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The employer/employee relationship in this kind of economy is adversarial

by Prometheus 6
January 14, 2005 - 8:14am.
on Economics

Quote of note:

To rebut arguments that it relies too heavily on part-time workers, the chain said that 74 percent of its employees work full time. To challenge claims that it offers substandard health care benefits, it writes that more than 500,000 Wal-Mart employees receive health care coverage through the company.

And yet

Wal-Mart does not point out that the majority of its 1.2 million U.S. employees do not receive company health care coverage.

They also say

(Wal-Mart's average hourly wage for full-time employees in Maryland, for example, is $9.60. In Virginia, it is $9.49. The chain has no stores in the District.)

...which, of course, includes all the executives. Mad misleading.

Anyway...

Wal-Mart Rebuts Its Critics
Company Launches Major Media Campaign to Improve Its Image

By Michael Barbaro
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 14, 2005; Page E01

For an executive who rarely talks with the media, it was a hectic 24 hours. After granting interviews to USA Today and the Associated Press, H. Lee Scott Jr., Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s generally low-profile chief executive, sat down for on-camera interviews yesterday with ABC, CNN, Fox and CNBC.

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Submitted by memer on January 14, 2005 - 4:04pm.

I saw the MSNBC interview with Bartiromo. The union guy who offered rebuttal was killer. Wal-Mart's got troubles (though they'll probably be temporary).

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Submitted by dwshelf on January 14, 2005 - 5:48pm.

I suspect we all know several people who work at Walmart.

Why do they work at Walmart?

Because Walmart offers a better job than any alternative. Walmart offers ordinary, non-college educated people the opportunity to move into management, into solidly middle class territory.

I suggest that to be meaningful, if one is criticizing Walmart, one should say what kind of change one would prefer. If Walmart were to go away, would its employees be better off? Not likely. Walmart already offers compensation which is above the local alternatives, they attract good people. If one is arguing that Walmart should increase compensation even more, they need to take on that equation.

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Submitted by Prometheus 6 on January 14, 2005 - 9:43pm.

Why do they work at Walmart?

Because Walmart offers a better job than any alternative.

This is true. And that it is true is the problem.

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