Posted on 02/01/2016 11:46:36 AM PST by rickmichaels
The past year has been a very interesting one for Wal-Mart. For years - decades, really - the low-cost retailer has been a stout bulwark for low prices and low wages, against increasingly fierce pressure from left-wing activists who want Wal-Mart wages to be closer to those of the old manufacturing jobs that have disappeared. Wal-Mart ferociously refused to cave into pressure - until suddenly in February of last year, the company announced a substantial hike in its entry-level wages in the U.S.
This has not gone quite as you might have expected. The labor activists were not as pleased as you might have thought; they complained that the company offset its higher wage costs by cutting back on the hours that people worked, at the same time as investors complained that the higher labour costs were coming out of corporate profits. And longtime Wal-Mart workers seem to have been made unhappy by the rising minimums, which meant that they would be getting less of a premium for their loyal years of service.
The company has just announced another wage hike, this one for everyone, in order to mollify some of those complaints. It's also announced that it's closing a bunch of stores, and in Washington, D.C., my own fair city, declining to open stores long-promised for low-income neighborhoods, much to the fury of District political leaders.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalpost.com ...
Cept for the IRS.
Shop at Aldi. Problem solved.
Everyone loses? The employees who get pay raises don’t lose.
Seems to be a lot of people with no wages
“The labor activists were not as pleased as you might have thought; they complained that the company offset its higher wage costs by cutting back on the hours that people worked, at the same time as investors complained that the higher labour costs were coming out of corporate profits. And longtime Wal-Mart workers seem to have been made unhappy by the rising minimums, which meant that they would be getting less of a premium for their loyal years of service.
The company has just announced another wage hike, this one for everyone, in order to mollify some of those complaints. It’s also announced that it’s closing a bunch of stores, and in Washington, D.C., my own fair city, declining to open stores long-promised for low-income neighborhoods, much to the fury of District political leaders.”
Incredible - who could have possibly predicted this??
Cept for China.
That’s not a good title.
My son has been working at Wal-Mart for two years. The increased minimum for everyone has wiped out his merit raises for the past two years. He worked hard for those raises and now brand new employees will make just as much as he does.
Shop at Aldi.
I hate that store. It is always dirty and I have been to 5 different ones in 3 states. Yuk. Publix is really where you should shop. Always clean and very affordable.
Its kind of stupid comment. Who is against people getting raises? Point is - its nobody's business but Walmart and the employees'.
If employees don't like their job, they can find another. If Walmart can't find good employees, then maybe they need to pay more. If Walmart can't compete, then they should find a new model go out of business.
I think they are saying it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. They may make more per hour, but hours have been reduced. Also, if a store closes that doesn’t mean much in terms of overall income growth. In this case, the later has not affected many. Only a small handful have closed.
It goes to show that Seattle/Vermont socialism is not some sort of fix-all. There are consequences of each decision. Why Walmart caved on wages for anything other than their own needs I do not understand. If they were continuing to see lines around the block for job openings, the market was fine with the original wages. If they felt they needed higher caliber or were seeing too much turnover and wanted to increase retention, those are worthy reasons. The whining of a leftist dolt or a union thugs should not be the reason.
The correct way to do this would be to have fewer but better employees. The these dinosaur-size companies have trouble implementing something like that.
But slovenly employees are the typical reason large retail chains decline. If you look at Sears, the place is a mess and none of the employees cares, so who’s going to shop there?
Thank you for the clarification. I stand corrected.
I commented before I read the whole article. The title is misleading.
How stupid.
Everyone loses when THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FORCES RAISES.
Aldi is a ruthless competitor.
I went to a WM about 10 miles from the one I usually shop at.
That WM has an Aldi very close by.
Noticeabley lower prices.
Aldi coming to our town in 2017.
Well Burney Sanders would like that....
“Everyone loses? The employees who get pay raises don’t lose.”
The employees who get to keep their jobs and their raises don’t lose, no.
The employees who lose their jobs to pay the ones with the raises lose, as do the employees who lose their jobs because the marginally-performing store they worked at had to close because they couldn’t afford the new pay structure.
Walmart will price match.
I’m not gonna be “that guy” that stands in the checkout for an extra 15 mins trying to get some 75 IQ cashier to grasp the particulars of the Aldi circular. And remember Aldi is almost 100% house brand which is not “equivalent”
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