paying a decent wage they cut and run full on knowing the low wage problem is completely and totally theirs. Corporate profit or community. Now you have a keen insight into what decision they will make each and every time. Good riddance. Here endeth the lesson.
Walmart owns the fucking store -
Don't you think the owner should have some say in the rate of pay they offer for a job they are creating?
If people don't want to work for $8 an hour then they don't have to - they can start their own company - or find a different job.
If Walmart is so bad then why is anyone unhappy they closed the store?
All the W M bashers should be thrilled!
The formeremployees should aquire the building and open their own store-sort of a communal affair. They could pay themselves $50 an hour-it would be great!
The Walmart employees at this store were constantly complaining -
If Walmart was free to fire anyone they wanted - any time they wanted - for any reason they wanted - without any FEAR OF LEGAL ACTION OR THREATS FROM THE GOVERNMENT.
Which is BTW - no different that the employee deciding - any time they want - for any reason they choose to quit their job
Then Walmart would have just fired the bitching - whining - unhappy - most likely lazy worthless slugs - and this store would still be open.
Now before you down arrow me -
If you owned a store - would you - as the fucking owner want the ability to decide who does and who does not work for you? Sure you would.
Will every company be 100% fair? NO - some will fuck people in the ass - and fire them for no good reason - but in total more better paying jobs will be created.
You over protect something you make it weak.
Go ahead, bite the hand that feeds you. It's a free market, bitchez!
Don't act so surprised that Wally mart CAN take their ball and leave.
What is this 'free market' you speak of? Where is it?
If Walmart doesnt like this location let them close down and go away. As soon as someone else moves in to fill the void Walmart will be back. Thats why no one else will try to open anything in its place. As soon as Walmart returns, the same people who decry Walmart will abandon the businesses that filled the void and line up to shop at the super duper cheap Walmart. Sometimes you actually get what you desrve.
The Oligarchy has room enough for ONLY ONE WalMart. No others will be permitted to fill any voids.
1. If your city's economy is dependent upon a single WalMart to remain viable, your city does not really have an economy.
2. Sit ins, protests, strikes, and idiots grubbing for more money COST WalMart; these employees are cutting their own throats in their ignorance.
3. Customers drive retail sales. No jobs = no one with money = no customers.
After reading the comments, I have come to realize that a whole generation succumbed to the Reagan economic doctrine. What once was a society became a business. It became possible to fuck over anyone else in the name of business. "Sorry it's just business."
It started the age of the levereged buyout. And now, in full swing, adapted by governments everywhere, We find human interests levereged out of the equation. Fuck the other guy, it's just business.
Reagan's "trickle-down" economics has come full term. We are now owned by corporations, and they own everything. Special thanks to all those neo-liberal ("what austerity?") arse kissers out there. Couldn't have been done without your sheople minds.
Pico was a big location for a major aerospace company back in the 80's.
Until Defense Secretary Dick Cheney decided to "slash and burn" Southern California's defense industries.
Because SoCal was more likely to vote Democrat. True. He admitted this.
The fact that Wallyworld is the 2nd largest employer now in Pico shows you how long the damage can last to local economies devastated by political partisan hacks.