Taxpayers subsidize @Walmart. Then Republicans refer to the #Walmart employees who need Food Stamps as 'takers' #smh pic.twitter.com/IWfkfLn50n
— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) November 21, 2014
An Oklahoma City Walmart is asking employees to donate food to help their coworkers make ends meet during the holiday season, according to a photo posted by the labor-backed coalition Making Change At Walmart. A sign on the collection bin reads, “Let’s succeed by donating to associates in need!!!”…. The company drew criticism for similar employee food drives a year ago. At that time, a spokesman characterized the efforts as “part of the company’s culture to rally around associates and take care of them when they face extreme hardships.”
I can think of few things that speak to the problem of corporate greed and exploitation of workers than a Walmart staging a food drive for associates. Sure, they could pay workers a living wage, but that would mean less money going to the Walton family and shareholders…so those scraping to get by on $9/hour will need to suck it up and accept some charity…or do without.
Two years ago, I was a seasonal employee at a Target store, which, while a step up from Walmart, isn’t altogether different when it comes to employee pay and treatment. For six weeks, I made $8.85/hour while working my tail off. Retail work at Christmas sucks; if you haven’t tried it, take my word and don’t. I was on my feet for every minute of every shift, working odd hours, all while dealing with people not always in the holiday spirit. It was a good experience to have, but one I hope I’ll never have to repeat. As much as I hated it, I worked with some really great people who worked hard to do their job to the best of their ability. Despite the low pay and not always pleasant working conditions, most of my coworkers got through their days with smiles on their faces- even those who were trying to support a family on their 30 hours or less a week (Target, like Walmart, works to avoid providing benefits to employees, so most front-line employees are part-time).
I can understand why the need for a food drive for employees might be necessary, but it says something (not very good) about a company when they refuse to pay workers a living wage. In Target’s case, their CEO made something like $24 million in total compensation in 2012…while paying me and others like me $8.85/hour. I understand the value that a good CEO brings to a company, but can any CEO REALLY be considered good…or even humane…when they perpetuate a system in which front-line employees are so miserably compensated? When you consider that front-line employees are the face of the company to customers, wouldn’t it stand to reason that you’d want employees to feel valued, as if their contributions matter? Wouldn’t at the very least paying those employees a living wage be the fair and decent thing to do? If Walmart can make millions for stockholders and senior management, it seems reasonable and appropriate to expect they’d share some of that with the employees who make that success possible.
In addition to asking workers to help feed each other, Walmart gets an assist from every taxpayer in the country. The company’s low wages leave huge numbers of its employees on public assistance programs such as food stamps and Medicaid. By one estimate, a single Walmart superstore incurs up to $1.7 million in public assistance spending every year. The company incurs a total public assistance cost of $6.2 billion per year, or roughly 40 percent of its $16 billion profit total for 2013, according to Americans for Tax Fairness.
Unfortunately, those guaranteed low prices Walmart is famous for come at a cost, because American taxpayers subsidize every store. Why should Walmart have to pay their employees a living wage when the social safety net will do it for them? That sad thing is that Americans seem perfectly willing to tolerate this state of affairs. They think they’re saving money, but they don’t realize that much of what they’re saving is being paid back to Walmart in the form of public assistance to their employees.
I’d suggest that the best way to make your feelings known would be to shop elsewhere. I won’t shop at Walmart until they do the right thing and treat their employees as if their more than interchangeable, disposable serfs. No company that treats its employees with such callous disregard should be allowed to remain in business.
Until Congress acts (which is about as likely as the Cubs winning a World Series title) or a dent is made in Walmart’s bottom line, nothing will change. We have the power to make a difference; all we have to do is lose our addiction to “Guaranteed low prices” and shop in places where workers aren’t exploited…and we’re not subsidizing corporate greed.
