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My sister works at Wal-Mart and she likes it a lot. It pays the best of any company that doesn't require much experience. And she is eligable for benifits. So any time I hear people complain about Wal-Mart I know it's just because it was founded by a Christian man, who wasn't a fanatic liberal. When Wal-Mart came to Fairbanks,Alaska it was like a city wide event. And I am not one bit guilty about getting the lowest prices, even if the products do come from China.
Sure, that's great if you want to live with your head in the sand and completely ignore Wal-Mart's flagrant abuse of its employees and the communities it violates. My father-in-law is 72 years old and just underwent quadruple bypass surgery two days ago. His manager at Wal-Mart is threatening to fire him and thinks he has the right to do so because the store is in a right-to-work state. Fortunately, my husband and I are familiar with FMLA protection and are doing everything possible to ensure that his job will be protected while he recovers.
I'm tired of hearing the overtly simplistic, ignorant argument that people don't like Wal-Mart because it was founded by a Christian and isn't "liberal" enough. I don't think Jesus would make a sick man and his wheelchair-bound wife lose income and insurance benefits. The only thing "Christian" about Wal-Mart is their shameless support of Religious Right policies that undermine state's rights, have no regard for the middle class, and ensure that large corporations run roughshod over this nation and the lives of its citizens. Quit using Jesus as an excuse for this decidedly immoral behavior. It's insulting to real Christians.
I am sorry to hear about your father and I hope he is doing better.Walmart is bad about how they treat there people.Th thing is though most compines in right to work states treat there employees rotte.I have seen somereally bad stuff like complete abuse of imagrents having these poor people work for very low wages and being forced to work at 3 different stores, probably being paied for only one( the managers would drive them from store to store)thhes guys were working 12 plus hour days at 6 days a week. The waitstaff they treated just as bad you worked all of the time and if you asked for a day of they would threaten to fire you oh this was IHOP
The department stores were not any better , very few companies offer insurance its bad>oh and the bigger companies like INTEL etc, would just have layoffs every four years or so> So if you can sstay away from a right to work state I would try to do so.
I would like to add, I used to work at Wal-Mart before my daughter was born. The store was remodeling and they were useing some strong smelling glue, I was about 8 months pregnant, and asked to take an early leave, because it was making me more sick, and I didn't want it to harm my unborn baby.
They told me I couldn't, so I did any way's, I fought for unemployment until my leave date came up, they tried to fight it, but I won. I was then promised full time when I was able to return to work, I called to see about when to start and what full time I was going to be getting.
They then told me they were not going to let anyone have any full time hours, so I then told them I quit and was not coming back. I made employee of the month, did more work then a lot of the other employees, showed up everyday, and even went in on days I had off. I say they lost a good hard worker.
I would also like to add, I am still friends with some of the full time employee's and they are all upset over how the store has changed since Sam died. It is not the same, cutting full time workers hours, making the employee's grumpy, and it happens when I go in there, no one wants to help, they would rather tell you they were out of something then go and look in the back room for you. I think it has went down hill, but I go out to see friends, and try to do my other shopping else where. I also think they got to big, I have seen where they have had rollbacks on items and once they sell so many of them, they triple the price of what it used to be, and I seen them do it on puppy treats of all things, pretty sad!!!!!
When someone says to me "I am buying the best goods for the lowest price when I go to Walmart" that just tells me they don't understand how money, and on a larger scale economics, works.
Money isn't magic fairy dust that gets shaken out of a shiny wand that the shareholders posses. Money is a limited quantity placeholder for value, period. That means when money flows away from you, you are poorer. When it flows towards you, you are richer. Simple, right?
The travesty that is Walmart is that almost all of the money they take in goes OUT of the community they inhabit. Wages and taxes (when they decide to pay them.. they have a reputation of closing and repoening in the next town once their 'tax holiday' is over) are a tremendously small part of their intake. Their profits are being shipped out of dodge, folks. And although that is true for any Big Box store, for Walmart it is much more aggressive. They actually WANT to ruin local businesses so they can grab market share. Essentially, they are designed to drain the bank accounts of the locals, then move on or close. Thats why they use mostly illegals for construction.. so the stores are CHEAP. Oh I'm sorry.. they can't be responsible for the hiring practices of their subcontractors.. who only build Walmarts. Gotta love that one.
And that money is GONE. Good luck getting a bank loan to start a grocery store after Walmart has destroyed the local town.
When you support local businesses, the owners of those businesses spend their money locally, on property taxes for their own homes, food, autos, etc. The money is kept close to the community and THEN growth benefits all.
THAT is why I don't shop at Walmarts willingly, and why I never have. The employee abuse problems, the anti Union practices.. these are all good reasons, but economically it's stupid to spend money there. I've darkened their door probably 6 times in my life because of being on a highway trip and having no other recourse.
And that is why you should stay away too. If they don't have customers, they can't run their business. Simple. I wish people would stop going out and paying $1 less for a $100 item just to get it at Walmart. Its ridiculous, and shameful. And it ends up costing you a LOT more than that $1 difference. When your taxes go up, your property values go down, and your wages stagnate because of Walmart, think about that $1 again.. and how it cost you $10,000.
You think that it's cheaper, but it's not really. I moved to GA in June, we didn't have a superwalmart in Cleveland, OH so I was so excited when I got down here. I have realized that shopping at a regular supermarket is cheaper in the end because the reg. store always has weekly specials. Publix, where I LOVE to shop, has buy one get one free items every week, so I love to stock up on stuff. Now, they are about the cheapest for clothing, I'll give them that - or just wait for a sale and then buy. But other than that, if you're trying to do all of your shopping for everything there you'll spend over $100 before you can bat an eye. It's not cheap in the end.
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Boycott at all costs
