"We Want $15 an Hour and Full Time." Who's the Deadbeat?

[Cha]

Last edited Fri Nov 28, 2014, 10:44 PM - Edit history (1)

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PHOTOS: Walmart workers organize the largest Black Friday protest ever http://bit.ly/1HLv1xt
9:26 AM - 28 Nov 2014 81 Retweets 39 favorites

The Real Deadbeats

By Martin Longman

If you are tired of your taxpayer dollars being used to pay Wal-Mart employees the money that the Waltons refuse to pay them, then you might be interested in the large Black Friday protests that are occurring at 1,600 Wal-Mart stores in 49 states throughout the nation right now.

“I have to depend on the government mostly,” says Fatmata Jabbie, a 21-year-old single mother of two who earns $8.40 an hour working at a Walmart in Alexandria, Virginia. She makes ends meet with food stamps, subsidized housing, and Medicaid. “Walmart should pay us $15 an hour and let us work full-time hours,” she says. “That would change our lives. That would change our whole path. I wouldn’t be dependent on government too much. I could buy clothes for my kids to wear.”

The nation’s largest employer, Walmart employs 1.4 million people, or 10 percent of all retail workers, and pulls in $16 billion in annual profits. Its largest stockholders—Christy, Jim, Alice, and S. Robson Walton—are the nation’s wealthiest family, collectively worth $145 billion. Yet the company is notorious for paying poverty wages and using part-time schedules to avoid offering workers benefits. Last year, a report commissioned by Congressional Democrats found that each Walmart store costs taxpayers between 900,000 and $1.75 million per year because so many employees are forced to turn to government aid

Political Animal



Meet the Fortune 500 Companies Funding the Political Resegregation of...
By Andy Kroll @AndyKroll
Over the past few years, the United States has been resegregated -- politically. You might recognize some of the brands and corporations behind this GOP effort.
BillMoyers.com @BillMoyersHQ
16 Retweets 4 favorites

Bill Moyers

From the link @ Political Animal..

"This isn’t complicated. If you have a job at Wal-Mart and you still need Medicaid, food stamps and subsidized housing, then you aren’t just getting shafted by the Waltons. You’re also being paid your missing wages by the federal government. You’re not the deadbeat. The Waltons are the deadbeats."

[Cha]

1. Kick for Walmart Employees!

[freshwest]

17. Kicking for the devastating reality that RW media can't erase...

[Cha]

18. Thank you so much, Freshwest!

This is how we get things done!

[William769]

2. Kick & recommend for visibility.

[Cha]

4. I thank you, William! Happy Thanksgiving for what

we have~

[William769]

5. Same to you Cha.

[Cha]

6. ..

[Agschmid]

3. Kick.

[Cha]

8. Thanks for the kick, Agschmid.. This needs exposure..

[U4ikLefty]

7. Who do they think they are...good humans like Wall Street traders???

[Cha]

10. It's depicable and needs more attention brought to surface, U4ikLefty

[U4ikLefty]

12. I've been fighting on their/our side since Occupy & will never give up.

I may be a high-earning engineer today, but will never forget my past, or the lessons I learned.

Solidarity!!!

[Cha]

15. Thank you!

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

9. Right On...Walton's are the laziest and ugliest of the lazy and ugly.

[ucrdem]

11. ...

[Cha]

16. Mahalo ucr!

[Cha]

14. Reminds me of that character Simon Legree.. only not to that degree.

[MannyGoldstein]

13. Excellent, thanks!

Now they need elected representation in Washington that has their back.

[TBF]

19. That's 30K/yr for full time job -

and that sounds like a very good start. K&R

[Cha]

20. Yes, TBF. and I don't think the Waltons would be hurting in their bank account dept.

[TBF]

22. I am really tired of subsidizing their payroll -

that is what taxpayers are forced to do when they keep wages so low. Just spelling it out for those who may not have really thought about it (which I know is not you). When folks can only get part-time work at minimum wage they end up looking for a 2nd or even 3rd jobs. And they are still struggling. We still must provide assistance via welfare, food stamps, food banks etc. Some folks seems to have the idea these are just high school students who need to pay their dues or whatever, but that is not the case. With the loss of manufacturing many perfectly capable people who would be doing more skilled work are now relegated to very simple jobs just to make a living - to care for their families.

And I would like to say I don't even mind helping with those things if the company (especially when it is a small business) is also struggling. Then I understand that everyone has to pitch in through taxes and even their churches to help. But that is not the case with the Waltons. They are like the "robber barons" of long ago. They sit on piles of money in their Park Avenue suites while the middle classes stretches further & further to try to help those less fortunate. Enough is enough.

[Cha]

24. I don't mind helping, either, when there's no choice.. not the case with the Waltons. Costco

pays their employees a thriving wage and benefits. It can be done.

Well said, TBF

[airplaneman]

21. I am all for $15 minimum and full time. n/t.

[Cha]

25. Mahalo airplaneman!

[Omaha Steve]

23. Spent a good part of the day away from the net

K&R for this post!

OS

[Cha]

26. Thank you, Steve!

[Cha]

27. Employees of Walmart!

[GP6971]

28. Kick. n/t

[Cha]

29. Mahalo GP!

[Cha]

30. Walmart Employees!

[Cha]

31. Walmart Employees!

[Cha]

32. ...

[Initech]

33. Hey Republicans!!!! Fortune 500 companies are the real leeches siphoning your paycheck!

It's not the mom with 4 kids on welfare. It's Walmart. It's Raytheon. It's ExxonMobil. It's Monsanto. It's Wells Fargo and Bank of America. These are the people robbing us blind on a daily basis.

[Cha]

34. Exactly, Initech.. why we're trying to get this news out there! thank you!

[Initech]

36. Hey I'm here all week!

[Cha]

37. Me too!

[humbled_opinion]

42. People don't get that really

because no politician fights to end corporate welfare that sucks the money out of every hard working persons paycheck.

[Initech]

45. I'm hoping that Bernie Sanders will in the 1/100000000th chance he's elected president.

But of course that's optimistic numbers.

[Cha]

48. Walmart needs to start Paying their employees a living wage like Costco.

[jmowreader]

52. When Walmart remakes their stores to be like Costco, maybe they will

Costco has:
189,000 employees and 650 locations
10:30-8:30 customer hours, not open on holidays
about 4,000 "stock keeping units" or SKUs - the retail industry term for a "distinct article of commerce," in that 12-ounce, 20-ounce and 2-liter Coca-Cola bottles are three different SKUs even though the bottles contain exactly the same product. Most of Costco's SKUs are house-brand merchandise, and you get as few options as is humanly possible - they have one size of one brand of mustard, not forty brands each in six sizes.
stores where most of the product can be set at the point of purchase with heavy equipment - forklifts and pallet jacks
two kinds of customers: businesses who buy their supplies there, and affluent customers with the financial wherewithal to buy a huge amount of product at one time AND homes large enough to store it, but who doesn't buy everything they need from Costco
a logistics system that relies on cross-docking and direct ship from factory to store
a $55/year (or $110/year with a LOT of extra benefits) membership fee, from which most of their profits derive

Walmart has:
2.2 million employees and 11,058 locations
24-hour customer hours, only closed on Christmas Day
somewhere between 140,000 and 150,000 SKUs
stores that have to be hand-stocked
a logistics system that operates traditional "warehouse-style" distribution centers
a customer base that does all its shopping there, and that is EXTREMELY price-sensitive
no membership fee

Costco has done everything it possibly can to eliminate the need for headcount...if they could figure out how to use self-guiding forklifts in their stores and only operate during daylight hours without pissing off the membership, they'd do it in a heartbeat. Since they don't have a huge number of employees and they work the ones they have to death, they can afford to pay them pretty well.

Moral of this story: What Costco does works great...for Costco, and to a certain extent for the Sam's Club division of Walmart. If you tried that shit anywhere else, you'd go broke quick.

[Cha]

53. sticking up for Walmart.. not impressed.

[Cha]

35. ..

[Cha]

38. ..

[Cha]

39. Yay for Walmart Employees Speaking Up and Out!

[Cha]

40. ..

[humbled_opinion]

41. Terrible Shame is

that many of the newly documented workers will be competing for these same Walmart jobs meaning less jobs for U.S. citizens in economically hard hit areas..... Can't help it I am one of these same people struggling everyday and Obama's EO just rubbed me the wrong way up to 5 million people will now be in competition with the low skilled jobs many of my friends and family have, it just isn't fair and no politician is doing anything to help the jobs situation and the unfair wages in this country.... I agree with what Senator Shumer said yes healthcare was important and helped millions but jobs and wages were even more important and should have been priority number one.

[Cha]

44. That's President Obama and his EO is.. Obama's executive order on immigration is a humane plan

snip//

Immigration reform is a hot button issue that garners intense emotions and varying opinions. But most people agree America’s immigration system is broken and must be fixed. For far too long, true immigration reform has been stalled and used as a political football by both pundits and politicians. That’s why I applaud President Barack Obama for taking decisive action on this critical issue.

The president’s immigration proposal isn’t amnesty, it’s a responsible and humane plan that gives millions of undocumented residents the opportunity to gain legal status, defer their deportations and allow them to work legally. Instead of hiding in the shadows, these hard working immigrants who just want a fair shot at the American Dream, can finally come out into the light and contribute even more to our society without fear of being deported, without fear of their families being broken apart, without fear of being labeled a second class citizen. Undocumented people want nothing more than to realize the promise of equality upon which America was founded –that all are created equal.

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/11/assemblymans_letter_obamas_executive_order_on_immigration_is_a_humane_plan.html

[humbled_opinion]

58. So where is his humane plan

For the poor and minority U.S. citizens? I think his priorities are bent with this one.

[Cha]

59. Yeah, too bad for you that you can't see it.

[humbled_opinion]

61. See What Exactly ?

Do you even understand my perspective? Maybe you have a job that will not wind up in the competition with low skilled foreigners so you don't have a problem and think everything is just rosey, and so you simply say treating foreigners humanely by giving them the ability to compete for jobs with U.S. citizens, even in this current economic climate is wonderful?

I would agree too if they were not going to threaten my ability or my family, friends and children's ability to get jobs, and so I am curious other then your insistence that you have Obama's back, why do you cheer for a policy that will so greatly impact negatively on the poor and minority communities? Wouldn't it serve better to champion a cause to ensure that the President includes some kind of job creation programs as part of this EO?

[Cha]

63. So sad.. :(

[humbled_opinion]

64. You are not a nice person that much is clear n/t

[sheshe2]

43. Kick Rec and Hell Yes Recommend!

Cha

[Cha]

46. This is an incredible show of Workers' Strength, she.. I am so proud of Walmart Employees!

[sheshe2]

47. For the workers.

I am proud as well Cha.

[Cha]

49. ..

[Cha]

50. ..

[Cha]

51. .

[Cha]

54. .

[Cha]

55. ..

[AdHocSolver]

56. Like a low minimum wage that steals the labor of workers,,,

The artificially super low interest paid on middle class bank accounts robs the middle class of the value of their savings.

When a bank pays 0.1 percent interest on bank deposits while collecting 14 percent or more interest on credit card balances, this is the comparable in effect to the corporate executives getting 300 to 400 times what the average worker in that corporation makes. For example, an employee of a corporation makes about $8.00 an hour. Assuming full time work, that employee makes about $16,000 per year. If the executives make 300 times what the average employee makes (in this hypothetical example), the executives each receive around $4.800,000 per year.

Consider a middle class person managing to save $100,000 in a bank account. Not too many years ago, that savings could earn 2 or 3 percent interest, which means that account would earn 0.02 x $100,000 = $2,000 per year or 0.03 x $100,000 = $3,000 per year.

These days, at 0.1 percent interest, that $100,000 earns a meager $100 per year (0.001 x $100,000). This amount of interest earned doesn't even keep up with the absurdly low inflation rate claimed by the government. (Anybody who has bought tomatoes recently, $1.99 per pound and imported from Mexico, understands what the "real" inflation rate is.)

The Federal Reserve spews nonsense when it claims it keeps interest rates low to spur the economy.

The Fed keeps interest rates low to enable Wall Street to finance mergers of companies in order to eliminate competition, which so happens to enable these companies to eliminate "duplicate" employees and raise prices.

[Cha]

57. KICK

[Cha]

60. KICK

[devils chaplain]

62. "You’re not the deadbeat. The Waltons are the deadbeats." -- Awesome quote!

And everyone in this country wanting to work deserves $15 an hour and full time employment, in my opinion.