WalMart hikes pay nationally

[WarDamJagFan]

So the market works without government intervention, who knew!

The implications of this comment are somewhat ironic given the fact that WalMart is the largest recipient of SNAP benefits.

Here us a great article in Forbes

http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/04/15/report-walmart-workers-cost-taxpayers-6-2-billion-in-public-assistance/

Walmart's low-wage workers cost U.S. taxpayers an estimated $6.2 billion in public assistance including food stamps, Medicaid and subsidized housing, according to a report published to coincide with Tax Day, April 15.

That's a pretty loaded assumption. This whole "living wage" idea is complete bs. It's not up to Walmart - or any other company for that matter - to pay someone "enough" to live off of. It's up to any company with employees to pay their employees what the employer thinks they are worth. If you think you are worth more than what someone is willing to pay you, then find another job that better suits your pay requirements or become self employed where you truly find what exactly your worth. Wal Mart raised their own minimum wage because A) high employee turnover costs money and B) raising wages to the newer amount would still keep their margins at a level which makes sense and allow them to continue selling their products at prices demanded by the customers. So at the end of the day, it isn't Wal Mart's wages that are costing taxpayers. It's the fact that we still have 30-60 year olds working jobs meant for any 15 year old with a pulse.

[JC]

Take away the assistance, take away the employees subsidies, take away SNAP and you have a very different walmart.

You are also forgetting collective bargaining.  The employees of walmart should form a union and strike, so yeah, I agree with you a little...

and

Made in the U.S.A?
Despite a well-publicized "Made in the U.S.A." campaign, 85 percent of the stores' items are made overseas, often in Third World sweatshops. In fact, only after Wal-Mart's "Buy American" ad campaign was in full swing did the company become the country's largest importer of Chinese goods in any industry. By taking its orders abroad, Wal-Mart has forced many U.S. manufacturers out of business. The chain was broadly criticized for being the primary distributor of many goods attracting controversy, including Kathie Lee Gifford's clothing line, Disney's Haitian-made pajamas, child-produced clothing from Bangladesh and sweatshop-produced toys and sports gear from Asia. Difficult working conditions also exist in the United States: In 1991, labor inspectors found labels for Wal-Mart brands being made in Manhattan's Chinatown. There, 16 and 17 year-old Chinese immigrants without permits had been working for one month without being paid.

http://www.pbs.org/itvs/storewars/stores3.html

Where are those 30 to 60 year olds supposed to work, in manufacturing jobs in China? 

[WarDamJagFan]

Take away the assistance, take away the employees subsidies, take away SNAP and you have a very different walmart.

You are also forgetting collective bargaining.  The employees of walmart should form a union and strike, so yeah, I agree with you a little...

and

Made in the U.S.A?
Despite a well-publicized "Made in the U.S.A." campaign, 85 percent of the stores' items are made overseas, often in Third World sweatshops. In fact, only after Wal-Mart's "Buy American" ad campaign was in full swing did the company become the country's largest importer of Chinese goods in any industry. By taking its orders abroad, Wal-Mart has forced many U.S. manufacturers out of business. The chain was broadly criticized for being the primary distributor of many goods attracting controversy, including Kathie Lee Gifford's clothing line, Disney's Haitian-made pajamas, child-produced clothing from Bangladesh and sweatshop-produced toys and sports gear from Asia. Difficult working conditions also exist in the United States: In 1991, labor inspectors found labels for Wal-Mart brands being made in Manhattan's Chinatown. There, 16 and 17 year-old Chinese immigrants without permits had been working for one month without being paid.

http://www.pbs.org/itvs/storewars/stores3.html

Where are those 30 to 60 year olds supposed to work, in manufacturing jobs in China?

Like I said, if those people feel like they aren't getting paid for what they bring to the table, then find something else or work for yourself. If you have to move, then move. If you have a family, you do what you have to do to provide for them. But simply whining about low pay will get you a whole lot of nowhere.

As far as collective bargaining goes, that is something which would entirely wipe out Wal Mart's business model - which is low cost of doing business allowing products to be on the shelf at low prices. This is what you might consider the big Catch 22. As the Forbes article tries to paint Wal Mart as the biggest reason for subsidies due to low wages - where will the same low wage shoppers go if Wal Mart can't offer Wal Mart prices anymore? If Wal Mart becomes unionized, then the biggest cost to any company - its employees - will undoubtedly go WAY up. If margins get squeezed because the cost of employing someone has greatly increased, the only thing left to do is pass that increase along to the consumer.

[JC]

Take away the assistance, take away the employees subsidies, take away SNAP and you have a very different walmart.

You are also forgetting collective bargaining.  The employees of walmart should form a union and strike, so yeah, I agree with you a little...

and

Made in the U.S.A?
Despite a well-publicized "Made in the U.S.A." campaign, 85 percent of the stores' items are made overseas, often in Third World sweatshops. In fact, only after Wal-Mart's "Buy American" ad campaign was in full swing did the company become the country's largest importer of Chinese goods in any industry. By taking its orders abroad, Wal-Mart has forced many U.S. manufacturers out of business. The chain was broadly criticized for being the primary distributor of many goods attracting controversy, including Kathie Lee Gifford's clothing line, Disney's Haitian-made pajamas, child-produced clothing from Bangladesh and sweatshop-produced toys and sports gear from Asia. Difficult working conditions also exist in the United States: In 1991, labor inspectors found labels for Wal-Mart brands being made in Manhattan's Chinatown. There, 16 and 17 year-old Chinese immigrants without permits had been working for one month without being paid.

http://www.pbs.org/itvs/storewars/stores3.html

Where are those 30 to 60 year olds supposed to work, in manufacturing jobs in China?

Like I said, if those people feel like they aren't getting paid for what they bring to the table, then find something else or work for yourself. If you have to move, then move. If you have a family, you do what you have to do to provide for them. But simply whining about low pay will get you a whole lot of nowhere.

As far as collective bargaining goes, that is something which would entirely wipe out Wal Mart's business model - which is low cost of doing business allowing products to be on the shelf at low prices. This is what you might consider the big Catch 22. As the Forbes article tries to paint Wal Mart as the biggest reason for subsidies due to low wages - where will the same low wage shoppers go if Wal Mart can't offer Wal Mart prices anymore? If Wal Mart becomes unionized, then the biggest cost to any company - its employees - will undoubtedly go WAY up. If margins get squeezed because the cost of employing someone has greatly increased, the only thing left to do is pass that increase along to the consumer.

The facts are out there, WalMart has hurt the US economy.

In 2006, the big-box retailer promised to bring jobs to the cash-strapped community. But according to a landmark study by Loyola University, the company's rhetoric didn't match reality: Within two years of Walmart's opening its doors, 82 local stores went out of business.

Instead of growing Chicago's retail economy, Walmart simply overtook it - absorbing sales from other city stores, and shuttering dozens of them in the process.

Researchers at Loyola dubbed Walmart's store a wash - generating no new sales revenue for Chicago, and no new jobs for hard-off residents.

Chicago's cautionary tale isn't isolated. Countless communities, and peer-reviewed surveys across the country, all reach the same conclusion: When Walmart moves in, small businesses, and jobs, move out; Main St. dies.

According to a provisional study by David Neumark, Junfu Zhang and Stephen Ciccarella called "The Effects of Walmart on Local Labor Markets," for every two jobs Walmart "creates," three local jobs are destroyed.

With due respect to Walmart, this is not the kind of economic development neighborhood small businesses need.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/study-proves-walmart-super-stores-kill-local-small-businesses-article-1.140129

Your arguments about collective bargaining have been used for a long time.  What has organized labor done?  Oh I dont know... The 8 hour work day... Higher wages... Safer working conditions... Better benefits... Pensions...

All I am saying is do a little homework, the information is out there. 

you really drank all the kool aid didn't you, wardamjagfan.  Do you believe in Elite Santa Claus and Ayn Rand Jesus as well?  Coz they are totes real.....

[spuwho]

My old home town. Pop. 8200.

WalMart arrives in 1992 on the outskirts of town. By 1996, downtown is dead.

In 2000 they now leave as the anchor in the towns only strip mall and build a stand alone center a mile north.

The strip mall is now effectively dead as all the associated retail died.

The only reason the town likes it is that it imports tax revenue. Meaning people drive from farther away to shop there who wouldnt normally come.

[I-10east]

^^^What city?

[Jax-Nole]

I found a really interesting article online about WalMart and its negative economic impact on cities, specifically Asheville, NC. An interesting read that seems to fit perfectly with what is going on in Jacksonville and many other cities across the country.

http://www.salon.com/2013/11/10/walmart_an_economic_cancer_on_our_cities/

[ChriswUfGator]

^^^What city?

Pretty much any small/medium sized town they go into...this is the natural result of their business model.

Starke is a good example of this.

[spuwho]

As the dominoes fall......

Per Reuters:

McDonald's raising average worker wage to about $10 an hour

(Reuters) - McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) plans to raise the average pay of about 90,000 U.S. workers to around $10 an hour, but the increase will not benefit workers at the vast majority of the restaurants, because they are operated by franchisees, who make their own wage decisions.

Workers groups said the move by McDonald's, which is also adding benefits such as paid vacations, fell short of their goals. They planned a nationwide protest for Thursday. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) and other retailers have introduced entry-level wage hikes in response to frequent worker protests calling for higher pay and better conditions.

McDonald's, which announced the increases on Wednesday, has been fighting weak traffic and slumping sales in the United States.

The pay increase, for workers at roughly 1,500 company-owned U.S. restaurants, will take effect on July 1.

Starting wages at the restaurants will move to $1 above the locally mandated minimum wage. The increase will take the average hourly rate for those workers to $9.90 on July 1, up from $9.01 currently, McDonald's said.

By the end of 2016, McDonald's said, the average hourly wage rate for McDonald's employees at those restaurants will exceed $10.

Almost 90 percent of McDonald's more than 14,000 U.S. restaurants are operated by franchisees, who set pay and benefits for their own workers. But the expectation is they will face pressure to follow suit to stay competitive as employers.

McDonald's also said that full- and part-time crew employees at company-operated restaurants, with at least one year of service, will begin to accrue personal paid time-off. Workers said the company does not currently offer paid time-off.

Beyond that, some employees at both company- and franchise-run stores will be eligible for education assistance.

"We know that a motivated workforce leads to better customer service, so we believe this initial step not only benefits our employees, it will improve the McDonald's restaurant experience," Steve Easterbrook, who became McDonald's chief executive on March 1, said in a statement.

The wage move quickly drew criticism.

"This is too little to make a real difference, and covers only a fraction of workers," Kwanza Brooks, a McDonald's worker from Charlotte, North Carolina, who earns $7.25 per hour, said in a statement.

Brooks is part of the union-supported "Fight for $15" movement, which is calling on employers to more than double wages above the federal minimum wage of $7.25. The group plans a nationwide protest at McDonald's restaurants on Thursday.

Shares of McDonald's, whose annual profit and revenue fell last year, were essentially flat at $96.29 in extended trading.

The wage increase at McDonald's company-run restaurants could force franchisees to follow. In turn, that could cause those franchisees to raise food prices to cover higher labour costs.

That could benefit McDonald's because it collects royalties from franchisees based on sales. But, it also could squeeze franchisee profits and threaten the company's Dollar Menu, which is popular with the chain's core base of lower-income diners.

Bigger sales from price increases means more revenue to McDonald's Corp, which could solve some of the company's problems and make Easterbrook look like he is fixing things, said Richard Adams, a former McDonald's franchisee who now consults for current ones.

"They'll try to paint this as altruistic," said Adams. "It's not as nice as it sounds."

[finehoe]

The Urban Neighborhood Wal-Mart: A Blessing Or A Curse?

http://www.npr.org/2015/04/01/396757476/the-neighborhood-wal-mart-a-blessing-or-a-curse

[vicupstate]

The Urban Neighborhood Wal-Mart: A Blessing Or A Curse?

http://www.npr.org/2015/04/01/396757476/the-neighborhood-wal-mart-a-blessing-or-a-curse

Great article!  Thanks for posting.

[finehoe]

Wal-Mart reports that its recent wage hike is paying off via reduced turnover, which produces cost savings that offset the direct expense of the higher wages.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/06/09/3667927/walmart-turnover/