Can you please “unlike” Walmart? Walmart has a record of exploiting their workers

[itaest]

My middle school daughter for some reason decided to Facebook “like” Walmart. I don’t remember why exactly and she is at the pool with her friends right now and I will not call her to ask why she “liked” Walmart. I am going to guess that she did it because some friend bought some awesome something at Walmart or because she saw a good friend “liking” Walmart and teenagers are often copycats.

The problem is she forgot to “unlike” them after I told her I thought that was kind of lame and after explaining the reputation of Walmart for exploiting their workers. And now, I just saw my daughter’s cute face next to the Walmart logo and the thumbs up. Before I forget again, I sent her an email.

This is what I wrote:

Can you please unlike Walmart? Walmart owners are Republicans and they treat their employees really bad, like all Republicans do. WalMart has a reputation for employee abuse, for paying them the lowest possible salary, for firing them if they get sick, and for paying women lower salaries than men and not promoting them to higher well paid positions (Unfortunately, the Republican US Supreme Court ruled that Walmart has the right to continue to discriminate against women) .
And don’t think all company owners are Republicans just because I told you the rich often vote Republican. As an example, there is Starbucks, whose owner is a Democrat, who treats his employees very well, giving them a good health insurance, even for part-time employees.
Please don’t “like” Republican owned companies.

Of course, if she decides she wants to still like them or decides she wants to become a Republican, hey, it’s her choice, but at least she will do so after being informed of who they are and I would like to hear her reason for going astray.

A longer version of this article is posted in my blog at Immizen.com with link to sources and a comparison of Walmart to some decent companies who treat their employees with fairness.

[jp11]

1. Companies often ask for 'likes' to enter people in contests that they'll never win.

[itaest]

2. Ah! That must be why my teen "liked" them. That's how they lure them in.

[tralala]

3. Every business is compelled by the imperative of capitalist competition

to exploits its workers. So it has been, so it will always be.

[itaest]

4. If you follow the link you will see two examples of companies that are fair

towards their workers. Here is one:

Costco

The founder, Jim Senegal, son of a Pennsylvanian who was a coal miner and a steel worker and a good union man, Senegal had this vision that “I’m going to treat my workers well. I’m going to have very low prices. But I don’t want anyone thinking that I have low prices because our workers work under sweatshop conditions.” He decided, in setting up Costco, that Costco would have the best wages and benefits of any retailer, general retailer, in the nation. And generally, it does, yes. Someone working at Costco for, say, five years, their wages and benefit package together will be two, two-and-a-half times what the wage and benefit package is together at Wal-Mart. You know, the health plan is extremely good.

There’s this funny story about Costco, where each year they do a survey of their workers, saying, “What’s the best thing about working at Costco? What’s the worst thing about working at Costco?” And one poll found that employees said the worst thing about working at Costco is they weren’t allowed to wear shorts to work year round. So, imagine if that were the biggest complaint at every company in the United States.

From: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/29/the_big_squeeze_steven_greenhouse_on

[whathehell]

6. Costco is known to be a good, fair company. n/t

[Hippo_Tron]

17. Yes, but some exploit their workers substantially less than others

Workers (myself included) are all exploited because an employers are reaping the benefits of our labor. However, I get paid a living wage and then some, get fantastic health insurance, get a wonderful sick days policy (we don't have one, if you're too sick to work, you call in sick), and plenty of vacation days.

I'd hardly compare my plight to that of a cashier at Wal-Mart.

[dems_rightnow]

5. Starbucks isn't owned by "a democrat"

They are mostly owned by institutional mutual funds.

Their largest owner that's a real person owns about 2% of the company.

[Hippo_Tron]

16. Yea, it's kind of like how George W. Bush "owned" a baseball team

[Phlem]

7. It'd be great to see

the volume of customer's per day divided by the total population just to see how close that number is to the GOP base.



-p

[Lifelong Protester]

8. I'll more than "unlike" them

I hate 'em for their exploitation, of workers here and abroad.

[itaest]

10. There is only "like" and "unlike", there is no "hate" ...

[Lifelong Protester]

15. Oh, that's a shame...

[SheilaT]

9. When my liberal/progressive/Democratic friends mention shopping at WalMart,

I always say that if I want to donate money to Republicans I will do so directly.

[demosincebirth]

11. When Wal Mart's profits rise U.S.workers wages go down or stagnate

[MoreGOPoop]

12. I don't do Facebook, but

will take every opportunity to say:

Wuck Falmart!

[itaest]

18. Funny! I like that: Wuck Falmart!

[creeksneakers2]

13. I work part time for Walmart

They treat me pretty well. My wage is a little higher than I was offered elsewhere. They pay a six percent match for my 401K and I even get 4 vacation days on a part time job. I've never heard of vacation for a part time job before. There's holiday pay too. Health insurance if available but it's expensive and has a $1250 deductible. Fortunately, I have health insurance through my full time job so it works out OK for me. There are other benefits too, like profit sharing. Nobody there ever bothers me or complains about my work.
They just let me do my job. Oh, and I get a discount too. The savings add up.

[GP6971]

14. I think Wal Mart

Sucks. But if you're a young couple, with a couple of kids and not making all that much money, where do they go? I have to say they have the best prices. But at what cost? At the cost of their employees.