[MississippiMasterpiece]

Jason Mrkwa, who stocks food at a Wal-Mart in Kansas, says he cannot afford more than an old Dodge truck.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Jason has a nice house. =]

[cvq3842]

Can't the New York Times, which makes a lot of money, chip in to make these poor people's lives better? :)

What galls me is the focus on how much money Wal-Mart supposedly has rather than what contributions the employees are making. I am not necessarily a big Wal-Mart fan, nor do I enjoy trashing low-wage workers. But my reaction if I were dissatisfied with my wages would be to seek a better-paying job or to find out what I, repeat, what I could do to make myself "worth more" in the marketplace. If the workers can convince Wal-Mart that they are being undervalued, good for them. But just saying "I'm not making as much as I want and you can afford to pay me more," even if true, is not what I consider an example of the spirit which built this country.

Why is it that the same people who decry "materialism" always seem to be obsessively interested in OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY?

[DCPatriot]

With pay that brings him about $20,000 a year, he said he could not afford a decent apartment or a vehicle better than his 1991 Dodge Dakota. "I don't see why Wal-Mart can't pay more," Mr. Mrkwa said.

Now you know what mom and dad meant when they said "Study hard. Stay in school. You'll get a better job!"

[newsgatherer]

Now how do you know this is true? Does not the NYTimes equal lying scum?

[OldBlondBabe]

My 18 yr-old son's worked at Meijer for 3 1/2 years and makes under 8.00 per hour. No matter how small the weekly check, the union makes sure it gets it's cut first.

[scotts8826]

I have yet to find some small "Mom and Pop" retail store that pays its workers $12 an hour with benefits. Wal-Mart will by and large BEAT any small retailer on wages.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Jason Mrkwa, who stocks food at a Wal-Mart in Kansas, says he cannot afford more than an old Dodge truck.

Therein lies the problem. People who stock shelves are at the bottom of the pay scale, whether it's Wal-Mart or some Mom'n'Pop store. My grandparents ran an IGA grocery store for years, and the shelf stockers, and bag stuffers were high school boys.

[kittymyrib]

GM paid such good wages and benefits that it is going broke. Surely Walmart will not be that stupid.

[yer gonna put yer eye out]

Jason is typical of many young people who refuse to continue up the education ladder.
Maybe he just doesn't understand that stocking frozen food isn't one of the Big 10 moneymakers of all time, and it probably never will be.

So...want more money?.....educate yourself, learn a trade, put out some effort instead of your hand......

Unfortunately unions, promoting their inflated "more money for less work" system are all too often ready to legitimize lame protestations like Jasons....

[ruiner]

Ahem, did they really put this part in the article??

"Wal-Mart critics often note that corporations like Ford and G.M. led a race to the top, providing high wages and generous benefits that other companies emulated. They ask why Wal-Mart, with some $10 billion in profit on about $288 billion in revenue last year, cannot act similarly."

[SIDENET]

But Jason Mrkwa, 27, a high school graduate who stocks frozen food at a Wal-Mart in Independence, Kan., maintains that he is underpaid. "I make $8.53, even though every one of my evaluations has been above standard," Mr. Mrkwa (pronounced MARK-wah) said. "You can't really live on this."

If he wants more money and a new truck, etc., he could work somewhere else. People are driving trucks for Kellogg, Brown, and Root (evil Halliburton subsidiary) in Iraq for 120K per year. It's not the safest job out there, but this guy is whining about not having a good salary.

[MinuteGal]

Why don't these socialists, liberals and union bosses cut the baloney and come out with their real aim......the nationalization of the retail sales industry.

That way, the workers can collect compassionate (inflated) wages directly from the government, bypassing capitalistic greedy corporation middlemen pigs.

Yep, that's the ticket.

Leni

[Sloth]

Wal-mart is free to offer whatever wages they see fit, and workers are free to accept or reject.

Having said that, working for Wal-mart really does suck. I did it one summer in college, and I would starve before doing that again.

[mewzilla]

If Wally pays more, its customers pay more.

How the heck does that help low income folks?

[conservativecorner]

These stories make me sick. Go get further training for a job that pays better or get a second job. Nobody is stopping any of the Wal-Mart employees from quiting and finding a job that pays more than Wal-Mart. It's the "pursuit of happiness" and not the "guarantee of happiness".

[freedomfiter2]

"Wal-Mart is doing the polar opposite of Henry Ford. Wal-Mart brags about how its low prices help poor Americans, but its low wages are helping increase the number of Americans in poverty."

Oh yes, these workers were forced to quit their high paying jobs to work at Walmart. If other jobs paying more were available in their market they would switch. So why are we not hearing about the other employers in these markets?

[whereasandsoforth]

The NYT always has room for a story like this, but this same time last year they could not find one column inch to review one of the nation's bestsellers, "Unfit For Command".

I like Wal-Mart. I spend a lot of my money there voluntarily. I am also a taxpayer to the US government. Those payments are not voluntary and I have no idea were my money really goes or for what. If some of my involuntarily tax money goes to pay food stamp and medical for the folks that work at my local Wal-Mart, I don't mind. Let Wal-Mart workers figure those benefits into their yearly take.

If my tax dollars are helping keep Wal-Mart's prices down, then great. I'd rather the money go to something that benefits me in the long run instead of to something like the NEA which exist only to hurt me.

[samtheman]

Can't the NY Times, a news behemoth, make more sense?

[laredo44]

"I make $8.53, even though every one of my evaluations has been above standard," Mr. Mrkwa (pronounced MARK-wah) said. "You can't really live on this."

Then don't.

[Chi-townChief]

Why can't Costco just hire more of these people? Better yet, why can't the minimum wage be $80,000? Even better, why can't we get paid for just staying home?