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“Awesome place to work!”
Meat Clerk (Current Employee)
Brentwood, CA

I have been working at WinCo Foods full-time for more than a year

Pros – Great space to improve and move up the latter
Pay tops out at 23/hr here

Cons – Management is very strict

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-WinCo-Foods-RVW226775
3.htm]

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All-Purpose Clerk (Current Employee)
Redding, CA

I have been working at WinCo Foods part-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Employee owned company. The increase in ESOP annually makes for a bright future.

Advancement opportunities. With multiple stores opening every year, the skies the limit.

Benefits. Ranging from medical and dental to reductions in bills from associated vendors like Verizon Wireless.

Busy. This can create many opportunities from a constant demand for something needing done to a never ending supply of new and interesting faces to interact with.

Cons – Busy. Not all who work here are people persons and have difficulties with the volume of customers that come through the store.

Advice to Senior Management – Try to better utilize the strengths of employees and limit the influence of negative factors.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/WinCo-Foods-Reviews-E11196.htm]

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“Great place to spend a career”
Clerk (Current Employee)
Seattle, WA

I have been working at WinCo Foods full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Winco Foods has excellent pay scale and health benefits. It's ESOP program is unsurpassed in the retirement world

Cons – Very hard work, no time to waste here. Every second of your day is planned out, and get ready to run. Attendance policy is very unforgiving but unbiased if used correctly.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep listening to employees feedback, remember your Store Management is human. Sometimes it seems they are so stressed out they will lose their job it makes it hard for them to do their job. Also would look at possible changes in 10 day work week, the long stretches can be very difficult on employees.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/WinCo-Foods-Reviews-E11196.htm]

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Anonymous Employee (Current Employee)

I have been working at WinCo Foods full-time for more than a year

Pros – Really nice work environment, great promotion opportunities if you are willing to work hard. I started with the company 13 months ago and I am already getting 40 hours a weeks at $11 an hour. They have promoted me once with another promotion coming soon. This is one of the companies that actually recognizes good hard workers.

Cons – unfortunately like any other business sometimes you get a boss that isn't on top of things and makes some bad decisions, luckily there are other people helping him out to correct issues.

Advice to Senior Management – Great company, the only issue I have seen is the hesitation to demote someone that isn't keeping up with the job requirements.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/WinCo-Foods-Reviews-E11196.htm

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Lawsuits a volume business at Wal-Mart

By its own count, Wal-Mart was sued 4,851 times last year — or nearly once every two hours, every day of the year. Juries decide a case in which Wal-Mart is a defendant about six times every business day. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/08/14/walmart-usat.htm]

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Almost 2,000 women in 48 states claim that Walmart discriminated against them for pay and promotions. Charges were filed in every state except Montana and Vermont (the latter has only four Walmart stores, the fewest of any state). Women in Florida, Alabama and Georgia filed the most claims.

“The fact that EEOC charges were filed in every single Walmart region in the nation demonstrates the widespread and pervasive nature of Walmart’s pay and promotion discrimination against its women employees,” said Brad Seligman. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/06/walmart-sex-discrimination-wo
men-_n_1575859.html]

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Wage and Hour Lawsuits against Wal-Mart Settled for over $350 Million - See more at: http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/wage-and-hour-lawsuits-against-wal-mart-s
ettled-2211/#sthash.iCTrsmzv.dpuf

Last week, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. announced that they have agreed to pay between $352 million and $640 million to settle 63 wage and hour lawsuits filed against the retailer in 42 different states. The lawsuits accused the company of cheating hourly workers by forcing them to work through breaks and not paying them for overtime. The wage and hour violation settlement may set a new standard for other companies who have been failing to pay employees according to the requirements of federal labor laws. http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/wage-and-hour-lawsuits-against-wal-mart-s
ettled-2211/#sthash.iCTrsmzv.dpuf]

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Walmart To Pay More Than $11.7 Million To Settle EEOC Sex Discrimination Suit

Kentucky Distribution Facility Denied Jobs to Female Applicants on a Systemic Basis, Federal Agency Charged

INDIANAPOLIS –Walmart Stores will pay $11.7 million in back wages and com­pen­satory damages, its share of employer taxes, and up to $250,000 in administration fees and will furnish other relief, including jobs, to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/3-1-10.cfm]

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Walmart Settles Landmark 401(k) Fees Class Action Lawsuit

The company has settled a $13.5 million class action lawsuit with employee Jeremy Braden and others. The suit claimed that the retailer, along with Bank of America's Merrill Lynch unit, passed along "unreasonably high fees and expenses" to Walmart's 2 million workers. http://www.aarp.org/work/retirement-planning/info-12-2011/walmart-sett
les-landmark-401k-fees-suit.html]

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Wal-Mart's low wages cost taxpayers

The cost of Wal-Mart's low wages isn't just felt by workers like Stinnett, but also transferred to American taxpayers. The report zeroes in on Wal-Mart in Wisconsin. That's because the state releases information on how many workers are enrolled in its public health care program broken down by employer.

At the end of 2012, there were 3,216 Wal-Mart employees who were enrolled in Wisconsin public health care programs, more than any other employer. Add in the dependents of Wal-Mart workers and the total jumps up to 9,207.

Factoring in what taxpayers contribute for public programs, the report estimated that one Wal-Mart supercenter employing 300 workers could cost taxpayers at least $904,000 annually. http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/04/news/companies/walmart-medicaid/index.
html]

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California To Wal-Mart: Enough! No More Taxpayer Subsidized Profits For You

For years, Wal-Mart—and other large retail operators—have been piling up huge profits by controlling their labor costs through paying employees sub-poverty level wages. As a result, it has long been left to the taxpayer to provide healthcare and other subsidized benefits to the many Wal-Mart employees who are dependent on Medicaid, food stamp programs and subsidized housing in order to keep their families from going under.

With Medicaid eligibility about to be expanded in some 30 states, as a result of the Affordable Care Act, Wal-Mart has responded by cutting employee hours—and thereby wages—even further in order to push more of their workers into state Medicaid programs and increase Wal-Mart profits. Good news for Wal-Mart shareholders and senior management earning the big bucks—not so good for the taxpayers who will now be expected to contribute even larger amounts of money to subsidize Wal-Mart’s burgeoning profits.

But, at long last and in a move gaining popularity around the nation, the State of California is attempting to say ‘enough’ to Wal-Mart and the other large retailers who are looking to the taxpayers to take on the responsibility for the company’s employees—a responsibility Wal-Mart has long refused to accept.

Legislation is now making its way through the California legislature—with the support of consumer groups, unions and, interestingly, physicians—that would levy a fine of up to $6,000 on employers like Wal-Mart for every full-time employee that ends up on the state’s Medi-Cal program—the California incarnation of Medicaid.

One wonders if we will ever see the day when Americans will stop falling for the hostage-taking narrative consistently put forward by those whose job it is to defend the indefensible. At the first suggestion of finally putting a chink in Wal-Mart’s policy of profiting at the taxpayers’ expense—a practice that should have every American thinking about what passes for free-enterprise in the United States today—the response is to always threaten to take away jobs if we dare to challenge their business practices, even if those practices cost us billions.

Note that these are not people who rely on ‘government handouts’ because they do not wish to work. Rather, these are people who show up to do their jobs for as many hours a week as their employer will permit them to work.

What I always find fascinating is that the very people who are so critical of the subsidies provided by Obamacare to lower-earning Americans (how many times have these people reminded us that “someone is paying for these subsidies”) never seem to have much of a problem with the subsidies we pay to support Wal-Mart’s massive profits by picking up the healthcare tab for so many of the company’s employees. But then, those who support taxpayers doing the job that Wal-Mart should be doing tend to be the same folks who are quick to suggest that nobody is forcing workers to take a job at Wal-Mart. Apparently, these people are operating under the opinion that a Wal-Mart worker earning below the federal poverty level wouldn’t readily move to a better paying job if such a job were available to that worker. http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/06/03/california-to-wal-mar
t-enough-no-more-taxpayer-subsidized-profits-for-you/

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The popular belief surrounding Walmart is that conservatives love it and liberals hate it. That appears to be generally true, but there are a number of things that Walmart does or doesn’t do that should give conservatives pause before they rush to defend the mega-retailer.

1. Walmart workers are paid wages that are like Walmart prices…Low. This forces them to rely on government benefits such as Medicaid and food stamps.

2. In addition to being eligible for government assistance for food and medical care, an average Walmart employee who is married and has one child is eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit that is refunded to certain low paid workers. Republican Representative Bob Woodall of Georgia is one of a number of conservative legislators on record as saying that the poor don’t pay enough in taxes.

3. Walmart has a history of hiring undocumented immigrant workers. According to a 2004 congressional report:

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On October 23, 2003, federal agents raided 61 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states. When they left, the agents had arrested 250 nightshift janitors who were undocumented workers.

Following the arrests, a grand jury convened to consider charging Wal-Mart executives with labor racketeering crimes for knowingly allowing undocumented workers to work at their stores. The workers themselves were employed by agencies Wal-Mart contracted with for cheap cleaning services. While Wal-Mart executives have tried to lay the blame squarely with the contractors, federal investigators point to wiretapped conversations showing that executives knew the workers were undocumented. http://www.hel-mart.com/docs/georgemiller_walmartreport.pdf]

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4. Recording artists, particularly alternative rock and rap artists, are often forced to produce alternate versions of their work ( http://www.pbs.org/itvs/storewars/stores3_2.html) in order for it to be sold by Walmart. Walmart company policy forbids the sale of any CD with a warning label. According to the PBS documentary “Store Wars: When Walmart Comes To Town,” Walmart has pulled magazines from its shelves ( http://www.pbs.org/itvs/storewars/stores3_2.html) for covers they consider inappropriate, and some magazines have even sent Walmart photos of proposed covers for their approval. Considering that Walmart is the nation’s largest retailer, and as of 2010 accounted for about 12 percent of CD sales ( https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/press-releases/pr_100526/), their policy of censorship interferes with the right of artists to have their work judged by the free market.

5. Walmart moves into communities, undercuts, and eventually destroys small local businesses ( http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/study-proves-walmart-supe
r-stores-kill-local-small-businesses-article-1.140129). While there were some conflicting poll numbers, in 2012 a majority of small business owners favored Mitt Romney for president, indicating that they were counting on Romney and the GOP to work for their interests to a greater extent than they thought President Obama would. Defending Walmart is the exact opposite of supporting small businesses.

6. Walmart puts pressure on suppliers to reduce prices ( http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/06/us-usa-consumer-walmart-idUS
TRE8250GM20120306). This affects the bottom line of those suppliers and forces them to look for ways to provide products at the price which Walmart demands. It also means that smaller suppliers, that already may be operating on a shoestring budget and cannot afford to make cuts, are unable to avail themselves of the huge market that Walmart offers.

7. Walmart makes political contributions to Democrats. According to OpenSecrets.org, in 2012 Walmart connected PAC’s donated $400,000 to the Democratic Governors’ Association. Even worse for some conservatives, in 2012 individuals connected to Walmart donated $57,711 to Barack Obama.

8. Walmart sells a lot of goods that are made in China. In fact, some 70 percent of everything Walmart sells is produced in China ( http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100107390). This should be an obvious problem for “cold war” conservatives, since China is a communist country. In addition to that concern, Walmart accounted for 11 percent of the U.S. trade deficit with China between 2001 and 2006, according to the Economic Policy Institute ( http://www.epi.org/publication/webfeatures_snapshots_20070627/). EPI estimates that just the Walmart portion of the trade deficit resulted in the lossof approximately 200,000 American jobs in that same time period. This likely forced more Americans to seek unemployment benefits, another government program that many conservatives hate. http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/08/09/top-eight-reasons-conservative
s-should-hate-walmart/#ixzz2baj18BpH

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Wal-Mart is China' s sixth largest export market. In 2006, Wal-Mart imported $27 billion of Chinese goods. Wal-Mart' s imports are responsible for 11% of the growth of the total U.S. trade deficit with China between 2001 and 2006. [Time, 6/19/05; EPI Issue Brief #235, 6/27/07]

Wal-Mart encourages American companies to open Chinese factories. In order to obtain Wal-Mart contracts or to continue relations with Wal-Mart, American companies are coerced by Wal-Mart to open factories in China. Lakewood Engineering and Manufacturing Company and Huffy Bikes were two such cases. [Los Angeles Time, 11/23/03; Mansfield News Journal, 12/8/03]

Wal-Mart advises supplier: “Open a factory in China.” To land a supply contract with Wal-Mart, the Lakewood Engineering and Manufacturing Company—a Chicago fan manufacturer—had to locate manufacturing operations in Shenzhen, China. Workers there make $.25 an hour—while the company' s Chicago workforce earned an average hourly $13. [Los Angeles Times, 11/23/03]

Wal-Mart forces Huffy Bikes to brake US production. Despite decades of making bicycles in the United States, Huffy was forced by Wal-Mart price pressures to close three factories and lay off thousands of workers. The mayor of Celina, Ohio—where Huffy closed a large factory—said Wal-Mart' s “demand for cheaper bicycles drove Huffy out of Celina.” [Mansfield News Journal, 12/8/03]

Wal-Mart secretly takes out life insurance policies on its employees. Known as “dead peasant” insurance, Wal-Mart took out Corporate-Owned Life insurance (COLI) policies on unsuspecting employees until 1995. Even thought Wal-Mart stopped taking out new policies at this time, it continued to cash in on them years later. In Texas and Oklahoma, Wal-Mart paid $15 million to settle claims it did not have an insurable interest while taking out these policies. Michael D. Myers, an attorney who has represented workers on these types of cases, had this say about employers using these types of policies: “Creepy's a good word for it...If you ask the executives that decided to buy these policies and the insurance companies that sold them, they would say this was designed to create tax benefits for the company, which would use the benefits for benevolent purposes such as buying employee medical benefits.” [Tampa Tribune, 7/3/07 and 3/10/8]

Wal-Mart pays millions over Americans with Disabilities Act violations. In 2001, Wal-Mart paid $6 million to settle 13 lawsuits charging the company with widespread discrimination and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Even after these lawsuits, Wal-Mart has failed to improve its behavior. Since 2001, 47 ADA lawsuits have been filed against Wal-Mart. [29 U.S.C. S 706 et seq; Business Journal, 1/20/04.]

Wal-Mart employees forced to work overtime while locked stores. In May 2007, New Jersey' s Supreme Court ruled that Wal-Mart must face a class-action lawsuit by workers who claim Wal-Mart forced them to work through meal breaks, locked them in retail stores after they clocked out and coerced them into working off the clock. The company broke state wage and hour laws and breached contracts with employees, the workers say. Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, faces more than 70 U.S. wage-and-hour suits, including class actions by employees claiming the company failed to pay for all hours worked or did not compensate them properly for overtime. [Bloomberg News, 5/31/07]

Wal-Mart tries to avoid paying over $33 million in North Carolina taxes. Using real estate investment trusts (REITs), Wal-Mart sought to avoid taxes in North Carolina by paying rent to itself. Wal-Mart devised a complex restructuring and tax avoidance scheme specifically for North Carolina because, like other non-combined reporting states, a corporation can report certain subsidiaries separately. However, a North Carolina court ruled that Wal-Mart' s tax restructuring efforts had “no real economic substance.” As a result of this ruling, the state did not have to refund $33.5 million in back taxes to Wal-Mart. [Wall Street Journal, 1/6/2008]

Wal-Mart evades $17 million in Wisconsin. As in North Carolina, Wal-Mart' s use of REITs was also damaging to Wisconsin taxpayers. State tax auditors established that Wal-Mart avoided $17.7 million in taxes from1998-2000. However, Wal-Mart might not be out of the woods yet. The giant retailer may owe additional back taxes. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/25/07]

Wal-Mart uses an Italian subsidiary to circumvent taxes in Illinois. The Illinois Department of Revenue is demanding $26.4 million in taxes from Wal-Mart for using an Italian subsidiary as a tax shelter. Using a tax avoidance scheme similar to its use of REITs in other states, Wal-Mart set up a subsidiary in Italy in order to avoid state taxation in Illinois. Nearly every Wal-Mart store in the United States is owned by this Italian subsidiary; therefore, the tax avoidance may not be limited to Illinois exclusively. [Wall Street Journal, 11/17/07]

Wal-Mart uses public dollars to subsidize growth. In order to fund its massive growth, Wal-Mart relies on over $1.2 billion dollars in “tax breaks, free land, infrastructure assistance, low-cost financing and outright grants from state and local governments.” For example, local officials in Pottsville, Pennsylvania gave Wal-Mart $2.45 million to subsidize a distribution center. Not only does Wal-Mart receive money for distribution centers, it also gets money for supercenter growth. In fact, Wal-Mart obtained $12 million in sales tax rebates to open a store in Orland Hills, Illinois. [CNNmoney.com, 11/18/2005, ]

No company has done more to harm America than Wal-Mart. It has actively encouraged outsourcing, helped bankrupt American manufacturing operations (Rubbermaid), discriminated against employee based on gender/race, failed to provide health coverage (left it to States to pick up the tab), underpayed its state taxes, underpayed its workers, etc. It is a sick company involved in every bad business practice imaginable.
http://www.marketskeptics.com/2009/02/wal-mart-helps-china-at-uss-expe
nse.html]

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Walmart pleaded guilty to dumping toxic chemicals into sewers throughout California. As a result, the company will be forced to pay a $81.6 million fine. The retail giant was accused to dumping fertilizer, pesticides, and other hazardous material into the state’s sewage system during the mid-2000s. Many of the chemicals the company dumped were products pulled from stores shelves in California or Missouri for one reason or another. http://www.inquisitr.com/679551/walmart-toxic-dumping-case/#zFYRTh4CpI
jQhbW5.99]

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Wal-Mart testified on behalf of their Chinese manufacturers against American supplier. When the American market was flooded with much cheaper big screen televisions made in China, Five Rivers took its case to the International Trade Commission and won. The attorney for Five Rivers said, “It’s not fair trade, it’s not free trade, it’s a rigged system.” http://suite101.com/article/how-wal-mart-hurts-america-a317136

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More than 400 “front-line” workers — clerks, cashiers, and others who are not at the executive level — have retirement accounts that are worth at least $1 million, according to a company spokesman.

It also provides full health benefits for those who work at least 24 hours a week, beyond the requirements in the Affordable Care Act. While the company is private and hasn’t made wage information available, Glassdoor reports that cashiers and clerks make more than $11 an hour. Thanks to these benefits and wages, the company has low turnover. An industry analyst estimated that the average hourly worker stays with the company for more than eight years.

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