Wal-Mart offers $8.75-an-hour wage, union balks

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/2415526,chicago-walmart-deal-062110.article


June 21, 2010

By FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

Wal-Mart offered Monday to pay its Chicago employees a minimum urban wage of $8.75-an-hour to break the stalemate that has stalled its $1 billion plan to build “several dozen” Chicago stores over the next five years.

After six years of stonewalling labor’s demand that Wal-Mart pay its employees a “living wage,” the world’s largest retailer yielded to pressure from Mayor Daley to establish a new standard for Chicago.

The $8.75-an-hour minimum Chicago wage would be 50 cents above Illinois’ minimum wage, but far short of the $11.03-an-hour unions have demanded.

Jorge Ramirez, secretary-treasurer of the Chicago Federation of Labor, promptly rejected the offer outlined during the second face-to-face meeting between Wal-Mart and organized labor and the first since May 3.

“It’s 50-cents above the minimum wage. The big-box ordinance was $11.03-an-hour, plus $3 in benefits. Folks in our coalition are outraged that they wasted our time for a month-and-a-half and came up with something they knew would not be acceptable,” Ramirez said.

“This is a straight muscle play by Wal-Mart to ram this down the City Council’s throat. Aldermen are gonna see through it.”

FULL story at link.

[saigon68]

1. Daley wants this

Daley has been searching for the “next big thing” ever since Chicago’s first-round flame-out in the 2016 Olympic sweepstakes and he’s apparently convinced that Wal-Mart expansion is it.

Last week, he met privately with Wal-Mart executives while attending the U.S. Conference of Mayor’s meeting in Oklahoma City and pressured the world’s largest retailer to up the ante.

[whathehell]

10. Maybe Daley will agree to work for $8.75 an hour then...

:sarcasm:

[saigon68]

15. The pos loves the Waltons

[whathehell]

20. Did he say that?...seriously?

[xchrom]

2. $8.75 per hour. wow - gonna break the bank there.

:eyes:

[Morning Dew]

3. That's like

$350 a week... if you can get 40 hours at WalMart ( which is doubtful).

[whathehell]

9. Yeah...before taxes!.....Sucks Big Time. n/t

[whathehell]

8. I was getting almost that much..$8.50 an hour for general clerical work -- Twenty Five years Ago!

Even 11 bucks isn't exactly great.

The Union should tell them to Shove their Third World 8.75 an hour Wage

[xchrom]

13. exactly -- and great observation re: what you made 25 years ago. nt

[whathehell]

14. Yes...Twenty five years ago...About the time wages stopped rising

and the middle class began dying.

[HughBeaumont]

68. According to these charts . . . right on the money.

. . . Hmmm, who was president then . . .

[whathehell]

76. Yep....Thanks for the confirmation.

It was Reagan, I believe.

[cameozalaznick]

80. that article is seriously depressing. eom

[Hawkeye-X]

24. if i was union

I would reject anything under $20 and walmart pays a minimum of 35 hours to each employee, full health care bennies. Not one single welfare. Walmart assumes all costs

[Omaha Steve]

89. The union doesn't represent the employees

They are saying they will drop their objection to the stores being built IF Walmart pays a fair wage.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

4. Two words - living wage. nt

[whathehell]

22. You got that right. n/t

[Vinca]

5. $8.75 is less than the cost of 3 gallons of gas.

[madrchsod]

6. knowing what i know about thieves in chicago....

walmart has`t a clue in what they are getting into.good luck wally world...

[wolfgangmo]

32. Not that I want to encourage crime.

But Wally world has a few things that would encourage it. First, a policy that fires any employee except manager or stop loss employees from confronting a thief in any way shape or form. So smart employees will do nothing. Second they don't have many stop loss or management employees given the size of the stores. And they can't be everywhere at once.

So to any criminals reading this. Set up a diversion somewhere in the store and then hoof it out of there with the TV's. Just sayin. I wouldn't want to encourage anyone to break any laws. Ahem.

[SunnySong]

7. 8.75 an hour is a crime in Chicago. It is a sentence of poverty and despair.

Not just should the union reject such an offer. No man or woman should accept such a wage for their time and labor.

[jmowreader]

95. $8.75 an hour is a crime in Hayden!

The company you love to hate is opening two new boxes on the I-90 corridor in Idaho. One of them is in Post Falls, up by the Cabela's. The other is in Hayden (just slightly north of Coeur d'Alene). When those eight-balls started the hiring process to staff those stores, we ran a story on page A1 that said they were hiring about 450 people for the two stores and Walmart's average wage in Idaho is $11.44 per hour. Which it is, if you add up the total amount of money paid to all the employees of the 19 Walmarts currently operating in Idaho and divide by 6674, then divide again until you get down to an hourly figure.

Naturally, everyone in Kootenai County thought Walmart was fat city, man. Wrong...the next day, we ran a correction to the story. Our managing editor, who is one of the few remaining liberals in Idaho, stuck the correction on A1 in a colored box with a nice fat bright-red headline so it would stand out. Yes, they're hiring but they only need 350 new hires--they're pulling 100 people out of the current store in Post Falls so there will be people who can teach the Walmart Way to all the new hires--and they're only paying minimum wage.

Unfortunately, we ran a story next week about all the people with serious technical degrees who are applying to Walmart because "it's work." That story we buried in the business section, which is the second-to-last page of the sports section. Hopefully he will also bury the story about the grand opening in the business section.

[hatrack]

11. That's $18,200 per year, before taxes, assuming 40 hrs/wk.

Gosh, I do hope the Walton heirs and shareholders can pony up so much money.

[Broke In Jersey]

12. I blame Chicago more than Wal-Mart

The city council should pass a minimum living wage ordinace for $11.

[SocialistLez]

16. +100. I'd love to see more cities do that. NT

[SocialistLez]

17. Wal-Mart is shooting themselves in the foot, along with other companies.

Pay your people a living wage and you WILL benefit.
A lot of Wal-Mart's employees do a lot of their shopping in their stores. That is just more money in your pocket if you pay them more.

If they can afford to buy healthy foods, that is less you have to pay in health care benefits, more productivity, etc.

But what do I know?

They are only interested in increasing their payout to shareholders. Fuck the workers.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. +1

[Mimosa]

19. Daley is a Democrat?

And I should say nothing bad about him?

[Raineyb]

45. He claims to be one. Doesn't sound like much of a Democrat to me though.

Democrats are supposed to work in favor of working people.

Another right winger too scared to come out as a Republican in my not so humble opinion. Because in this regard there isn't a lick of difference between Daley and an actual Republican.

But it's only labor so it'll probably be brushed aside.

[Yavin4]

21. In All Brutal Honesty, That's Pretty Good Pay For Low-Skilled Work

You don't need any additional training beyond high school. You don't need to pass some sort of licensing exam, and you don't need any additional skills other than showing up on time.

Yes, $8.75 is not much money, but it can pay for vocational training which does lead to better paying jobs.

[SocialistLez]

23. Maybe with no kids and living in a cramped space it's good money. NT

[guitar man]

25. good for who?

I've watched Wal Mart here in Oklahoma for years and it's always the same story. They seem to always strategically place their stores near low income govt assisted housing, or somehow that housing gets built near there soon after. 28 hours is often considered "full time" and the HR person who hires people will gladly help them fill out the forms for food stamps and other public assistance because they know damn well nobody can make a living on what they are paying.

So Wal Mart gets a labor force for next to nothing and the taxpayers wind up footing the bill for the rest. Now just how cheap is that junk they sell there, really?

[Yavin4]

26. Good For Low Skilled Workers

Wal Mart does not require having any skills beyond High School, and the job market for people without advanced skills or training is dismal, and will continue to be dismal even after this recession.

[Taitertots]

28. Are you really going to say that poverty level wages are good for workers? n/t

[Yavin4]

35. There Are Skilled Workers and Unskilled Workers

Unskilled workers, for the most part, make far less than $8.75. Thus, $8.75 is a reasonable wage.

[Taitertots]

39. A below poverty wage isn't reasonable for anyone

Typical class bigotry. You think they deserve poverty because they are not "skilled".

[guitar man]

30. then let Wal Mart do it without govt subsidy

When people figure out they can't live on what WM is paying maybe they'll hit the picket lines

[SocialistLez]

38. +1

A lot of Wal-Mart's business is dependent on the government.
When I worked at Wal-Mart, there were LOTS of people who used food stamps.
Many of their employees were receiving food stamps.

They received subsidies from the local government to build the Wal-Mart.
They receive property tax breaks.

The list goes on.

[guitar man]

41. And they are

The biggest labor law violator in the country. I'm not necessarily against govt helping business to employ people, but by god if they are going to stick their hand out to the system for money then they need to walk a tight rope in regards to regulation.

The problem as it stands is, I can boycott Wal Mart all day long but I can't stop paying them. I may be able to deprive them of money I would voluntarily spend there but they benefit from money that is involuntarily taken from me in taxes and I can't do a damn thing to stop it.

[SocialistLez]

43. Eh...you CAN do something about it but the chips are stacked against you.

::sigh::

http://www.strike-the-root.com/51/weebies/weebies12.html
Titled: Fascism, State Capitalism, and Outsourcing

"If one is still unconvinced, one needs only consider Wal-Mart, supposedly the epitome of how outsourcing and globalization is a triumph for freedom and the free market. In the article Wal-Mart, the Abuse of Eminent Domain and Corporate Welfare, we learn that Wal-Mart not only practices stealing property through eminent domain abuse but that 'Wal-Mart leads the pack in attracting subsidies, this year collecting $10 million in Denver; $500,000 in Dallas; $36.7 million in Scottsdale, Ariz., (as part of a shopping center that includes Lowe's); $9 million in Bartlesville, Okla.; and $17 million in Lewiston, Maine.' In Wal-Mart's Free Market Fallacy, we learn that Wal-Mart thrives on government coercion and pork and 'Wal-Mart could not survive in a real free market: It would, for example, have to pay Chinese workers more (which would ruin its low-wage business model) and spurn any offers of government subsidies. Indeed, it's fitting that Wal-Mart, the business model fawned over by free-marketeers, exposes the so-called 'free market' as a lie, no more than a crude'albeit effective 'marketing phrase.' Of course all this government coercion and pork doesn't come free, as Wal-Mart now has cracked the top 20 of PACs and contributes more than $1.6 million in bribes. In Wal-Mart in Washington, we find out how Wal-Mart has grown to be one of the top PAC contributors and garnered the praise of the Bush administration: 'In May 2004, Vice President Dick Cheney praised the company in an economic policy speech at Wal-Mart's distribution center in Bentonville, Ark., saying: 'The story of Wal-Mart exemplifies some of the very best qualities in our country -- hard work, the spirit of enterprise, fair dealing, and integrity.'' This from the same neoCON Dick Cheney who thinks killing foreigners, destroying their property, and stealing their resources exemplifies some of the very best qualities in our country. In truth, it seems Wal-Mart, with its blatant government coercion, pork, and bribes, has little or nothing to do with the free market, but could be the poster child for state capitalism. "

[Lucian]

33. There's a lot of people who work at Walmart...

where their current life situations don't allow them to go to school to get more skills, such as the lack of money, having kids, or taking care of elderly parents. They need a living wage. Your callousness towards Walmart employees is just unreasonable.

Try walking in their shoes before ripping into them.

[Yavin4]

36. 1. I Didn't Rip Anyone

2. Yes, there are people who cannot afford additional schooling at the moment, but over time, they may. And, having that $8.75 in the meantime goes a long way.

[Taitertots]

42. $8.75 an hour isn't enough to cover basic needs

Over time they will go into debt or get a better job. I guess, let them eat cake.

[Yavin4]

50. Depends Upon Your Perspective

If you are unskilled labor and you need income right away, then this is a good job for you. You're working indoors, away from the heat and the cold, and the pay is regular and steady.

A number of unskilled laborers work day jobs on construction sites or landscapping.

[Taitertots]

55. Are you really in such a fantasy state that you think that is the case for Walmart workers?

Like they are all new born babies that have no skills, they should just be happy they are not in the fields. Your class bigotry is overwhelming.

[Yavin4]

61. The Jobs Themselves Don't Require Any Advanced Skill Sets

They're paying a wage based on what the job requires.

[datasuspect]

90. so what?

it is still labor.

and a living wage is socially just.

you can't eat vocational training and masturbatory horatio alger fantasies don't pay the rent.

[Lucian]

78. I can't even pay my bills on $7.80/hr...

each month, I have to pick and choose what bills I can afford to pay.

[Raineyb]

37. If you think it's so reasonable then surely you'll be willing to try to live on such a generous sum

right?

[Yavin4]

40. Fortunately, Today, I Don't Have To Make This Choice

However, in the past, I did take jobs paying $9.35/hour, $10/hr, $17/hr etc. all with no health benefits and no retirement, and I had a college degree and later a master's degree when I took those jobs.

If it came to it, I would take that $8.75 job if I needed to.

[Raineyb]

44. I'm sure people will take it. It's called desperation. That doesn't change the fact that it's

inadequate to actually living and that you seem to think such slave wages are "generous."

[Yavin4]

46. I Never Said "Generous"

I said that it's good pay for low skilled workers, not all workers. Low skilled workers.

[Raineyb]

49. You said it was good. Poverty wages aren't good no matter what your skill level.

Good, generous, you're still implying that what they're being offered is sufficient. Anything you can't live on is not good there's really no other way to say it.

[Yavin4]

51. Generous Is Not The Same As Good

I'm stating that wages for unskilled labor is different from skilled labor, and that these wages are pretty good for unskilled labor.

[Raineyb]

60. Wages that you cannot live on are not good at ANY skill level.

What part of that are you having trouble understanding?

Someone has to do those "unskilled" jobs, and anyone who works should be able to live on their wages. The idea that a substandard wage is "good" even when it doesn't cover living expenses is exactly the attitude that has kept wages flat over the last 30 years.

Why do you have a problem with people making a living wage?

[Taitertots]

48. $17/hr! break out the worlds smallest violin, you must have been impoverished

In the past...
What has been the change in the CPI during that period? So what was your real income during that period?

[Yavin4]

52. The $17/Hr Was After I Got My Master's Degree

And I was considered skilled labor. The $8.75 is little over half that amount, so that just proves my point that this is a good wage for unskilled labor.

[Taitertots]

59. Do you know what the CPI is?

What was your REAL income?

[Yavin4]

64. I Do Know What CPI Is

And I'm not going to tell you my real income. What I am going to repeat however is that paying a low skilled / entry level worker above the federal minimum wage is fair. These jobs do not require any more additional training beyond High school.

[Taitertots]

66. All you have to do is admit what year you were making $9, $11, and $17 per hour

If you were making $9 per hour in 1980 it would be over $20 per hour today.

Obviously you don't know about inflation and the CPI if you think your REAL income is what you made this year.

[Yavin4]

67. The $9 /hr Was in 1987 in Washington DC

The $11/hr was in 1989 in Los Angeles,CA. The $17/hr was in NYC in 2002, and I went to school at night.

All of those jobs happened after I got my undergrad degree, and the last one, I had a master's degree.

[Taitertots]

86. $9 per hour in 1987 is roughly equivalent to $15 per hour today

$11 in 1989 is equivalent to $18 per hour today
$17 in 2002 is equivalent to $20 per hour today


If you earned $8.75 at Walmart today it would be as if you were getting $4.75 per hour in 1987.

[cameozalaznick]

81. how far in the past are we talking?

I mean, 20 years ago, I could have bought the house I currently live in for about $35,000 Not so much anymore. And gas about less than a dollar a gallon. But today, I really don't know what kind of housing or transportation or anything you could purchase for $8.75 hour. That's just medieval.

[guitar man]

84. I'll tell ya what

I've got a good friend who is a foreman on a freight dock. It's definetly " low skilled" work they do there. I can call him up and arrange for you to come down and explain to his workers why $8.75 would be a fine and dandy wage for them since they aren't college educated and all they do is lump freight off and on trucks all day long. Hell I bet some don't even have high school diplomas so maybe you can convince them to work even cheaper.

Oh, and, btw, they belong to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters if that makes a difference. :evilgrin:

[Taitertots]

27. $8.75 an hour is not enough to pay for vocational training at all

It is barely enough to feed and house a person.

Typical class insensitivity. After all it is just "low-skilled work" they deserve to be locked into poverty.

[Yavin4]

47. Have You Heard of Student Aid? Or Student Loans for Vocational Training?

It's doable.

[Taitertots]

53. You are living in fantasy land

You do realize space in vocational training programs is limited. Most vocational programs have admissions standards.

How do you propose they all work over 40 hours a week and go to school at the same time? Walmart needs people to work during the day, so don't say night shift because it is not an option.

[Yavin4]

54. Not True

There are all types of vocational and post-high school programs that offer flexible schedules and financial aid.

People do this all of the time. People work during the day and take classes at night, on the weekend, or online.

[Taitertots]

58. You are in a fantasy land because you think that is feasible for anything but a fraction of them.

Why shouldn't they just get an honest days pay for an honest days work?

[guitar man]

63. What a concept

"an honest day's pay for an honest day's work"

We have slipped so far away from a concept that was once held in high regard. The "low skilled" often do the hardest types of work that make the lives the rest of us live possible but all too often get pissed on for their efforts. Anybody who doesn't think so needs to go unload those trucks for a while for the shit wages they are paying.

[datasuspect]

91. landlords don't take masturbatory horatio alger fables in lieu of negotiable currency for rent

[SunnySong]

56. No it isn't... first of all it isn't a living wage.

Second off all while a Walmart associate may not have skills you appreciate ,it is hard work and certainly requires both tenacity and discipline.

[Deep13]

72. Walmart can afford a decent wage. nt

[Radical Activist]

74. That's nothing in Chicago. You can't live on it.

Factor in cost of living and it's well below minimum wage for most of the country.

[Leftist Agitator]

85. "Yes, $8.75 is not much money, but it can pay for vocational training..."

What alternate universe do you live in? None of the workers will get 40 hours, say 38 tops. That's about $330 / week *before* taxes. Rent in Chicago is going to be a bare minimum of $500. Another $200 for utilities on average (much higher in the winter), car payment, car insurance, groceries.

I'm pretty certain that ~$1100 a month isn't going to pay for all of those bills, let alone "vocational training".

[amborin]

29. K&R

[Lucian]

31. I'm making a whopping $7.80/hr at the Walmart I work at...

:eyes:

$8.75 is a joke too. Too low. The minimum should be about $11.00-12.00/hr.

[KamaAina]

34. Get hold of Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed"

to get a taste of what "living" on 8.75 an hour is like.

[Heywood J]

57. You too can destroy your body for the low, low price of $8.75!

Experience the wonder of RSI, hernias from heavy lifting, being cursed at and assaulted by customers, a completely variable schedule each week without guaranteed hours, and being exposed to every pathogen known to mankind. This can be yours if your desperation is right!

[Ikonoklast]

62. I see Bootstraps and Condescension in this thread.

"It's good enough for the 'Little People'. After all, they're stupid and unskilled, they get whatever they deserve."

Great Democratic Values, there.

[Yavin4]

65. Well, You're Making Your Own Strawman Argument

Here's what I am saying. These WalMart jobs do not require any skills beyond High school. No advanced training, nothing. These are low level/entry level jobs, and for what they're offering, the wage is fair. For $1.75 above min. wage, that's a fair wage given what the job entails.

[Ikonoklast]

69. I am making an observation.

I am ever so glad that you get to define what a 'fair wage' is.

I'll stick to what the organizers of the UFCW think it is.


Nice to see you sticking up for management and stockholders, however. The Walton Clan needs some more private jets, I'm sure of it.

[Yavin4]

70. I'm Not Defining A Fair Wage

I said for the jobs that WalMart is offering, the wage is fair.

Wages vary with the requirements that the job entails.

[Ikonoklast]

71. Would you do your job for more money, if offered?

Say you had an agent that negotiated with your employer for you, a very sharp guy, and he got you a twenty percent raise, after his fee was paid, and you suddenly made more than your equally-qualified fellow empoloyees down the hall.

Do you take the money, even though it's not 'fair' that the guys down the hall do the very same work, for what you previously made?

[Yavin4]

75. Apples and Oranges Comparison

If WalMart wanted to pay more than what they're offering, I would have no problem with that. They can offer whatever wage is legal.

In this case, they're offering above the min. wage for jobs that require no advance skills nor experience, and that makes it a fair wage.

[Ikonoklast]

77. Union thinks otherwise.

I side with them.

[guitar man]

82. I side with them too

Whether the job takes "skill" or not, anybody that thinks what WM is offering is "fair" needs to get out there and unload those damned trucks until they get an idea of what the WORKERS go through day in and day out.

[datasuspect]

94. no, they require a person's TIME

and stock handling, moving freight around, operating cash registers require skills.

what? do you think these people get to just stand around with their "no skill having asses" to receive some generous dispensation from Lord Wal Mart of Arkansas?

BULLSHIT.

the city of chicago is one of the most expensive places to live in the united states.

pick your average CEO, the most skill they have is being born into the right connections so they can mingle with other rich people and talk shit all day.

you stand against social and economic justice, you stand against the workers, you are a true enemy of freedom.

[Marlana]

73. I love this idea that just because a job is unskilled you should be happy to work for peanuts.

Just because someone didn't go to college or doesn't work behind a desk doesn't mean they shouldn't be paid enough to live on.

[guitar man]

87. +1000

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Lucian]

79. No kidding.

I thought I stepped in Republican Underground...

[guitar man]

88. Heh, no kidding

If I wanted to hear that kind of claptrap I'd tune into right wing radio :crazy:

[femrap]

83. It's got to go

to at least double digits. Fucking $8.75/hour. Sickening.

Everywhere in central Ohio is paying $8/hour. I hate Corporations.

[Forkboy]

92. On Cape Cod in '98, McDonald's was offering $9.50 an hour to start.

Good on the Union! :thumbsup:

[southernyankeebelle]

93. Wow how generous of Wal Mart. They think this is a living wage huh?

[whathehell]

96. You don't understand...

Only people who are "skilled" need to eat and pay bills.:sarcasm: