|
Emma, you will certainly remember this: In a smaller city in Quebec, they were able to get a union organized for the Walmart workers. This would be the first unionized Walmart in the world. Once the union put forth it's contract proposal, Walmart announced that the store would be closed.
On the surface, it looks like "anti-union action". But in reality Walmart cannot keep the lowest prices and pay higher wages and deal with restrictive work rules. It is the nature of the game - low prices come from somewhere, Walmart is making a profit, so I would have to guess that it comes from lower costs, great automation, and keeping employee salaries and benefits in line with being a discount retailer.
Trying to turn a job as a cashier or a shelf stocker into a "house, two cars, 2.3 kids, cat dog, white picket fence" is just not going to happen. If being a Walmart greeter is your idea of a career, then you need to adjust your lifestyle expectations as a result. Sorry, but it just doesn't make sense.
"peasant policies" are a fairly common situation, created by preferential tax laws for certain types of investments. It isn't a nice thing to look at from a personal stand point (you are worth more to your company dead than alive is the common phrasing, not really true), but it is something that is created by the law, and which could be eliminated by simple changes to the tax laws. Congress has not seen fit to fix this, so therefore it must be legal and acceptable.
I think it could be looked at as an interesting way for a company to recoup the investment made in training an employee.
Alex
|