Wal-Mart’s Hired Guns Firing Blanks

Matters such as wages are a private matter between employee and employer. The government has no right to interfere. Mr. Scott has no right to interfere in the wages in companies outside of his own.

There are minimum standards that have to be met so it’s not entirely between employee and employer. Of course there are those (Nick for one and I think ND for another) who don’t even want a mimimum wage. But it is here and I don’t think it’s going anywhere anytime soon.

I know how bitterly some people look upon unions. Many of them--not all--have no experience with being a member of one. Between a union and some employers there are also agreements made. These do allow for certain freedoms and
protections for an employee. And usually provide employees better wages and benefits and a way of venting. Yes--there are abuses sometimes but here it is not always going inone direction from employer to employee.

As for Mr. Scott most of us I would think see these comments of his as a calculation on his and WM’s part to show his company in a good light. To me that is all that is.
There’s no sincerity here.

If I understand this right its a 2 way street. for example, I work for you and you pay me for what I did. Sometimes I get the impression that Wal Mart wants to make everything a 1 way street. This is why I think Bentonville is getting out of touch with the employees of all of the Wal Mart Stores.

To me, the BEST PR is the employees themselves........ALL of them.  If Wal-mart employees were really being taken care of, across the board, this PR campaign wouldn’t be necessary.  When employees feel valued, etc., they WILL tell the world.....and this, in my opinion, is where Wal-mart is missing the point.

Just think of the benefits, etc. that Wal-mart could offer with the money they are spending on PR.

Louise

There have been a numer of employees reporting good experiences who have spoken up on this forum.  They are promptly labelled as being paid by Walmart to post to this forum.

Dear Zack:

No, they just don’t want to be fired!  That is the biggest thing walmart holds over the employees’ heads.  Doesn’t matter how good of a job you do, or how much you brown nose to keep your job, if they don’t want you, you are gone.  Period.
And there is nothing you can do about it.  Walmart employs an army of Attorneys to fight every workers compensation, unemployment and discrimination suits.  It is cheaper to pay the attorneys to fight than to pay a lawsuit.  I was told this personally by the workers comp person at the home office.  Get hurt on the job?  Get ready to pay all your medical bills yourself and live off your vacation and sick leave, if you have any, until you can come back to work.  O lose the lawsuit and end up paying attorney’s fees.  Good luck!

We had an associate get hurt at the front register by tripping over a box and hurting her knee.  She was out for a long time on worker’s comp, then decided to sue the company.  Little did she know, she was on video.  She repeatedly looked at this box on the floor, and walked around it several times before she eventually tripped over it.  THAT is why WM may fight some suits.  People are sometimes out to get rich quick and they will lie to get it.  Nevertheless, she didn’t win her case, and she is still working.

Kim,

You are right. Wal-Mart is taking a hard line against fraud and it should. In West Virginia, workers comp fraud is rampant. Anyone you talk to knows someone on comp and usually someone who’s faking it. They actually only prosecute 10 fraud cases per year in the entire state and rates can go as high as $0.55 on the dollar. What this means is, a company pays 55 cents to workers comp for every dollar they pay an employee in gross wages. It is out of control. Every other lawyer is a workers’ comp lawyer and there are several who have earned millions representing these people.

When I worked in retail, they had what were known as professional slip and fallers. That is, people who would come in to a store, spot a drop of water without a Wet Floor sign, slip and fall on the floor and start screaming. The store would have to fill out an accident report. Even if they had the people on tape, it didn’t matter. The insurance company would cut them a check for $500 in return for a release. If the store refused to go along, the insurance company would drop them. This is a huge problem everywhere but especially in stores in low income neighborhoods. That is because these people are looking for a fast buck and they don’t care who they hurt to get it.

Sam Walton had a unique view of lawsuits such as workers comp, slip and fall, etc. He did not believe in simple settlements. Every single lawsuit, from the entire company, was presented to him personally. He would listen and then ask whether or not Wal-Mart was at fault. If his people assured him they were, he would immediately order his people to pay the person and arrange for their care. He would then call the person and write them a personal note, apologizing. He would then ascertain what had happened to cause this accident and he would personally see that is was fixed immediately. Mr. Sam was a great man and he believed in taking care of people. When Wal-Mart was not at fault, he refused to settle anything. Why admit guilt if you are not at fault? He believed that it was better in the long run to fight for your innocence rather than settle. And he was right.

Of course, today, lawyers and the morons they represent see Wal-Mart as the world’s largest company and, as such, the world’s largest target for lawsuits, legitimate or not. Lawyers are scum; they produce nothing, build nothing, invent nothing, own nothing, create no new products, manage nothing. They simply take. They transfer wealth. They are, for the most part, worthless.

Sorry I rambled again.

funny all you think minimum wage is the issue, think a miniute, working in a walmart store isnt rocket science is it.
if these people want to be payed more work harder. try working loading one of the trucks in a distribution center. ohh no wait thats real work isnt it.