Walmart offended by criticism of employee-oriented charity

[Redfairen]

Source: UPI

A spokesman for U.S. retail giant Walmart said the company was "offended" that a charity for store employees was hit with criticism.

"This program was completely taken out of context. We are offended. This was an act of human kindness for our associates," said spokesman Brooke Buchanan referring to a bins placed in an employee-only area of a Canton, Ohio, store that asked for donations, "so Associates in Need can enjoy Thanksgiving dinner."

Buchanan said Walmart employees through the Associates in Critical Need Trust had donated $80 million to fellow-associates since 2001, USA Today reported Tuesday.

That program awards grants of up to $1,500 to associates facing tough times, including "homelessness or illness," the newspaper said.



Read more: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2013/11/19/Walmart-offended-by-criticism-of-employee-oriented-charity/UPI-89421384875398/?spt=hts&or=8

[Curmudgeoness]

1. I am offended that he is offended

and doesn't seem to have a clue what the problem with this is.

[Cha]

9. I'm also offended that the walmart rep is offended

because they got called out on their bullshit.

[JEB]

2. You miserable piece of dog shit, try paying associates enough for them to eat for an act of kindness

Why not just let associates take home any of the crappy food they want to eat?

[kitt6]

3. Eff Walmart

Offended.

[Sanity Claws]

4. Up to $1500

That is less than a dollar an hour, if one assumes an employee works 35 hours a week for 52 weeks a year.

It is even less than a dollar an hour, if one assumes an employee works 30 hours a week for 52 weeks a year.

Bastards.

[sheshe2]

5. Oh poor Walmart! There feelings are hurt.

Let me guess this...

That program awards grants of up to $1,500 to associates facing tough times, including "homelessness or illness," the newspaper said.

...is a write off for the company!

FU WalMart, give your workers a living wage!

[jmowreader]

19. No, it's not. It's worse than you can imagine.

The Associates in Critical Need Trust is funded wholly through employee payroll deductions.

[sheshe2]

23. Now why am I not surprised by that!

The poor are assisting the poorest. The rich sit back and cry poor me, you are so mean. May the owners rot in hell!

I thank you for that info jmowreader, you made me angrier than I was. That is a good thing, makes you want to fight even harder.

Damn Walmart to hell!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

6. Aw shucks

Then pay them a livable wage Walton family.

[Cha]

7. If they're so fu***** "offended" then give

the employees Holiday Bonus Checks instead of canned goods.

"An act of human kindness".. yeah, it's called CYA because you don't pay a decent wage. All those Strikes against Walmart didn't happen for nothin'.

[silvershadow]

8. Yadda, yadda. Fact: Their associates shouldn't be in poverty. nt

[Dorn]

10. Easy answer : Don't shop at minimum wage stores

If we refuse to frequent places that pay slavery wages, slave wage stores would go the way of.... slavery.

[diabeticman]

11. My wife and I are OFFENDED that the Walton family can't have the moral fiber to pay their employees

a living wage!


The Walton family need to take a HUGE lesson from Costco.

[tavalon]

71. Yep, Costco pays a living wage

and they are doing at least as well and probably better than Sam's (walmarts equivalent bulk item store).

[L0oniX]

12. "We are offended" ...recorded from the stern deck of the corporate yacht.

[jmowreader]

20. That's not the Walmart corporate yacht. Walmart is a corporation of the people

THIS is the Walmart corporate yacht.



The boat in your post is Alice Walton's yacht tender.

[Earth_First]

24. What the fuck is that thing?!

[DinahMoeHum]

13. Excuse me while I reach for a Kleenex. . .NOT

[jtuck004]

14. Damn. Plantation owner offers to apply salve to the cuts caused by her whippings, and gets what?

Criticism.

[Incitatus]

17. At least the slaves on plantations had enough to eat. nt

[jtuck004]

18. Yeah n/t

[1StrongBlackMan]

49. Who told you that? n/t

[Incitatus]

50. It seems logical.

Most plantation owners would want to keep their slaves (that they paid money for) in healthy enough condition to work. Walmart probably has a long list of applicants to choose from if anything happens to their current workers. I don't mean to diminish the atrocities of enslavement and I know the plantation owners were able to physically abuse their slaves in ways that can't happen today. But I think there is a new kind of slavery now. Low wage starvation slavery, only beaten by prison labor.

[1StrongBlackMan]

52. From the slave narratives ...

that I have read (and stories from my family elders) ... the majority of slave holders believed a well fed slave was a lazy slave ... those slaves that had enough to eat were because after working from too dark to too dark, they tended plots and scraped from the master's table and shared with those that couldn't.

[MADem]

54. Exactly--I posted a few excerpts just below. nt

[Incitatus]

55. I believe the morals and character of those calling the shots at companies like Walmart

are on par with plantation owners of the past. There are just different laws today, but they are trying their best to put profit before people.

[1StrongBlackMan]

78. Yep ...

And it's on poor with those "conservatives" that claim the "poor can't be/aren't really poor because they have refrigerators, or cell phones, as of late, food.

[MADem]

53. My understanding is that wasn't always the case. Slaves were fed meagerly.

Slaves were fed crap, and they often had to forage after working a full day. If you look at "historical" food, it's the stuff that others threw away--chitlins, pig's feet, stuff like that. It was the creativity of people left to make do with a bad lot that made these dishes tasty; but they were eating the foot and the snout while the folks in the big house were enjoying the bacon and pork loin.

As noted in the earlier post, the diet of slaves varied widely depending on where they lived, the type of plantation they lived on, and even the years they lived. Here are some excerpts from books written by former slaves detailing their diets.

“The food of the slave is this: Every Saturday night they receive two pounds of bacon, and one peck and a half of corn meal, to last the men through the week. The women have one half pound of meat, and one peck of meal, and the children one half peck each. When this is gone, they can have no more till the end of the week. This is very little food for the slaves. They have to beg when they can; when they cannot, they must suffer. They are not allowed to go off the plantation; if they do, and are caught, they are whipped very severely, and what they have begged is taken from them.” —Peter Randolph, Sketches Of Slave Life: Or,Illustrations Of The ‘Peculiar Institution.’ Boston: published for the author, 1855.

“Slaves every Monday morning have a certain quantity of Indian corn handed out to them; this they grind with a handmill, and boil or use the meal as they like. The adult slaves have one salt herring allowed for breakfast, during the winter time. The breakfast hour is usually from ten to eleven o’clock. The dinner consists generally of black-eyed peas soup, as it is called. About a quart of peas is boiled in a large pan, and a small piece of meat, just to flavour the soup, is put into the pan. The next day it would be bean soup, and another day it would be Indian meal broth. The dinner hour is about two or three o’clock; the soup being served out to the men and women in bowls; but the children feed like pigs out of troughs, and being supplied sparingly, invariably fight and quarrel with one another over their meals.” —Francis Fredric, Slave Life in Virginia and Kentucky; or, Fifty Years of Slavery in the Southern States of America. London: Wertheim, Macintosh, and Hunt, 1863. “The supply of food given out to the slaves, was one peck of corn a week, or some equivalent, and nothing besides. They must grind their own corn, after the work of the day was performed, at a mill which stood on the plantation. We had to eat our coarse bread without meat, or butter, or milk. Severe labor alone gave us an appetite for our scanty and unpalatable fare. Many of the slaves were so hungry after their excessive toil, that they were compelled to steal food in addition to this allowance. During the planting and harvest season, we had to work early and late. The men and women were called at three o’clock in the morning, and were worked on the plantation till it was dark at night. After that they must prepare their food for supper and for the breakfast of the next day, and attend to other duties of their own dear homes. Parents would often have to work for their children at home, after each day’s protracted toil, till the middle of the night, and then snatch a few hours’ sleep, to get strength for the heavy burdens of the next day. “ —Thomas H. Jones, The Experience Of Thomas H. Jones, Who Was A Slave For Forty-three Years. Boston: Bazin & Chandler, 1862. - See more at: http://www.hushpuppynation.com/what-slaves-ate-in-their-own-words/#sthash.R3ODa8PK.dpuf

It would be logical to feed them decently, but really, slavery is illogical, so why would slavers exhibit intelligence or compassion in this regard?

[Incitatus]

57. Thanks for the link and info.

I knew it was bad, but it was worse than I thought.

[MADem]

84. I was always curious about this. I went to

a plantation during a trip down south a while back where the tour focused on how slaves actually lived. They of course, cleaned up the hovels they were allotted to make them do double duty as exhibit spaces, but the experience was pretty eye-opening, even with the "prettification" that has to be done to run a tour. I guess it wasn't unheard of for slaves to try fishing, varmint-hunting (without benefit of weapons--imagine felling birds with rocks, for example), anything they could to feed their family. And some owners didn't want to feed their "property" well--they wanted them strong enough to do a day's work, but not strong enough to have the endurance to run away. Such evil!

[dixiegrrrrl]

97. I so appreciate your link, Hushpuppy nation!

Been browsing it all afternoon.
( Housework is SO over rated, yes?).

[MADem]

99. I love the internet!!!! It's like university in your lap! nt

[tavalon]

72. Um, not always

But we'll let this one slide because you're trying to make a point.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

106. And we all learned something.

[wundermaus]

15. Pay a living wage...

Everything else is bullshit.

[muntrv]

16. Wal-Fart is offended that everyone knows how piss poor their wages are.

[OhioChick]

21. I'm offended that they pay their employees a pittance and don't give a rat's ass n/t

[dotymed]

80. In TN.

On teevee, they have commercials that prove how well Wal-Mart associates are paid, and how grateful they are.

Do they have these commercials elsewhere? It is propaganda at it's worst.

[bluemarkers]

22. I'm offended wal mart associates are still hungry

“If you're in trouble, or hurt or need - go to the poor people. They're the only ones that'll help - the only ones.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

[Naipes]

25. Did you read the link?

The last sentence of the piece had this to say, "...Walmart does not contribute to the employee-oriented charities."

That about says it all.

[sakabatou]

29. So the poor pay the poor and become even poorer

[bravenak]

26. If they're so offended they can pay their employees enough to survive and save some money.

This is such bullshit. We should never shut up about walmart.

[Lifelong Protester]

27. I'll see their "offended" and raise 'em an "outraged"

How about Walmart tries an "act of human kindness" and pays a living wage?

[benld74]

28. And Walmart itself DOES NOT contribute to this!

[gopiscrap]

30. Fuck Wal Mart

how about raising wages so people don't have to do this.

[Mnpaul]

31. Brace yourself for another round

of Walmart is a great place to work commercials. They have plenty of money for that sort of thing.

[riqster]

46. Already on the air around here.

[Adsos Letter]

63. Here too.

Damage control efforts in full swing.

[VanillaRhapsody]

66. Yes with "Insurance starting at just $40 a month"...

I laugh every time I hear that "Yeah right".....The Walmarts are so out of touch they don't realize everyone knows "THAT'S some bullshit right there". Even most of the Teabaggers wouldn't fall for that! Who do they think they are fooling with that? It's actually quite stunning...

[tridim]

82. Watch it again, it's not "insurance for $40 a month"...

It's "HealthCARE for as little as $40 a month"

I'd really like to see what kind of healthcare Walmart gives their drones for $40/month.

[VanillaRhapsody]

92. LOL good point....

[caraher]

94. It's not Wal Mart, but...

my son was offered a "plan" like that through a temp agency... it's pseudo-insurance with a high deductible and a low benefits cap. I think we worked out that if your reimbursable medical expenses were outside a pretty narrow range between something like $700 and $1200, it would cost more to join than you're receive in benefits.

[HockeyMom]

76. I have been seeing those a lot lately

Happy, smiling "employees" who have great career paths, great benefits, bla, bla, bla. I don't know if this is an old commercial or a new one.

[adirondacker]

110. Cheap Meat! ....

[northoftheborder]

32. I'm offended by the utter cluelessness of the "offended" Walmart rep.

A nice Thanksgiving and/or Christmas bonus for ALL their employees from the company would be TOO MUCH for the super duper platinum rich Walmart Clan? How I despise their whole ethic.

[putitinD]

33. Walmart workers across the nation should walk out on black friday

[obxhead]

36. Not just walk out

but walk out to the parking lot and pick up their protest sign.

[City Lights]

34. Well I'm offended by Walmart, so I guess we're even. nt

[obxhead]

35. Sorry Walmart, we read the point of the drive loud and clear.

You do no pay you're employees well enough to have a happy Thanksgiving.

What you THOUGHT was something comforting and helpful to people only REINFORCED a FACT.... Walmart does not pay their employees well enough to have a warm healthy dinner every night.

[markpkessinger]

37. Am I the only one who finds it really creepy . . .

. . . the way WalMart insists on calling its employees 'associates,' as if to suggest the employees have some special status vis-a-vis their employer than employees of any other company? I mean, it's sort of like, "Welcome to WalMart -- we pay you crap and give you shit for benefits, but because we're such nice folks, we'll give you a meaningless title to boost your self-esteem (along with the food stamp application we provide with the job application)."

[RobinA]

45. Common in Retail

I was an "associate" back in the early '80s. And made minimum wage.

[tavalon]

73. calling them serfs would just be too obvious.

[cstanleytech]

38. Problem with that BS Brooke is that if your company actually paid people a wage

they could live on most of them wouldnt need assistance.
For example Brooke I personally know someone who only earns 10 cents more an hour than minimum wage who works for your company and they are only being given on average 16 hours per week for the last 3 months even though you know thats not anywhere close to a livable wage.

[hibbing]

39. Here, have another shovel

Gosh, every single time one of their spokespersons tries to justify this it just makes them sound worse and worse. You would think for how huge they are, they could hire some decent PR people. They are throwing crap against the wall now to see what sticks it seems.

Peace

[Lint Head]

40. Walmart is directly responsible for their poverty. Walmart. Pay your damn employees a living wage!

Get a clue. You are blinded by greed.

[tabasco]

41. Christ, we're living in a fucking Dickens novel

I'm ready to go live in a cave and say fuck this world.

[stillwaiting]

85. The stunning cruelness on display coming from way too many offices in the corporate world

is outrageously sick.

We do, indeed, have way too many Scrooge's running rampant in this country right now. They fight unabashedly for the elite's financial interests, and they certainly have to know that the MANY people in this country that they are exploiting are earning far, far less than they deserve for an honest day's work.

I have no idea how they sleep at night. None at all.

[Historic NY]

42. HEY Walmart, Charity begins at HOME...........

give them the food they need or pay them a living wage.

[Hawaiianlight]

43. Another black Monday at Walmart

I hear they are having a run on pitch forks and torches.

[NorthCarolina]

44. An act of kindness in lieu of a living wage...

something doesn't seem quite right there.

[riqster]

48. An act of kindness by somebody else, at that. nt

[c588415]

47. I refuse to shop at Walfart

[tavalon]

74. Over twenty years for me

Not shopping Walmart.

[iemitsu]

86. I have never been in a Walmart and plan to avoid ever entering

one in the future.
I don't believe that Walmart sells anything I want or need.

[Incitatus]

51. 6 heirs are worth more than 40% of Americans.

And some of their employees have to depend on the charity of other employees that make about $12 an hour.

If that isn't enough to wake people up, I don't know what it is going to take.

[QuestForSense]

56. Did the Walmart 'family' donate anything other than the empty bins?

Their employees are the ones who are filling them up with donations.

[Incitatus]

58. The empty bins

will be put on the shelves to sell after the holidays.

[burnsei sensei]

59. This criticism that offends them so much

Last edited Wed Nov 20, 2013, 02:32 PM - Edit history (1)

is designed to point out a pertinent truth about the wage in America generally. They have no business complaining about reality, they helped make it.
That is that it isn't worth very much regardless of the amount. Walmart is a pronounced example of this phenomenon, but it's all over the economy really.
The problem is not the amount of the wage, but its relative value.
Increasing the wage is only half the solution. The economy itself must be transformed such that appeals to charity are voluntary, not necessary all the time.

[Art_from_Ark]

60. Wal-Mart certainly has changed

from the mom-and-pop store I knew in the '60s. I think things started going downhill sometime between 1970 and 1972, when they were listed in the stock exchange and became beholden to Wall Street.

[Gormy Cuss]

61. So why aren't the Canton associates getting those grants?

It's great that employees have a mechanism for helping each other out in times of crisis. What's not so great is that Walmart could give the associates food baskets for Thanksgiving for a lot less than the out-of-pocket costs to its employees to have this food drive.

Wal-mart Inc. can suck an egg.

[RoccoR5955]

62. Boo freakin' Hoo!

Call out the Whaambulance for the bastards!

[DisgustipatedinCA]

64. Fuck off. Die. Repeat. Or just host a Twitter chat, Walmart--your choice. nt

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

65. "Now we're gonna cancel it as punishment!!!"

I wouldn't be shocked.

[SoapBox]

67. FUCK you Walmart!

Man, can you offend us, any more than you do?!

What a money grubbing piece of shit corporation.

[Lugnut]

68. Fugg Walmart. n't

[davidpdx]

69. I think this is taking the "corporations are people too" a little too far

Aw shucks, we hurt their feelings.

[tavalon]

70. Okay, he's just a spokesperson

but that is really, really dumb. He'd have to be outright impaired not to understand the offensiveness of this program.

[Scuba]

75. I'm offended that my tax dollars are subsidizing WalMart's profits.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/10/1141724/-Walmart-fuels-inequality-epidemic-taking-advantage-of-our-safety-net

[Benton D Struckcheon]

105. +1

[liberal N proud]

77. Walmart does a damn good job of brainwashing their managers

They all believe that low wages are good wages and that this sort of thing is good business.

[flobee1]

79. "This was an act of human kindness for our associates"

WTF do you know about human kindness, you piece of shit!
all you are thinking about is possible profit loss due to bad PR


Human kindness is paying people what they are worth!

[tridim]

81. "homeless" associates should be your first clue that you fucked up, soulless Walmart spokesman.

[tavalon]

100. It makes sense that soulless Walmart would have an equally soulless Walmart spokesman

That is cognitive dissonance that would make most people's heads explode.

[TBF]

83. I'm offended that the Walton heirs control 40% of the wealth in this country -

while their employees can't afford to eat. I find that extremely offensive. This is why you see certain leftist governments confiscating property (see Venezuela) - people can only take so much.

[Laelth]

87. k&r for exposure of Wal-Mart's heartless and destructive greed. n/t

-Laelth

[silvershadow]

88. What a coincidence...

I'm offended that Walmart workers make so little that they need charity.

[Myrina]

89. I'm offended that WalMart exists.

n/t

[Marrah_G]

90. Sadly the rich bastards that run the country really don't get it

They lack the ability to focus on anything besides their own selfish interests.

[packman]

91. About that $80 Million

I'll bet a nickel that Wal-mart is the one who controls that pot of money and they are making a few bucks out of that. Wouldn't put anything on a company who insures their employees with a life insurance policy that makes the company the beneficiary of that policy. Every time I saw an elderly "Greeter" at the door handing out carts, I wondered if they really knew when they kicked off, the great Wally would collect on their policies, not their families.

[thefool_wa]

93. Wow

Talk about missing the point. The outrage isn't over it happening, its over you paying your employees so little it NEEDS to happen. What a bunch of clueless douche-bags.

[Enthusiast]

95. I am offended by Walmart.

Boycott Walmart until they start acting like responsible corporate citizens.

[Solly Mack]

96. They're offended that crumbs aren't appreciated as a feast.

[tavalon]

101. Crumbs that they aren't even donating

It's an employee to employee program.

[Solly Mack]

103. True.

[ltheghost]

98. I'm offended

At the way they treat their employees.

[Quantess]

102. He doesn't get it.

He doesn't want to understand why people were disgusted by the food drive.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

107. What's that saying about a man not learning what he is paid not to know?

[Brigid]

112. Somone once said something to the effect of,

"It is nearly impossible to persuade someone to understand something if his paycheck depends on his not understanding it."

[Lasher]

104. Not surprising once you understand the mindset of the Walton family.

They feel no shame for the low level of compensation they give their employees. Quite the contrary, they are proud of themselves for being able to get by with it and wonder why the labor force is so ungrateful. I am not being sarcastic.

[Pterodactyl]

108. Shameful! They should not be helping those in need or something!

[Incitatus]

109. "donated $80 million to fellow-associates since 2001, USA Today reported Tuesday. "

Their sales are over $400 billion a year and we are supposed to be impressed that they donated $80 million to poor employees over the last decade?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

113. Walmart employees through the Associates in Critical Need Trust had donated

Walmart employees through the Associates in Critical Need Trust had donated

[Incitatus]

114. Reading fail on my part.

That company is sick.

[Brigid]

111. Anbody here care if Wal-Mart is "offended?"

I know I don't.