Walmart CEO steps down by Niki2

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Walmart CEO steps down

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Wednesday, November 27, 2013 12:47
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Tuesday, November 26, 2013 9:28 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

This is a bad week for Walmart. Not only have workers in 28 stores spread across 12 states gone on strike ( http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/business/organizers-say-wal-mart-lab
or-protests-spread.html?smid=re-share&_r=2&;), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has announced the result of its probe ( http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-nlrb-walmart-20131119,0
,1499317.story#axzz2lfbzVSap), which went against the Benton, AK-based retail giant. So it was no surprise when the CEO, Mike Duke, stepped aside this morning ( http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-walmart-ceo-mike-duke-d
oug-mcmillon-20131125,0,4822974.story#axzz2lgLkqqx8), ahead of the shareholders meeting on Tuesday, and just before the holiday shopping season begins on “Black Friday.”

The company is under heavy fire for the billions it receives in corporate welfare ( http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/sites/democrats.edworkforce.hou
se.gov/files/documents/WalMartReport-May2013.pdf). On top of all the tax breaks, our government covers health care, food stamps, and more for Walmart’s underpaid workers. This costs US taxpayers several billion per year, and the GOP keeps slashing those benefits, which in turn is putting the squeeze on Walmart workers. The company will need to pay more to prevent more turnover from angry workers. Already, Walmart suffers from the failure of temporary workers to make up for the lack of full-time workers ( http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/09/24/2669191/walmart-adds-fullt
ime-workers/), a policy they began to avoid footing the bill for workers’ benefits. Walmart has even had to resort to running a food drive for its own workers ( http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/11/is_walmarts_reques
t_of_associa.html).

Of bigger concern for the company are the findings by the NLRB. In the NLRB’s statement, they found that:

Quote:
“During two national television news broadcasts and in statements to employees at Wal-Mart stores in California and Texas, Wal-Mart unlawfully threatened employees with reprisal if they engaged in strikes and protests on November 22, 2012.” It also ruled that “Wal-Mart stores in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Washington unlawfully threatened, disciplined and/or terminated employees for having engaged in legally protected strikes and protests.” http://billmoyers.com/2013/11/22/labor-board-sides-with-workers-wal-ma
rt-can%E2%80%99t-silence-employees-any-longer/

After the NLRB decision, Walmart is facing the chance that it will have to rehire workers that they fired — and pay them back wages — for last year’s thwarted strike. On top of that, the Labor Board can force the company to inform workers of their rights to unionize, and the process by which they can bring unions into to the stores. This would be a bitter pill for a company that has fought against unions for decades.

Mike Duke’s departure may signal the closing of this dark chapter in Walmart history. Doubtful, but one can hope.

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Tuesday, November 26, 2013 1:09 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Interesting. I have not kept up with Walmart's current news, although being a near-minimum wage worker in retail myself for over a year now, and with a wide-range of previous jobs that started with retail but also involved construction/remodeling, package handling, office administrative work, tech support and mainframe maintenance, I definitely have my own opinions about things.

First, the one thing that I DID know is that Walmart DOES depend on government benefits for its employees very heavily. So much so, in fact, that it has dedicated part of its HR resources to educating its employees on EXACTLY how to file for benefits such as food stamps, energy assistance and pre-AFA-medicaid, in the areas surrounding their storefronts. Application processes can vary WILDLY from locality to locality, so this is why there isn't just one easy HOW TO page online for everyone. Given this, I have to imagine that WalMart actually spends a considerable sum of money every year researching this information in new localities, as well as keeping up with any yearly changes to them. (Common Sense dictates that it costs virtually nothing compared to what providing these benefits to their employees would cost).

Given the fact that I work for a company who seemingly couldn't give two shits about it's employees welfare outside of work, I'm on the fence about that practice. There are a lot of people who deserve these benefits that could be on them, but perhaps they're not savvy enough to figure out how to acquire them. It's not nearly the hardest thing I've ever done, although it certainly wasn't the easiest. At the same time... I'm confident that when a company as large as WalMart tells EVERYBODY exactly how to get on the benefits that a lot of fraud is being committed by otherwise wouldn't-be con-artists. When that goes on, why should Wal-Mart care, right? It doesn't actually have ANYTHING to do with the application process for the individual.

I guess my issue with Wal-Mart is that they almost package government benefits with their employee pay. It's not really that I'm mad at Wal-Mart. I'm just mad at our country as a whole that we find ourselves in a position where we see something like this occur on such a huge scale.

"This costs US taxpayers several billion per year, and the GOP keeps slashing those benefits, which in turn is putting the squeeze on Walmart workers. The company will need to pay more to prevent more turnover from angry workers."

It probably seems kind of funny to somebody who is far from ever contemplating the need to seek out Government Benefits, but when these employees who live paycheck-to-paycheck end up losing their benefits because the Government well is drying up, it's not all that different than a "shirt-and-tie" guy working for a company that drops their healthcare plan altogether. That guy isn't going to get many government subsidies for his insurance, even under Obamacare, and it's likely that even on that much better salary there isn't room in the budget to bear the likely $10k+ price tag for that plan on his own. At the same time, there's nowhere for the retail employee to turn when the Goverenment benefits disappear.

What is the answer to this though?

The problem, at least for me, is that I don't see a viable solution anywhere, period.

We can keep the Federal Benefits coming in just as strong as they were last year and continue to borrow more money we can never hope to pay back as a nation (the negatives I hope speak for themselves there). We can "force" companies like WalMart to give raises through signifigant bumps in the minimum wage, but all that will do is force those companies to drastically increase and "pass the savings" on to the consumer. We can do nothing at all and watch inflation and careless spending by Government destroy what little buying power we have left.

I don't see an answer......

"Mike Duke’s departure may signal the closing of this dark chapter in Walmart history. Doubtful, but one can hope."

I'd love to share your optimism, but I don't foresee any storybook ending here. WalMart's financial future is basically a scale model to America's financial future. "It" and other HUGE companies in many other sectors in America's corporate world, combined with unfair taxation on small business over the years, has essentially destroyed the American Entrepreneur.

There was a day when nearly everyone had to do everything for one's self. As technology improved and time moved forward, instead of bettering ourselves as a race, we became more and more complacent and lazy and needy. Just think of all of the things you'd have to do for yourself without the government. Although I hate that my Water/Trash bill seems to always be on the rise, my very first two thoughts about that question are "Where would I get clean water to drink/cook with/bathe with? AND What the hell am I supposed to do with this all this junk?"

There's over 7 Billion people on the planet now. Just 43 years ago, there was half that many people....

It's not a political thing. It's just a "you're invading my space" type of thing.

This wikipedia chart I'm reading says the highest "poll" says we'll have 17Billion people on the planet by 2100. The more optimistic poll says we will have decreased to 6 billion. I'm not making it up. It's what wikipedia says. You can either trust me or Google "population count history" and find it out for yourself.

Rethug/Demon isn't the problem Niki :)

7 Million people, 94% of which are dumb-asses, is too much for Ma Earth to sustain, no matter how benevolent the good intentions of one lone man in any level of political discourse is when he goes in.

I didn't see the movie with the overgrown smurfs in 3D made by the guy who made T2: Judgement Day (one of the most awesome-st people ever).

But the only reason why "white america" has great memories about days where you could go to sleep without ever bothering to lock the front door is because "WE were the TOP in the world back then". There's no "secrets" left to trade to "3rd world countries" for cheap labor anymore. Even though they ship lead-paint laden toys to our children and claim idiocy when caught, we let it slide. They give us plastic and shit parts and customer service while we send all of our "mined in America" metals (screw gold and silver... they want copper and iron and steel and we happily buy their plastic for it).

The only problem America has now is that we've run out of "3rd World" to exploit to keep costs down. Sure..... Gas has risen 400%, Smokes have risen 600% and Medical Care has risen 100,000% since Doc McFly said "Damn, where's that kid?"........

The truth is, compared to the rise in food and gas and smokes and medical care since I was in high school, Abercrombie and Fitch are selling their wares at Flea-Market prices compared to what a dollar was worth in 1997.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours Niki. As bad as we both got it, we know the other isn't in a gutter somewhere if we still got enough internet left to post here :)

EDITED TO ADD: If it wasn't made obvious, any insults i give to ANYONE in this post is nothing personal. Like Pee-Wee Herman said, It Takes One to Know One..... Hah-ha!!!

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Wednesday, November 27, 2013 2:33 AM

SHINYGOODGUY

The one thing that Walmart is afraid of; public opinion.

SGG

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Wednesday, November 27, 2013 10:43 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Quote:
Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
The one thing that Walmart is afraid of; public opinion.

SGG

Yeah, real crazy, for a retail chain in a free market society to worry about, huh?

Don't like Wal-Mart ? Don't shop or work there.

Problem solved.

Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen

I'm just a red pill guy in a room full of blue pill addicts.

" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall

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Wednesday, November 27, 2013 11:29 AM

BYTEMITE

Quote:
The problem, at least for me, is that I don't see a viable solution anywhere, period.

These businesses will eventually collapse under their own weight, as will the economy. It's all a house of cards.

But we opened the box, let some businesses become too big to fail, let them become the only providers for poor areas (urban or rural) in a 50 km radius. You can't take it back now. We can't stop it. We can slow it, but a slow decline leads only to slowly eroding standards of living and suffering drawn out over the long term.

You have to recreate the necessary infrastructure for local living and jobs, particularly agriculture (see also urban agriculture and sustainability movements). Then you break everything bigger than local before it can drag you down with them.

The solution. It's just no one likes that solution because ugh god have to give up the internet connection and electricity and running water and easy supply of CHEETOS, fuckin inconvenient that is. On the plus side, debts won't exist anymore.

What the powers that be don't realize is, no matter how much they infantize us, it is human nature to fight for survival. When they eventually crash the system, and they will, we won't take it lying down. If you're in a good mood and/or drunk, you can also pillage, burn the buildings down, and steal the women. Become a scourge of the Fortune 500, pledge your loyalty to the black flag.

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Wednesday, November 27, 2013 12:47 PM

M52NICKERSON

DALEK!

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
Yeah, real crazy, for a retail chain in a free market society to worry about, huh?

Don't like Wal-Mart ? Don't shop or work there.

Problem solved

Not that easy when in some places they are the only place left to shop...or work.

I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.

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