Originally Posted By Darkbeer Ever been to the Wal-Mart in Anaheim, have you seen the amount of Disney stuff they have and sell? If you don't like Wal-Mart, then you don't have to shop there. But many folks do, and many folks like working at Wal-Mart, they are a big company that helps keep prices low and employees a lot of folks. I just bought some Insecticide for our plants for $4.97 at Wal-Mart, it was around $8 at Home Depot. Heck, that gives me more money to spend at Knott's, or Disneyland
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 ^^Darkbeer, I HATE, DESPISE and LOATHE WalMart ... but I've written way too much on it here over the years. I don't care how much money they can save you or anyone else or how many folks they can employ in $10,000 a year jobs. I fully understand the evils of that corporation and will never set foot in one again. As someone with a treasure trove of links to old Disney stories, there are plenty of stories on why WalMart is bad for the planet all over the Internet. Read them and make your own choice.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I won't change anyone's mind. But I will say the good stuff I've said about Wal-Mart before and then stand back and let everyone take shots. In many small towns in America Wal-Mart is welcomed with open arms. The arrival of a Wal-Mart means that for the first time they can get things locally that they used to drive 50 miles to the nearest large town to get. And where did they buy that stuff in the nearest large town? Probably Target or K-Mart or Wal-Mart. In other words, the arrival of a Wal-Mart isn’t putting local ma and pa shops out of business. Wal-Mart also offered wages and benefits far better than any of the local ma and pa shops offered. You guys like to look at what exists in the large cities and the 'burbs and think that is the situation all over. It is not. Many times Wal-Mart comes into a town and is looked at as the Premier Employer. People with no advanced schooling are able to advance within the company fairly quickly if they show the desire to do so. One of my niece's boyfriends started at the Wal-Mart in Grand Rapids MN (pop. 7,764) and within a few years was the assistant manager of the store. He was making over $35K per year (this was over 12 years ago and at the time was HUGE money in Grand Rapids)… and he had no advanced education. So I'm not going to sit around and blast Wal-Mart. I have a general aversion to blasting things that people sitting around holding tea-cups with their pinky finger extended blast anyway. Wal-Mart in many (not all) towns is a very good thing both for the consumers and the employees. Somehow this gets lost in all the rhetoric. Have I shopped at one in the last year? No; there isn't a Wal-Mart convenient to where I live now. But if there was, I would not hesitate to shop there.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <You believe everything you read on the internet?< many of those stories are documented court cases - so yeah - those I believe
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <So I'm not going to sit around and blast Wal-Mart. I have a general aversion to blasting things that people sitting around holding tea-cups with their pinky finger extended blast anyway< non typical of you to stereotype those who dislike WalMart like that -- is tht how you see me ? Spirit ? others here ? if so , then maybe you wrote this after too many beers... Oh yeah, WalMart please comes to my town,...signed Cletis.. <a href="http://walmartwatch.com/press/releases/wal_mart_watch_statement_on_lunch_break_lawsuit/" target="_blank">http://walmartwatch.com/press/ releases/wal_mart_watch_statement_on_lunch_break_lawsuit/</a> <a href="http://www.lieffcabraser.com/walmart" target="_blank">http://www.lieffcabraser.com/w almart</a>%20lawsuit.htm <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2004/LAW/02/03/walmart.lawsuit.ap/index.html" target="_blank">http://edition.cnn.com/2004/LA W/02/03/walmart.lawsuit.ap/index.html</a> <a href="http://www.laborradio.org/node/6073" target="_blank">http://www.laborradio.org/node /6073</a> <a href="http://www.business-humanrights.org/Categories/Lawlawsuits/Lawsuitsregulatoryaction/LawsuitsSelectedcases/Wal-MartlawsuitregenderdiscriminationinUSA" target="_blank">http://www.business-humanright s.org/Categories/Lawlawsuits/Lawsuitsregulatoryaction/LawsuitsSelectedcases/Wal-MartlawsuitregenderdiscriminationinUSA</a>
Originally Posted By vbdad55 At some point, the flood of lawsuits will raise fundamental questions. Here are two: Just how far does Wal-Mart go to deliver rock-bottom prices? And are those practices legally sustainable? They seem to feel they are above the law when it comes from everything from treatment of workers, use of illegals, basic human resource violations when it comes to breaks / overtime / opportunties -( one thing I'll give them is they are an equal opportunity discriminator - they will screw anyone) - recent lawsuit where they used their own trucks instead of those certified to move hazardous waste through many towns -- and all they do is write checks when they lose -- all that lakes it all OK -- sorry, won't be using any of my money in those lawsuits.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy Every website you list is funded and sponsored directly by a labor union. Generally, I am pro-union, but the propaganda those organizations put out isn't at all based on a well reasoned approach to drawing conclusions. It's lowest common denominator stuff intended to spark fear in union members and provoke an us vs. them mentality that ultimately destroys far more than it accomplishes. If you want to see unfair treatment of workers, use of illegals, and basic human resources violations, just stop by your local So. California Home Depot on any Saturday morning. The illegals are lined up in the parking lot waiting for Mr. & Mrs. Suburbia to pick them up for a weekend of home improvement work at the rock bottom rate. It's amazing how the same suburban soccer moms think its OK to pay their Mexican gardner or housekeeper slave wages, but then turns the magnifying lens on Wal-Mart's business practices -- which are nowhere near as despicable.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 ^^^^^^^^^ Okay - you pick a site --are the facts that these suits were filed and that many are already settled wrong ? If not- what is your point ? Here is Business Week / National Public Radio / New York Sun / Fox News -- and all you have to do is go to the EEOC site for as many as you'd like -- good enough - geez <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_27/b3890047_mz011.htm" target="_blank">http://www.businessweek.com/ma gazine/content/04_27/b3890047_mz011.htm</a> <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4542575" target="_blank">http://www.npr.org/templates/s tory/story.php?storyId=4542575</a> <a href="http://www.nysun.com/article/48127" target="_blank">http://www.nysun.com/article/4 8127</a> <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0" target="_blank">http://www.foxnews.com/story/0</a>,2933,150846,00.html
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I am not a union person myself - not at all -- but the type of treatment WalMart doles out is what led to the start of unions to begin with.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << Okay - you pick a site --are the facts that these suits were filed and that many are already settled wrong ? >> It's not uncommon for a corporation to settle lawsuits when the costs of prolonged litigation exceeds the costs of a settlement. Wal-Mart is very tight fisted with their expenditures. It would not be out of character at all for them to settle lawsuits rather than drive up their cost of doing business by litigating for ages on end. Your websites also fail to mention lawsuits that have been thrown out of court or decided in favor of Wal-Mart -- what is the point of omitting this information?
Originally Posted By vbdad55 becausew there are over 500,000 hits when you look for WalMart - lawsuit ? If you get hit with enough lawsuits some will be dismissed .....there are always ambulance chasers. For every web site about a law suit dismissed there may be 100 on those they are guilty of -- so if a few frivolous ones get thrown out it makes their other practices OK ? What is your point --Wal Mart is not guilty of any of these major lawsuits they settled ? They pay off when they absolutely cannot win. They have an army of attorney's assigned to Bentonville - if they can win a lawsuit they will. so first it's union websites - then when provided with news/govt sites - it's why not show those they have been vindicated of -- I'll tell you what - show me where they settled one where they were not caught dead to rights --
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I'm not talking about the " I slipped on a wet floor in the store" type of lawsuit -- I mean the big EEOC violation for overtime laws / sex discrimination / illegal aliens etc type - the others are part of doing business ( unfortunately ) these days
Originally Posted By vbdad55 >The Wal Mart lawsuits have sought back pay for the hours during which employees were required to work and required to punch out. This includes overtime and meal breaks that were unpaid as well. The cases in New York and Washington are brought on behalf of current and former employees in Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores who have been consistently underpaid and overworked by the national retailer. In fact, an audit in July 2000 of 128 individual Wal-Mart stores found that 127 out of 128 were out of compliance with “company policies†over break time. In 127 stores the employees were not being given and were not taking sufficient breaks. The internal Wal-Mart audit also found that Wal-Mart workers nationwide didn’t take prescribed breaks over 75,000 times in a one-week period. < 127 of 128 is a pattern that says 'that was the company policy from management' not what was written...
Originally Posted By vbdad55 >The Wal Mart lawsuits have sought back pay for the hours during which employees were required to work and required to punch out. This includes overtime and meal breaks that were unpaid as well. The cases in New York and Washington are brought on behalf of current and former employees in Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores who have been consistently underpaid and overworked by the national retailer. In fact, an audit in July 2000 of 128 individual Wal-Mart stores found that 127 out of 128 were out of compliance with “company policies†over break time. In 127 stores the employees were not being given and were not taking sufficient breaks. The internal Wal-Mart audit also found that Wal-Mart workers nationwide didn’t take prescribed breaks over 75,000 times in a one-week period. < 127 of 128 is a pattern that says 'that was the company policy from management' not what was written...
Originally Posted By vbdad55 not a company I like to see Disney associated with - even in a residual manner --- although I fully support the Children's Miracle Network, I just wish they had a different benefactor in this endeavor.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy What's the compliance record for small business owners on overtime, meal breaks, and illegal workers? Who is monitoring them and publishing the results?
Originally Posted By vbdad55 again this makes what Wal Mart does right how ? You are defending WalMart - I expect more than " well there are someothers who do it also" - doesn't seem like much of a defense - and obviously the courts don't believe so either
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy I don't necessarily defend Wal-Mart. I don't believe, however, that Wal-Mart is the cause of all the ills that people blame them for. Wal-Mart is a symptom, not a cause, of a number of trends in our society and also reflects the macro-economic picture in the U.S. today. If people don't realize that, we'll never address the root causes that made Wal-Mart the #1 retailer in the world. People like to have someone to blame and Wal-Mart satisfies the need to have a large target to assign blame.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Wal Mart is also a purveyor - and the largest - of abusing the environment today in the business world to further their gains, so while one may say they are a product of their environment - they helped create this environment and they are the MAJOR player in propogating these activities -- so yeah, they are to blame, not an innocent victim of the times.
