Monday, November 30, 2009

Walmart- What workers say about the company

I recently found this article from Bronzeville Metropolis. I didn't agree with some of the points brought out in this article especially "economically challenged" Chatham community. But I found this interview with an employee from the West side store interesting.
I noticed Henry* at the Austin Wal-Mart, store lo­cated on Chicago’s west side, as I watched staff mem­bers pull him in different directions to either joke around or seek work-related advice. It appeared that he was well respected and admired by the younger associates, so I felt compelled to approach him to ask a simple question, “Do you enjoy working for Wal-Mart?” And unlike the other 6 associates I previously asked - who all robotically shouted “Yes”; Henry, a man in his late 50s, paused for a while, chuckled to himself and said “Yes”.

Henry is just one out the 1.4 million associates Wal-Mart employs in the U.S. - making it the largest pri­vate U.S. employer. Last fiscal year, Wal-Mart earned $401 billion in sales; which is larger than the GNP for even a small industrialized countries. e retail giant has historically developed stores in rural and subur­ban communities, however recently Wal-Mart has shielded its growth plans to aggressively pursue large urban markets and have successfully opened 2 urban stores in Los Angeles and Chicago.

While, they’ve achieved some success, other cities, such as New York, Detroit and D.C. won’t even enter­tain Wal-Mart’s proposals to develop a store concept within their city limits. There are two major reasons why Wal-Mart has experienced massive opposition: jobs & wages and community retail development. This opposition is currently happening right here on the Southside and the controversy is heavily centered on jobs and wages
.
Wal-Mart laid quietly dormant until October when the IOC gave Chicago a swift punch in the gut announcing Rio as their host city for the 2016 Olympics; but they found the bad news to be an op­portune time to reignite their interest in developing on the south side. Their next proposed location is for a 190,000 sq. ft. urban supercenter, which includes a full grocer, in the economically challenged com­munity of Chatham on 83rd and Stewart. The site is a mere 7 miles from our Bronzeville community and to understand the scaling would be to imagine a re­tail destination that could hold 75-100 Agriculture’s and Z & H’s; however without the benefit of diversity in services and products that small businesses tend to offer communities.

So what’s the big deal, right? In Chicago we’re suf­fering through tough economic times: people need money and people want to save money. Well, the Wal-Mart store debate boils down to this: jobs versus qual­ity jobs - it’s just that simple. Alderman Brookins, 21st ward, is advocating for the Wal-Mart in City Council, where his ordinance is currently sitting in the Finance Committee. According to a blog posting he made on Huffington Post, he merely states, “the store will create at least 400 new jobs and stimulate economic development.” He wants jobs, but it doesn’t seem to be transparent to south side residents what Brookins is proposing with regard to benefits for these Wal-Mart jobs.

On the other hand, Amisha Patel, a representative from the Good Jobs Chicago Campaign, was very clear on what the group defines as a quality job - jobs that provide workers with living wages and affordable health insurance. Good Jobs Chicago is a coalition of residents, business owners, Pastors, and organizations fighting for quality jobs from big box retailers, such as Wal-Mart. the group feels there is much room for improvement from big box retailers, as Amisha states, “existing low wages is not economic development...
we need good jobs so that workers can pay the rent, clothing, etc...and not be placed in a position to choose between two [necessary] things.”

Henry began working for Wal-Mart in 2007 at $8.40/hour. His disenchantment with the company developed because Ald. Mitts of Austin and Wal-Mart promised workers that by 2007 all employees would earn at least $10/hour and receive quarterly bonuses. Over the 2+years that Henry has been employed at Wal-Mart, he’s only received $1 in salary raises; bring­ing him just 60 cents shy of the $10/hour promised. He’s also only received 3 out of the 12 possible bo­nuses; his last bonus of $83 was paid last Spring.

Henry and I sat down over coffee to discuss his monthly expenses in order to illustrate the difficulty that a full-time Wal-Mart employee has with covering basic living expenses. Similar to the other Wal-Mart associates I spoke with, Henry subsidizes his and his child’s healthcare through government programs -- his wife is uninsured and relies on free clinics.

Henry takes home $1,170/month, which includes disability insurance and tax deductions, however his monthly living expenses are $1,613; leaving him $443 over budget. He supplements his income by working another job that pushes his total work week to 70 hours/week, excluding his 3 hour/day public trans­portation commute. When asked does he have time for fun, he responded as if the concept seemed for­eign, explaining that he lives a “simple life of church, home and work.” He continued, “Basically the way the schedule is, you don’t have that much [time for fami­ly], because your off days are not back to back...so you get off one day, you take care of errands, but by [then] it’s time to go to bed to go to work the next day.”

In response to Wal-Mart’s failed public commit­ments to Henry and all the “Henrys” working at Wal-Mart, Amisha states, “part of the challenge [is Wal-Mart] makes lots of claims that sound great, but in reality it’s quite different...Costco on the north side has quality living wage jobs, why can’t Southsiders get those same living wage jobs too.”

So yes Henry does have a Wal-Mart job; but the job forces him to work almost 2 full-time jobs just to cover his living expenses. Perhaps if Henry was given a choice between two jobs: one at status quo and one that gave him back the 30 extra hours taken away from laughing with his family, watching the game with his buddies, and being more active in his church - then who knows what story Henry would be sharing with me today.

*The name changed for purpose of protecting iden­tity of worker

Dhyia is a consultant with the virgoProject, LLC. Wal-Mart did not respond to Bronzeville Metropolis’ re­quest for an interview. For respectful exchanges of ideas please feel free to share comments at dhyia@yahoo.com, for all others stop and smell the roses.

What do you think?

1 comment:

  1. I agree with the main point of the article. While having some job (however cruddy it may be) is better than having no job at all, I would like our civic leaders to promote jobs people that actually earn something approaching living wage. Also, Wal-Mart's corporate culture really unnerves me.

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